My Bucket of rust. 73 Dart Sport 340 4spd project

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J-MacsMopars

Shade Tree Vintage Auto on YouTube
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Well, as some of you have seen. I picked up a 73 340 4spd Dart Sport in exchange for selling some cars and parts.
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This car was sold new at Logan Motors here in Logan, UT in late 73. The build date is August of '73 and I have yet to see a higher vin number on a 73. This car is a very low optioned car with manual steering, stripe delete, no A/C, and really nothing else other than a fold down rear seat. It was an ugly color with green interior.
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As you can see, this car is fairly ruff, but ran and was complete. It hasn't been on the road since the mid 90's, however the PO kept it tagged up till 2004 for what ever reason. It really didn't take much to get it going. Here are a few pics as found and of pick up on July, 23rd of this year.

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First start up in six years.



I was so excited to get it home and finally have a small project. Ha! I had no idea how bad it was.
 
what are your plans for it... race/restore/driver/sell you should make it a poll lol. looks like you already have your hands full
 
Here she is getting home;
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It is obvious that it is going to need 1/4's, lucky for me, I cut up a rust free 74 Duster 360 a few years back and had never gotten rid of the 1/4's.

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After a few burnouts and terrorizing the neighborhood a little bit, we started tearing into it a little.

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Spider webs. I love spiders!
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The first major sign that there is more rust than I had thought came when I pushed my finger threw the sticker in the door jamb.
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More of the clean up and dis-assembly.

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Look at the mold in the headliner
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There is some damage in the 1/4 and the wheel house

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Driver side isn't so bad.
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Outside of the pass. 1/4 is messed up for sure.
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Here's what I found of a build sheet.
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Also found a copy of the window sticker
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Floor is in need of replacement.
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The engine compartment is complete and everything looks fair.
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Some damage to the pass front inner fender
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Pulled apart even more

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Found that the inner body behind the door panel was a little rusty on the pass side
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Found that the driver side was full of a wet sleeping bag and a pair of kids bell bottoms.
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Found that the floor is pretty bad on the driver side.
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Getting closer to loading it up and taking it to Badarts for body work.

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Loaded and headed to Johns;

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At Johns getting ready for dis-assembly.

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It begins

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Found this cool piece of paper too.
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As we pulled the fenders off, we found more problems. One, the fenders are cheap aftermarket junk. The driver inner fender has been replaced as has the core support. The frame rails were also a bit tweaked.

Pulled the engine and trans
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After some dis-assembly;
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Sitting on jackstands

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The new lower radiator support built buy John
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One of our parts cars
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The interior

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Engine compartment
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There was a spot of rust in the frame.
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John cut it out and welded in a new piece
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Thats pretty much where she is at at the moment. I am not sure of what color I am going, but am leaning towards Honda Dyno Blue pearl. I want to go black interior and black stripes. I don't want a car thats quick in the 1/4, I want one that I can go threw a canyon at a good speed. So far I have picked up an 8 3/4, heavy duty rear drums, LD 340 intake, duel sport mirrors, and a few other odds and ends. I need a ton more though.
 
Wow, that is a late build '73. Do you know what the scheduled production date was?
I would love to see the fender tag.
Great project, i'll be watching this one.
 
I would love to see the fender tag as well, but when the inner fender was replaced, the tag never made it back on.

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Oh come on Jeremy I have gotten at least 2 buckets of rust out of your car. LOL. Actually guys it's not that bad. Very cool 340 4 speed car with very few options.

I hope to have the metal work on your engine bay wrapped up the next couple of days. Then we can start on that floor pan.
 
Oh come on Jeremy I have gotten at least 2 buckets of rust out of your car. LOL. Actually guys it's not that bad. Very cool 340 4 speed car with very few options.

I hope to have the metal work on your engine bay wrapped up the next couple of days. Then we can start on that floor pan.


Awesome! I can't wait to check it out. That floor pan is going to be a real PITA. I excited to watch the progress too.

Has anyone used an 8 3/4 back brace? Are they really worth the effort?
 
Looks like a good project. What's the story on that R/T Coronet and RR in the first photos? Those look like they could use a good home too!!
 
Awesome! I can't wait to check it out. That floor pan is going to be a real PITA. I excited to watch the progress too.

Has anyone used an 8 3/4 back brace? Are they really worth the effort?

We have one on the 12 sec ram... couldn't really tell you the verdict though because it was never run without one...
 
nice work guys. i wanted to pull the back window on my dart but im am a chicken ****.lol never been that deep in to a car...but its fun..keep up the good work and post more pics so i can learn from you guys....mike
 
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