The Other 68 Dart Resto Project
Its been a while since I updated this thread. Unfortunately my attention had been turned to my new 383 engine, and quite frankly, I got ripped by a chump on ebay. I was told that it was a running 383 when I bought it. WHen I got it home, I pulled the valve covers, there was a ton of rust covering the valvetrain, next I pulled the intake, rust in the valley, lifters frozen, cam rusted. I pulled the heads. WATER! In two cylinders, and in the intake ports. I pulled the drainplug from the oilpan, Oh My God! I scrambled to find containers for the gusher, my oil drain pan quickly filled with rusty water, I grabbed the lid from mt trash can and filled it. When the last drop tricled out, 4 GALLONS! I turned the engine upside down and pulled the pan, rust everywhere. I pulled the rods, the crank and bearings looked like they survived, the crank spun freely, so thing were not so bad.
I took the engine to a machine shop, they tore the rest of it apart, cleaned it, and told me that the block, crank and rods were good. I was going to have them rebuild it with new pistons and bearings, but I did a cost analysis. FOr them to do it with new pistons, bearings, rings, it would have cost me $1250. And I would still have a cast cranks, cast pistons, weak rod bolts, and an external balanced damper and TQ converter.
A lot of money for stock components. I did a little research, I can do the same machine work and a 496 stroker kit for $2050. For $800 bucks I can have an extra 113 cubes and another 125 HP. I cant do a stock 383 knowing that I can build a monster. The good news is now that I am going to get a monster motor, the bad news is that I am now going to have to wait until at least August until I can save enough money to do the engine and buy heads.
I had to re-evaluate my project, gone are my desire for 11 second time slips (for now). I decided that I am going to stick with my original plan and do the bodywork, paint, suspension, and interior. The good news is now I can afford to do all this by May. So now my plan is to get going on the pretty stuff.
Time to pick a paint color. It was between 3 colors, I think I decided on a color, PP1 Red. Tell me what you think.
Not my car, but exactly as I want it, see the car on the bottom row:
Its been a while since I updated this thread. Unfortunately my attention had been turned to my new 383 engine, and quite frankly, I got ripped by a chump on ebay. I was told that it was a running 383 when I bought it. WHen I got it home, I pulled the valve covers, there was a ton of rust covering the valvetrain, next I pulled the intake, rust in the valley, lifters frozen, cam rusted. I pulled the heads. WATER! In two cylinders, and in the intake ports. I pulled the drainplug from the oilpan, Oh My God! I scrambled to find containers for the gusher, my oil drain pan quickly filled with rusty water, I grabbed the lid from mt trash can and filled it. When the last drop tricled out, 4 GALLONS! I turned the engine upside down and pulled the pan, rust everywhere. I pulled the rods, the crank and bearings looked like they survived, the crank spun freely, so thing were not so bad.
I took the engine to a machine shop, they tore the rest of it apart, cleaned it, and told me that the block, crank and rods were good. I was going to have them rebuild it with new pistons and bearings, but I did a cost analysis. FOr them to do it with new pistons, bearings, rings, it would have cost me $1250. And I would still have a cast cranks, cast pistons, weak rod bolts, and an external balanced damper and TQ converter.
A lot of money for stock components. I did a little research, I can do the same machine work and a 496 stroker kit for $2050. For $800 bucks I can have an extra 113 cubes and another 125 HP. I cant do a stock 383 knowing that I can build a monster. The good news is now that I am going to get a monster motor, the bad news is that I am now going to have to wait until at least August until I can save enough money to do the engine and buy heads.
I had to re-evaluate my project, gone are my desire for 11 second time slips (for now). I decided that I am going to stick with my original plan and do the bodywork, paint, suspension, and interior. The good news is now I can afford to do all this by May. So now my plan is to get going on the pretty stuff.
Time to pick a paint color. It was between 3 colors, I think I decided on a color, PP1 Red. Tell me what you think.
Not my car, but exactly as I want it, see the car on the bottom row:
