my quest: 4 door into a 2 door sedan

[Arillious]

almost done with the conversion part next up will be cleaning up the car: rust spots, dents, etc. for now i just need to double check that everything is in place and lined, then finally weld the door jambs in.

[Arillious]

more pics

[mopowers]

That looks killer!  You are doing something that not a lot of people would attempt.  Keep it up.

[Arillious]

That looks killer!  You are doing something that not a lot of people would attempt.  Keep it up.

  mopowers glad you guys don't think im screwin stuff up . its not that big a deal though. and its actually not that hard if you have the right parts. as i go through this i think how much time and effort it would be to fab this stuff out of the existing 4 door metal (if i couldn't get the parts though i would still have done it). having the parts make it reeeeeeeeaaaly easy however.

[loiq]

Just by looking at the photos, it looks like you could have used the four-door jamb, but there's no lip for the quarter to wrap around on that jamb, so you would have had to fab one. The two-door jamb made life easier for ya.

[65bcuda]

Reallllly looking good partner !!! When you first started I thought you had better know what your doing , but I've taken on projects that I hardly knew about and turned out sweet.
Again , NICE job thus far    keep it up   it's looking good

[mopowers]

This thread really makes want to do that to this:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/car/693403792.html

[Arillious]

i thought about doing that as well. i like those cars alot. that car has been for sale forever.

[68_Val_Sedan]

I have the door and quarter sections to perform the conversion on that 65 plymouth if any one needs them ...

[valiantguy]

   Wow. The last time I saw balls this size they were rolling down cavern tunnels behind Indiana Jones.

[Arillious]

  Wow. The last time I saw balls this size they were rolling down cavern tunnels behind Indiana Jones.

[Arillious]

I have the door and quarter sections to perform the conversion on that 65 plymouth if any one needs them ...

man if i had the space and extra cash i would get that car and those parts off of you and let them sit untill its turn came up for project construction.... i really love those cars!

[512Duster]

I wonder if I shoulda taken this route with my friends car? either way its

[signet]

i was afraid to open this thread so i never did until yesterday,but man it is interesting to see how this has evolved into a doable modification.

looks real good.

take care.

[JoeSwinger69]

 Just read the thread for the first time today, what an inspiration! I cant believe I havent thought of this I guess I assumed that it wasnt possible or I would have heard of it before. I have a solid southern 70 Valiant 4dr that I have fallen in love with (was supposed to be just a driver), now I will follow your work closely and keep my eyes peeled for a parts car. Thanks for thinking out of the box.
             Joe

[Arillious]

Just read the thread for the first time today, what an inspiration! I cant believe I havent thought of this I guess I assumed that it wasnt possible or I would have heard of it before. I have a solid southern 70 Valiant 4dr that I have fallen in love with (was supposed to be just a driver), now I will follow your work closely and keep my eyes peeled for a parts car. Thanks for thinking out of the box.
             Joe
 

there ya go 4 door cars have great sheet metal and are usually untouched! convert em all!l  and thanks for the nice words

and just for an update on the car:

i haven't been doing much work, but i have one of the posts welded in (permanently! i need to spot weld the top of the post where it meets the roof, but thats because i wanted to get the other side started swo i wouldn't get one side done and then be like " aw geez i gots another whole side to do... ) and the other I'm just about to weld in after i add some shims to the driver door to move it rearwards. for some reason the driver side door is more frontward than the passenger side door.

[67Dart34dr0]

Just read the thread for the first time today, what an inspiration! I cant believe I havent thought of this I guess I assumed that it wasnt possible or I would have heard of it before. I have a solid southern 70 Valiant 4dr that I have fallen in love with (was supposed to be just a driver), now I will follow your work closely and keep my eyes peeled for a parts car. Thanks for thinking out of the box.
             Joe
 

there ya go 4 door cars have great sheet metal and are usually untouched! convert em all!l  and thanks for the nice words

and just for an update on the car:

i haven't been doing much work, but i have one of the posts welded in (permanently! i need to spot weld the top of the post where it meets the roof, but thats because i wanted to get the other side started swo i wouldn't get one side done and then be like " aw geez i gots another whole side to do... ) and the other I'm just about to weld in after i add some shims to the driver door to move it rearwards. for some reason the driver side door is more frontward than the passenger side door.

Yeah, I do know of one four door I don't intend to have converted. It's just more fun that way when the car does much more than expected. Not sure if I'm sticking with the 340 though...

[Arillious]

4-door grandma car equals ultimate sleeper....

[Arillious]

Reallllly looking good partner !!! When you first started I thought you had better know what your doing , but I've taken on projects that I hardly knew about and turned out sweet.
Again , NICE job thus far    keep it up   it's looking good

 

[Arillious]

WELL!.... now it seems like its been a while since I've posted, but I've been a busy bee with a whole sh@# load of stuff. but where i once had a 4 door 68 dart in my drive way, i now have a 2 DOOR!!!!  

what i'm doing now is just finishing up the welds, but the parts are permanently in. heres some pictures. ill continue to post about the progress of the car, but as for the 4 door convert.... i have a 2 door now 

before and after pic and progress pics

body lines match up really nice

[Arillious]

other progress pics

[smitty72]

progress is looking good might be another project for me when I get the dart done

[67Dart34dr0]

Looks like some sanding (some is an understatemen...) and the paint and you'll have a beautiful 2 door on your hands, now you should convert it into a '76.  (just kidding, I hope...)

[Arillious]

76! now way!!  yea i gots tones of sanding to do. as for paint... im gonna go with a rough primer job just so my gf and i can drive it around for a bit... we need a driver... i'm going to start work on my challenger when the dart is running. I'll finish all the body work and body mods (minus paint) for the challenger, then get the engine built and have it running. so the dart will be sort of a rat rod for a little bit. i basically just want some time to work on my challenger so the darts not gonna get a complete "resto" if "resto" is even the proper word to use.

[67Dart34dr0]

Good luck and remember- primer is only a color if it's gonna be "her car." 

I think that car deserves the strangest factory paint job you can find and it might be neat to clone it into a '69 or '70, since doing so will make everyone notice it's not just another "low-line Dart."

[jamesdart]

pretty cool. are you using flux core on the body?  instead of rocking it in primer check out some of the kustom shop flat paint on ebay, cheap as dirt and will give you soem u.v. protection. there are a bunch of colors.

[Arillious]

my girlfriend an i are both huge fans of the 68's (I like years from 67 to 69, but 68 is my favorite). she knows that the primer paint is only temp. when the car has its final paint job I told her i'm gonna dedicate it to her by painting the car all black... some kind of really dark black with a hint of pearl... and then where the black side molding use to be, ill have her name painted on in a continuous line in a stylized cursive in some sort of dark panther or hot pink.... ill draw up a picture so you guys can get a better idea of what I'm saying. Plus i haven't seen it yet it just sounds and looks cool in my head... for right now i think I'm gonna go with what james dart said about that flat paint (she gets her paint job and fanciness later  i get my tough street look now!  )... however, flat black is gonna be the final paint job on my chally and cuda when alls said and done.

oh and yea I'm using flux core. don't have any other wire nor do i have the tanks this car is my first welding experience ever so i thought the less i have to adjust gauges and crap the better i can get acclimated. i hear the the flux core is messy and that the gas stuff is allot cleaner. maybe when i work on the challenger next ill try using some gas, how ever, my budget is super tight, and i mean SUPER tight. so every penny i spend i have to make sure i absolutely need what ever part I'm getting or can i just make fab it or if its a tool i need i see what else i have laying around that could possibly do the job if i hold my butt to the side one foot in the air wile balancing on a ball. i had this one air compressor that was so small that when i used my plasma cutter i could only use it for about 50 seconds till the compressor had to fill up.... stop and go, stop and go, stop and go.... then my pops suprised me with a new 30 gallon compressor with 6 HP! i can use power tools now!!! before i couldn't

[67Dart34dr0]

That paints a picture in my head now. Maybe it'd be cool to keep some sort of stock trim it and put her name in die cast letters (or a die cast script emblem) where Dodge used to go...

[Arillious]

That paints a picture in my head now. Maybe it'd be cool to keep some sort of stock trim it and put her name in die cast letters (or a die cast script emblem) where Dodge used to go...

hey now theres an idea. The thought crossed my mind before, i didn't think much of it though, must have been workin on the car at the time and got too side tracked to actually contemplate on it.

[ValiantOne]

That is just too awesome.

Great job!

CE