Here's the backstory on the engine: In 1995 living in rural Wyoming I bought my first car, a 71 Duster. This 225 was the original engine and I was told it had been "rebuilt 50K ago" (I believe that about as much as I do the "ran when parked" line), it was in poor condition. One plug wire was missing, another was connected to the distributor but the plug end was just flopping around, the dist. itself was in 180 out and they had bent the tab to get the cap on another 180 off from that. I have no idea how it was even running but I drove it home (actually, my dad drove it as I was only 14 at the time).
I fixed all the issues I could find, replaced some things like the coil and the starter, and rebuilt the 1920. It still wasn't right so I pulled the valve cover to do a valve adjustment to discover it had spit out a few lifters. Come to find out someone had put hydraulic lifters in it. What did my father and I do to fix it? We got a set of mechanical lifters from a junked '73 slant and dropped them in.
Once I got my license I drove that car through most of high school until I failed to navigate a turn on an icy road in the winter during my senior year. One of my dad's co-workers had just bought a 72 Duster because he needed the slant out of it, he pulled it then gave me the car. I dropped my slant in it and drove it until I left for the Navy. My dad drove it for a bit until something broke with the suspension. Instead of fixing it, he junked the car and bought a 73 duster with a blown motor and in went my trusty old slant. He drove that as a work car for a couple of years.
Around 2001 I was at home on leave and I found a 67 Dart for sale with a blown tranny. I liked it, bought it, and swapped in the engine and trans that was being used in the 73. That car was junked then. I drove the dart to California and drove it for about a year. I swapped in a super six setup and a pertronix kit during that time. Then, the car went back to my parents place in Wyoming and was parked behind the garage.
Sometime in 2008 or 2009, now out of the Navy but still living in CA, I wanted my dart back. So I flew to WY, cleaned out the fuel system, replaced the battery and tires, and drove it out here. I drove it only occasionally until late 2014 when I made it my daily driver. Since then I have swapped to a Gm HEI and 10si alternator, and I rebuilt the Carter bbd (including instaling bronze bushings for the throttle shaft). That's where I am with it today and I was surprised by the numbers. In fact, all things considered, I'm ecstatic!