4bt 72 Dart

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The mounts look good, you're getting there. Interesting idea on the exhaust manifold.

Thanks!

Yeah, the manifold I'm making is just because I need the turbo located in a certain spot and none of the factory or 6bt manifolds place it in the spot I need it in. It ether hits the fire wall or a/c compressor.

I chose those materials just because they were cheap and way to work with, and would not cost me to much to have welded up. I won't attempt to weld the manifold. I don't want it to crack, after I have it powder coated with a thermal coat and then wrap it.
 
Gotta say I love this build. Ya got balls of steel to pull this off. I've dropped the 4BT into Wranglers, 6BT's into Grand Wagoneer Limited's.
Only advise I can give at this point: Don't put a "GM" Cowl Hood Scoop on it, and don't stick the headpipe out of the hood. Your building a street car. I will hunt down a '73 Chrysler Town and Country Wagon, with the 440 of course, and crash you off the road if I see a GM Cowl Hood on your Mopar. It's sacrilege I tell you! Don't do it! LOL.
tpg
 
Gotta say I love this build. Ya got balls of steel to pull this off. I've dropped the 4BT into Wranglers, 6BT's into Grand Wagoneer Limited's.
Only advise I can give at this point: Don't put a "GM" Cowl Hood Scoop on it, and don't stick the headpipe out of the hood. Your building a street car. I will hunt down a '73 Chrysler Town and Country Wagon, with the 440 of course, and crash you off the road if I see a GM Cowl Hood on your Mopar. It's sacrilege I tell you! Don't do it! LOL.
tpg


Thank you very much for the encouragement! I REALLY don't want to put a cowl hood on it! I am hoping it fits the way it is. I'll see if the fits this week. IF, I had to do a raised hood it would be only because I absolutely have to, because I can't come down with the engine anymore or I would have to cut into the oil pan. It hangs low as it is. Im not sure if how much more than my Milidon oil pan on my Duster, but I think it is a bit more. Also, IF I had to go with a raised hood. I would not just get a typical cowl hood. It would be a real wide cowl that would look a lot more stylish, and it would only be a inch or two high. Thought, it does suck that it would still have to be some kind of cowl, because that is the only design that would be areodynamic. Since, the whole reason for this build is fuel mileage anyway and it will be my everyday driver. So, I don't want it to stand out that much, so that people think it's a race car and want to steel it. Also, with that said, absolutely no stack out of the hood ether, though it would make it easier lol.




What are you doing for spindles and steering arms?

I'm actually using 73 and up style spindles. I know it is not the best way at all, and I really need to get it correct, so I don't have weird bump steer. But, it will drag the outer tire still sadly. But, I drive the on the highway mostly, so usually pretty straight.

There is absolutely no way I could fit the original streering in the car, and I seriously contiplated sraping this idea when I ran into that road block. The width between the pitman and idler arms are is just to narrow and they would hit the block, since it is so tall. I would have to have the engine sitting so high in the car to clear, that it would look like a huge blower sticking out of the hood. Also, I am using QA1 upper control arms with greasable pivots and welding stiffening brackets to the lower control arms.
 
Here are pics of the upper control arms and lower control arm plates

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With those control arms there must be a coil over that fits it. Either with or without the use of the torsion bars.
IMO; I'd rework the K Member to fit the oil pan. Remember to tack weld some bracing on your K Member before you take the saw to it- you don't want to lose the integrity of that member.
 
With those control arms there must be a coil over that fits it. Either with or without the use of the torsion bars.
IMO; I'd rework the K Member to fit the oil pan. Remember to tack weld some bracing on your K Member before you take the saw to it- you don't want to lose the integrity of that member.


I guess a coil over could possibly fix in the upper control arm, but I don't need could overs with the 1.06" torsion bars that I bought. The factory ones that came off the car are like .820 or something like that at 82 wheel rate. HD Police ones are .940 at 155 wheel rate. Which I think would be like a big block car. Mine are 1.06 at 252 wheel rate. So, over a 100 lbs stronger than a big block cars torsion bars.

The pan is a rear sump. I can swap it, but there would be no K-frame left after that. But, even if I swapped the pan to a front sump, the pitman and idlers arms hit the block not the pan, so that would do me no good. The engine would have to be so high that I would have a terrible drive shaft angle. I wish I could use the stock stuff or even an after market K, but then in that situation, were they place the rack, is way to high and would be into the thinnest part of the pan where there is no room to cut into.
 
Step back. Analyze. Fabrication is not "a *****" It takes up time and needs perseverance.
Don't overthink the build. Aggravation and confusion make Rational Thought impossible.
Step back with a clear head. You have the answer. If custom was easy- everyone would have custom.
Build your A Body.
tpg
 
I haven been working around the house lately, so I haven't worked on the Dart much, but I did get the Hydroboost master cylinder installed. I should have great brakes now, it should help so it doesn't pull me through a stop light.

The set up also came from the truck I got the engine out of.

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On the 73 up brakes, if you source M body calipers off a diplomat or fifth ave from 84-89. They use a larger 2.75" piston compared to the 73-76 dart 2.60" piston caliper. This caliper will work with the 73-76 dart brake pads as they are the same. If you can find caliper mounting brackets from 75-79 cordoba these will allow you to run an almost 12" diameter cordoba brake rotor on your A body spindles, along with the larger diplomat calipers this will help improve the braking at the front along with the hydroboost setup.
 
On the 73 up brakes, if you source M body calipers off a diplomat or fifth ave from 84-89. They use a larger 2.75" piston compared to the 73-76 dart 2.60" piston caliper. This caliper will work with the 73-76 dart brake pads as they are the same. If you can find caliper mounting brackets from 75-79 cordoba these will allow you to run an almost 12" diameter cordoba brake rotor on your A body spindles, along with the larger diplomat calipers this will help improve the braking at the front along with the hydroboost setup.

Thank you for this! I wish I had not already bought a disk brake kit for it, but if I do have problems stopping, I will definitely do this.
 
I have this setup built up for my 67 barracuda essentially A body spindles and the rest is 79 B body cordoba. The cordobas have 2.75" calipers too, however M body ones are easier to find.

For my sons car i have M body spindles and M body 2.75" calipers, got the 11.98" rotors and caliper brackets from a 78 magnum.

I bought a.bunch of stuff from rockauto on closeout for his disc setup. New stainless steel pistons for $3 each to get rid of the phenolic pistons, piston seal kits $1 each. Brake hardware kit $6, raybestos severe duty police taxi pads $9 , wheel seals $1 each , A body front brake hoses $9 each, and a few other pieces. I got to get the rotors turned.
 
You could always sell the A body disc brake kit if you need to upgrade and pull spindles and calipers from an M body , and grab the rotors and caliper mounts (and caliper mount bolts) from 79 B body stuff.
 
Got my new tunnel support made. I won't weld it in till I pull the motor and trans back out, so I don't weld it in with the car possibly twisted.

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Started welding my manifold up. It's not pretty, but it should hold, well for a little bit anyway, who knows. It crossed my mind that since these are two different thicknesses, that when heated and cooled over time, they may expand and contract at 2 different rates and then crack my welds, but I will just have to find out when in happens. But here it is so far not cleaned up. I need to clean the inside out and then weld the ends on. I'll also put a support from it to the side of the block to help with the weight of the turbo.

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Started mocking stuff up and checked the biggest worry, being the hood, if it would shut or not. To my surprise it almost shut. The biggest thing I was worried about was the a/c mount, but it clears. The turbo is the only thing that hit, but only on the frame support. I am happy that I am not going to have to use a cowl hood that I didn't want to go with. If there was a hood latch, it would be all the way down. The air filter will fit on the inner fender too.

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I haven't made to much progress lately since it has been cold, and I hate working in the garage when it is cold, but here it is so far with all the CAC and piping, and the intake I made.

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And now it looks like this. I pulled it all out today. Now I can start rebuilding the engine and cleaning up under the hood. I also need to go get some metal to make my sub frame connectors. Which I can install now that the engine is out, and no weight twisting it.

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Disassembled the engine today, and the cylinders look pretty good. A little shiny, but they have great cross hatching still. My plan it to get the rotating assembly balanced and get the block cleaned up, and probably have them hone the cylinders, and then reassemble it.

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I know its been a while. The floor took me forever to do. I could not figure out how to go about it for the longest time. One because I had never installed floor pans before, 2 I cut a lot out and made it a weird shape to form panels to and not having the correct tools to do it, and 3 I had to cut more out that was rusted.

Also, I got the engine parts back and I reassembled the engine. I need to get the pump rebuilt to finish is up.

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Thanks! I have to admit, the blued metal does look neat, and if I was going to make some kind of rat rod out of it, I would just clear coat it and leave it exposed. But, I'm going to dynomat it, to keep some of the noise down.
 
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