Project Plain Jane

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needsaresto

needsaresto

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Guys,this is my 1970 Dodge Dart.It has been rusting slowly into oblivion for 15 years.

The story; I bought this car when my friend at the time came by the coffee shop where we all hung out and said" are you still looking for an old mopar"? Well,heck ya said I. So off we went to look at it. It was sitting in a used car lot. 318,904,and 8 3/4!! Decent black interior with bench seat,but zero options. Perfect big block candidate. I paid $350 for it and drove it home. Asked my future wife out the next day.. We had this big blowout after a month of dating and she was gonna walk home in a big city during the witching hours. I wouldnt let her,offered her a ride.For some reason the Dart would not fire up. After we had cooled off and made up it started...never did figure it out and it never did it again. We eventually moved from the big city to Trail.The Dart faithfully pulled a 2500lb trailer through 3 mountain ranges without a hitch and got better than 19 mpg doing it. Then it got parked for 15 years.

Fast forward to now. The elements had been punishing to the front sheetmetal. So I stripped it off today. Some,like the front valance,header panel and grill are fine. The fenders are bad.
Severeal months ago I bought a big block oil pan from a Fabo member (chrisF,here in B.C) Turned out to be the best thing I ever bought as he gave me a lead on a fibreglass front clip. I bought that several weeks ago,along with schumacher sb to bb conversion mounts.


So heres the Dart seeing the light of day for the first time in 6 years or so.
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It took a month of clean up to get at it.The garage was packed!
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I stripped the front end stuff off. In front of the Dart is a 360 block.At the right side of the picture is my big block 400 drivetrain.
Heres the glass clip.
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It actually fits alright! needs some trimming and lots of bodywork of course.
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Plans are to convert it to a one piece.The hood is separate from the rest right now.Then I'll build a tilt hinge system and cut out all the rusty inner fender crap.Leave the shock mounts in place,weld in some tube from the firewall to just past the shock mount.Tie it to the shock mount. Build a better,stiffer rad support.

Heres the engine mounts. I'll probably trial fit the big block soon.
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Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Just remember, one step at a time get's the job done. BTW that is the damn coolest garage door I have ever seen, what a great idea for low ceilings! Kev
 
awesome Paul, glad the clip worked out ok, did you get the mounts from marcel too?
glad i could help, my store of useless information was finally good for something.
 
kanders said:
Looks like you've got your work cut out for you. Just remember, one step at a time get's the job done. BTW that is the damn coolest garage door I have ever seen, what a great idea for low ceilings! Kev
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Thanks! It's the only one of it's kind I've ever seen,so Im saving it. Im sure there are others..
Hopefully they have less paint on them.This one has no less than 7 colors and 6 coats. There is approx 1/8 inch of paint on that sucker.Im slowly agonizingly stripping it with a good sharp scraper and a heat gun..Then I'll have to sand it. Im just gonna use my belt sander on it.Wont be much paint left on it when Im done,if any.

I had a guy stop and compliment me on the work I was doing on the door.He said he has been driving by that door every day for 35 years and it has always looked like crap.I guess the p.o simply slapped paint overtop of the peeling uglyness. Im doing it right and I shouldnt have to touch it for a long time.

Chris,I think your store of info is invaluable. You have helped me tremendously and I really cant thank you enough. And yes,i did get the mounts from Marcel. He actually threw them in with the glass,so they cost me nothing! That glass is hand laid and whomever did it,did a pretty good job.

I plan on taking this project one thing at a time,else I'll get overwhelmed! Im going to finish the door first though..and theres the matter of some large cracks in the concrete roof that need attention.

I had two good neighbours stop by and chat while I was playing with the Dart.I got the inevitable"is that a Camero"? comment. AAARRRGGG!! Oh well,they were nice enough to give me a hand setting the glass on after I had everything off.
 
There it is :cheers: glad to see you are getting fired up and going to enjoy some time with your son doing it:-D
Keep up the cool build and don't leave anything out bud:cheers:
 
awesome to see another B.C Member!! haha i'm not too Far from you I live in Vernon :D
 
Not knocking your plans for the car at all, but pure sentiment tells me that it'd be nice to see it done more to original form, given the car is woven into the fabric of your marriage (and life) and would serve as an heirloom to be handed down to your son that way. That said, good luck with your plans for the car.
 
sydcuda said:
Not knocking your plans for the car at all, but pure sentiment tells me that it'd be nice to see it done more to original form, given the car is woven into the fabric of your marriage (and life) and would serve as an heirloom to be handed down to your son that way. That said, good luck with your plans for the car.
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I understand your thinking. But I didnt hang onto the car for 15 years just to restore it to original condition. The original plan was exactly what is being done now,and the wife is all for it as she knew all along what I wanted.She thinks Im nuts,but so does everyone else,lol!! I did get sidetracked by a 360 for awhile.It's still on the engine stand,complete and for sale now.

The Dart will still serve as an hierloom,just slightly changed is all. My son will likely be the only kid in hi school driving anything like it.
 
haul it up here Paul and you pay for material and i will blast if for free
 
chrisf said:
haul it up here Paul and you pay for material and i will blast if for free
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Soda blast!!This might actually be doable,as my buddy here has a big car trailer,and the truck has a class 3 hitch.
 
So this arrived in the mail today. 3 guesses as to what it is!
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I have just the one for now. Waiting on some valves so I can take it to my machinist and do some chamber/port cc'ing

See if you can figure out what they are.
No cheating!lol
 
Havent done anything to the Dart lately,but I have been working on scraping paint off the garage door. There are no less than 7 different colors on the door. The bottom layer is very thick and gummy.

I used a very stiff scraper and honed the edge so it was nice and straight on a wet stone.

Preheated with a heat gun and made hundreds of slowmotion passes with the the scraper/gun combo working together.

There are 3 vertical separate panels with 3 squares in each panel for a total of 12 squares.

2-2.5 hours of scraping per square,plus the edge trim. Then belt/palm sand.Then prime and paint.

This door is straight out of the 1950's,built with old growth fir and plywood. Worth saving,just like the old girl Jane living inside.

They just dont make em like this anymore...

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Then I'll take my sand blaster and strip the paint from the concrete.

So Jane is patiently waiting...
 
Well,the valves finally showed up. Mopar stainless one piece, 2.14 int, 1.81 exhaust.

Now I need to see the machinist!
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wow, what a cool build, and a great story to go along with it. i look forward to watching your build. i cant wait till the day you get to drive it again with your wife. just make sure you guys get along. or else jane will make sure you guys dont go anywhere until you do.:-D
 
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