microwheel

Thanks James and Richard

Hi Tim Yup they are, but I didnt add them. they were already molded to the frame by revell. I just detail painted them Hi Dan. Thanks. I could take a pick of the top side of the chassis and post it, but there really isnt anything special to see on it. The interior pan covers most of it except for the front frame area that comes into the engine bay. As for detail with the top side of the front frame area, I havent ran the brake and fuel lines all the way to the front yet. I'll do that just before I install the engine on it. That way I can run the fuel line all the way to the engine fuel pump. The brake line will get completed out when I am ready to run the front wheels brake lines. Mostly because I have to make a junction block for them yet. But if you still want a plain jane shot of the top side of the chassis, I'll take one this evening and post it.

Really cool idea on the hood. Really like the over all look especially with the hood.

Well finally after spending most of the day getting the engine put back together on my tractor, I finally got a few minutes to sit down tonight and get a little something posted on the dart. As per my post last night I got the chassis detail painted and got the fuel line and vapor return line run. I also got the main rear brake like formed and test fitted. I still have to fix the brake line into place and make and install the brake line tie down brackets. Then I can start working on the ebrake and finally start working on detailing the rear suspension with brake lines and ebrake cables as well as get the exhaust painted and installed and rear shocks and rear-end housing cover. For now here is a few pics of where I am on the chassis. I removed the rear bumper braces so I wouldnt brake them off durning detailing, Plus it made it easier to paint them. Talk about a job to trim them off without messing them up. That's pretty much it for tonight. Hopefully things will start progressing a lot faster now that I got the pain of a back side of a tractor back together. Thanks for being patient with me guys and thanks a lot for checking out the dart build so far.

Evening Guys. Sorry didn't get a update posted today. It was so nice out up here in Northern Michigan today, I spent most of it out in the garage working on a few things I didnt get done in the fall. I did get in the hobby room this evening and started working on the chassis on the dart though. I got the chassis detail painted and ran the fuel lines and started planning out the brake main rear brake line and ebrake. I hope to at least get the master rear brake line run in the morning before my tractor parts arrive tomorrow afternoon. (at which point I got to get it back together before the weather turns cold again this weekend). I hope to post some progress pics by early afternoon though so stay tuned. and thanks for being patient with me. I know this thing is going a little slow.

Nice start tim. You can bet I'll be watching.

Outstanding work as usual Tim. Very Impressive on the level of detail.

Thanks guys I use heat shrink tube on exhausts whenever I find a need for it. Its a neat product that works great. As for updates. Thanks to John Deere taking their sweet time getting my needed new head bolts,(wont be here till Wednesday), for my tractor project, I will get a little more time back in the hobby room this evening and tomorrow. So hopefully I will be able to get some more things done the next few days and post some more updates.

Hi John Thanks. Yup they are decals that come with the valve covers. Chrome lettering decals at that. was a nice surprise. The fins are BMF that I applied to the valve covers before painting them and then using a tooth pick dipped in lacquer thinner I removed the paint off just the fins to give it the final look before applying the supplied mopar performance decal for the center square of the valve cover.

Well John you should be proud of how well you build turned out. Especially with what you've been through. Had you now told us the story, I would not have even known you had problems with your hands, especially, based on the quality of your build. Outstanding work.

Anyways, as promised earlier.. here are a few pics of the engine assembled. Keep im mind I still got a done of detail work to do on it yet. Im still waiting on a couple of detail parts to come in the snail mail for it, but I hope to get started on the engine detailing in the next day or so. I also plan to get started working on the dart chassis later this week. About the only thing Im not happy with on the engine was the altenator. I like the fact it has a bracket but I didnt like the way it was molded and the over all way the two parts of it fit. I worked with the fitment issue as much as I could. The other thing to keep in mind is that the carb and distributor base are just temporarily tacked in place for now. and the headers are just resting in place for the pics.. I dont plan to fix them to the engine until the engine detailing is done. Thanks for looking. I'll post more as I get more done.

No problem John. I will tell you though, that I did have to modify the size of them just a tiny bit. I am sure they are 1/25th scale and not 1/24th, but I have found even some 1/25th scale mopar kits with mopar big blocks can very ever so much in size depending on who and when a kit was made. SO keep that in mind when you order them. I test fitted them on the 440 heads for this kit and the revell 68 charger kit, and guess which one they fit perfect on with no modifying? If you guessed charger... you are correct.. But on this dart 440 they were just a tad long. Go figure.

Really Nice work John. I know well how a paint job can fight you every step of the way. But you pulled it off my friend.

Evening Guys. Sorry for the lack of updates today. I did get some of the engine assembled today but didnt get time to upload pics. I will try to have some up tomorrow. With the weather being so nice this weekend, I needed to take advantage of it and work on tearing down the top half of the engine on my tractor. It's needed new valve seals and head gaskets for awhile now and the wife gave me a break from the honey do list to get started on it. So for the next few days I'll be juggling my time between that project and the hobby room. bare with me and stay tuned. I'll be posting as I get more done. Even if the progress seems a little slow at times. LOL.

Thanks John Your right on the carb. The ones I have are the AFBs. The valve covers are mopar high performance valve covers made by Scenes Unlimited.

Hi Tim, the Holley 750 double pump was kinda what I was thinking about. The carter just looks too stock for a hot rod. But I still got time to decide. I have to wait for fireball modelworks to send me the holleys anyways. Then I can compare them and see what looks the best.

Small update for today. Got the engine parts cleaned up and painted today. Im going to let everything sit for at least a day before assembling the basic engine components, then I'll plan out the fine detail. But soon its gonna be time to start working on the chassis. Also I finally got my replacement decals from Revell so some time this weekend I hope to get the rear stripe decal on and then get the body clear coated. But we will see what time allows. Still not sure about the carb yet. U got sone holleys coming from fireball modelworks. I also ordered a K&N air cleaner from BnL resins. If it turns out as nice as their other stuff it should work nicely on the build. More to come as I get it done. Thanks for looking and any and all comments guys. Let me know what you all think about the carb idea. Im still so up in the air about using the carter or the holley.

Very nicely dome Mike. and nice save on the stance. It looks fantastic.

Looks like some pretty cool projects in the works Snake.

Parts By Parks supplies the belt material with their pulley sets. I know its rubber material but not really sure what they are made from. If you have a lathe Im sure you can make the pulleys. Im sure thats what they use. I just dont have a lathe, if I did id make a bunch of parts myself.

Thanks john. The pulleys are made by Parts By Parks. Its their Plymouth Roadrunner/GTX 4 plulley system. I got them off ebay.

Hi Tim Thanks. Yup I agree. I like it when kit manufacturers make em with brackets, it makes my job easier. But even when they don't I try to take the time to make em.

Morning Guys. Feeling a little under the weather the past 2 days, but spent some time in the hobby room last night and this morning anyways. I wanted to get the engine mocked up and ready for paint and detail. First think I did was to pre-assemble the engine parts and take care of any gaps from parts not fitting quite right. Then I removed the chrome from the alternator and mounted it to the front engine block assembly. The front engine block assembly will get painted separate from the main engine block which means the alternator will end up initially getting painted engine color with it. This wont be that big of a deal since the engine will be painted in lacquer paint anyways, the alt and bracket will get hand painted in water based paints which when thinned with a few drops of water, level out really nicely. Here is a nice little tip for you..... The revell 69 dodge charger kit comes with 2 stock fan belt assemblies and 2 stock power steering pumps (not sure why but a nice surprise). so robbing one for this dart build wont keep a person from building the charger later. Not that I needed the fan belt assembly anyways since I'm using a after market pulley kit from parts by parks, but the fan belt assembly comes in handy when doing location alignment for the power steering pump on the dart 440. I did end up gently cutting the power steering pump bracket off the front of the pump and reattaching it to the back of the pump so it lined up with the outer crank pulley grove. Then I cemented the power steering pump and bracket to the front engine block assemble just as I did the alternator. The pulleys where just tacked on with white glue to check for alignment and will be removed before painting. I also removed the molded on oil filter and found one in my parts box I liked better, which was also just tacked in place for fit and clearance and will be removed before painting. I will be using after market mopar valve covers that I had to modify a little bit cuz they were slightly to long and both valve covers had fill caps and I only wanted one with a fill cap and one with a breather cap. The valve covers are also just tacked on with white glue for now. I will also be using a after market distrib that I will add a vacuum advance to later during final assembly. I also picked up some carter avs carbs from fireball modelworks. But I haven't decided yet if I will use it or even order some of his Holley 650 carbs and use one of them. I have time to decide on that though. I drilled out all detailing holes for plugs and heater hoses, (no I wont be using the kit supplied heater hoses) as well as holes for both oil and trans dip sticks which I still have to make yet, and the fuel line mount holes on the fuel pump. I didn't drill or prep and vacuum lines on the intake yet till I decide what I end up using for a carb. Anyways that's pretty much my mock up on the engine so far. Below are a few pics of it. Keep in mind I still got a lot of clean up work to do on everything before is ready for paint. Here is everything just tacked together Also the breather in the pics may not be the one used. I'm still decided on what I want for that. Depends on the carb I end up using. I hope to get the parts in some warm water and dish soap later today so I can get everything cleaned up and at least primed. Thanks for looking guys. More to come as I get it done.

Thanks Dave.

The paintwork is really turning out beautiful geoff. Can't wait to see how it will look with all the chrome work foiled.