unknownsnake
Well-Known Member
looks good
1973 Dart Sport
- Thread starter Deceus
- Start date
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Getting a little antsy at this point. Really want the car on the road this year while the weather is still decent. Going to hold off on the Wilwood brakes, better shocks and sway bars. Those can be added at a later date easily and the AutoZone crap should work just fine for now.
The gf is coming up this weekend so work will have to wait until next weekend. The plan is to knock out most of the welding before my dad and I have to do it in a metal cage in triple degree weather. Va likes to skip Spring and jump right to Summer. Floor pans, the heater blower hole and engine bay all need welded.
The plan is to prep the interior for new floor pans and engine bay for repainting one day, weld everything the next day and run to the junkyard on Sunday to grab an 8.8 out of an Explorer. Hoping for a 3.73 limited slip with rear disks.
I've been torn on sound deadening for the past few days. I don't want to spend hundreds on it and I don't want to use the cheap roofing stuff either. If I'm going to spend a day doing something, I want to do it right. I've settled on using RAAM mat if I'm going that route. I suppose it's worth for the thermal insulation alone, i remember baking in my car at every stop back when it was my daily driver. I was going to get mass-backed carpet and leave it at that but I might as well do it right while the interior is already completely out of the car ... thoughts anyone?
The gf is coming up this weekend so work will have to wait until next weekend. The plan is to knock out most of the welding before my dad and I have to do it in a metal cage in triple degree weather. Va likes to skip Spring and jump right to Summer. Floor pans, the heater blower hole and engine bay all need welded.
The plan is to prep the interior for new floor pans and engine bay for repainting one day, weld everything the next day and run to the junkyard on Sunday to grab an 8.8 out of an Explorer. Hoping for a 3.73 limited slip with rear disks.
I've been torn on sound deadening for the past few days. I don't want to spend hundreds on it and I don't want to use the cheap roofing stuff either. If I'm going to spend a day doing something, I want to do it right. I've settled on using RAAM mat if I'm going that route. I suppose it's worth for the thermal insulation alone, i remember baking in my car at every stop back when it was my daily driver. I was going to get mass-backed carpet and leave it at that but I might as well do it right while the interior is already completely out of the car ... thoughts anyone?
You planning on cutting down the drivers side of the rear end axle tube or leaving it as is? I am considering the 8.8 for my next Dart project car and plan on cutting it down to match the passenger side plus I don't have quite the room as a Duster or Dart Sport
Leaving it stock length for sure. Not only will it save time and money, I really like the look. Really fills out the rear of the car. The original plan was to go with an 8 3/4 with 15x10s but the 8.8 with 15x8s should give me a similar look for a lot cheaper plus rear disks.
Should look good it duster/dart sport. I have a B body rear in my other dart with mustang wheels on it and it fills the tubs out well. Looking at the 8.8 because of $$$$. Wanting to go with a magnum EFI and OD transmission with the 8.8 rear with 3.73 posi. Should make a nice toy.
Got a lot done this weekend. Painted my shock mounts finally, sandblasted and painted the engine bay, got the old floor pans cut out and good part of the rest of floor prepped and coated with rust reformer. Spent Sunday getting an 8.8 from a 98 Explorer, found a 3.73 limited slip on the first one I crawled under. Was trying to knock out the interior stuff before it got too hot but it was damn near 90 this weekend ... so much for that.
Some cats broke in through hole in the firewall where the heater was. The good part is they tore down the rest of the firewall insulation, the bad part is one of them took a fat **** in my driver side door lol.
Heading back down again to get some more work done tomorrow. Ordered my tubular lower control arms and adjustable strut rods from QA1 and pulled the trigger on some sound deadener. I went with RAAMaudio, it was about $250 for the mat and foam. Not as expensive as Dynamat but good quality stuff. It's all peel and stick so I'm hoping it wont be too much of a pain to install.
The front end is ready to go back together now but no sense in doing that until the engine is ready to drop in. Might partially assemble it on the k-member for now. No luck on selling the control arms, it seems people are only interested in junk yard parts or aftermarket nothing in between.
The front end is ready to go back together now but no sense in doing that until the engine is ready to drop in. Might partially assemble it on the k-member for now. No luck on selling the control arms, it seems people are only interested in junk yard parts or aftermarket nothing in between.
Didn't get to work on the car at all since it was my birthday and decided to spend it in the mountains. As tempting as it was to work on the car, the weather wasn't cooperating. Here's some pics from that though:
Did some work on the truck and back seat floor. Got some undercoating done finally and got the front end partially assembled on the K-member. Not using those tie rods, just grabbed the old ones to see how everything fit.
leblanc
member 2883
I ORDERED my Dart Sport in 1976 and still have it...that was 39 years ago. I am the original owner, one of the differences from then to now is the motor. It used to be a /6 but it grew 2 more cylinders. It now is a 360 with 30 over, RPM air gap intake, Eddie carb and a few more mods which give me around 350 HP...just enough power to have fun with.
J.-G.
J.-G.
Nice, I was originally planning on going with a mild 360 but the donor car came with a 318 and I really liked the one my dad built for his truck. I'm hoping for upper 300 horsepower as well, should definitely be enough to have fun on the streets
Forgot to include a shot of the k-member
Geo4K
Just your average Gearhead.
Nice job - other people's projects are inspirational for me - keep it up!
leblanc
member 2883
A 300 plus HP 318 is not an impossible objective, overbore it, 0 deck the block, add a good cam and a 4 barrel with a good intake (like the Edelbrock RPM Air gap) , a dual 2 1/2" exhaust system and you should be in the ball park. You can go fancier by reworking the heads and some more extras but they are not really necessary I think. You don't even have to change the bottom end unless you get into drag racing or have a healthy budget.
Compression, cam and carburetor. Not going too crazy with it but definitely a little farther than most. I think the next wave of parts should finish off everything I need for the engine. I still need an air gap intake, valve covers, air cleaner and radiator. After that all I need to do is save for a 904 from CRT, buy all the electrical and wiring stuff and finish the interior with seats and new instruments.
Didn't get to work on the car at all since it was my birthday and decided to spend it in the mountains. As tempting as it was to work on the car, the weather wasn't cooperating. Here's some pics from that though:
Balance is the key to keeping stress low...
The car is looking nice!
Not looking as good as that Duster! Can't wait til I'm at that point with this car haha.
Slowly coming to terms with the fact this thing probably won't be done this year. Too many things I want to do that are best done right and done while the car is mostly disassembled. I want to "correct" that one finger sloppy steering I used to have with the car. It's almost a grand for a new Borgeson Steering Box and a direct fit coupler for it. I'd rather not spend so much for something optional at this point buuuttt: It'll give me much needed header clearance, will be 100x easier to do with the engine out and it seems down right idiotic to put a bunch of money into rebuilding this front end only to put in a crappy 40 year old steering box.
Firm Feel would be a slightly cheaper option, their stage 3 rebuild is $380, $500 if I want the thing powdercoated (I do) but I'd be stuck with same bulky box. Going with the Borgeson really only adds the $200 coupler since I'd rather not cut my column and just bolt everything. My time for the car is limited a lot more than my budget for the car at this point.
The good news: after watching a few videos I'm pretty confident I can go through that 8.8 rear and not mess anything up. Probably buying a new carrier with carbon fiber clutch pack already installed so i don't have to disassemble the old one. Its like $230 for the carrier, the pack was $110 on it's own. I'm really only paying $120 for a new and assembled carrier, well worth it in my opinion since it will likely save me an afternoon. Sticking with the 3.73 for sure, I think it's a solid all around gear ratio so I'll just need to replace the old bearings,use the old shims and not have to worry setting the pinion depth. Going with a solid spacer as well so setting the preload will be idiot proof, just a matter of shim, measure and repeat.
Ya know, my son is anxious to get ours running as am I, but I think for an older guy like myself, the journey of getting there is just as sweet....
If your shooting for over 300 hp from a 318, it isn't necessary for an over bore and 0 deck. unless you're replacing pistons already. Mine put down 290 rwhp. Guessing around 340 at the crank. Compression is 8.86 to 1. Small cam too, 210/220 @ .050. Just need some good flowing heads, intake and exhaust.
Gonna shoot for as much power as I can without going too extreme. Don't have a specific number in mind really. Got a set of 302 heads which will get a week's worth of porting and polishing and went with KB167 pistons so I'm not sure I'll even need to zero deck. I did go .030 over since the block was going to the shop regardless. Going with an electric fan, serpentine belt, headers and sticking with the 904 means I should be getting quite a bit at the wheels with this setup.
Got a few of the sound deadening mats down, mainly the roof and rear seat area. Dropped the gas tank and pulled the old exhaust system out in preparation for removing the rear end. It was close to 100 all weekend and I managed to almost knock my car off the jack stands so I decided that was enough fun for one weekend. Pretty limited on what I can do right now until the floor pans get welded in and/or the engine is ready to be assembled.
Only one good pic:
Was able to get it back up on the one stand that sunk into the ground once I wiggled the jack free from under the car.
Gonna shoot for as much power as I can without going too extreme. Don't have a specific number in mind really. Got a set of 302 heads which will get a week's worth of porting and polishing and went with KB167 pistons so I'm not sure I'll even need to zero deck. I did go .030 over since the block was going to the shop regardless. Going with an electric fan, serpentine belt, headers and sticking with the 904 means I should be getting quite a bit at the wheels with this setup.
Got a few of the sound deadening mats down, mainly the roof and rear seat area. Dropped the gas tank and pulled the old exhaust system out in preparation for removing the rear end. It was close to 100 all weekend and I managed to almost knock my car off the jack stands so I decided that was enough fun for one weekend. Pretty limited on what I can do right now until the floor pans get welded in and/or the engine is ready to be assembled.
Only one good pic:
Was able to get it back up on the one stand that sunk into the ground once I wiggled the jack free from under the car.
Yeah, It was miserable in Va this past weekend. The humidity is awful! It should run pretty good! You're making good progress.
Been moving, arranging and buying stuff for my new apartment. Haven't had the time to make the drive down to the car and get work done. Can't say I'm really looking forward to climbing inside of it to finish the interior floor while temps are still above 90. Been raining nearly every other day as well. Can't wait for the Fall, that's probably when things will start really coming together., stay tuned. The block should be back soon, will probably assemble the short block and start work on the heads. Next up on the shopping list: valve covers, air cleaner and a black powder coated march performance pulley kit, this is going to be one sexy 318.
Got a lot of work done on the car all things considered. Had to drive across the state and back, get my mountain bike ready to ride, rewire my desktop with my new power supply and spend time with my girlfriend and some of her family all in 3 days.
Got the block stripped down so it can be shipped off the to the shop this week, got the rear seats painted finally and finished painting the remaining front end parts I plan on selling. Got started on repainting/undercoating the frontend on Saturday but the rain started at 9am instead of the evening like the forecast stated. Also soaked a few things in some Evaporust and that stuff is pretty magical, highly recommend it.
Looks great. What product did you use to refinish the rear seat?
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