My 1972 Dodge Dart

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bwillaub

bwillaub

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Joined
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Location
Knob Noster, MO
Just purchased her last Thursday, Oct. 9 2015. She's kinda rough, but I'll do my best to get her right. Also purchased a 440 and a 727 Torqueflite to put in her. She will be a retirement project for me. I can only fish and bowhunt so many days a year.
 

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Started tearing her down. Started with the front end and will move to rear next. It's going well. No surprises yet.
 

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Hey bwillaub,

I hate to say it but somebody will and not be nice about it, but that is a Dart not a Dart Demon. It may be a Dart Swinger though, I don't know enough of the particulars to be able to tell you.

All that aside, it looks like you have a solid base to start from and that big block looks right at home in there.

Jack
 
Coyote Jack said:
Hey bwillaub,

I hate to say it but somebody will and not be nice about it, but that is a Dart not a Dart Demon. It may be a Dart Swinger though, I don't know enough of the particulars to be able to tell you.

All that aside, it looks like you have a solid base to start from and that big block looks right at home in there.

Jack
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I was told that the LH23 on the dash tag means it was a Demon/High? Is this not right? I was just calling it a Dart till I was told that.
 
well the Demon is the dodge bro to the duster. different body s tyle but still yet all are the infamous A body. list the info on the fender tag and i'm sure a member will be able to tell you what it is. non the less, a great project.
 
bwillaub said:
I was told that the LH23 on the dash tag means it was a Demon/High? Is this not right? I was just calling it a Dart till I was told that.
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Welcome.

Nope, not a Demon.

We have another member in Knob Noster, Lelo Dart I believe.
 
barbee6043 said:
well the Demon is the dodge bro to the duster. different body s tyle but still yet all are the infamous A body. list the info on the fender tag and i'm sure a member will be able to tell you what it is. non the less, a great project.
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Did that already and the LH23 means that it was "supposed" to be a Dodge Demon build. It wouldn't be the first time the assembly line didn't follow the build order.
 
If it were a Demon it would read LH29. The 29 being a sport roof. 23 means hard top.
 
There is a vin decoder up on the home page of the site. You have your self a Dart Swinger there. You are going to have a sweet A-Body when all is said and done....
You can shoot the site admin an email and he can edit your thread title for you.
Enjoy the process!
 
I opened the thread looking for the demon ......there is not one.

There is no LH demon

its either LL29 OR LM29H (340 car only)

I have two demons and one is LL29C1E and the other is LL29C2R

LH is a dart swinger in 72 which is still a bad *** car and yours looks like a great starting point.
 
Thanks, guys. I just got some bad info. Turns out to be a Swinger. It has the right hole pattern for the DART and the SWINGER emblems.

Still tearing her down. Working on the rear and interior now.
 

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This is just one of the things I was talking about when I said "amateur" body work. Both rear inner wheel wells were poorly modified for some reason? Wider tires I am guessing? Very poor work and now the trunk doesn't open and close. I will have to tear all this out and fabricate new ones and weld them in.
 

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Rainy Day Auto said:
I opened the thread looking for the demon ......there is not one.

There is no LH demon

its either LL29 OR LM29H (340 car only)

I have two demons and one is LL29C1E and the other is LL29C2R

LH is a dart swinger in 72 which is still a bad *** car and yours looks like a great starting point.
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You are correct. It did turn out to be a Swinger. I just received bad info from one of the many VIN decoders online. I do appreciate all the good folks setting it straight tho. I don't want to misrepresent it in any way.

Bob
 
Inner fenders/wells are gone. Pop rivets aren't that hard to deal with! It was just some lightweight tin put together with pop rivets and caulk!
I am very disappointed in the work done on the car by the last "restorer"!
 

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Hello neighbor.
Just clean those wheel wells up and weld in some more mini tubs. The wider back tires will be needed to hold that big block on the road!
Looks like a great start and it'll be an awesome little thumper when done.
 
Mini tub from US Car Tools. Finishing my 72 Soon....I might be able to help with part numbers.....nothing I did not replace.
 
Dartn440 said:
Mini tub from US Car Tools. Finishing my 72 Soon....I might be able to help with part numbers.....nothing I did not replace.
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I would appreciate any and all help. This will be my first build. I would like to see some pics of the work you are doing also.
 
Dragger40 said:
Hello neighbor.
Just clean those wheel wells up and weld in some more mini tubs. The wider back tires will be needed to hold that big block on the road!
Looks like a great start and it'll be an awesome little thumper when done.
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Well, hello to you, neighbor. I have a good friend who lives in Ashland. Any ideas on how to address the trunk hinge when widening the inner fender wells?
 
Looks like someone was building a drag car. Mini tubs for bigger tires, no fenderwells for fenderwell headers, a lot of spare tire wells get cut out due to rot but also when guys want to mount a fuel cell. You have a bit of work ahead of you but if you're good with a mig welder it can all be done and the replacement pieces are out there. Consider your exhaust choices NOW before repairing those fenderwells. You can get underchassis headers but they are pricey. Fenderwells are available but they require small front tire, otherwise they will rub. bigblockdart.com has TONS of big block a body advise - go to their tech pages.
 
Looks like a lot of work but will be worth it in the end. Only took me 5 years to get mine done. But about 2 of those I wasn't able to work on it to much.
My build thread is below if your interested. Good luck I'll be following your build nice to see one get fixed back up.
 
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