New guy from Chicago, 1969 Dart 340 Swinger

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black954

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Location
Chicago, IL
Just wanted to introduce myself, Justin here. I have dreamed about my fathers 1969 Dart 340 Swinger my entire life. It's never ran for the 40 years i've been alive, just sat in my Dad's garage. Until recently. My father's plan was to get to it when he retired, but that was 5 years ago. Well, this summer he tells me the car is mine and that he'll just never get around to it. It was a complete shocker, but of course I was super excited. After the past few months of finishing up other little projects and getting my garage somewhat in order, I picked it up about a month ago. I've been reading a LOT on this forum and there's such great information here. I've also ordered some big tick items from the vendors here as well. Doctor Diff is awesome! I plan on starting a build thread here soon so whoever is interested can follow the build.

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Hello and welcome to the club. We're all here cause we're not all there!
You can use the "upload photos" link to post pictures..........
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Hello and welcome to the club. We're all here cause we're not all there!
You can use the "upload photos" link to post pictures..........
View attachment 1715453840

LOL, i've been away from the Mopar crowd for awhile and I forgot the "uniqueness" of Mopar guys! LOL.

Did my pics not show up? I tried to post 2 pics to my original post
 
....Did my pics not show up? I tried to post 2 pics to my original post
They show for me now. :thumbsup: Not sure why they didn't earlier.

Looks like you have a car in nice shape to throw the green into. Best of luck with it! We'll be watchin' :popcorn:
 
Welcome to FABO and congrats on your "new" 340 Swinger. What are your build plans? Stock resto or are you going to play with it a bit?
Post more pics as you progress.
My first Dart was a '69 340 Swinger I bought used in November '69. I had a lot of fun with that car before getting stupid and started turning it into a race car, then got stupider and sold it during a minor financial crisis.
I've been in "build mode" of my current '69 Dart for a bit over 10 years - can't rush into these things - and hope to finally have it out of the paint shop in the next month or two.
 
Just wanted to introduce myself, Justin here. I have dreamed about my fathers 1969 Dart 340 Swinger my entire life. It's never ran for the 40 years i've been alive, just sat in my Dad's garage. Until recently. My father's plan was to get to it when he retired, but that was 5 years ago. Well, this summer he tells me the car is mine and that he'll just never get around to it. It was a complete shocker, but of course I was super excited. After the past few months of finishing up other little projects and getting my garage somewhat in order, I picked it up about a month ago. I've been reading a LOT on this forum and there's such great information here. I've also ordered some big tick items from the vendors here as well. Doctor Diff is awesome! I plan on starting a build thread here soon so whoever is interested can follow the build.

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Welcome to FABO...
Welcome to FABO.gif



What part of Chicago are you in??? I helped Eddie build his 340 for his 69 Dart and it runs great now... We should all get together some time if you're not far away...

I'm in the southwest burbs and Eddie is in the city not too far from O'hare... @Eddie348

Here's Eddie's Dart after we tuned it in....

 
Welcome to FABO and congrats on your "new" 340 Swinger. What are your build plans? Stock resto or are you going to play with it a bit?
Post more pics as you progress.
My first Dart was a '69 340 Swinger I bought used in November '69. I had a lot of fun with that car before getting stupid and started turning it into a race car, then got stupider and sold it during a minor financial crisis.
I've been in "build mode" of my current '69 Dart for a bit over 10 years - can't rush into these things - and hope to finally have it out of the paint shop in the next month or two.
I guess i'm biased, but you have great tastes in your Mopars lol. I have a long travel Bronco build I put on hold for this car which is the reason i'm being aggressive with the build timeline. Otherwise, I could really build a show stopper in 10 years!
I'm building it as a road race car and light street cruiser. I still want my kids to be able to ride in the back seat, but with it being a power delete car, it will have a nasty 340 in it as well.
 
Welcome to FABO... View attachment 1715453876


What part of Chicago are you in??? I helped Eddie build his 340 for his 69 Dart and it runs great now... We should all get together some time if you're not far away...

I'm in the southwest burbs and Eddie is in the city not too far from O'hare... @Eddie348

Here's Eddie's Dart after we tuned it in....


Damn, that's a nasty Dart for sure. I'm up in Wheaton, about 35 miles NW of Orland Park. I will look you up for sure when it comes time to build the 340. I want a pretty nasty high reving small block so it will be a very tedious engine build.
 
Damn, that's a nasty Dart for sure. I'm up in Wheaton, about 35 miles NW of Orland Park. I will look you up for sure when it comes time to build the 340. I want a pretty nasty high reving small block so it will be a very tedious engine build.

Ok, let me know if you need any help... I've built many small blocks, including 340's... You can ask Eddie as a reference...

Eddie never built an engine before and I walked him through it... He was right there with me turning wrenches to build his own engine... We double checked all the bolt torques to make sure we didn't leave any loose ones... He enjoyed building it so much that he wants to build another one...

Here's a few pics from our build:


Dropping the new engine in...

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Eddie turning a wrench...

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Some finished pictures...

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Ok, let me know if you need any help... I've built many small blocks, including 340's... You can ask Eddie as a reference...

Eddie never built an engine before and I walked him through it... He was right there with me turning wrenches to build his own engine... We double checked all the bolt torques to make sure we didn't leave any loose ones... He enjoyed building it so much that he wants to build another one...
Thank you very much, that's a great offer. I've built quite a few engines in the past as well. This time around, i'm focusing on the blueprinting and balancing as well as a stout oiling system with a bulletproof valvetrain. This will be my first solid roller cam engine and i'm really thinking about running an aluminum flywheel to keep with the revvy spirit
 
Ok, let me know if you need any help... I've built many small blocks, including 340's... You can ask Eddie as a reference...

Eddie never built an engine before and I walked him through it... He was right there with me turning wrenches to build his own engine... We double checked all the bolt torques to make sure we didn't leave any loose ones... He enjoyed building it so much that he wants to build another one...

Here's a few pics from our build:


Dropping the new engine in...

View attachment 1715453893


Eddie turning a wrench...

View attachment 1715453894

Some finished pictures...

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That's a super clean build there! I'll probably be back looking at those pics for reference when my reassemble begins
 
That's a super clean build there! I'll probably be back looking at those pics for reference when my reassemble begins


I have more pics if you need them for reference...

Plus we can go look at Eddie's if you need to...
 
welcome, sweet car, has your dad owned it since new, if so thats great
Not since new, but he bought it in 1970. Unfortunately it’s kind of a sad story. The original owner was serving in Vietnam and he did not return. My fathers brother was as well and had the same unfortunate fate. The father of the original owner kind of wanted my dad to have it because they shared similar situations and that’s how my dad came to buy it. He’s got such cool stories about the car. His cousin bought a brand new 1969 Boss 302 Mustang which was double the msrp of the Dart, yet it just couldn’t keep up with the Dart. I also have the original window sticker and owners manual for it, plus the title in my dads name from 1970 which is pretty awesome.
 
Not since new, but he bought it in 1970. Unfortunately it’s kind of a sad story. The original owner was serving in Vietnam and he did not return. My fathers brother was as well and had the same unfortunate fate. The father of the original owner kind of wanted my dad to have it because they shared similar situations and that’s how my dad came to buy it. He’s got such cool stories about the car. His cousin bought a brand new 1969 Boss 302 Mustang which was double the msrp of the Dart, yet it just couldn’t keep up with the Dart. I also have the original window sticker and owners manual for it, plus the title in my dads name from 1970 which is pretty awesome.
I was going to say hi from Central Wi., and maybe give some football trash talk in fun, but this reply made me lose any thought of doing that.

Please get that car on the road.

I don't have the knowledge that the people on here have, or the parts and stuff laying around to help (or money for that matter).. but if there's any way I can help, let me know.

Get that guys car on the road.
 
I was going to say hi from Central Wi., and maybe give some football trash talk in fun, but this reply made me lose any thought of doing that.

Please get that car on the road.

I don't have the knowledge that the people on here have, or the parts and stuff laying around to help (or money for that matter).. but if there's any way I can help, let me know.

Get that guys car on the road.
I appreciate the support and offer. I will for sure be driving this car by the summer. No need to trash talk (I’m one of the few Packers fans in IL lol).
 
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