Scotts_DG8
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Posts posted by Scotts_DG8
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I am surprised that you are not finding much rust.
Oh, there is rust here and there but mostly surface rust. The worst appearing rust spots are on the front passanger step entrance and floor area. Although it looks bad it is solid and you can hit these spots with a hammer to confirm it. There is one bad spot that will have to have some metal replaced, it's on the passanger side just behind the front door/wheel. Just how bad it is will not be known until it gets medial blasted, but I think that it's more small holes than anything major. I think I mentioned earlier, there is no rust anywhere on the floor under the van. And I've learned the hard way to bag as much as possible and label everything. Scott...
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Now I don't have any current general pictures but my work space does pretty much look the same as this today. There was a bit more room while the Dart was off to get its body work and paint done. And although I don't have pictures of the workshop off the side I can assure you that it too is full; shelves of parts, workbench, lawn mower, snow blower, etc. And you still don't see the TR3A that is back against the wall behind the Dart and Van. When working in my garage, the Dart has to roll out for both space and protection.
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Today, Sunday 09-May-2010, yesterday it was very windy and rained most all day and although it was in the low 50’s and a bit breezy today there was no rain so I managed to get some time outside on the van. There are still a lot of parts to be removed, bagged and tagged. Today I removed the front bumper, headlights, wipers, windshield washer, instrument panel, glove box and the heater ducts.
It all sounds kind of easy but the additional time to bag and label everything along with dealing with the fussy bolts or screws slows things down some. In general I’ve noticed that the wiring is in decent shape, a bit stiff but for the most part uncut (only the horn wire so far). I’ve got about another hour to finish removing the complete wire harness from the dash. The heater has only the two hoses and 8 screws to remove before it can be pulled.
Using current progress as a base line, I’ve estimated that I will need 3 more days to have everything pulled from the front of the van, inside and below.
And interesting observation was to learn that the van was painted the Light Tan Poly with the white stripe, this was visible after removing the parking light and could also be seen on the horn after removing the grill and the driver side headlight bucket area. One of the other things that I ran into a problem with was to break off the end of each of the heater ducts, I’ll have to find new ones or fix the ones that I have. There are other items such as the one headlight ring which has a flat spot from hitting something but this is common for these rings, and I may be able to fix it. The front turn/park light lens will bother need to be replaced, one is broken and the both are worn/dull and scratched up. I see that I only managed to take one picture of the outside and none of the dash, so they will have to wait until next time. Scott…
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Thanks, Keiser31...
Jim (Virgilmule), I would be interested in the handle if you are thinking about selling it. If you are thinking of selling it please send me a PM as to what you would be looking to get for it. Thanks, Scott...
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The good news is it was another nice day today to get some things done, the bad news is that the weather forecast has it raining and cooling down into the mid to low 50’s for the next 4 days. It won’t bring things to a complete stop, just slow them down a bit.
I did put a call in to the parts store today and learned that they had the engine parts but somehow missed making the call to inform me. I picked up the cam/lifter kit, rods, oil pump, timing gears/chain and other minor items. They asked if there was anything else, and I said “no, not until I get home” and as it turned out I got home and realized I did forget something, joke was on me.
Well instead of jumping back in the car I decided to finish cleaning the second wheel. This took another couple hours, then shot primer and a quick coat of white on both. They turned out ok for a temporary job.
After finishing with the wheels I decided to check out the parts I just picked up a little more closely. Made sure the rods were a stock size and that the pistons pin had a proper fit. Had a look at the oil pump and cam and then checked out the timing gears/chain, well I was a bit confused on the timing gears as they have no visible timing marks. They are in a sealed package and I can’t see the backside but I am hesitant in opening the package in case I need to return them. Since I have to make the trip to the parts store tomorrow anyway I’ll take it along with me to see what’s up. Oh, and just to let you all know I’ve oiled down all machined parts as soon as they were home just to protect them until they are assembled.
One bit of information that I read on the web the other night was that there was a rubber manufacturer that makes the vent window rubber gasket. I put a call in to them today and although they are a bit pricey but they do make them. The vent window gasket was the only weather stripping that I hadn’t located as yet, so now that is another thing I can check off.
Oh there is one other item today, I’m sure there’s probably no need to communicate the following but just to state the obvious; I will be posting progress and/or comments along with an occasional question here and there when I have something to report. That being said there may be small leaps in my progress that won’t get captured on a daily basis and will get rolled into a day or two’s worth of activity but I will keep things moving along. I do have an aggressive timeline that I am trying to meet and that is to have the majority of this project completed by the end of October or sooner. That’s it for today… Scott
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Well today I did pick up the engine from the machine shop. Upon initial inspection I feel they did a good job, on the machining and a really good job cleaning things up. I’m still waiting on a few parts from the parts store before assembly can begin. I’ve included pictures showing what’s pats were picked up.
I mentioned that I had a set of road wheels (5) that I was going to be using, well two of the five were really dirty with some rust one more so than the other and I needed to clean them up before thinking about putting tires on them. I spent a couple hours on the one pictured just to get it clean and shot a coat of primer on it. I’m still in the process of cleaning the second. I hope to have a set of tires on the van next week so that it can go to the media blaster early the following week.
While I was attaching the engine to the engine stand I noticed in the corner of my eye a bit of movement and turned my head and saw couple rabbits had just run into the yard. I happen to have the camera handy and they were willing to pose so got a couple shots of them.
Tomorrow will be checking with the parts store on the parts and finishing the second wheel and with luck get a coat of paint on the two. The other ongoing task will be continuing the stripping of parts in preparation for the media blaster. That’s it for now… Scott
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Thanks for the comments and the photos, they do help and I can see the motivational angle. I’ll keep posting as things evolve but as of right now I’m still in the removal phase as opposed to the resurrection phase, not much entertainment there. Bagging and tagging…
I am hoping to bring it back to mostly stock condition with minor changes/improvements here and there but nothing that should be overly obvious. Maybe that won’t be totally true as I do not have a set of stock rims, if you all noticed there it did have a funky set of rusted chrome wheels on it and although I would like a set of stock rims I am going to make due with a set of road wheels that I have and radial tires. The original paint is something close to what it shows in the pictures already posted, which was a repaint, but with the white stripe which was visible under the weather-stripping that I had removed. The color scheme that I am going with will be the original 1969 Dodge Truck Mojave Yellow (kind of a soft yellow) with the white strip and white road wheels (maybe stock steel wheels down the road). The interior will consist of the original seats in black and an original ’69 A100 Sportsman bench that I found will also be black. The engine cover and dash will be black too. I am also toying with the idea of upgrading it to the custom model if I can come across a good set of interior panels.
The doors were dropped off at the media blasters today and I chatted with the body shop across the shared parking lot and they will be spraying an epoxy primer after they are cleaned up. The body guy also noted that he use to have a ’68 A100 pickup when he was living back in California and loved it. I should get the doors back either by the end of next week or early the week after as they were just getting in a big aerospace job that has to be turned around in short order as a complete lot.
The owner from the machine shop also called and said that the engine work was done and asked if I could get over there in the morning to pick it up, no problem. The so it looks like I could pick up the engine tomorrow, so I’ll try to get over there by 10 to get it.
I’ll try to get some additional relevant pictures posted soon. Scott
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In the list of vehicles that I own, one is a 1969 Dodge A100 Sportsman Van. I’ve made the decision that I would completely go through it this year; Engine, Body, Paint, etc. I’ve had thoughts about posting the project and my efforts here but not sure of the interest. I’ll at least take a moment to tell the story of the van since I’ve owned it.
The van originated from Oregon, and I’ve owned it since March 2007. It was delivered while I was in the UK on business and when I first saw it in the drive it was covered in a big blue tarp that was tied down nice and tight. After an hour I had the tarp off and had an up close look at my purchase. It was a bit dull/ruff and was not running but was solid and was equipped with the 318 and an automatic. Checking out the inside I noticed that the instrument panel was broken out, the rearview mirror broken and the radio kicked in. Without question it was the evil neighbor kids, I was not happy. In the garage it went until summer.
The summer of 2007 I decided to try and start it but soon after pouring some gas in the tank that the filler hose connecting the filler neck and gas tank was rotten and had holes in it. I had to pull the tank to replace the hose, looked simple enough. I rapped on the tank and it was empty so I took the filler hose clamps off and undid the tank straps and they fell away but the tank still hung there. Hummm I pulled a little on it and nothing. Confusion set in, no straps, everything loose but it still would not budge. I repositioned myself so that I could see the top front edge of the tank and got a large screw driver and tried to pry it, it moved enough to show me that a previous owner had screwed the tank to the floor. After getting the tank down, there were 8 screws through the top of it, I had it cleaned, repaired and a liner put in. With the tank back in I added some gas, a battery and turned the key. It was trying to start but nothing. I decided to run a compression check and pulled the plugs and found three cylinders were putting out next to no compression. I had other things to do so let it sit until the fall of 2008. Oh, a high point of being under the van was learning that the van has no rust on the bottom; all areas of the floors look clean and solid.
In the fall of 2008 I decided to pull the heads and check to see what the cause was for the loss of compression. After removing what I’ve come to know as the dog house (engine cover), I had the top of the engine off and saw that it needed a head job but worse that the engine block walls were cracked in the valley. Again, the previous owner had to of not had the proper amount of antifreeze and the block blew. Two days later I came across a ’71 318 engine on craigslist for a good price that was just removed from a wagon. I checked it out and all looked good so made the purchase and brought it home. I put it on the engine stand and that is as far as it went, again due to other activities. The rest of 2008 and 2009 were very busy so no progress on any of the vehicles.
This year I did entertain the thought of selling the van but the more that I was around it organizing things I decided that I would put the engine that I purchased back in. While preparing for this by pulling the the old engine out I again revised my thinking and decided that I was not up to letting it go so I might as well do something with it which brings me to this point in time. In the last couple weeks I’ve torn the top of the replacement engine off and noticed that it was showing quite a bit of wear, did a complete tear down and the engine was off to the machine shop. I’d already found someone that is going to media blast and epoxy prime the complete van, but have decided that I will piece it out to them and have since pulled off and stripped all the doors, 2 front, 2 side and 2 back. I already learned that all 4 (side and back) bottom lock bolt rods will have to be repaired due to rust, and the back driver side door has a few rust holes that will need to be addressed if possible or in the worst case be replaced. The doors will be going to the blaster tomorrow and I should have the rest of the van stripped down within the next week and with luck at the blaster within the next two weeks max.
So that’s the brief history and where the van is today. I’ve posted a couple pictures of what I’ve got to work with. Again, knowing that this is not one of the truly vintage vehicles that would probably be of much more interest I will continue posting progress updates based upon interest shown. Hope you all found this of interest. Scott
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Put in 10 gallons of gas and started her up. Ran great. The hesitation that I was feeling is gone. The car really pulls well. Much different than before. I must have been starving the engine with the cruddy gas tank. And as a big plus, the fuel gauge now works. Yippi!
Just a question, how big of tank is that? It looks like the gauge is reading just around 1/3 tank of gas and if it only represents 10 gallons that that would compute to a 30 gallon tank, no? Just asking...
BTW, as noted earlier the car is really starting to take shape, it's a lot of work without question but it is looking good. Scott
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John,
Just to let you know, I along with 100's have been watching your progress even if we all don't let yah know that were out here watching. But I wanted to say that it's starting to look like a proper automobile again, very nice. I'm guessing you'er ready to enjoy the pleasure of driving it some now... Scott
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I've been asked by a couple people for the serail information that I used to identify the build month/day of my car. So, what I've done is to scan and created two JPEG files; the first file is from the Dodge Brothers First 50 Years 1914 – 1964 and was written back in 1964; this is the serial numbers by month listing that I used to isolate the month/day my car was built. The second file is the serial numbers found on the first page of the 1934 Dodge Master Parts Book that I have. The Dodge Brothers file specifically was slightly distorted when I reduced to a reasonable file size to upload, if you save and zoom in on the file to around150% it should be easily readable. Hope that these files can be of use to you all…
Scott
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Nice coupe Scott. I have two DCs myself, both 4 drs. One of mine is a 1930 and the other is 1931. There must have been some DCs built in early 1931 and I would like to get an idea of how many were produced for the DC line in 1931 and when were they discontinued. Good luck with your coupe, it's a saver for sure.
Bob
Thanks for the comment on my car, I do like it a lot even in its current shape. I hope to get into it this summer in some fashion. As I mentioned I am sorting out what I know that I have and can use and what it is that I still need.
As far as the '31 Dodges go I'm no expert on them, I too continue to learn. I did write Chrysler Heritage asking questions on my car and they say that they couldn't provide specific answers on the '31 year as they were missing records, at least for my car. They did send me a copy of an article that was written back in 1964 and in the back it lists the starting serial number by month for all the cars/models that spans Nov. 1914 through Jan. 1932. It shows that they built the DC's through out the '31 model year which ended at the end of June of 1931. But even trying to follow along with the serial numbers you can't do the math to compute the total cars as there are gaps in the numbers used and no ending serial number.
I did use the serial number information just mentioned, along with some assumptions as to the number days worked each week, to identify my DG was built for sure in April but specifically may have been April 9th of 1931. No facts though, just my best guess.
Have you posted pictures of your car(s) here? I would be interested in seeing them if you haven't and I'm sure others would too... Every picture tells a story the saying goes...
Scott
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Scott
I am having trouble with waiting too but then it is up to me to make it all happen.
Slowly but surely I am getting there but some things you just can't hurry.
Bernie J.
Bernie,<O:p</O:p
<O:p</O:p
I completely understand. I was/am pulling your leg a bit.
I know that mostly if you’re in this hobby one has to have plenty of patients (skills and/or money helps too). When you’re, more often than not, working with a piece of metal or hardware that is numerous decades old it’s going to take some time to bring it back to a presentable state. And of course it makes it worse if you are striving towards perfection. But in the end that patients along with a lot of hard work and dedication (and a bit of luck now and then) the end product pretty much always pays off. I’ve never considered building basically something from nothing, and am personally very impressed with the art object that you’re creating. I’ll keep watching and waiting, my job during this restoration is simple and I can handle it.<O:p</O:p<O:p</O:p
Scott
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You know, looking at the pictues one would think that you would have take out a proper auto loan to purchase one of these great looking cars. And I’m sure that if you took the pictures with you to the finance people you could get one too. Time, paitence, comittment to detail and having the eye for the end product all coming together, beautiful work Roger… Scott
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Just a couple more of those gardening photographs........
I've yet to comment on your efforts here but now I find the need. The paint one the fenders turned out wonderful. You're just teasing us all until it all begins to fully come together. I can't wait to see the finished product. Scott
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One could argue the middle car might be a 1957 Dodge too, no?
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My '69 Dodge Sportsman Van has a split windhield, does that count?
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Scott have you tried Marty Lum he made a set for me 29 chrysler measurements look the same but the chry has three brackets.
Yes, I've chatted with him though a couple PM's. Building them will be a fall back position for now, I've just seriously started looking for them and would like to keep looking for a while.
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Still looking... I've also just learned that the running boards are the same on the Dodge DK Coupe if that helps. Scott
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Still looking... I've just learned that the running boards are the same on the Dodge DK Coupe if that helps. Scott
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I just received samples from LaBaron Bonney Co. out of Amesbury MA
A link to their web site is: LeBaron Bonney Company - Antique Auto Upholstery
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your the first to notice!
I'm just experimenting with layout. Thanks for your input!
I'll turn it back on shortly.
Not trying to be a whiner, just showing that I can be observant at times. And thanks for turning it back on so soon. Scott
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I just noticed that the random member pictures are no longer appearing at the top of the main forum page. I liked to run through these now and then. Are they gone for good? Is it just me or did something change? Just asking... Thanks, Scott
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13258835 did not show up in the 1955 Mopar Dodge truck parts book under 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 ton trucks.
The part number referenced is 1328835, not 13258835 that you noted, maybe removing the extra 5 in the front will locate the actual year/engine? I went back out and copied the link from the Chrysler300club ad that shows the info that I posted. It is newad
I've no manual to reference, just the info I've pulled from google... Scott
Avanti R2, 1963, refresh
in Our Cars & Restoration Projects
Posted
I’ve got to imagine that between the postings of your efforts to put together a clean driver along with the posting of Greg’s more complicated and complete restoration there becomes a desire at times to do something similar with your own. Just thinking out loud… In a way your efforts are right on as you will have saved so much and have the enjoyment of driving the car not fretting over your first stone chip when it occurs. And, just to let you know that it’s been following your efforts, along with seeing Greg’s restoration, the magic that Dean’s performed on his Hupp, not to mention the efforts of several others here have been a motivation to my beginnings of my own efforts. You’ve really pulled together a nice looking driver, enjoy your car. Scott…