I have been a long time Dart lover, but just recently picked up a 72 Swinger in decent shape to turn into my daily driver. Trying to keep it on the road and not turn it into a project is my main goal, which I am sure will be a hard thing to do.
It's a 318 automatic with 3.55 sure grip 8 3/4 rear end. All drum brakes. It has a little rust in the front floors, but the rest of the body is solid and has been repainted by the previous owner a couple of years ago. Not sure I like the really dark green paint, but it's nice enough and no body work issues to deal with.
All the bushings have been done, transmission is rebuilt and motor was looked at and top end redone before I bought it.
It has an Edelbrock 600 carb, but it was missing all the choke gear and the car was setup real rich so it would idle when cold. I found another carb with a choke and rebuilt it and got it tuned pretty good. Along with that, accelerating was causing some really bad pinging, but easy to fix with a timing light and backing the initial timing down from 22.5 degrees to 10, I am surprised it started so easy with that much initial timing.
Now, my only driving issue is a bit of a whine in the rear end, new gear oil is next on the list and hopefully it will keep it at bay for a while.
My commute is about 30 miles each way to work, quite a bit of it is highway and the 3.55 gears and no overdrive is already getting old so I am thinking a gear swap or overdrive swap is in order, not sure I want to tear the car down and re-fabricate a cross member to swap in an overdrive, but i do like the 3.55 gears so I will probably just drive in the slow lane for a while. I am also thinking of putting on the set of 15" truck wheels (1975 5 on 4.5 pattern) I have lying around for some wider tires, but need to research on here a bit more and see what i can make fit.
I have a disc brake setup off a 75 Dart that I am thinking of swapping in as the front drums are groaning, but I am trying to keep this thing on the road and not turn it into a project. and just redoing the drum setup is less than half the cost of the disc brake swap, but upgrades are tempting.
Anyway, just my Dart and a little story. I will update as I go along, I plan on keeping this one for a while.
Any suggestions on some of my issues or what others have done would be great, or if there's an experienced overdrive swapper in Texas who can lend me a hand let me know, I already have a 46rh transmission sitting around.
It's a 318 automatic with 3.55 sure grip 8 3/4 rear end. All drum brakes. It has a little rust in the front floors, but the rest of the body is solid and has been repainted by the previous owner a couple of years ago. Not sure I like the really dark green paint, but it's nice enough and no body work issues to deal with.
All the bushings have been done, transmission is rebuilt and motor was looked at and top end redone before I bought it.
It has an Edelbrock 600 carb, but it was missing all the choke gear and the car was setup real rich so it would idle when cold. I found another carb with a choke and rebuilt it and got it tuned pretty good. Along with that, accelerating was causing some really bad pinging, but easy to fix with a timing light and backing the initial timing down from 22.5 degrees to 10, I am surprised it started so easy with that much initial timing.
Now, my only driving issue is a bit of a whine in the rear end, new gear oil is next on the list and hopefully it will keep it at bay for a while.
My commute is about 30 miles each way to work, quite a bit of it is highway and the 3.55 gears and no overdrive is already getting old so I am thinking a gear swap or overdrive swap is in order, not sure I want to tear the car down and re-fabricate a cross member to swap in an overdrive, but i do like the 3.55 gears so I will probably just drive in the slow lane for a while. I am also thinking of putting on the set of 15" truck wheels (1975 5 on 4.5 pattern) I have lying around for some wider tires, but need to research on here a bit more and see what i can make fit.
I have a disc brake setup off a 75 Dart that I am thinking of swapping in as the front drums are groaning, but I am trying to keep this thing on the road and not turn it into a project. and just redoing the drum setup is less than half the cost of the disc brake swap, but upgrades are tempting.
Anyway, just my Dart and a little story. I will update as I go along, I plan on keeping this one for a while.
Any suggestions on some of my issues or what others have done would be great, or if there's an experienced overdrive swapper in Texas who can lend me a hand let me know, I already have a 46rh transmission sitting around.
