Project SCUD - 1969 Dodge Dart

[droptop73]

Great progress Will. I wish I was there to help but there's this job thing getting in the way! LOL
Keep up the good work this week and I'll see you in December.



BTW those brackets are REAL cool, Give Greg an "atta boy" for those.

[wellis77]

Thanks Jeff. Definitely missing you and will be missing you when we take this thing off the table...

[wellis77]

Another great day working on the car today. Here is what we got done.

First we welded in the front UCA mounts




Then we added bracing for the floor supports


Then I spent some more time on my bumper mounts. Still more work to do but they are far enough along that I could weld them in, so I did.




Then Greg (chopsmitty) showed up with the rest of my brackets and tube for the front LCA's. Here is the mock-up of the front LCA mount. Another HUGE thanks goes out to Greg for working with me on these brackets and for all your help.




Motor plates and mounts


Rear UCA and LCA mounts


The front suspension will be finished tomorrow less the shock mounts (I'm buying shocks this year and will install those next Christmas), steering rack (again, ordering this year for next Christmas), and the other pieces of the front cross member (hopefully can get that finished up in the next couple days as well). Lord willing I'll have the rear suspension mounted less shocks and toe links.

Tonight I also started working on my rear cross-member that will pick up the rear bumper mounts as well as an idea for a new core support. Unfortunately I forgot to get pics of those and I'm too tired to go out and take them now. I need a shower and sleep. Bis morgen!

[chopsmitty]

My small part in Will's project requires a shout out to Randy Soper, the owner of Superior Cutting Service in Holland, Mich. Due to the super tight timeline, Randy cut the brackets/tabs in a matter of minutes. His prices are great and they are 'car guys' - send 'em business!

[wellis77]

Be sure to extend my thanks to Randy. He did a great job getting everything cut and so quickly at that. I'm already look forward to tomorrow morning. I'm whooped though so I gotta role. Thanks again Greg.

[RicerwannaB]

Awesome, those mounts look great!

[wellis77]

Thanks Charlie, they came out perfect!

[wellis77]

I got a phone call today that said I've been "skimping" on the updates. Sorry about that. I'll try to do better, but when you're on a time crunch, pictures aren't always the first thing in your mind you know...

Anyhow, have definitely taken some HUGE strides the last few days (and weeks really). Honestly I'm a bit exhausted... Lots more to do but had a setback today. The LCA brackets are 7/8" too short and I wasn't able to get additional brackets cut today so those will hopefully be ready tomorrow. If they are not, I won't make my goal of having a roller before I leave. I'll be close but would come up just short. I have plenty of other things to work on in the mean time. We are trying to get some tube bent up to put in some additional structure for the back brace. Only problem is I need a bender die that I can do a 1" tube with 5" or less radius, the same for 2 5/8" tube (driveshaft hoop). I didn't get a chance to work on my core support any more today but I may go back out for a couple hours and work some more on that and the rear bumper brace, then again I may not cuz I'm freakin' whooped!

However, we did get some work done, like welding in the front LCA mounts (ignore the bolts with all the washers, these are obviously not the final fastners)


Added a cross member under the bumper mounts to give some rigidity up front


Got the engine/trans back in so we can bend some tube around the bellhousing and a few tubes for the tunnel


Got the rear UCA mounts tacked in place


We started bending the hoop for over the bellhousing but I had dinner plans with my brother and the work was cut short. Back at it tomorrow. Really want to get this back brace thing finished but we'll see, getting tube bent seems to take some time. More to come tomorrow.

[droptop73]

Wow Will that's some great progress!

[chopsmitty]

Dropped off the correct size tabs for the rear lower a-arms and the car is looking good! Lets see this thing on the ground by tomorrow evening!!!

[wellis77]

Thanks Greg, found them and they are perfect! I just got back from a 'farewell' evening and now I'm headed to the garage. See if I can get a couple hours in before I pass the heck out...

[wellis77]

Jeff, I told Dave about your message and he wanted me to tell you to take some time off that 'work' you do and take some pics already... LOL

[Motorcitydak]

Yeah, what he said! On the ground man!

[RicerwannaB]

Its looking good man! Thanks for the info on Mascoll designs, I tried to PM you back, But it says your storage is exceeding its limits.

[wellis77]

Working on it Steve.

Charlie, I cleared out my inbox so go ahead and send it when you can.

[wellis77]

So, todays work. Getting REAL close. Stayed up late and got a good jump on tomorrow. Hopefully I don't sleep in too much, haven't slept past 7:00 yet though.

So we got a bunch of tube bent today for the tunnel (takes a long time for this rookie to bend up tube). I also bent up a front cross member but didn't have a chance to cut it to size, hopefully tomorrow.

I'm not 100% sold on this setup yet so we just tacked it in place. I would prefer these tubes to be rolled, but I don't have a roller. I may change them at Christmas but I'm not sure yet, we'll see.

Also started a drive shaft loop. I'm not going to finish it until Christmas when I get the chunk mounted and know exactly where the drive shaft will be, so it's just chilling there, not tacked in at all.


Got the motor mounts tacked together. Dave is going to TIG those tonight along with two other 180's for the tunnel.


Pretty much finished my rear bumper mount/support tube. The chassis will be welded to this tube and it will be bolted to the rear crossmember as well as the bumper brackets. Below this tube, and centered, will be my trailer hitch. I'm building a car, but I'm a water-skier...




Since Greg was so cool to deliver the brackets for the rear LCA's, I decided to put them together at about 12:00 midnight and tacked one side in place.


The entire passenger side assembly.


I still have a lot of work to do on the chassis, triangulate the tunnel, and the rear LCA bars, build some down bars for the front, and a couple bars to connect to the front hoop that goes over the bell-housing (the down bars will also be welded to these two bars). I'm hoping still to get the core support finished that I'm playing with. Not a necessity, but it would be nice to get it sized right and tacked to see how it fits.

That's all for now. I'm excited for tomorrow and hopeful (expecting) to have this thing on the ground by days end. I'm running out of time...

[wellis77]

My last day of working on the car for 9 1/2 months. A lot to do to get where I want to be before I leave tomorrow morning (and I still have to pack, do laundry, some shopping, pick up a bicycle, and a bunch of other stuff too). Will I get where I want to be before I leave? Stay tuned to "Crazy American Living in Switzerland Trying to Build a Car While Living 6000+ Miles From It..." to find out.

[David Sloan]

Good luck Will. Looking good so far!

[wellis77]

4 days, 6,000+ miles, a good nights sleep, and the first day on a new job (including jet lag) and I can finally get back to updating this thread. So I asked the question (mostly of myself), will I get to my goal of having a roller before I left. The short answer to the question is yes and no. The long answer is, I could have it on the ground as a roller if one of two things, or maybe both, (1) I had a cherry picker Friday afternoon/evening and (2) I chose to take it off the table. The car is to the point where I could have taken it off the table and had a roller, I chose not to. I still have to install my coil-overs and steering rack and I have a few things I want to adjust after having put the quarter panels on. Because of that I chose to keep it on the table for the next 10 months. It was a bummer at first but I also know it was the right decision. There is no sense rushing the car just because I want to see it on the ground. With that said, here are the final pics of what we got finished.

The rear suspension is welded up and bolted on, quarter panels are back on.


Motor mounts are in.


Didn't really get a chance to finish playing with the core support; it was extra-curricular since I didn't plan to tackle that this trip. But I have a good start and know what I want to do with it now (for the most part).


And I put the front end back together (sort of).


I really didn't have a lot of time Friday to work on the car. I had to pick up a bicycle for my wife that I brought back to Switzerland, did the brakes on my sister-in-laws car, had to pack, do laundry, clean the garage, do some shopping for things to bring back to Switzerland that we can not get there, etc. Needless to say, it was more like just a half day. Still, I'm VERY happy with where the car is and what has been accomplished in such a short amount of time, especially considering I'm largely learning as I go. I have learned a TON doing this project already and if I had to do it over again, I'd probably do a bunch of things different so far, but I'm happy and excited about the next steps.

So that begs the question, what's next? Well, I'm going to be purchasing some SelectSeries ridetech coil-over shocks, a Woodward Steering rack, some AMD panels, an AAR hood and decklid (maybe fenders) and if the funds are there, a steering column, all over the course of this year. Next Christmas, I'll be mounting the shocks and rack, finishing my front crossmember, changing the motor mounts (the ones I built make it VERY difficult to remove the engine considering the engines height and setback), adjust the drivers rear suspension a bit (there must have been some warpage I didn't notice until I installed the quarter because there is ALOT of static positive camber built in), build the trans cross member, finish the back brace as well as building in some additional rigidity, then set it on the ground, roll it outside in the snow and take the first picture of the car sitting on the ground in many, many years. After this Christmas, I'm hoping to be in a position and am considering taking the car to a shop and letting them have it for a year to get the body panels hung and aligned all nice and neat then get it in primer. We'll see what happens in 10 months, but I gotta have goals.

I'm sure I have forgotten some things but that's what I've got in my head for now. I appreciate all the encouragement over the last few weeks. I also MORE than appreciate all the help I've had from some friends, Dave, Jeff, and Greg, all of which have been instrumental in their own way to help me get to where I am. This has been an awesome ride so far and after I recover from the exhaustion of working 14-16 hour days on my car, I'll be excited to get back to the U.S. and start in again. Check y'all lata!

[Crestronwizard]

Awesome build..........I have been trying to figure out the best way to weld my frame to the rockers............if you had to do it again would you do the same method? Thanks

Geoff