Pro Touring 68 Dart convertible

[1 Wild R/T]

Which probably needs subframe connectors more than any other body style....  And they need to be effective which bolt in vs welded compromises..... Forget the concern, weld them in....   

[Burdar]

  it needs to be done.

That USCT picture shows something at the shackle mount. I didn't know they made something for that area. I'll have to see what that is.

[303 Mopar]

I think the easiest thing is just to make some with rectangular tubing.  Someone here posted pictures of their setup.  They ran the tubing into the front and rear frame instead of just welding it to the outside.  With good looking welds I think it will look fine.  That will leave some space above them to get the lines in.  Still thinking about it though.  I just hate welding on a permanent piece.  I know it's just a 318 car a no one will ever want to bring it back completely stock but it's still a convertible.

I added rectangular tubing connectors to my '69 Sport Satty vert and it made a big difference. Even though it had TQ boxes, the car still flexed and now it is so much more solid.  I add these subframe connectors to my Charger and Cuda as well.  Best bang for your buck!  I have some pics here - https://forum.e-bodies.org/general-topics/7/frame-stiffening/6060/msg85435#msg85435

[1 Wild R/T]

it needs to be done.

That USCT picture shows something at the shackle mount. I didn't know they made something for that area. I'll have to see what that is.

They (USCT) are now selling a kit to move the springs inboard inline with the frame rails.... Basically the same thing Direct Connection sold in the 60's.....  It moves the springs in 3" per side... In the 70's it was the trick thing to get big tires under the car but honestly these days if you want that much tire you probably should be looking at back halfing the car.... (4 link)....

[moparcar]

I really like where you're going with this. I love Darts and they are just nice and simple. Great lines! Always one of my favorites. Please keep us updated as this will be great!

Do weld in the SFCs, they need it especially in a vert.

Wes

[JS29]

The USCT connectors that are cut to join to the floor pan look like they belong there when done properly. 

[Burdar]

I added rectangular tubing connectors to my '69 Sport Satty vert and it made a big difference. Even though it had TQ boxes, the car still flexed and now it is so much more solid.  I add these subframe connectors to my Charger and Cuda as well.  Best bang for your buck!  I have some pics here - https://forum.e-bodies.org/general-topics/7/frame-stiffening/6060/msg85435#msg85435

I thought it was you that did that.  Thanks for the link.  I think this is probably the best way to go at this point.  I can still use the pre-bend stainless lines this way.  I can also just go down the street from where I work and get the tubing. I'll have to do some measuring but I think I've seen people use 2x3 tubing too.  Will 2x3 not fit inside the rear frame?

They (USCT) are now selling a kit to move the springs inboard inline with the frame rails

Ok, that's what that is.  I was thinking it was something to strengthen the shackle mount.  Thanks!

[Burdar]

Since the interior was really nasty and stinky, that's the first thing I needed to tackle.  I don't have a lot of garage space and knew I'd have to store the seats inside.  I didn't want those nasty things in my house so once they were removed, I took them right to the upholstery shop.






They stripped the seats down to the frames and replaced a few badly rusted spring.  Then I picked up the frames and dropped them off at the powerdercoater.




Once the frames were done, I dropped them back off at the upholstery shop.  The seats were finished will all new foam and covers from Legendary.  The rear seat back was missing its medallion.  I found one online and purchased it.  Originally I think these were just left all chrome.  I decided to spray them black inside.  I sprayed the entire piece black(no masking) then wiped off the excess with lacquer thinner on an old sock.  It's much easier this way then trying to mask small parts.


rear seats...






front seats...






A couple of the plastic hinge covers were in bad shape.  I found a couple replacements at Carlisle.


A little cleaning, some SEM white paint as a base and then a top coat of Herb's pearl white interior paint got them looking new again!
SEM base coat on the right...pearl on the left

[nsmall]

Always enjoy watching your skills at work.  He @Brads70 how about a couple pics of your home made sub frame connectors with the circles for another idea for Darren here?

Darren, I like how you went all out for stock on your 73 challenger and now you are just having fun and doing your own thing this time around.  Always been a fan of 67-69 darts,  Love the straight lines on the tail panel vs later years.

Not to spoil later parts of your thread here, but didn't you already build the engine?  Im thinking I saw some engine candy pics some time ago 

[Brads70]

Always enjoy watching your skills at work.  He @Brads70 how about a couple pics of your home made sub frame connectors with the circles for another idea for Darren here?

Darren, I like how you went all out for stock on your 73 challenger and now you are just having fun and doing your own thing this time around.  Always been a fan of 67-69 darts,  Love the straight lines on the tail panel vs later years.

Not to spoil later parts of your thread here, but didn't you already build the engine?  Im thinking I saw some engine candy pics some time ago 

I used 1x2 ( 1/8th wall stock) square tubing but with 1" round tubing welded in every 6" . I found that by welding in the round tubing it greatly reduced the flex torsionaly . I put  it in my bridgeport vise and then with a large adjustable wrench tried to twist it before and after welding in the tubing. I was really surprised at how well the round tubing worked to make it much stronger for very little effort and cost. I REALLY recommend doing this with whatever style of  SFC you chose. 303Mopar's method of installing them  right through the torsion bar crossmember and into the rear frame rail is best/strongest. If I had it to do over again I would have cut into the frame, but when I was building my car I had this self imposed rule to not to do anything that couldn't be easily undone. I figured a couple hours could have them removed, welds ground down and you would never know they were there.  I don't really stick to that rule anymore.... it is just a /6 car and will never be worth and serious money. That and I built the car for ME , not someone else!
They make a HUGE difference! I can jack the car up at the front or rear between the wheels and the whole car comes off the ground , pretty much at the same time. It for sure didn't do that before. I'd say off all the mods I made to my car to make it stiffer , the SFC are by far the most effective. They are smaller than other styles at 1x2 , making "packaging" easier, but make a huge difference. Literally cost me like $20 bucks! I suspect my design is just as strong as the US car tool design 
( which I had bought , then sold) but without all the work of fitting it to the floor and all that welding 

[303 Mopar]

I thought it was you that did that.  Thanks for the link.  I think this is probably the best way to go at this point.  I can still use the pre-bend stainless lines this way.  I can also just go down the street from where I work and get the tubing. I'll have to do some measuring but I think I've seen people use 2x3 tubing too.  Will 2x3 not fit inside the rear frame?

I'm not sure the 2x3 will fit because you still want good material left on frame rail.  The 2x2 slides inside the frame rail and we did a rosette type weld on the drain hole as well as the outside to hold it in place.

[Burdar]

What wall thickness did you use 303?

I like your idea Brad. I can see that adding a lot of strength. It looks pretty cool too.

[Burdar]

Just got under the car and did some measuring. 2" is too tall to slide in the rear frame and still clear the floor pan. It looks like 1x2 it is. Probably 12 gauge like the USCT ones. 4' of tubing should work per side. That's long enough to go inside the torsion bar x-member and cover the drain hole in back.

[Burdar]

While the seats were out getting recovered, I started disassembling the rest of the interior...documenting everything with pictures along the way.  My plan is to have a laptop out in the garage during the reassembly process.  That way I can instantly pull up any picture I might need to see.  I have all my pictures sorted by area.(engine compartment, interior, underside, convertible top, dash assembly exc...)

Convertible pump lines were broken and leaking.  It was a mess under the back seat.


You could really tell the inside had gotten wet.  The weird thing though was some areas really had a lot of surface rust and other areas were really clean.  Like under the sill plates.  The paint was flaking off but it was completely rust free under there.  Bare metal with no rust.  Yet the thin covers that protect the wiring on the inside were rusted through.






The glass was already cracked so the easiest thing was to just break it more.  The A-body dash bolts at the base of the windshield are UNDER the glass seal.  The glass has to be removed before the dash can come out.  I think B-bodies are this way as well.

[Burdar]

The seat tracks were in rough shape.  On top of being rusty and full of crap, one of the rollers/cages was missing but I was able to find one online.  I completely disassembled all the tracks, cleaned, painted and lubed them up.





This may come back to bite me but I decided not to use the factory shifter.  I had a B&M Pro Stick from another project.  I always liked the look of that shifter and thought it would look good sticking out of the factory console.  I measured the placement of the factory brackets before cutting them off.  If I decide to go back to the original shifter, I'll know where to weld the brackets.


I made a template for the shifter mount out of cardboard and test fit the shifter.




Then I made the mount out of some scrap steel sheet I had laying around.  I used a small 3' sheet metal brake to make the box.  I've since had the sides welded up and had nuts welded on the bottom side to make shifter installation easy.  Still need to have the mount welded to the floor pan.(I really need to take a welding class so I can do this small stuff myself)


The original console top plates were pretty pitted so I knew I was going to get replacements.  I was originally going to use a 4-speed top plate and make a filler panel to cover the opening.  I cut out the center divider on the original auto top plate to do some test fitting.  I found out later that it wasn't necessary and I'll be able to use a stock automatic top plate.  The throw of the shifter is just slightly too long for the top plate.  I'm going to make a slight modification to the shifter handle to get a little more room.  Then everything should fit nicely.  There is a little side to side adjustment in the shifter holes themselves.  Front to back adjustment will be done with the console itself since all the mounting bracket holes are slotted.