And so it begins. 69 Dart GT resto

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While Tincup is taking care of the passenger side rocker area I did some dirty work. Wirewheeled the drivers floor. Actually pretty good. One dime sized hole and one spot where it looks like the weld burned a pinhole at the front rollcage mount.

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This is the before photo of the spare tire well. After wire wheeling it, no issues. Nice and solid. Issues are under the rear windshield and the 1/4 drops.

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Got my other buddy in there yesterday. He works for an auto glass business. We pulled both front and rear windshields. Looks like I'll be replacing the front. It was looking cloudy along the edges, a sign of delamination. The rear looks fine and I will be cleaning it up this weekend.
 
Spare tire well cleaned. Looks good. Found bondo in the trunk. Bondo covered some shoddy work and holes. More to replace.
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Started cleaning the front windshield area. A few little rot holes at the bottom that will get fixed. So far the top and passenger side looks good. Hopefully I'll get to the drivers side this week.
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Well the AMD metal is taking longer to come in. Was hoping to have it this week. Such is life.
 
The back half is pretty much all new metal. We just turned the car around so the other rear quarter can get done now. One really good thing is the roll cage and frame connectors. It's keeping the car nice and rigid as the work is getting done.
 
We have been busy little beavers this year. The Dart is coming along. All body panels from the cowl back have been done.

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I've since pulled the engine trans and rear end. I will be dropping them off to another good buddy to have him go through them.

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Rear frame rails are in the process of being fixed. Also widening the tubs for bigger meats in the rear.

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I removed the rats nest of a wiring harness and will go with the Ron Francis harness. I also pulled the dash and will be taking care of that.

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It will be better than new by the time you're done. How Dodge should have done it!
 
So this happened. I have a 52 Ford tractor that I welded an engine hoist to the 3 point hitch. It works great for moving engines around. I'm using it to move the Darts 440 around so I can degrease and power wash it. Well I figured it's time for a little tune up. Guess what? 2 of the 4 old spark plugs broke all while it's sitting in the driveway with the 440 hanging off the back. Had to go and buy the correct size extractor and was able to get one out. The other one was just frozen. In order to get some leverage, the hood and fuel tank above the engine has to come out. I got it started with the 3 good cylinders and was able to place the 440 out of the way. Yesterday after work I pulled the (full) fuel tank off in the dark and the temps were dropping fast. Hey it's New England. I wanted to get it done before the oncoming rainstorm tomorrow. Tapped the extractor and got it to bite. It took an extra 3 foot pipe to get the stupid thing out. All is well. 4th plug is in. I'm waiting for the kids to come over for Thanksgiving to help me get the fuel tank back on. That was a little step backwards.
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but it's all set with fresh plugs...should be good for 10 years or so. be thankful it wasn't a V8 flathead!
 
Back at it. After taking time off for the holidays my buddy blew the Viper V10 in his truck. My Dart went on the back burner and I helped him out with that issue. He's been doing the mini tubs in the back while I dropped the K-frame. I will be bringing it home to power wash and scrub it down. A lot of grease and grime to clean. Since I did a complete suspension rebuild and disc brake conversion a few years ago I should be good there. I barely but a hundred miles on it.

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I bought another spare dashboard hoping it was in better shape than mine. No go. It just has different issues. Anyone need a good solid dashboard?
 
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