Quote: I've been beading around the bush with this idea, but I think after Fall Fling I am going to officially retire the Dart's cruiser state and just start taking it apart to fix the little things and hot rod it.
My friend with the 71 Demon has already given me some ideas on the Dart on how to fix some of the things that don't look so good. Who knows, maybe we could do a thing where one weekend we work on his car and another we work on mine. Right now he's completely redoing the suspension and is waiting for parts to come in. He is kind of bugged and just wants to drive it again since it has been apart all summer.
Don't take it apart! It snowballs then you have a pile of parts! DAMHIK. Try and fix one thing at a time. Sometimes getting in and driving it down the road is needed to refresh your enthusiasm. So please, don't take a bunch of stuff apart at once. Restore it to cruiser status after each upgrade and you will be much happier!
Well, not completely apart where I've got everything pulled out of the engine bay and all that. In whole it will still be mostly together. I'd like to do a 4 wheel disc brake, bigger wheel, big bolt swap this year so that's what I was talking about when I meant primarily by taking it apart. I was driving it yesterday and the 205/75/14 tires and 2.94 rear gear ratio really dog down the car. But overall, for the most part it should be together.
Interior most likely won't be touched except for the steering column that I'm going to take out and fix (I'm replacing the manual steering shaft for a PS one and I may put in an aftermarket steering wheel). Engine and Trans are going to sit where they are and won't be touched (I am probably going to buy and replace all of the hoses and clean up the engine bay wiring). As far as suspenion goes I'm probably going to replace the shocks and see if my buddy can help me fab up subframe connectors. Paint and body won't be touched. And of course I'm going to work with all the little bugs around the car. I just want to slowly move away from cruiser status.
Slowly is good. Before you embark on an improvement, make sure everything to do it is right in front of you. Don't be waiting on parts. Don't have ALMOST everything, just need to wait on the money to do that one last thng! This happen, then you are missing one part, you broke the stock this taking it off and you are stuck with a really big paperweight you can't drive or enjoy. That's when you start getting discouraged and tired of the project. I'm just trying to help keep you from making the same mistakes I did. I had a '69 Bee once. If was from Texas, but Texas isn't always without rust. Anyway, it ran, it drove(kind of) and it was complete. Needed tires, carb, alignment(if that didn't help a little, front suspension) a different gear, and eventually a lot of body work. Instead of working on the this I could fix and stick enjoy it, I tore it down to nothing and then spent the next 3-5 years trying to sell it because I didn't have the money or time to put it back together! A set of tires and a carb and I would have been driving a really ugly b5 blue 4spd Super Bee with a '69 hp 440 in it! That's my experience. Hope you see what I'm getting at and how quickly something can spiral out of reasonable control! Good luck, again, on your sweet ride!
1969 Dart GTS 340 1969 Super Bee X9 N-96 1969 Coronet R/T X9 N-96 2015 Dodge Dart GT 2019 Ram 2500 Big Horn. Looking for the original block for my Bee. The last 4 are 7449
