1974 Dart Swinger Build

74Dart318 · Feb 17, 2014

I started a restoration thread back in 2009 I believe. I still have the dart and it was basically my daily driver up until last May. I graduated college and was lucky enough to land a job. I purchased a 1984 BMW 325e for a daily driver so I can work on the Dart. I ended up doing a few things on the BMW before I could trust it; radiator, timing belt, drive belts, thermostat, hoses, tires, brakes, etc.

I got a house with a garage so now I am going to finally start rebuilding the Dart.. about time right? I thought so too. The way it sits right now it is mostly stock with ~213k miles. So here is the plan for now:

Rebuild the 318 and build it up. Using some rebuilt 360 heads, air gap eddy manifold, probably some kb167 pistons.
Clean up the 727 and probably get a new torque converter. Eventually would like to do a 4 speed swap.. I have a thing for 3 pedals.
Rebuild the rear end. I believe it is a 8 1/4 and I would like to make it a sure grip. I don't think the rear end has ever had any work done to it.
Upgrading the suspension is a must. Probably a mix of things from Hotchkis and Firm Feel to go with the Hellwig sway bars already on it.
There is also some trunk work needed, the bottom of the trunk for the spare is a little rotted.

The goal is to make a nice running street car that I can take to SCCA for fun sometimes.

Any suggestions or comments are of course welcome. I will try to keep updates and pictures as they come. Here are some photos from today in the garage.

HemiPar · Feb 18, 2014

Looks like a great starting point. But if you wanna third pedal then just plan for one. Why put money in a trans you don't want. Good luck and keep us posted.

Evildart · Feb 18, 2014

Looks like a good place to start and Yes they do have potential.......:burnout: Of course I do have a soft spot for the 74's

txstang84 · Feb 18, 2014

Looks like I have another to keep an eye on...looking forward to seeing your suspension upgrades.

dukeboy440 · Feb 18, 2014

I'm liking the increase in 74s being restored/ restomodded. Beak cars are fun especially being the redheaded step children that they are.

Techstudent · Feb 19, 2014

Sweet car, nice to see you saving your college ride. I'll bet a lot of people wish they had held onto them.

I really like the tail light assemblies on these later model's. 8)

74Dart318 · Feb 19, 2014

Thanks everyone. I am looking forward to it. It will be a slow process so I will try to keep updates and pics coming. I am just reading through an engine rebuilding book now and trying to acquire all the necessary tools.

74Dart318 · Feb 19, 2014

Evildart said:
Looks like a good place to start and Yes they do have potential.......:burnout: Of course I do have a soft spot for the 74's

Yours looks very nice from the avatar. I will have to check it out.

dukeboy_318 said:
I'm liking the increase in 74s being restored/ restomodded. Beak cars are fun especially being the redheaded step children that they are.

Beak cars, I like that. I was not the biggest fan of the beak originally but it has grown on me. I am usually a fan of the underdog... par t of the reason to stick with the 318.

HemiPar said:
Looks like a great starting point. But if you wanna third pedal then just plan for one. Why put money in a trans you don't want. Good luck and keep us posted.

Well the main thought behind just using the 727 for now is the money. Doing a 4 speed swap looks like it will be $2000-3000 and after the engine and suspension it doesn't seem like I will have enough at this point. So, maybe keep the 727 for now and drive it while I save up for the manual swap.

Dartn440 · Feb 19, 2014

Have fun and enjoy. Just getting to the end of my 74 build. But as was mentioned above, never really done!

74Dart318 · May 8, 2017

I am terrible at updating this thing. Have been moving slowly over the last few years.

In the last 6 months I have put the engine together, painted it, had the 727 rebuilt, had the 8.25 rebuilt, installed wilwood disc fronts, and some rear discs. The brake lines are hooked up and bled.

I just put coolant in and found a small leak. Might be a very small freeze plug leak also. Of course it is a freeze plug behind the motor mount!

Next step is address those leaks I guess. I will take some pics this weekend and hopefully fix the leaks.

Dartn440 · May 8, 2017

Well hot damn....that's progress! Better than nothing!

Hallzy · May 8, 2017

Wow I wish my 74 was as clean of a start as yours I'm saddled with quite a bit of rust quarters rockers a few dents too I have only had mine since Christmas and am very much enjoying the journey. Good luck with your build I will be watching

74Dart318 · May 9, 2017

Dartn440 said:
Well hot damn....that's progress! Better than nothing!

Thanks! Yea it is awesome to see progress finally. I sometimes just sit there at look at it.

Hallzy said:
Wow I wish my 74 was as clean of a start as yours I'm saddled with quite a bit of rust quarters rockers a few dents too I have only had mine since Christmas and am very much enjoying the journey. Good luck with your build I will be watching

Thank you! Yea it is fun. It's one of those things. It can be so frustrating at times but it is also enjoyable. Makes me kind of sound like a masochist haha

Evildart · May 9, 2017

It took a few years on mine also but well worth the headaches.
My build thread
74 Dart w/ 340 6 pack

74Dart318 · May 10, 2017

Evildart said:
It took a few years on mine also but well worth the headaches.
My build thread
74 Dart w/ 340 6 pack

Evil,
I have looked through your thread before, your car is awesome. Always good to see 'beak' cars getting love. Can't wait to get mine back on the road.

Dartn440 · May 10, 2017

Beakers have grown on me. My wife loves ours. I may pull the trigger on another one when I get home.

74Dart318 · May 10, 2017

Dartn440 said:
Beakers have grown on me. My wife loves ours. I may pull the trigger on another one when I get home.

Yea, I haven't always been a fan of the beak. This one that I have has been in the family so long it has grown on me as well.

74Dart318 · May 22, 2017

Got to work on the car this weekend. For the most part made some good progress.

Got the coolant leaks fixed. Replaced the freeze plug behind the Driver's side motor mount. Had to knock it out and I decided to put one of the rugger expanding plugs in its place.

Also got the carb and fuel lines installed as well as the Lokar throttle and kick-down cables.

Was to the point where I thought all I had left was the distributor and plug wires (and then start up procedure).

Unfortunately I decided to try and turn the engine over, I haven't done this since installing the transmission. Couldn't get it to budge. After some research sounds like the TC is not installed correctly and I possible have broken the pump gear... one step forward and two back. Looks like I will need to drop the transmission somehow to inspect...

Anyway, here are a couple pics of the engine

74Dart318 · May 25, 2017

Well..
After my post in the transmission section, decided it was best to pull the transmission. Just finished up. Going to take it back to the shop tomorrow for inspection and see how bad it is.

Then I will do my best at installing it correctly when I get it back haha.

Dartn440 · May 26, 2017

Verdict on trans?

74Dart318 · May 26, 2017

Dartn440 said:
Verdict on trans?

Not 100% sure yet. Guess at this point is that the TC wasn't seated correctly and the pump gears may be compromised. Going to hopefully drop it off at the shop today for inspection.

74Dart318 · May 26, 2017

Just dropped it off a little while ago. Pump needs to be replaced.

Should be finished Tuesday. Looks like I won't be doing much on the Dart this weekend. Guess I will put my long arm kit on the jeep instead.

74Dart318 · Jun 26, 2017

Well, I had taken the trans back to the shop a third time. Now it appears to be all good. It's back in the car.

I will be replacing the fuel tank this week and getting a few other odds and ends finished up as well.

Also, have a 4 day weekend coming up. I am hoping to try and perform the initial start-up on the engine so I can get this thing driving again.

Hopefully it all works out and I can post some pics and a video or something.

74Dart318 · Jul 4, 2017

Happy 4th everybody!

Spent my 4 day weekend working on the car. To celebrate America today I started the engine.

Had some small hiccups but got the break in complete! Exciting times. My first time breaking in a fresh engine. Definitely nerve racking.

Anyways, now the next issue. The transmission would not shift into gear. I guess I will start a thread in the transmission section.

Anybody have anything to check? I put 5 qt of fluid. It is a 727.

74Dart318 · Jul 8, 2017

Thanks to member AJ/FormS he let me know that 5 qts. of Trans fluid for the 727 was not enough. I threw 3 more in and the trans shifts into gear and runs now! First time driving it in about 3 years.

Some pics

Here it is all dirty from sitting in the garage on jack stands for the last few years