I am currently looking at a 1970 Dodge Dart 4-door for my first car. It has a slant 6 with 110,000 original miles. Me and my old man are going to look under the hood today and I was wondering, should I look at any spot in particular for problems?
Off topic, is there a place I can ask about body work or just the car in general on this site?

The biggest problem area is usually the parts that are bolted to it like carbs and ignitions. The "Other" forum is a good place for general car questions.

in addtion to what mcnoople said,like any other used car, check the fluids, and general condition of the car out. If it has been sitting for years there may be issues with hoses, gaskets, anything that has/had soft rubber parts exposed to gas or antifreeze. If it has been a driver, check out the cleaniless of the engine carpart, look for fluid spatter or spray on the fenders or underside of the hood, check the fluid levels etc. If they didn't take the time to make sure the fluids were topped off when they knew you were coming to look at it, you have to question how often they checked them much when they were driving it?

Under the hood you will also want to check out the wiring as best you can, see if it is in good condition, or if there are splices exposed, etc. another general indication that they may not have taken the best care they could have of the vehicle.

For $500.00 you can't expect it to be show room condition, but sometimes a $500.00 car can cost you more in the short term getting it on the road than the $3,000 car down the street.

Brian

Make sure you flush the block and radiator thoroughly. When I bought my 66 it had low miles and was used as a local car by an elderly woman. It had a lot of corrosion in the engine that was swept into the radiator and plugged it up after I used it for extended highway driving. I discovered this error on my part while going up the Grapevine on I-5 -- made for a long day.

With the engine running (I assume it does?), open the oil fill cap on the valve cover and take a look inside with a flashlight. See if the rocker arms and top of the head are getting fresh oil, or if they all junked up with a lot of crusty gunk. If power steering, with the engine running, turn the steering wheel from stop to stop to up the pressure and check the pump fittings and hoses for leaks.

Not necessarily under the "hood" are a couple other things you want to look at. The torsion bar mounts are sometimes rusted through the cross-member. If the body has much rust on the outside, namely the quarter panels and rocker panels, you should check the frame rails very closely.

As stated above, for that price, you have to take some of the bad with the good, so look it over very carefully. If you have the time to think over the purchase, before committing, come back here with questions, concerns, or maybe even photos.

Jerry

_________________
There's a difference between ignorance and stupidity.
Ignorance is not knowing any better.
Stupidity is knowing, yet doing it anyway.

At this point my biggest concern would be rust and water leaks around weatherstripping. Check the condition of the floor boards, check the fneders directly befhind the rear wheels, check the trunk floor, check the bottom of the rear window frame in the trunk and in the back seat, check to make sure the wiper pivot seals aren't leaking, and check to make sure the door weatherstyripping is still in good condition.

The drivetrains on dart and valiants are near bulletproof with only basic maintenance, so any problems that crop up there can most likely be fixed easily. With 110,000 miles on the motor I would be prepared to do a complete tune-up and possibly replace things like the timing chain, water/oil/fuel pump, carb rebuild, intake/exhaust manifold gasket replacement, muffler replacement, etc... Also, this Dart will have points ignition if it hasn't been converted, so I recommend that you convert it ASAP.

Don't forget the torsion bar mounts on the rear (transmission) crossmember! Grab an ice pick and start poking around in that area to be sure you don't have rust-through. While you've got the pick in your hand, check the integrity of the unibody rails over the front wheels and around the back wheels.

Previous posts are right, mechanicals are very reliable on these cars and relatively easy to repair. It's the rust that will get ya.

-Mac

o.k., Im back from looking and I now have more questions.
The engine starts fine, but the alternator (I think) keeps going for a sec or two, replacement? Also, while running at idle, the engine vibrated a lot, I am assuming that its a problem with timing, advice? I think the exhaust is shot from the muffler on back. any suggestions there?
Thanks for the responses!

not sure about your alternator question-- but the rough idle is typical for a slant that has not been tuned up -- or has been sitting.

A good tune-up will most likely fix most of the rough idle--

Mainly if the car is not a rust bucket & you need cheap reliable transportation --
this car sounds perfect---- it is simple to work on -- very reliable once repaired & economical to use--

Good luck & let us know when your ready for valve adjustment 101!!!!!!

Run a compression check.
Rough idle could be caused by a lot of different things, if the compression is OK in in all cylinders then a tune-up or carb rebuild should get things right.
If you have low or no compression in a cylinder, then it's at least a valve adjustment or a burnt valve or worst yet, a bad piston or rings.
DD

I think you mean the starter motor runs on for a couple seconds. THis is normal, no cause for concern.

A rough idle could be caused by a number of different things- work carb, misadjusted valves, worn timing components, improper settings on the carb/timing, etc... The list goes on.

My first guess would be the points and/or dwell setting.

Alright, I was thinking along those lines for the vibrations. I don't get it untill wednesday, and I got the price down to $450. Now I have another question, when we started it up, it smoked (but not blue smoke), could that be from bad gasgets or seals?

Thanks again, there are nice people on this board, I'm glad I found it!

Smoke can be from many different things. Normal exhaust smoke in cold weather? White smoke usually means water/coolant. Blue is oil. Black is generally caused by the car running rich, but others things can cause it also. What color was the smoke. How long had it been running when it was smoking. How long has the car been sitting.

it was white smoke. It sat idling for about 5 minutes before a test-drive. It didn't smoke as much while driving, after back we looked again and there wasn't as much smoke (it didn't stop completely, but alot less)

I have similar symptoms in my daily driver. It's a 73 swinger, 1bbl, automatic, 62k original miles. It idles rough and shakes alot when at a red light/stop sign, but idles better in neutral and totally runs smooth under throttle. It also shakes like hell when first warming it up in the morning. I recently have fixed a leaky carb base gasket, upgraded to a HO alternator and deep cycle battery after some problems with my new high wattage stereo, and had my valves relashed in October. A mechanic told me that's just the way they are but I don't really buy it. I thought I read somewhere on here that a guy used a hotter coil to help eliminate that shake. Any thoughts?