1969 Imperial progress thread

[patrick66]

Years ago, I owned a factory '69 Dart GTS 440 automatic car. These had a limited selection of options, due to the massive 440 under the hood, in a car with room designed for a 318! You could NOT order power steering, power brakes, front disc brakes, air conditioning, or a four speed with a 440 car. But guess what? My car had factory disc brakes! To confirm this oddity, I actually traced the previous SEVEN owners (1969 - 1988), and asked each if they remembered owning the car (all did!), and if it had disc brakes on it when they owned it (all said yes!). The original buyer remembered the car quite fondly, and remembered the day he bought it at Hinckley Dodge, in Salt Lake City, UT. So, to me, this confirmed the fact the car was a factory disc brake car, even though discs were NOT shown on the fender tag!

Of course, this was in the pre-interwebz '80s, so I didn't have a computer to help me...just long-distance phone information, the phone numbers of the Utah, New Mexico and Arizona DMVs, and a little time. Where the car is now, interestingly, is unknown. Guess the "age of information" is crap.

 

[70NPORT]

Jeezus. I can't even imagine doing all that private eye work without the Internet.

 

[vdk2010]

Thank god we have the Internet, indeed!

The last address is an elderly home. I'll try to get informations from there.
The car was stored in Chatham the whole time until I bought it. Maybe I will get some more information from the one who stored it all the years. We will see.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Might have had a medical problem and took his license and just couldn't part with the car.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

My car was last registered in 1981, the transmission was giving them problems and they parked it.

You may never know why.


Alan

 

[70bigblockdodge]

My Challenger was never stored until I did got passed through three owners that never transfered it but got driven with no reverse for about 18-20 months, not daily driven. The guy I bought it from fixed trans and had it about a year with bogus New York tags in so. Ca. at least he didn't scribble his name on the pink slip like everyone else, he sold it to me because of a hole in gas tank and wanted a 79 Trans am another guy was selling so I coughed up $1000 for my brown turd that I have grown attached to.

 

[commando1]

Patrick, was it you who ran the 1969 GTS Registry?
.

 

[commando1]

NOT to argue but I am sure PS and PB were available on the '69 440 GTS Dart. If I recall correctly, PDiscB were never available on "M-codes".

I'm no expert but I have been a fan of M-codes as having had a D-Dart myself.

 

[patrick66]

No power brakes or power steering on 440 Darts and '69 440 'Cudas, period. There was no room for them, plus the extra weight on an already front-weight-biased car would make the already iffy-handling worse yet. Disc brakes were not an option on the 440 cars, either; but mine had them from Day One.

I had the '69 GTS/Swinger Registry back in the late '80s. I kept all the information I had collected, thankfully. Frank Remlinger started the online '67 - '69 GTS Registries a few years ago. I got hold of him and "GTS Dave" a couple of years back and asked them if they'd be interested in my Registry info, and they jumped at the chance to get this. So, rather than starting another online registry myself, I figured it would be far easier to share the info with their registry. My GTS and Swinger info added nearly 30 440 cars alone that their registries did not have; plus they were not tracking Swingers at all until I gave them my information. In my information, for example, I had the VIN and other info about what is still the oldest 340 '69 Swinger known...it was in a junkyard in Las Vegas in 1988!

I recently joined the A-Bodies Only forum. Found a base '67 Dart two-door sedan that I want to build a hotrod out of; and since I have not had an "A"-body since 1989 (I've owned 17 from 1982 - 1989), it's good to renew sources of A-body info and stuff.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

No power steering no power brake, on 440 a bodies no room for PS box and no room for booster.

 

[commando1]

And I am proud to stand corrected by THE authority hisself..

 

[bajajoaquin]

I love it when you come in all airspeed and no altitude.

 

[commando1]

?


Plus I wasn't in the Air Force....

 

[patrick66]

We've taken the Imperial build thread WAAAY off-topic!

So, what happened on the car today???

 

[vdk2010]

Oh man, I'm a little stuck on the frame and body because I'm waiting for tools, heavy duty wheels etc. But I did some other stuff.

I took the steering column apart, but stuck on a damn little screw of the parking brake release valve... One of the 3 screws is spinning but won't come out and I don't want to cut it...

My plan is to remove all parts from the car before winter, that I can take them home (where it's not freezing) and rebuild them.


And I tried to seperate all the ball joints, but failed totally... I bought a puller and a pickel fork for that but they stick together like welded... I guess heat would help but I don't have a torch and these things are crazy expensive...

 

[bajajoaquin]

Have you put penetrating oil on them and let them soak for a few days?

Another method, one I read about on the Imperial list but haven't tried myself, is to get two big, heavy hammers. Put one on one side of the ball joint, and use the other one to whack the other side. That gets the joint to momentarily ovalize, and supposedly helps shake it loose.

If yo haven't yet, spend some time over there in their archives. There's lots of info floating around.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I use two pickle forks (one opposite from the other) on the tough ones and a 10 lb sledge, don't be nice you are putting new ones in anyway.

Alan

 

[polara71]

Wow! Never had one that tight..., so tight I needed two forks

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Wow! Never had one that tight..., so tight I needed two forks

It keeps them square and in place. With just one after a couple hits it just keeps falling.
With two the top and bottom surfaces (of the two together) are flush with the parts.

My Polara, factory ball joints, 30 years in the field.

Alan

 

[polara71]

I've done probably six front ends..... But never a field car