Dad’s 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger 340

[jcmeyer5]

My dad had a 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger 340 back when he was a senior in high school and freshman in college. He sold it while in college to help pay for college. That was back in 1974. He loved that car, but knew he was better off getting his degree. His car had a 4 speed, bench front seat, signal indicators on the fenders, B5 Bright Blue Metallic with a white vinyl top - NO stripe.

Back in 1997 (I was 20) he wanted to get another car. He searched and searched, and the only one he could find that hadn’t been chopped up to be a race car was in South Carolina. We flew down there and purchased the car. It ran and drove, but the speedometer didn’t work and the gas gauge was stuck on empty. He bought it, and we drove it all the way back to Indiana that night. We timed ourselves between mile markers to keep speed. We stopped every 150 miles for gas. Made it home. It is a real Swinger 340 with a bench seat, 4 speed, T5 Copper Metallic with a white vinyl top and a white stripe. No signal indicators on the fenders. It has since been painted an awful orange, and has signs of body filler on the driver front fender and door.

22 years later, and I am finally starting to work on it. Here is what we started with (just got done washing it)

 

[jcmeyer5]

The car was pretty solid. Floors, fenders, doors, hood, trunk, roof... everything but the quarter panels looked solid. So, first on the docket was fixing rust in the quarter panels and trunk drop offs. I didn’t get pictures of the driver side. I replaced up to the top body line, and over to the door. On to the passenger side. Replaced less.

 

[missing linc]

Looking good, keep at it

 

[jcmeyer5]

After the quarters were done, I found a small spot on the rocker right behind the leaded seam. I cut out bad metal, welded in good metal. Had to melt the lead out to do it because you can’t weld through lead.

 

[4spdragtop]

Looks good! Being able to weld is a bonus. Glad ya got to go with Pops and drive it home. We drove to CO from Ontario Canada. Great trip/memories.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Fenders are up next. The car has had collision damage on the passenger and driver fenders. I started with the driver side, since I knew there was plenty of filler there. I grabbed a torch and started burning it out. Oh boy there was a lot of damage...

 

[jcmeyer5]

Seeing that much damage, I opted to get a set of used fenders. Found a pair of 67 fenders nearby. Had to swap out the headlight bucket. Also had some minor rust damage to fix. My boy helped with that.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Next up is stripping the fenders and getting them in epoxy primer. I enlisted help. The passenger fender ended up having its fair share of filler in it too

 

[jcmeyer5]

First fender in SPI epoxy. Used a Harbor Freight purple gun. Once. I did use it on the passenger fender, but it didn’t spray even, and was discarded soon after. I did get enough of a taste for painting that I went and invested in some quality spray guns. You can see the difference later in other parts we have primed.

 

[jcmeyer5]

After the fenders came the hood. We stripped it bare and found some minor damage on the passenger front that had been filled. Also has a small dent in the middle where the air cleaner stud was too tall. Regardless, we got it in epoxy. This is my boy’s first go with a spray gun. He did well

 

[jcmeyer5]

Deck lid is up next. On both the hood and deck lid, we stripped the outside because there were three layers of paint and that awful orange that wouldn’t have been a good base for new paint. On the underside though we wet sanded with 80 grit and shot it without a complete strip as there was only the original copper paint (scuff and shoot). I did clean the seams to bare metal as there was some surface rust. Once the epoxy is done, those will get seam sealer.

 

[jcmeyer5]

On all panels, I’ve been spot blasting when rust spots are found. Today I worked in sanding down the passenger quarter. My daughter wants to prime it. Didn’t quite finish. Will tomorrow and prime probably Saturday.

 

[pishta]

Aaw, the purple gun let you down? I got a ding on my hood and will need to do a little work on it soon. Good thing is that it got dinged right where the black hood stripe will cover it, so just a little filler. Its a dead zone behind a hood support so I cant tap it out from behind. I think I had the same copper colored paint on my 65 when I bought it, if that color went back that far under a different name.

 

[dano]

Nice. T5 was my GTS's original color. I wish I would have repainted back to T5. Oddly I painted my car Vitamin C Orange. But it doesn't look awful.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Okay, so here is my review of that gun. I bought it, cleaned it, and sprayed with it. It sputtered the whole time, but I wanted to get the fender done. No contaminants in the paint. Massive orange peel (could be from that being the first time I used a paint gun), but who cares, its epoxy. Trigger was harder than heck to pull. Fluid adjustment screw felt like it was cross threaded (it wasnt) from a spring that is way too stiff. Cup leaked from the attaching threads. Fan control leaked air. Cleaned it after use. Second time we used it (my son), the top of the fan was non-existent, so we were painting with half the fan. Got that fender done. Third time we used it... GOTCHA, we didnt use it a third time! After the second use, I went out and purchased a pair of Devilbiss FLG-5 (1.4 and 1.8) from the UK (not available in the US) along with ANI regulators and a 2.0 needle and nozzle set. The massive difference in spray quality makes my work look like I know what I am doing. No leaks, and the gun worked for more than one session (still does). And its not purple.

It was worth the purchase simply because, at the time, I was very intimidated by trying to operate (and set up) a spray gun. After the second go-around, I disassembled the purple gun completely... performed an autopsy of sorts... just to see how the darn thing worked. Not as intimidating anymore (nothing ever is after you've seen its guts), and I decided I would be painting enough in my life to justify some quality hardware. I chose the FLG-5 due to its lower CFM usage (under 10) and the fact that I found NOBODY that didnt love it after using it.

 

[jcmeyer5]

Nice. T5 was my GTS's original color. I wish I would have repainted back to T5. Oddly I painted my car Vitamin C Orange. But it doesn't look awful.

The COLOR wasnt awful, but the condition of the orange paint was. Which is why it needed to go. My son wanted to paint it orange after the work was done. Dad quickly shut that down. It will be a metallic or pearl of either a red or a blue... I am guessing red.

 

[340doc]

Great post, keep the updated coming!

 

[dano]

There are some nasty orange colors, I bet over the bronze color is what made it look bad. Blue with white top and stripe would looks nice.

 

[missing linc]

Impressive

 

[jcmeyer5]

Was cold today, so didn’t do any priming. Passenger quarter panel is ready, and the girl should be priming that tomorrow. I DID make a piece of equipment. Well, it’s mostly done. A panel tree for holding panels. Modeled after the Steck Manufacturing unit. Materials cost $95 plus an old rim and some 1/4” plate I had laying around. It has 6 arms and should hold 2 panels (doors or fenders) for paint. I have to drill holes, weld on nuts, and weld fingers to the arms. Then it will be done. Nuts are being stripped of zinc as we speak (citric acid).

 

[jcmeyer5]

The girl primed the quarter panel today. She had one spot where she got the gun too close, and caused a run. Oh well, its just the epoxy primer. if it ends up being an issue, it will sand out with the body work.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I love how the kids are in on this.

 

[jcmeyer5]

So the boy and I went over to take the door off the passenger side. It took 3 tries to figure out there was not 1, not 2, but 3 bolts on the bottom hinge. We got the door off. Got the interior trimmings off the door. Good news, there doesn’t appear to be any collision damage in the door, looking from the inside. Bad news, some idiot cut a chunk out of the interior frame... and I have no idea why. Once we get the glass removed, I’ll fab and weld a patch, but damn.

 

[JDMopar]

Lots of impressive work! Did you cut the marker light hole out of the bad fender and weld it into the 67 Fender? It's awesome that you are teaching your kids how to weld and paint!

 

[jcmeyer5]

No, we are eliminating the side reflectors. So not only did I not relocate it, I also filled in the passenger fender and both quarter panels. We MAY do running lights, but that would require filling the stock holes in as well.