my car is a 1970 dodge dart 2 door hardtop. the car is equipped with a 10w-40 tinted 225 and a slightly pinkish 904. it is mostly peeling primer gray, with some creamy yellowish showing elsewhere. it has a nasty rusted quarter on the driver's side, and the trunk is disappearing. the floorboards are solid. which means that when it rains it holds the water in the car instead of draining. my plan is to yank the engine this month to strip it down and do some math and what-not. hopefully a color change, to something a bit more consistent, is on the horizon. and there is a rueful lack of interior, two bench seats, but not much else. i will be posting progress and such here, if you have any warnings, advice, ideas, or unconventional wisdom to offer, please do so, replies, pms, phone calls, frantic pounding on the door, etc., to keep me from making bad mistakes is very appreciated, especially if you think it's something i should already know.

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

I have a set of black door panels from a '70 if you need them, I'm in the Salem area.

Seth

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Annabelle: 1970 Dodge Dart Hardtop
1991 Nissan 240sx (sileighty) Lots of mods
1974 Dodge Dart *Wrecked*

Just be careful... The more you take apart, the longer it takes to put back together. Mission creep (with spiraling costs and time needed) has killed many a good project.

Aside from that, lots of good quality Ziploc Freezer bags, in various sizes, to hold all the small hardware as it comes apart. Label them all on the white strip with a good Sharpie marker. It is absolutely a pleasure when --as you're reassembling the vehicle 6 months later-- you pick up a bag with three odd-sized bolts in it, and know exactly what they go to.

Don't forget to fix the sources of all those leaks while you've got it all apart. Wiper seals from Schumaker, new trunk gasket, etc.

- Mac

My best advice is:

Do one thing at a time!

I can't tell you how many times I've just gotten down and dirty tearing something apart, only to find at the end of the day that I've torn just about all the rest of the car apart in the process.

Keep your focus. If you've got wiring to replace, do that THEN move onto one of the other things that you noticed while you were in there.

The main idea is to keep it from snow-balling and becoming "work" instead of "fun".

Always remember this: No matter how much you love the car, it will never love you back.

~THOR~

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1984 D100 Shorty Custom
Certified Auto Appraiser - RevItUp Classic Appraisals
President - Cherry City Bombers CC
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

thanks for the tips guys, from practical to philosophical mechanic advice, i can always count on the slanters. i will try to keep at least a weekly update on here, as i won't be able to work on the car every day. have got a new wiper seal kit still in its box, but i'm having the hardest time sourcing the windshield seals, and a new windshield, or are they just always really expensive? last time i talked to a glass guy he said something about the butyl rubber part being unavailable?

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

ok, well I cleared the work area up, stuffed a motoshade into the geo and drove to lebanon, picked up a primo distributer from DI in salem, met Nongan for door panels, then went back to the dart, disassembled the front seat and stuffed it in the geo, and drove back to creswell. aong the way i stopped at Ceej and Linda's with the broadcast sheet and Ceej sent it to Daniel to have it decoded. and i was tyred, so i slept at their howse too. now i need to clean out the geo reeally badly, it has three loose door panels, two carburetors, a typewriter, a dart front bench, two toolboxes, a pair of roller blades, and three sets of work clothes in it at current. Hmm, maybe i need a compact pickup.

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

For windshield seals, I used this place http://www.dannoenterprises.com/wgasket.htm

I was very pleased with the seal I ordered. They have the best prices I could find and shipping was very fast. I ordered on Wed and had gasket on Mon.

This was 3 weeks ago.

Mike

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An officialis Tyrde-Browne Racing membrum

excellent linkage mike, thx, will likely order one next week

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

well, my brother's dart caught on fire and burned all the soft parts in the engine bay, so that's inconvenient, but noone was hurt and a lesson was learned about fuel leaks. the cover is finally up over the work area and deconstruction will commence after we figure out the engine lift. it looks a bit, well, bodged together.

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

Especially now that fire is involved.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Are you and Timothy alright?

What happened?

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Just re-read. Sound like you came out unscathed.

What do you need?

CJ

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

i agree that the thread is useless without pikatures, but i don't have a camera to take them with. Timmy's dart needs all the soft bits in the engine compartment, hoses, wires, things like that. and since the fire started at the carb, prolly one of those too. we think that now is as good a time as any to go to two barrel on his car, start with a bbd and modify a manifold for it, or he uses my manifold and i modify one for my car. hmm. not sure. we shall see. if anyone has a rochester 2se? he's driving the van for now. gotta get a camera. and i work in the electronics department too.

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

well, I got the engine disassembled to the point of pulling. took some pictures and left my camera at home so i can't post'em, so that's boring. The bores feel like glass and there's a great nasty ridge where the rings stop at the top, i s'pose that's par for a 40 year old engine. i was offered the front end out of a 74 dart sport, so i guess i'm getting discs and BBP. now what to do about the back, i am not sure. i already have a nice little 2.93 back there, the fellow said something about getting a ford 8.8 to get discs in the back. not sure. ideas? also, is there anything else I should pull off the donor? it is a 340 car, he says it is a 7-1/4 rear end, not suregrip. i assume I will want the master cylinder? and it has been wrapped around a tree, so no fair just taking the whole car. tomorrow i plan on doing some wrenching, maybe finally yank the iron out.

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-Christopher

"Gray Ghost"-1970 Dart.
"Frederick II"-1994 Geo Metro.

Chris you don't need to use an 8.8 go for an 8" or for much better gear selection, the 9"

Richard

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Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing