1967 Dart GT Resto AutoHD : 1963 Dodge 330
This Dart Originally was equipped with a 273-2bbl and AC. It was a column shift GT with bucket seats and left the factory with gold paint, a black interior and a black vinyl top. The last time the car was complete, it was suspected to have a 360 with an 8-3/4". Of course, this is all word of mouth and spectulation based on local rumors. When I got it, it had most recently been stripped and had been sitting in a barn in Oconee Co.
What the hell is this?
It wouldn't be accurate to describe what I do with old cars to be true Restoration. Restoration means "to bring back to original condition", and I don't have the time or money to undertake such a process. A better term would be Resuscitation, (i.e. "to return to life" or "bring back from the dead"). This is more fitting as many of my project cars start out at what most would consider the end of an automobile's life. They were either in the junkyard or on their way to the junkyard. These pages exist to demonstrate to some of my friends that don't happen to live near me that I am actually fixing some of the rust heaps that I've accumulated. (Here is the proof!)
Starting Point
A few years ago I picked up a 1967 Dart GT as a parts car for my 1969 Dart. After the '69 was wrecked, the '67 parts car was promoted to the primary build car. Originally, the car was bought as little more than a shell. It had no trim or suspension, and no interior other than the dash and the glass.
In the time between the purchase of the '67 and the wreck of the '69, I had bolted on a lot of my spare A-body parts and turned the car into a presentable roller. It was delivered to me on the back of a rollback and looked like this. When I brought it to the house after the '69's wreck, it had been dressed up a bit.
Engine and Transmission Mockup.
The first real order of business is to have the car painted. It needs a minimal amount of body work before paint prep can begin, but just as important as the body work is the task of planning of the post-paint reassembly. To that end, I am in the process of mocking up everything under the hood. After the car is painted there should be a need for fabrication or guessing as which components to use to get the car reassembled.
The engine will be an mild B-block with a A727 transmission. As much as possible, OEM components will be used. This not so much a factor of maintaining some degree of originality as it is a budget-minded, simplistic approach to the project. With this in mind stock cast iron exhaust manifolds will be used along with the original transmission "kick down" linkage. Underhood, the only non stock appearing item that is slated to be used is a late model AC compressor instead of the original Chrysler V-2 compressor.
Details of the engine are not entirely ironed out, but the current plan is a 400cid B-block with 452 heads, a Carter AVS carb, HP exhaust manifolds (LH 68 C-body, RH 74 B-body), and a 284 deg. MP cam.
Radiator Adaptation.
A few years ago, an local old-car junkyard closed down and for some reason I endeavored to save as many 60's Chrysler radiators as possible in the fleeting parts-blitzkriegs I went on prior to everything getting crushed out. One the rescued radiators was a 3-row 22"x19" core unit from a 1964 B-body with a 318 and AC. as it turns out, with the additional size of the top and bottom tanks, this 22"x19" radiator was a perfect fit for the Dart. It sits with about 3/8" clearance to the lower radiator support "shelf", and has about the same clearance from the radiator cap to the hood. Unfortunately, the radiator brackets positioned the radiator much to far into the engine bay. I removed the brackets, positioned the radiator it is desired location, and proceeded to section the left and right brackets to the tune of 1"-1.5".
Floor Repair
- How the driver's side started out.
- After some prep and cleaning.
- Here it is mid weld, I had to stop for the day.
- Still more progress.
- Welding done on driver's side.
There was some rust damage to the floor pans that resulted from clogged
cowl drains and years of water spilling through the left and right vents.
the driver side had it much worse so that is where I begin. the frame
rails were in good shape, and I didn't even need to use the entire patch
panel. Here are some pictures of how the project went.
The patch panel looks a little grubby because it had a little surface rust that I removed prior to fitting it. Both the driver side and the passenger side patch panels came with the purchase of car and had been sitting in the floorboards for a few years collecting moisture and surface rust. After cleaning the rust off, I painted the bottom of the pan with Wurth's Zinc rich Weld-thru Primer because there would be section of the pan that would be out of reach of a paint gun once the pan is installed. I've had good luck with this primer staving off rust, the high Zinc content (98-99%) has a galvanizing effect on the steel. The panels were purchased from Year One and are perhaps the same panels offered by many of the other restoration part suppliers (The Paddock, Sherman's, Layson's, Goodmark). The fit and contour was excellent. There is a slit cut in the corner under the driver's foor which I patched with some sheet metal stock. For a purist seeking an indistinguishable patch, to make this right would require a lot more welding and grinding (then again, they same would have to be done to hide the seam where the panel meets the trans tunnel).
