derrangedgadgeteer
Well-Known Member
Well, I'm starting a new thread to separate my entry into the Go fast for cheap contest from the work I'd done previously. I figured that it is an excellent starting place for the contest, since it's not at all atypical of what you're likely to find on craigslist for $1500 or so.
It started as a slant six car. I bought a '67 318 from a belvedere (first year of the LA 318 ) It was a "It ran when I pulled it" deal which turned out to be trashed. So, it got .060 over pistons, mystery rebuild kit camshaft, crank kit, and new gaskets. I built it in my townhouse parking lot. I upgraded it with cheapass Hedman hedders, an intake from a '78 360 truck, a borrowed carburetor, Chinese electronic ignition (**** btw,) 727 trans from a van, huge radiator from a different van, and a few autozone replacement parts to make everything work. I've often bragged there's parts from nearly a dozen different vehicles in the Dartness.
So, I might as well get started here. My '75 Franken-Dart has been mothballed for the past year. Last year it developed an intermittent bottom end knock, along with intermittent water in the oil. (I know that makes no sense. But I swear, several times, I pulled the dipstick when I heard the knock, and it was cappuccino. I pulled it again, oil looked fine.) So I parked it, and literally built a workshop to put it in. Life took over from there. What was originally to be a summer-long building project stretched out past a year and a half. And that basically brings us to this month.
Building's mostly done. And I finally got to tear into the dart again. This time I'm actually tearing the car down to do the work. It's good I did too...
None of that was visible from below; it was covered up with undercoating. :wack:
So what's the goal? A clean, drive-in show worthy, corner carver with as much power as I can do within the Friendly Competition Rules. At least until I say hell with it and break 'em because there's nothing on the line :finga:
The plan: #1, patch up the rust. The stock rear quarters are really rusty, not the worst, but bad. I'm not spending the money on patch panels either. Sheet metal, and a harbor freight hammer set. I'm also tossing the old bench because it's disgusting. Gonna pull buckets out of something that strikes my fancy. Besides that I'll be tidying up the interior, fixing bits and bobs, make it presentable and functional.
I am currently waiting on hearing back from a fine gentleman at the other end of a craigslist ad for a quarter million mile 5.9 Magnum and matching overdrive transmission. $300. I plan to scrounge my local pull-a-parts for a complete NV3500 5-speed from a ram or dakota. I will cut the floor and make it fit. (I need to ask some dodge truck people if the 5-speed bolts in place of the A518, so I can cut to fit the auto and bolt in the manual later.)
Soapbox moment: I Can't stand it when magazines will do one of these "budget motor builds" and they start off with a freaking crate engine!! they have the nerve to say it's about what you'd get at a junkyard from the standpoint of a build. To which I call bull. I'm (hopefully) getting a worn, but good running motor, and we'll see how it responds to modification!
I also have an arrangement to get a big block 10 bolt posi rear from a friend of mine. The spring perches were screwed up when someone tried welding on them, so I'll be cutting them off and installing it with either the truck leaf springs on the dart previously, or with a nascar style truck link. (Homemade, of course :twisted
The motor is getting a carb intake, the ignition off the old motor, I'll be piecing together a part-store fuel system, and I'm going to price a mild cam, but I'm not committed to that part yet. I'll be reusing the headers from the old motor, (after doing some fixing) and finishing out the junkyard-and-home depot exhaust under the car.
The main thing I've not settled on is my front suspension solution. aftermarket t-bars are expensive. Aftermarket front suspension kits are even more expensive. Hacking together Junkyard steering and stuff is just asking for trouble. Input? The worn-out slant t-bars won't cut it if I'm slinging this around corners.
So, let's see how this goes!
It started as a slant six car. I bought a '67 318 from a belvedere (first year of the LA 318 ) It was a "It ran when I pulled it" deal which turned out to be trashed. So, it got .060 over pistons, mystery rebuild kit camshaft, crank kit, and new gaskets. I built it in my townhouse parking lot. I upgraded it with cheapass Hedman hedders, an intake from a '78 360 truck, a borrowed carburetor, Chinese electronic ignition (**** btw,) 727 trans from a van, huge radiator from a different van, and a few autozone replacement parts to make everything work. I've often bragged there's parts from nearly a dozen different vehicles in the Dartness.
So, I might as well get started here. My '75 Franken-Dart has been mothballed for the past year. Last year it developed an intermittent bottom end knock, along with intermittent water in the oil. (I know that makes no sense. But I swear, several times, I pulled the dipstick when I heard the knock, and it was cappuccino. I pulled it again, oil looked fine.) So I parked it, and literally built a workshop to put it in. Life took over from there. What was originally to be a summer-long building project stretched out past a year and a half. And that basically brings us to this month.
Building's mostly done. And I finally got to tear into the dart again. This time I'm actually tearing the car down to do the work. It's good I did too...
None of that was visible from below; it was covered up with undercoating. :wack:
So what's the goal? A clean, drive-in show worthy, corner carver with as much power as I can do within the Friendly Competition Rules. At least until I say hell with it and break 'em because there's nothing on the line :finga:
The plan: #1, patch up the rust. The stock rear quarters are really rusty, not the worst, but bad. I'm not spending the money on patch panels either. Sheet metal, and a harbor freight hammer set. I'm also tossing the old bench because it's disgusting. Gonna pull buckets out of something that strikes my fancy. Besides that I'll be tidying up the interior, fixing bits and bobs, make it presentable and functional.
I am currently waiting on hearing back from a fine gentleman at the other end of a craigslist ad for a quarter million mile 5.9 Magnum and matching overdrive transmission. $300. I plan to scrounge my local pull-a-parts for a complete NV3500 5-speed from a ram or dakota. I will cut the floor and make it fit. (I need to ask some dodge truck people if the 5-speed bolts in place of the A518, so I can cut to fit the auto and bolt in the manual later.)
Soapbox moment: I Can't stand it when magazines will do one of these "budget motor builds" and they start off with a freaking crate engine!! they have the nerve to say it's about what you'd get at a junkyard from the standpoint of a build. To which I call bull. I'm (hopefully) getting a worn, but good running motor, and we'll see how it responds to modification!
I also have an arrangement to get a big block 10 bolt posi rear from a friend of mine. The spring perches were screwed up when someone tried welding on them, so I'll be cutting them off and installing it with either the truck leaf springs on the dart previously, or with a nascar style truck link. (Homemade, of course :twisted
The motor is getting a carb intake, the ignition off the old motor, I'll be piecing together a part-store fuel system, and I'm going to price a mild cam, but I'm not committed to that part yet. I'll be reusing the headers from the old motor, (after doing some fixing) and finishing out the junkyard-and-home depot exhaust under the car.
The main thing I've not settled on is my front suspension solution. aftermarket t-bars are expensive. Aftermarket front suspension kits are even more expensive. Hacking together Junkyard steering and stuff is just asking for trouble. Input? The worn-out slant t-bars won't cut it if I'm slinging this around corners.
So, let's see how this goes!
