My 65 Dart Gt resto

[vwmoparguy]

Hi everyone. I'm Kevin and fairly new here.

I haven't had a Mopar since about 1986. Some of the cars we've had in my family have been.... a 70 Cuda 440 6pack, 66,68,69 Chargers, 68 Barracuda, 68 Dart 340GTS, and a mixture of projects that never got done.

I bought my car with no engine/ no trans. It had not been driving since 2001.

My intentions are to make this car a very cool cruiser. Something to take to the big local shows. I plan on making everything mechanical either new or rebuilt, making upgrades of course . I am not going to worry about paint for a while as I have a goal of driving this to the Rte 66 show in September.

What I've done so far,

Found a 36000mile 1972 360 engine and 727 trans out of an rv to use for building up. I plan on building a 408 pump gas engine. I'm starting at the rear of the car and working forward.

I removed the 7 1/4 rear and removed the gas tank.
I disassembled the 8 1/4 rear completely and sent everything off to powder coat. Should be back today :icon_smi:
I disassembled the Suregrip and cleaned, deburred, and bead blasted the spiders and side gears. Deburred and blasted the ring and pinion also. The diff was in fantastic shape.


Parts bought
TCI Racing overhaul kit for trans
Used 8 1/4 rear end. 2.70 gears, Suregrip, bbp, and 10x 2 1/2 brakes
New leaf springs
MP offset shackle kit and front offset brackets
New bearing kit for diff and axles
New brake shoes, hardware, hydraulics, hardlines, and e brake cables

I'm starting at the rear of the car and working forward

It is my plan to do almost everything by myself... engine, trans, drivetrain, brakes, electrical, interior, body work, etc. Mid-life crisis?????? Haha!

I will need to use outside labor for,

powdercoating (I found a great powdercoater who I can communicate very well with....no language barriers).
chroming
machine work on engine
dyno tuning (depending on my timeline)
someone to install the headliner
someone to make a driveshaft



I know threads suck without pics but I don't have my camera cord for the computer here. I will try later today to post pics.

 

[65dartcharger]

Kevin! That ain'tbad for a project start! Seems like you already have found a collection of great stuff to put in. Good luck with your car. I will follow your progress.

 

[vwmoparguy]

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Here is the rear end pics. I'll take some more when it comes back from powder coating. The date on the camera is not correct. it should be early April 2011.

There is the complete rear end, the brakes, the disassembled rear end after coming out of the parts washer, the Suregrip and the Suregrip during disassembly.

 

[son7771]

Nice start you got there. I also had to search for parts I found the same rearend as well!! Cant wait to see your progress

 

[vwmoparguy]

Got the rear end stuff back from coating today. I'm very happy with it. Guess I need to get to work now.

 

[vwmoparguy]

This weekend I am going to get a good handle on prepping the underside of the car for POR-15 and undercoat. Meanwhile at my shop, I continue to re-assemble the rear end and brakes. The car is at my house, the rearend, engine and trans are at my shop. After I get the rear end back in and the underside looking great, I will bring the car to my shop and start getting alot more work done on it.

Here is a couple of pics I took this morning.

 

[vwmoparguy]

Been a while since I've had anything to share although I have been working on stuff at the shop while the car sits at home. Here are some pics.

I put the rear end in the car today. I gave up on scraping the underside and trying to make it look good. I settled on rubberized undercoating. It looks like crap up close in pics but it's presentable for a driver quality car.

Some other things I've been up to.

I tore the 360 engine down and the block is going to the machine shop next week.

I bought a Milodon oil pan, high volume oil pump, h/d oil pump shaft, Lunati Voodoo cam and lifters, Milodon gear drive, ARP main bearing cap stud kit, 73 and later disc brake components, vented,slotted and drilled rotors, all new Moog suspension pieces, and the front suspension pieces are going to powder coat next week or so.

This is fun but time consuming. As you can tell by the pics, it won't be a show car by any means but my goal of having everything that is mechanical on the car either new or rebuilt is coming along nicely.

The tires are just junk ones I bought from the local llantera for 15 bucks each. They are 235/45/17. I'm pretty sure I can fit 275's under there.

 

[vwmoparguy]

more pics

 

[vwmoparguy]

The trans is being worked on now. It's a 727. It's getting a TCI racing kit, better clutches, a deep pan, and a bolt in sprag. I don't like painted trannys so I'm going to beadblast it. I'll put some pics up when I do.

 

[vwmoparguy]

A little update.

I bought some more parts.

Front and rear 4 pinion planetarys. (lucked out in that a good customer of mine builds trannys at the Chrysler dealer and offered to do the labor for free. That's really cool!).
Eagle 4 inch stroke crank
Eagle I beam rods.
Arp headstud kit
Milodon windage tray
2.02 ported steel heads
Heavy duty axles
New Mopar alternator
tunnel ram with dual carbs
1 inch new torsion bars

Stuff I've been doing,

Stripping front suspension completely off the car.
Stripped all the wiring and anything that will unbolt out of engine compartment.
Prepping engine compartment for paint
All front suspension pieces at powder coater.
Haven't brought engine block to machine shop but I probably will this week.

It's coming along slowly but there is so much to do, it seems endless.

 

[PapstXX]

Cheers brother

 

[vwmoparguy]

Latest update.....no pics.

Trans is done. Engine block dropped off for machine work. Had no clue it would be over $700 for machine work!!!! Block should be two weeks until done.

Bought some more parts,

From this site;
H/D strut rods
Schumacher mounts for 360 to early A body
Weiand Stealth manifold
Edelbrock 750 carb....this carb and manifold will be used for breaking in the engine and then install the tunnel ram.

From Summit;
Speed Pro Tri-metal main bearings
Sfi rated harmonic balancer

I really need to get the front suspension pieces to powder coat. I want this car on 4 wheels!!!

I want to have the engine compartment cleaned up and painted before front suspension re-assembly. But it's been so hot here (and humid) that I don't feel like working on the car lately.


My dream of having the car ready for the humongous Route 66 show is not going to happen. It's just a few short weeks from now. New goal will be to have engine running by Halloween and in the car by New Years.