Josh's 73 Dart Sport - "Fred"

[JDMopar]

Like the guy on that show, Swamp People says..."Choot it...Choot it!"

 

[ragtopfury]

Well, I "chooted it" again, Pickles, and we put it in the basement to keep it out of the way.

 

[ragtopfury]

Got the block back from the machine shop today. Went 30 over. I had Josh install the oil galley plugs in the back, and the one at the distributor, brass freeze plugs and we got the crank installed. Also had his hands on pressing the pins/rods/pistons together. We got 4 of them done this evening.

 

[ragtopfury]

So it's just gonna be a daily driver type motor. 360, 30 over, .010 off the deck, 9:1 advertised pistons, unmolested J heads, 340ish cam (specs escape me at the moment), 2600-2800 stall in a 904 going to a 3.23 sure gripped 8.75...

 

[ragtopfury]

We finish assembling the bottom end together this evening. Josh is now as well versed as he can be on his 1st engine build, getting the ring gaps correct,
in the ring installation pliers, ring compression tool, plasti-gauge and torque specs. I showed him on number 8 and he did the other 7.

(And I should not make posts at 1145pm without my glasses on. Been back 2x now to fix spelling issues. LOL)

 

[ragtopfury]

We finished assembling the motor, sans the intake. Gonna prime the oiling system and get it painted all nice and pretty one day soon. Then he'll place the intake. He wants the intake to stay aluminum looking. My opinion is to make it motor color, but it is his, and will look the way he wants it to.

And Monday, we are finally shooting the high build primer.....

 

[mygasser]

if the intake's new why not clear lacquer it? either gloss, satin or matt. it's wash clean that way (easier if gloss). if you don't coat it with something it will dull/tarnish sooner or later however careful you are.
neil.

 

[ragtopfury]

if the intake's new why not clear lacquer it? either gloss, satin or matt. it's wash clean that way (easier if gloss). if you don't coat it with something it will dull/tarnish sooner or later however careful you are.
neil.

He is going to clear it. I'm just old and prefer engine color... LOL

 

[mygasser]

i use wheel silver rattle cans myself. it's very hard wearing being for road wheels and all. then clear over that.
neil.

 

[ragtopfury]

High build is shot. Revealed a few little things.

u3

 

[ragtopfury]

I also mixed some epoxy and Josh shot his 360. We need to get some blue now.

 

[ragtopfury]

Progress.....

Josh finished assembling the 360. He needs to clean up my donation known as a pair of old Direct Connection chrome valve covers and get them on.

 

[ragtopfury]

This afternoon, we shot the jambs, window openings, inside edges of the doors, fenders and deck lid. And the beak. For making this up as I go along, the paint seemed to lay down rather nice. If the whole body turns out this good, I'll be very, very pleased.

 

[ragtopfury]

Well, today was shoot Fred day. I am relatively pleased. A light wet sand and buff job and well be right about as good as I'm gonna make it

ATTACH=full]1716417777[/ATTACH]

 

[DartManPlum340]

Well, today was shoot Fred day. I am relatively pleased. A light wet sand and buff job and well be right about as good as I'm gonna make it

ATTACH=full]1716417777[/ATTACH]View attachment 1716417778View attachment 1716417780View attachment 1716417781
View attachment 1716417782

View attachment 1716417777

Well done, sir! I cut mine last week, buffing for a few days now.

 

[JDMopar]

It looks good Mark! Since it's single stage, how long will you have to wait to do the cut n buff? One of the 'Down the middle' Sport stripes in either black or white would probably look killer on there since there isn't a vinyl top.

 

[ragtopfury]

I gotta read up on recommended cut/buff times.

Yeah, he wants to do a black split Demon stripe down the middle, to help offset the black hood.

 

[ragtopfury]

Carved out a little time and got both fenders and the beak done about as good as us rookies are comfortable doing. A little progress is good progress. Piece by piece.
Also got the dash installed and all connected. Wing is on, all weatherstrips are in place, all side glass is in and the door handles and mirrors have been mounted.
You black grill haters, just shut it - LOLOLOL. The boy is making it his own.
We have a set of better tail light bezels on the way from FLA.

 

[mygasser]

i like the black grill with just that chrome outer edge. the rear lamp bezels would suit that look to imo.
neil.

 

[ragtopfury]

i like the black grill with just that chrome outer edge. the rear lamp bezels would suit that look to imo.
neil.

Our bezels are so bad, we started grinding the pits down and smoothing them with filler. The plan was to black them out. If the new ones coming to us are way better, they may or may not get the blackout treatment. Don't know yet.

 

[340sFastback]

Great progress.

 

[ragtopfury]

So we tore the $50 core 904 down last night, and got most of it assembled today. Heading to the VFD carnival this afternoon, so we'll finish assembly romorrow. At any rate, for a core trans that had sat on the floor of some rando's garage for 20+ years, not sealed up, this thing was remarkably clean. Looks to have only about 15k miles on its last rebuild. All the clutch disc's had their very pronounced cross hatch look and the remaining fluid was beautiful. Regardless, all new went back in today. Also tore the VB down and installed one of those simple transgo improvement/correction kits. Josh's gf got me a couple of action shots as requested.... Here's Josh elbow deep inserting the input shaft and front clutch pack.

 

[ragtopfury]

Motor and trans found their way into there place today.

 

[ragtopfury]

We are sooooo close..... fought the back glass into place on Sunday. Fighting with the windshield tomorrow evening. Still need to get the rear bumper on and to the exhaust shop.
I think we're bringing the beast to life by this coming weekend. Josh is getting really impatient for that initial start up.

 

[RAT ROD AL]

Looks good Mark