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1970 B5 blue Dart BUDGET BUILD!

20K views 38 replies 12 participants last post by  epicVIN 
#1 ·
I know I have a build started on here somewhere but that is on the back burner for now since I'm pretty sure I can get this one running sooner since it's mostly there and I have most of the parts.
This one is not going to be a BBD,at least not at the start.
Bought a Dart hood and dual scoops from a guy I used to know in the 70's during our street racing days.
I paid $550 for the hood with scoops and asked the guy what he was doing with the rest of the car and he said he was scrapping it. There is no way this blue Dart should be junked so I offered to buy the car from him also for $350.
So this is how this car is now a project that jumped ahead of my other green 1970 that's on a rotisserie.
The car is going to have a small block 273 because a guy I sold parts to had one he wasn't going to use so I bought it for $100 and he threw in an Edelbrock Performer and a Mallory Unilite distributor for FREE!
 

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#2 · (Edited)
little 273

I was told the 273 was a runner and I started de-greasing and painting and decided to pull the oil pan to check what it looked like inside and straighten the bottom of the oil pan while I'm at it.
The pistons look newer,the cylinder walls have a nice cross-hatch pattern. Someone put in a high volume oil pump and there's not much sludge in the engine or oil pan.
Started to paint the engine with race hemi orange and decided to go with the little darker street hemi orange after 2 cans. Now I can't decide if I want the orange valve covers or the cheapie chrome valve cover I bought for $15.
Heck,I might even want to paint the Edelbrock intake manifold orange.
The Edelbrock carburetor was given to me by a tow truck operator from an abandoned vehicle,I think it's 600cfm but it's FREE and we tested it on a running 440 Chrysler.
 

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#4 ·
quarter panel slice



The kid driving the car hit a street sign and sliced through the top of the quarter panel. I bought a small section of a quarter panel(traded an Edelbrock carb,another freebie) for it. This is a budget build but I'm getting nickled and dimed to death buying nut,bolts,studs,gaskets and lots of engine de-greaser etc.
Zigs from BBD pulled 2 fenders,a hood,and rear bumper for me(yellow hood on car) in a Yakima,Washington wrecking yard for a measly $250 and he did it in the snow last year. THANK YOU Zigs! Fenders are going on the green 1970 Dart and so will the hood scoops. Just wanted to see what it looks like on the blue car it came from.
Guy with the 273 sold me the rallyes with tires,caps and trim rings for $100,I will narrow his 8 3/4 for the same.
Tires have weather cracks. Wanted to powdercoat wheels but didn't want to re-mount and balance wheels.Low $$$.
 

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#5 ·
engine bay

This is a practice run for me since I have forgotten how to work on these cars. Last Dart hot rod was in the mid 70's.
I'm tempted to just use Rust Mort or equivalent that turns rust into black primer on the engine bay surface rust since that's all it has up front. Too bad I can't fit into blast cabinet and the green Dart is still in the shipping container being stored.

This cabinet is a restorers best friend! OK, I'm rolling now but will someone chime in and tell me to quit wasting my time on the 273? I have big blocks sitting around but the only one ready has 11:5:1 pistons! Wish I can afford aluminum heads. Kids have me on a budget!
 

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#6 ·
It's a great save that you made for the Mopar nation. The engine is clean on the inside and now it's looking great on the outside. Run the orange valve covers witht the unpainted intake for a while and when you get bored and need a change throw on the chromes. There is no shame in a budget build as long as its a Mopar! Just enjoy driving it and don't try to do too much that will hinder that from happening. Just keep in mind it is serving a purpose and you saved a good car from going to Mopar heaven. Well done!!!
 
#7 ·
Great budget build you got going there. Keep it coming.
 
#9 ·
still on it but slow progress!

Thanks for the encouragement and input guys!
I took the fenders off to check how badly rusted it is but it's only surface rust yet I can't get myself to just spray undercoating or Rust Mort and keep moving on. I'm finding myself cleaning parts,sandblasting and painting every bracket,bolt and linkages etc.
The engine bay will be painted blue before I drop the engine and transmission in. It's going to take time cleaning the firewall,masking and replacing gaskets. They know me at the Autozone parts store now as I'm ordering engine mounts,heater hoses and other misc parts 2-3 times a week.
My helpers probably think I'm being anal with this old car.
 

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#11 ·
budget parts

Degreased the transmission housing to get ready to paint(don't know why I bother) and pulled the pan to check what kind of nasty stuff is on the bottom. To my surprise,it didn't have metal shavings or dirty fluid so the pan was straightened, painted and going back on. Trans was from a 4-door 1974 Valiant that I took the V8 kmember,disc brakes and 8 1/4 rearend from then scrapped so it was practically FREE. Parts girl was surprised trans filter and gasket cost only $7.99.

Now,I learned from BBD members that you could use a truck engine mount with thin insulator and one regular V8 mount with the thicker insulator to mount the small block directly on the slant 6 kmember. Schumacher mounts cost $160 plus shipping.

Found a good use for the 1962 Chevrolet truck with a 468 bigblock stored in the building!
 

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#13 · (Edited)
"Dutchman'



So you're my job pusher!
Got a quarter panel piece to splice into the car and after sandblasting ended-up with a few tiny pinholes some almost a "quarter" inch round. Since I didn't want to use that piece now, I decided to use part of the right fender that needed replacing. Now that's recycling! Using a piece of the car to patch another section. A 'Dutchman' which is a a term used by old welders like myself,to make a splice commonly when we have cut a piece too short! I'm not a bodyman so I'm kind of liking tackling this. Heck,I even uncovered the part number stamped on the old fender,ending with an even numeral meaning it's for the right side! These are the only two spots on the car that needed fixed because of rust through. We will see how I do tomorrow!
 

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#15 ·
lipstick on a pig!



John,I know you're getting the new housing Wednesday. We can try and straighten the old one by putting the jig in it and heating up the housing. They should have put the backbrace on first and bearing flange LAST! We can cut and re-install flanges.

Got the left quarter panel patched and it's flat on some spots,I need to have less gap so it doesn't dive-in some places. Oh well,we have lots of plastic filler,ha ha!

Still used part of the quarter panel I had as I didn't want to mess with the front radius and used a manual flanging tool so part of the weld is lapped. I'm seeing a little more rust than I'd like but still don't need big sections replaced. At times I feel like I'm putting lipstick on a pig and it's not going to matter much. Good practice though.
 

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#18 ·
intake manifold



thanks!

I once painted a valve cover I had replaced on a Mazda 6 and the heat blistered the paint. Had used Aluma Blast on it and it looked good at first. You are right, use either high heat paint or powdercoat. Seymour Paint have the Cast Blast in original and 1200* for cast iron also.
 

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#22 · (Edited)
a little sidetracked

Started on a housing to narrow for mopar44075.
Was still able to make my little patch in the Dart trunk and find old pictures of the quarter panel slice repair. I like using the flanging tool for a lap weld with the patch panel,the piece will go underneath the cut quarter panel.
 

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#23 ·
you do great work my friend. you have alot of talent. says alot about your character when you are building a car to sell and make a little money but you dont cut corners. alot of guys just slap stuff together and pawn it off on the buyer. you are going to have a nice little dart when all is said and done.
 
#24 ·
thanks!



For the compliment,again! But,if I wasn't cutting corners,I would be replacing the whole quarter panel and the whole trunk floor! The thing about this build is to keep it simple,cheap,use parts I already have or can get cheap and do as much work on it that I can handle.

Originally,I planned on not keeping this car because I have another which I consider to be in better shape. I'm treating this car like I would possibly keep it for myself but not be embarrassed of a hacked job if I sold it.

Next stop, powdercoat some parts and clean/paint engine bay!
 
#26 ·
helping hand



If you can pull out your old 8 3/4 rearend, we can stick the jig in it and figure out how best to straighten it. Maybe heat up opposite where they welded the backbrace.

Might just have to cut off the flanges and weld straight with the bar even though the line-up is offset.
YES,I can use help as I always get distracted with shop stuff.
 
#27 · (Edited)
little change of pace!

My buddy and I started on this Bulletnose Studebaker in 1998 and have had it on hold. When he called last week so we can buy some brake parts and work on the car again,had to stop work on the Dart for a change of pace.

Also, the frame on the 1962 Corvette I sold to my uncle had been tearing for over a year because the upper shock bracket and shocks bottoming out so we decided to work on that also!

That master cylinder is a MOPAR PART! I do want to get back to the Dart!
 

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#29 · (Edited)
back on the project

One of our bodyman decided to give me a hand straightening the patch I welded. He welded a row of studs on the crease and pulled with a wide flat vise grip with a slide hammer. They normally like to use body filler with fiberglass strands such as 'Dynaglass' over patch repairs then regular filler,this time he used a product by 'Upol' which was leftover from another repair. It was interesting watching him pull and use the body hammer.
 

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#33 ·
sold car to my buddy!

Going to leave the build thread on here as I will still help my buddy finish this budget build! Now I can maybe concentrate on the rotisserie car and get it on the ground so it might sell faster!

The B5 blue Dart will reside in a big garage next to our bulletnose Studebaker project. It will get more attention now and it went for a bargain basement $1250! Car has a rebuilt 273,a 1974 904(998?) transmission and a 7 1/4 rear. I threw-in a 318 rebuildable longblock that I got for FREE in case he wanted a more period correct engine later,but why not just build a 340 then? Well,it's free! Maybe he liked the fact that I said the factory dual scoops can go for $400 on EBay and the unsilenced air cleaner for $200!...then again,maybe he just wants me to make my Philippine trip!

All good glass,hardly any more rusted areas and I will build my buddy a sbp 8 3/4 as I have spare parts laying around that nobody wanted!

Funny how three other people wanted the blue Dart after they found out it was being picked-up with a trailer!

So the budget build goes on!
 

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