The Other 68 Dart Resto Project

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70dart said:
Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated. So durablocks would be better to use? Man Flyboy Ican't get over how good your work is, awesome. What if you bought a couple of the Box lke fans and rig up an exhaust system where the garage door is. That should get rid of any fumes and overspray shouldn't it?
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Durablocks are good because you can get a variety for cheap. The ones I use the most are the 24" x 3", 6" x 3" thin block, 10" X 3", 6" x 3" soft block (3M), and the 1" round block. I also make a few myself, like a 1" x 2" from a paint stick, a 3/4" x 2" round dowel wrapped in rubber shelf liner (for wheel lips).
 
Hey Flyboy how did you weld the holes shut? What style welder did you use?

Nice work by the way I need to get rid of the side trim on my 69 dart
 
6dart9 said:
Hey Flyboy how did you weld the holes shut? What style welder did you use?

Nice work by the way I need to get rid of the side trim on my 69 dart
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I used the cheapest welder Lincoln sold, the Handy Mig, it was about $300 shipped. Not bad, most issues have been my own doing and not reading the instructions. I am getting better now that I know a little more about welding. I started welding the holes shut using a copper backing plate, but I found it was easier to start at one edge of the holes and make a spiral, filling it in. And yes, there were about 84 trim holes to fill in all over the car. It took weeks to weld them all shut.
 
Some days you get a lot done, some days you don't, today was a good day.

Today I had Sam (sawcut64) come over and help me start putting the body back together. We got the doors back on, the hood on, and finished up installing the bushing kit in the hinges. Let me tell you, those bushing kits are worth every penny of the $15 they cost! The doors open smoothly and have no droop, creaks, or squeaks. If you have not done it yet, do it! This also marks the first time the doors have been back on since May of 2007. Its starting to look like a real car again!

Of course, I had to put the Hemi scoop on the hood, just for a little motivation. :D

This morning I did a little mock up work on the engine, bolting things together and making sure they will work. I ran into a few issues, the dipstick tube was cracked at the bottom, of course, me being a cheap-***, I fired up the welder, welded the cracked part, then put it to the grinder. Good as new. :D I noticed that the chrome Mopar timing cover I bought absolutely disappears behind the damper and water pump housing. Oh well.

I also have issues with the stock throttle cable bracket and trans kick down. The RPM intake is so much taller than the stock intake, that the bracket is almost 2 inches shorter than it needs to line up with the Demon carb. I will need to cut it apart, make some extensions, then weld it back together. Another issue was that I replaced the stock rod style trans kick down with a Lokar cable style kickdown, this is completely different, I need to weld on a new bracket for this to work. The stock on-intake coil location will not work with the new Demon carb, the bowl hits the coil, I guess I will have to mount it on the fender. This why its a good idea to mock things up before you drop the engine in.

Also on the list of things I did today, I finished assembling the sandblast cabinet and fired it up with glass bead, I proceded to blast my RPM intake (it was painted blue), it now looks like a brand new cast intake.
 
Here is my first project with the blast cabinet, glass beaded.

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Looks good. This is going on the 318? Hope you are painting the intake again. they stain really quickly.

What was the size drill bit you used for the hinge pin kit? I have the kitand I'll be doing this soon before I hang the doors.
 
i never caught what motor youre running, but looks good. only thing i would have changed if i blasted that intake myself would be blasting the gasket surface. its usually a machine finish, which is perfectly straight, and smooth. i would have masked that off somehow, but im sure it wont hurt anything. idk, just me thinking...

looks great man!
 
yeah i think i read somewhere that he has a tame bigblock to go in it for now and a stroker hes building to put in later on. But that may have changed we all know how many times things change in a project good luck flyboy lets see some pics of the car somewhat back together would be nice i know its not painted yet but at least your starting to feel like your getting somewhere
 
Definately not tame anymore. 8)

The "temporary" motor I am building is a .040 over 400 block, 9.6:1 comp, MP .509 cam, Demon 750, RPM intake, and ported 906 heads (unless I can scrape up the dough for aluminum heads). I am going guess a conservative 425hp, maybe more. The trans is a BB 727 with a 3500 stall, and maybe a deep set of 3.91 or 4.10 gears. :toothy10:

Yes I still have the fully machined 383 block waiting for a 4.25 stroker crank, which may come later this year. This one should be around 600hp and 600tq when I am done with it. I am slowly aquiring the pieces for this engine.
 
daves66valiant said:
Looks good. This is going on the 318? Hope you are painting the intake again. they stain really quickly.

What was the size drill bit you used for the hinge pin kit? I have the kitand I'll be doing this soon before I hang the doors.
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I have used Eastwood's Diamond Clear on a few bare metal parts before, so I might use it again on this manifold, I am also considering having it clear powder coated too. Not sure yet.

I think it was a 17/64 bit. I will have to check the bit again. What I did was buy a drill gauge and found what size hole the bushings fit the best, then bought a drill bit to match.
 
Don't know what I was thinking. I knew it was a 383 you originally bought that had water in it. Dyslexic error. Doh.

Thanks for the tip. I'll take the bushing to Lowe's and figure out the best bit.
 
When you switch to a big block from a small block, your ***** automatically grows another 30%. :cheers:
 
What happens when a small block smokes a big block? hummmm. What percentage then?

I'll have to measure after the 440 project. LMAO
 
flyboy01 said:
When you switch to a big block from a small block, your ***** automatically grows another 30%. :cheers:
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Funny. Well then, I dont need a bigblock for my car, as it stands, I either need to wear my pants up higher or get a roll of duct tape so I can keep things out of the way when i walk.:walk:8)
 
Unfortunately its been too cold to paint lately, so no new progress other than putting the body back together. I have been working on the engine lately, I am going to make some changes and drop in some new pistons for higher compression and some big valve notches for a higher lift cam. I am going to try for at least 450hp with this motor, and with the new pistons, maybe a wee bit-o giggle juice.
 
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