'73 Dart Sport Build

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Rumblin_440

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I have a '73 Dart Sport that I plan to put a well built (700+rwhp) 440 in. The car will be street/strip use. I know there are quite a few things to be done in order to swap a /6 auto car over to a big block 5 speed car. I have a couple things already gathered up just need to know what else I should or need to get. This is my first build and I still have quite a bit to learn so don't be afraid to throw in your .02. I have a V8 k-frame, V8 torsion bars, ford 9" rear-end (got it real cheap). I know it's not even close to everything but it's a start. I'm on the fence about power steering and power brakes and I know those two play a pretty big part in putting the 440 in so whats everyone's opinion on those? The car will not be driven daily just a nice weather cruiser when its not on the strip. Thanks in advance for all the info.
 
My advice is to build the car to handle the kind of power that you are talking about. Frame connectors, torque boxes and make sure that you stiffen up the front end. Once those things are done then you can start throwing parts at it.

BTW I run a narrowed 9" with disc brakes from an 8.8 from an explorer in my dart. Pics for you.
 

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Ok so frame connectors alone aren't enough? By stiffen up the front end you mean BBP spindles, upper and lower control arms right? The 9" looks awesome you make that all yourself or who did you use?
 
Ok so frame connectors alone aren't enough? By stiffen up the front end you mean BBP spindles, upper and lower control arms right? The 9" looks awesome you make that all yourself or who did you use?

John built all of that stuff himself. If your starting with a slant car that has drum brakes all around, I would get rid of them quick and put large bold disks on the front. Like John said, build the car to handle the power that you want, then build the engine. Heck, you could have it all ready and just drop a 318 in it for the time being till you had the 440 ready too.

You could have 1000 rear wheel horse power, but it doesn't matter if the car is not equipped to handle it.
 
Also, both my cars are manual steering and even on my daily driver, I don't have a problem with it. The power brakes are nice though.
 
Ok so frame connectors alone aren't enough? By stiffen up the front end you mean BBP spindles, upper and lower control arms right? The 9" looks awesome you make that all yourself or who did you use?

When I talk about stiffening the front end I am talking about the amount of flex in the frame forward of the firewall. Here is a little test for you. Jack up the front of your car under the K frame. Place jack stands under the frame rails behind the firewall and then lower the jack and watch how much the front frame rails drop when lowering the jack. I have seen 2"-3", remember these cars are 40+ years old. Installing some sort of inner fender bracing that flexing and lower radiator support will help with the twisting. Just my 02

I narrowed the housing myself. It a big bearing axle from a truck, meaning the axle tubes are 3". They made small tube axles for the cars I believe. I built an alignment jig which is the best way to do it in order to get the axles in the housing straight. I ordered the custom axles from Dutchman, but there are many places that can make you a set of axles. It's a nodular iron case, 3.91 gears, detroit locker.
 
When I built mine in 2003, I started with my 73 Dart Sport, small 6, stick, and used a 69 Road Runner as the donor car. the 440, 727, and 8 3/4 came from it. I tied the subframes, and reinforced the torque boxes and added a driveshaft loop. I also narrowed the diff. and mini-tubbed the car. This gave me the Road Runner 11x2 1/2 back brakes. I also used the Road Runner spindles and added 76 Chrysler Cordoba 11.5" disk brakes in front. The 440 was rebuilt with a few after market parts, now making it a 512 cu.in. The 727 has Mopar Performance internals and a 3500 stall converter. The 489 case 8 3/4 was narrowed 12 " and a 4.10 gear, with a spool, was added. rear springs are A body V-8 springs. The front still has the 6 cyl. torsion bars. I have put over 50K miles on it since the build, and still love driving it.
metrocruise2008.jpg

engineprosystemcarb.jpg

interior2.jpg
 
Ok thanks everyone for the input. I'll do some thinking on everything and throw some more questions at you later on you can count on that. Oh and J-MacsMopars building the car and dropping a 318 in now is exactly what I'm doing while I build the 440 haha. I got a 318 and 3-speed 727 combo that I'm gonna put in it as soon as the car is finished.
 
Wow, having almost been there, a 73 Dart Sport, 700+ rear wheel horsepower 440, first build, is an ambitious undertaking!

The best the Demon ever managed was 696 RWHP.
 
I'll be 21 this september and would love nothing more then to be hittin my first few bars in a 73 Dart Sport haha. I know it's a little extreme for a first build but why look back and say what if?
 
I'll be 21 this september and would love nothing more then to be hittin my first few bars in a 73 Dart Sport haha. I know it's a little extreme for a first build but why look back and say what if?

If you do that you won't have it long.
 
Back to the subject at hand. What all do I need for the disc brake swap I've seen people say you need UCAs and LCAs and others say just ball-joints.
 
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