High school "Daily" Driver

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

I am a junior in high school and this is my 1972 dodge dart swinger special that i bought December 22nd 2020. This is my only car and means of transport so i try to keep the downtime to a minimum and have slowly been restoring and fixing it.

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

The first project was to fix the exhaust leak. i took off both manifolds had them sandblasted and used a file on the heat exchanger where the leak was coming from.

I deciede to paint the manifolds and valve cover while it was all apart, on the valve cover i used some masking tape and masked out the numbers 225.

While the valve cover was off i also lashed the valves and replaced the spark plugs/wires

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

The next thing i did was paint were the vinyl top had been. When i bought the car it did not have the vinyl on it and the previous owner said it had taken it of and primed the now exposed bare metal. While this was functional it did not look the greatest so id masked the whole car and painted over the primer with black rattle-can

paint.

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

I was then in a accident where i was not at fault (4 way stop 9pm in the dark and rain, I stoped and went and other driver with there light off ran the stop sign to my right. i saw them and hit my breaks but locked them up as i was inexperienced and had not been driving for very long and slid into the side of his car) The other drivers insurance would not cover the repairs to my car.

Luckily they were not that bad and i was able to replace the radiator and readjust the shift linkage and all set other then the cosmetic damage.

 

[French demon]

Nice work.
The manifolds sandblasting and paint job is what I plan to do next winter on my slant 6.
Did you change all triangular shims and nuts as it's recommended?

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

Nice work.
The manifolds sandblasting and paint job is what I plan to do next winter on my slant 6.
Did you change all triangular shims and nuts as it's recommended?

I replaced all the nuts with grade 8 nuts and put anti-seize on them i did not replace the washers though.

 

[French demon]

Ok, thanks

 

[RustyRatRod]

I like that valve cover job! Nice work!

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

A few months later and everything had been going good tell one day i noticed coolant leaking from one of the intake studs. I removed the intake and exhaust ant started to remove all the studs to put rtv on them and just bolt it all back together. but this did not go to plan as i snapped one of the studs off inside the head. i then went to remove the stud with a screw extractor and the screw extractor broke off inside the stud too now. i was not going to try any other way to remove the studs as i feared i was going to mess up the head more. I decide to get the stud and extractor spark extracted by a machine shop.

Earlier that year i had driven up and bought a lot of parts from a fellow a bodies only member i think his username is outsider. this lot included a super six intake manifold. I had been reading on the forums about turbo build and decided that was my end goal for the slant six but was going to port the head and put bigger valves in addition to the 2 barrel carb.

I ordered the oversize valves and other components to rebuild the head this was in the height of the pandemic so shipping was going to take a while.

while the parts were shipping i removed the head and started to port it myself i did not know much so i read all the posts i could find on here and got a carbide bur tool and used it in a drill.

BEFORE

AFTER

I did not blow a hole in any water jackets so i would consider it a win after the porting i sent the head off to the machine shop for the bigger valves, resurfacing, and the spark extraction that started the whole project.

I got it back from the machine shop and bolted it all together then had to refab the throttle and kickdown cable for the new carb. i started off with a 4412s holley carb 500cfm but this was to much so i switched out to a 350.

I got it finished just intime for the 4th of july.

 

[grimreaper]

Thanks for the photos and story. I love to see young people driving and working on old cars. A few weeks ago I saw a 60 Rambler and discovered it is a high school student's daily driver. Made my day!

 

[missing linc]

Cool story and car!

 

[MMissile]

Great story. Young guns to the front!!!!

 

[CFD244]

Great work. Fabulous seeing young folks taking an interest in the old stuff. Keep up the good work

 

[Super-Cuda]

Great work Slant\six Bumblebee!!

Everyone on the site is behind you . Great to see a younger member on here with such interest in the classics.

Any issues, ask away.

We'll all help any way we can.

Cheers!!

 

[rumblefish360]

Dude! You’re my new hero taking this on!
Freakin awesome brother!

 

[dirty white boy]

good to see young men expanding there mind for the love of old mopars! reading and searching info instead of just posting a thread asking for the easy simple answer!! then applying what thay learned in the real world and getting real results!!! bad deal on your fender bender, id got a lawyer involved and got nuff to fix it,any thing less is un acceptable in my opinion! /6's love turbos youll end up finding your limits to keep it alive or learn to build back better next time! nice ride that will get nicer over time im sure!!

 

[B-i-n-g-o]

Bummer on the accident, the car looks great, and like you're doing good work with it!

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

good to see young men expanding there mind for the love of old mopars! reading and searching info instead of just posting a thread asking for the easy simple answer!! then applying what thay learned in the real world and getting real results!!! bad deal on your fender bender, id got a lawyer involved and got nuff to fix it,any thing less is un acceptable in my opinion! /6's love turbos youll end up finding your limits to keep it alive or learn to build back better next time! nice ride that will get nicer over time im sure!!

I tried I took him to small claims court and the judge found there was not enough evidence to make him pay for it as I crashed into him. I think it was actually because I was a 16 year old in a “hot rod” so they dident believe my claims. Unfortunate but luckily it was not too much damage.

 

[B-i-n-g-o]

Total rip, but cool deal you're not all ticked, not worth the grief. Just keep on getting it there!

 

[halfafish]

Nice job, and nice car! Did you get all the stuff you needed to repair the damage? If not I have a 74 Dart parts car that might be able to help with replacements, and I'm local to you.

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

Nice job, and nice car! Did you get all the stuff you needed to repair the damage? If not I have a 74 Dart parts car that might be able to help with replacements, and I'm local to you.

I got the grill fixed up but none of the metal bumper or the front part of the fender.

 

[halfafish]

I got the grill fixed up but none of the metal bumper or the front part of the fender.

I have both, but I'm not sure if they fir between a 72 and 74. One of the better-informed gurus may weigh in with compatibility guidance.

 

[Slant Six Bumblebee]

I have both, but I'm not sure if they fir between a 72 and 74. One of the better-informed gurus may weigh in with compatibility guidance.

If they do fit that would be great

 

[CFD244]

Fender extension is 70 to 72. If no chrome, all three will fit. If you have chrome on the extension, the '72 is one year only.

 

[BrianT]

Nice work! I agree with the others above, it's good to see a young guy working on an old car. My neighbor down the street daily drives his 73 Roadrunner to high school. We always wave as we go by.