67 Dart 270...Project Old School

I had almost forgotten about this thread. Since I last posted I ended up having to go with 17x8 on the back because the offset on the 15x8s had the rear tires hanging out of the rear fender. The 15x7 on the front barely clear the front fenders with a 195R15 tire on the front and the disc brake conversion. I ended up with 255R17 Ripken Rators on the back. The wheels have 5' backspacing which places the tire about 3/8" from the leaf spring on the inside. The good news is I have 3/4" - 1" from the outside of the tire to the fender on the back.

Speaking of brakes...The rear drums came off a C-body and are 11"x2". The discs on the front are the standard 10.75" discs. At this point I am still rocking the original 1967 master cylinder. The car stops straight and true, which is hard to believe with my "eye balled" front alignment. I am still running the stock proportioning valve and the balance seems to be working with my combination. I tell my friends my car has optional power brakes and I point to my left leg. They made the pedal that wide so you can get two feet onto it ;-)

The bench seat came out because a friend of mine scored a console from a swap meet in Oregon. I am using a Hurst shifter and still trying to figure out how I will fab mounts for the console. I installed new carpet and added some Summit Racing gauges to track oil pressure, water temp, and voltage. I ended up going with the Summit Racing sport seats and I hate them. I hate having to climb over Mount Bolster getting in and out of the car. The seats look totally wrong in the car. I plan to replace them with some low back buckets which would be more period correct.

Wiring - I lost all faith in the original harness so I added a secondary fuse block with it's own power feed. I also added a 75 amp 1 wire alternator. My idle voltage went from 12.7 to 14.7 with the change. I have the electronic ignition box connected to the secondary fuse block as well and with the additional voltage the car starts and runs much better. The stereo and gauges are also tied into the secondary fuse block.

Engine vibration problem - solved!!! I finally figured out the previous owner had used a 318 converter behind the 360. I swapped in a 3200 stall 9.5" edge converter and the special B&M 360 flexplate. I was surprised at how well it works in every day driving, but was completely amazed when I was able to foot brake it to 3500 RPM!!! I also installed a B&M stacked plate cooler during the converter swap. With the 3.91 gears and 3500 stall, the car can get out of the hole, but the stock 360 runs out of breath at 5000 RPM.

Right now I am in the middle of an electric fan and controller install. The fan and controller are mounted and tested, but I still need to tie the power back to my secondary fuse block. I am still trying to decide if I want to hook up the optional over-ride circuit so I can manually turn on the fans.