'70 Dart 392 Project; what direction?

[KosmicKuda]

3/16" dia steel lines.

My 68 has 73-75 a-body discs on front, 10x2-1/2 tear drums. I've tried 15/16, 1-1/32 and 1-1/8 MC's. The smaller one had the best overall feel. I switched to an aluminum 1-1/8 and hated the very hard pedal. I would sometimes use both feet on the wide brake pedal. Now I have an aluminum 1-1/32 and it's a good compromise.

In your 4 wheel disc setup, I think I'd try the 15/16 first. Discs are not self-energizing and you need the advantage of a smaller MC.
73-75 A-body power brake MC run manually.

Good time to install an adjustable proportioning valve in the rear line.

 

[208Dart]

Dang,
200+ posts on this thread! Been about a year since I picked up the car.
Little more progress today. Seam sealed everything minus the trans tunnel work. Treated 98% of the surface rust underneath with Eastwood rust encapsulator. Rolled it on and it worked great. Hit all the prone to rust areas including wheel well lips and lower quarter panels. Sprayed the bare metal with a self etching primer and then top coated everything with fleet coat. Still have to do topside of trunk and floor pans and going to use herculiner on the wheel wells to add that textured undercoat look and help hide the seam sealer and filler panels. Also got all my D60 parts in from Cass at Doctor Diff. Once I finish the undercoat stuff I’ll start the rearend build and at that point we should be onto some assembly time!

Mike

 

[208Dart]

More progress this week. Finally done with all the undercoating and rust prevention. Used a combination of Eastwood rust encapsulator, duplicolor fleet coating, and raptor liner bed liner in the wheel wells to get the texture back close to what it should be.

Also got my D60 housing cleaned up and ready to cut down. Dr. Diff accidently sent me 35 spline axles so waiting to exchange those.
Does anyone know if it’s imperative that I duplicate the factory timing of the axle ends? I was thinking for simplicity I would level them with the pumpkin fins, figure slightly rotating the calipers forward wouldn’t be a deal breaker. Thoughts?

 

[208Dart]

Last two pics.

 

[208Dart]

Also major props to Dr. Diff. He’s sending me 35spline side gears for my powrlok to work with these 35 spline axle shafts rather than swapping me out to the original 30 spline shafts I’d ordered…. Free upgrade and great customer service.

 

[208Dart]

Waiting for a few parts to arrive tomorrow and tuesday and should have the Dana 60 built this week. Also planning on running brake and fuel lines. Got an EFI tank ordered with 255lph tank/sending unit as well. Painless wiring is ordered as well.... Last big purchase after this will be megasquirt system I think and then exhaust. Everything else should be minor.

Can't find any info with the google at the moment, but does anyone know what size fuel line I should be running? I'm guessing 5/16-3/8" based on OEM stuff but wanted to ask if anyone knows off the top of their head. EFI tank comes with rubber fuel lines but I'd rather run hard lines up to the engine bay. Thanks

Mike

 

[racerjoe]

Waiting for a few parts to arrive tomorrow and tuesday and should have the Dana 60 built this week. Also planning on running brake and fuel lines. Got an EFI tank ordered with 255lph tank/sending unit as well. Painless wiring is ordered as well.... Last big purchase after this will be megasquirt system I think and then exhaust. Everything else should be minor.

Can't find any info with the google at the moment, but does anyone know what size fuel line I should be running? I'm guessing 5/16-3/8" based on OEM stuff but wanted to ask if anyone knows off the top of their head. EFI tank comes with rubber fuel lines but I'd rather run hard lines up to the engine bay. Thanks

Mike

I use the factory style 3/8" steel line with the dead head style fuel pressure regulator and it works just fine.

 

[208Dart]

Getting closer on this D60 build. Got my axle ends welded on and everything seems great, except that now when I install my axles they’re contacting the pinion thrust spacer pin…. Double checked my housing measurements and they’re spot on… got an email into Doctor Diff cause it’s after hours. There’s nothing on the website that specifies where the axle shaft measurements are taken from so I can’t verify axle shaft accuracy until I hear back. Little frustrating but I’m sure it’ll get fixed. Still need to clean up and install my new pinion bearings/seals then ready for checking backlash and pinion depth but getting closer.

The culprit:

 

[208Dart]

Target axle housing flange to flange measurement was 50 15/16”…. I think I’m close!

 

[208Dart]

Alright easy fix! That thrust pin is eliminated with the use of green bearings so good to go there. Barring any setup issues I should finish up the housing tomorrow though will be waiting to set my pinion angle before welding perches and painting. Debating on waiting to rewire the car and get hvac system installed before droppin engine/trans in or just going for it and pulling it back out to do those items….

Mike

 

[208Dart]

Spent most the afternoon pulling and playing with shims. I originally thought I’d be good to go if I matched the factory shim thicknesses…. WRONG!

Ended up with an additional .013” outter pinion shims, .005” less inner pinion shims. And had to thicken the carrier shims .010” to the non ring gear side (should’ve gone .015”-.018” I think). But as it sits my backlash is at .0035, rotational torque on pinion is 30 inch lbs, and the drive pattern is 85% where it needs to be with the coast pattern being perfect. I’m likely going to run it but we’ll see how I feel next week lol pulling the carrier bearings is a bit of a pain in the butt.

Waiting for the 10 T nuts to secure my axle flanges to my new housing ends to come back in stock but it’s getting closer.

Mike

 

[208Dart]

Been playing with shims for the last week. Ended up making a set of mock-up carrier bearings that could slip on and off. Makes all the difference in the world. Had to shallow up the pinion ever so slightly and make a few other adjustments.
Got the last of my D60 parts and got the rearend mocked up and oh boy it looks good! Plan is to drop the engine/trans in next week and set pinion angle. Then pull them back out to start the painless wiring kit, coolmaster AC install, pedals, brake and fuel lines.

 

[208Dart]

Rolled the engine back under this evening and got it bolted up. Had to narrow my engine dolly about 6” to get it to fit between cherry picker legs but once that was done it was very nice to install from underneath!
Going to get front suspension back on the car hopefully tomorrow and order some driveshaft components to weld up my own.
Anyone have any opinion on aluminum vs steel? My 5” aluminum on the diesel holds up amazingly well to 15-20k lb towing loads and 1k+’ft lbs, I’m leaning that way. Thoughts or opinions? TIA!

Shifter even lines up definitely going to either modify or make my own when the time comes. I imagine I’ll want it a little lower.

 

[DionR]

What intake? Have you set it on the motor to check for clearance?

 

[208Dart]

What intake? Have you set it on the motor to check for clearance?

SRT8 intake from a Challenger. And yes I have. I’m going to have to delete the SRV function as it needs about 3/4” more clearance and my engine is already as far forward in the motor mount slots as it can go. Could’ve moved the mounts for forward on the K member but then my steering shaft would’ve hit a header tube.

Mike

 

[67Baccaruda]

Check out Engine Masters Season 5 Episode 26. They dyno test a 5.7 with the SRV locked in both positions.
I'll be real surprised if you don't modify your firewall to make your SRV functional after seeing the data.

 

[208Dart]

Check out Engine Masters Season 5 Episode 26. They dyno test a 5.7 with the SRV locked in both positions.
I'll be real surprised if you don't modify your firewall to make your SRV functional after seeing the data.

I'm sure you're correct and that it's a worthwhile feature. Though I did a quick search on google and can't find that specific episode. Might dive deeper into it later but at this point it may be a future modification for me. Really wanting to get the car up and running this summer and at this point I'm done with all my body work....

Mike

 

[TT5.9mag]

 

[DionR]

To be clear, that isn't the one he was referring to. That one only compares the two versions while the referenced one shows the difference between the intake being in short runner mode versus long runner mode.

Reality is, if space doesn't allow and sheetmetal work isn't workable then the SRV isn't an option. So losing some HP or torque is just something to accept. No idea what the impact is, or if the standard Eagle. 6.1 or Edelbrock would be a better choice but if you already have a 6.4 intake (which the OP does) then buy the block out plate and go on with life.

 

[TT5.9mag]

Engine masters season 5 episode 26
“Engine masters go to school on the gen 3 hemi”. Couldn’t find a link to that one on you tube.

 

[208Dart]

Got front suspension back in minus rack/pinion and sway bar. Adjusted my coilovers up about 2” from bottom of shock body and got the front end up as low as I want it. Probably end up raising it up another inch I’m guessing. Rear end will likely drop 1-1.25” when I get interior/glass/gas tank/fuel in. Sorry pics aren’t the best, had to do a negative zoom to get certain angles but it gives me an idea of what the stance will be!

 

[DionR]

Very nice!

 

[208Dart]

Little more work done. Spring has been a ball buster for sure. Work is extremely busy not leaving much time for the project.
Looking for advice on my instrument panel. I am kind of partial to the original gauges but not sure they’ll ever look super clean. You can see in the pictures that there's some electrical tape on the circuit boards which makes me a little nervous. I found some aftermarket circuit boards for $150.

https://www.chargerspecialties.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17

Tempted to purchase and attempt to restore the gauge cluster myself. Any thoughts?
I believe this cluster is a bit unique and doesn’t have much of any options for aftermarket gauge clusters? Any help would be appreciated. Most everything I’ve found is based around the “rally dash” style.


Getting ready to paint my dash frame and pad and once that’s done I’ll be diving into the painless wiring kit while the dash is out.

 

[208Dart]

After finding those aftermarket circuit boards I decided to go ahead and disassemble the instrument panel. I can see the reason they put electrical tape on the boards haha
Besides a replacing the needle on the alternator gauge I think I can restore this instrument panel. The plastic housing only has 1 minor crack and the plexiglass in front of the gauges is minorly hazy. I’m thinking of attempting a headlight buffing compound on it?

 

[Wailin D]

Just quick comments about the SVR. The truck intake has it on the front.