DODGE Dart 1969 cooling issue +more

[GreekDart]

Hello everyone. This is my first attempt on a car repair since I am a motorbike person. This car has been sitting in a garage for 42 years, 15.000 miles, mint condition, all original, but the water pump has rusted away. With no cooling and have not tried yet to start up the engine. There is spark after cleaning up etc. The question is, there seems to be a lot of rust in the cylinder head, should I take it apart or is there a way to clean/clear the coolant passage. The radiator also is full of girt and dust so I removed it. A lot more questions arriving. Major one, how do hand crank this motor? no screw... Plus the A/C seemw dead, spinning freely so for now I think i will remove it. It is impossible to get parts here, it might be the only one of it's kind in Greece. Any help greatly appreciated! Thanks

 

[Dana67Dart]

There are parts suppliers in the US who will ship to Europe.

Other members have used services where you ship your parts to a US address and the shipper at that address then loads a cargo container and ships the container to Europe where the content is separated and sent to each destination.

 

[GreekDart]

There are parts suppliers in the US who will ship to Europe.

Other members have used services where you ship your parts to a US address and the shipper at that address then loads a cargo container and ships the container to Europe where the content is separated and sent to each destination.

Thanks, I am aware, grew up in the states, but taxes and customs and shipping make it crazy. This is a personall sanity project, not for $ and can not afford the final prices. A 40$ part ends up here ovar 100.. last resort, making a list, have found classicindustries.com, if yoy know of any other sites please let me know. Thanks

 

[Slantsix64]

You could put the water pump back on and the thermostat housing with no thermostat, flush it out with a water hose,

then fill up the engine with a mixture of white vinegar and salt for about 18hours to be safe then flush the whole thing out and repeat,

once satisfied fill it up with soda ash and water mixture. I would block off the bottom hose and just do the engine only I dunno how the vinegar would react to brass radiator.

 

[Dana67Dart]

Many of the basic parts water pump etc might be purchased at many auto parts stores.

Your local stores might be able to order them in.

You could always go the cuba route and use whatever parts are around. Like do an engine swap from a Fiat, or the like

 

[junkyardhero]

You could always go the cuba route and use whatever parts are around. Like do an engine swap from a Fiat, or the like

easy there big fella. let's be sensible about this. clearly the engine to swap in would be a lambretta.

 

[Mike69cuda]

With rust like that the freeze plugs are probably toast. While you may have to flush it, there is a high probability that the freeze plugs will give way when you do.

I would clean the radiator and put it back together without a thermostat as stated above. See what it does before flushing the engine.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I totally agree about the freeze plugs. I would pull the engine and put all new brass freeze plugs in it and flush the HECK out of the cooling passages, then regasket the whole thing. There's not a gasket in it except possibly the head gasket that's any good anymore and it might be suspect. It's not a difficult job, especially with the engine on the stand.

 

[Bewy]

Summit Racing will probably be best for shipping. They give you a choice, with prices. Because of the volumes they sell, they get good prices from the shipping companies.