1967 Dart GT Chonicals
The car began as a GT, 273, automatic on the column with a 7.25 rear end with drums in the corners. I wanted a little more knowing I wasn’t going to put it back to factory specs. I wanted to do the project with my boy and for the family to be able to drive it.
First order of business was suspension so the car could get off the dang jack stands. I found a lower arm in the trunk (with a sway bar bracket) but couldn’t locate an other at the time it was put together. Using this site I got two decent ones without. We were just going to clean and update bushings in the suspension, but found that I wanted discs up front, and chewed on what company to use. I found CPP good enough for my liking and ordered the whole spindle kit, arms and priportioning valve. It also allowed me to go to the bigger bolt configuration and wheel selection would be better. I found PST here and ordered some parts through them. Torsion bars are 340 bars a friend let me have. With the arms rebuilt and the rest of the parts in hand, we took our first stab at putting together a torsion bar suspension. Haha. We did alright in my book after some head scratching. I still have the factory arms and spindles if anyone is looking for some. That’s my boy in the pics.
We sand blasted the lower arms and welded up known issues in the k-member and painted and undercoated it. While in the midst of suspension work, we also sandblasted the engine area and painted it black. The exterior paint hadn’t been decided on and I really didn’t have the money for the 2 stage paint anyway. So black it was.
Since the front end had been swapped to the big bolt size, I needed to do the same out back. Through some research and friends, I found Bob Mazzolini Racing in Riverside CA. He is about 30 minutes from home, so I stopped in while in the area one day. He has a whole business for dodge and chrylser parts. Good guy for sure and a great reference.
After a few stop ins for odds and ins I was able to procure a 8.75 A-body housing from him for a decent price. I found Dr. Diff through this site, and ordered his green bearing axle kit. I located a 741 3.55 used gear and housing and had it shipped. And again, once all the parts were on hand we did some rebuilding. The gear set seemed fine. So just a bearing kit was done as I couldnt afford the Suregrip. The housing was sanded, blasted and painted and finally all assembled.
I have a close friend who teaches autoshop at the local high school so you will see the parts or car there in pictures throughout the build. A rack is nice if available. He too is a dodge guy and was a huge help during the build.
After all was said and done, it took a while to figure out the parts needed, locate and order them and assemble. We got it handled, and it was soon rolling. It was a great feeling knowing the last time it was really rolling around was when my brother owned it.
The build really has no budget, but the sentimental value outweighs the cost. But overtime pay was really the money used. I wanted to just get it rolling and driving, and from the beginning was just gonna be a driver. Could I have done some things first before others, sure. But the project does wrap up nicely so stay tuned for more of our fun times.
Cheers!
The car began as a GT, 273, automatic on the column with a 7.25 rear end with drums in the corners. I wanted a little more knowing I wasn’t going to put it back to factory specs. I wanted to do the project with my boy and for the family to be able to drive it.
First order of business was suspension so the car could get off the dang jack stands. I found a lower arm in the trunk (with a sway bar bracket) but couldn’t locate an other at the time it was put together. Using this site I got two decent ones without. We were just going to clean and update bushings in the suspension, but found that I wanted discs up front, and chewed on what company to use. I found CPP good enough for my liking and ordered the whole spindle kit, arms and priportioning valve. It also allowed me to go to the bigger bolt configuration and wheel selection would be better. I found PST here and ordered some parts through them. Torsion bars are 340 bars a friend let me have. With the arms rebuilt and the rest of the parts in hand, we took our first stab at putting together a torsion bar suspension. Haha. We did alright in my book after some head scratching. I still have the factory arms and spindles if anyone is looking for some. That’s my boy in the pics.
We sand blasted the lower arms and welded up known issues in the k-member and painted and undercoated it. While in the midst of suspension work, we also sandblasted the engine area and painted it black. The exterior paint hadn’t been decided on and I really didn’t have the money for the 2 stage paint anyway. So black it was.
Since the front end had been swapped to the big bolt size, I needed to do the same out back. Through some research and friends, I found Bob Mazzolini Racing in Riverside CA. He is about 30 minutes from home, so I stopped in while in the area one day. He has a whole business for dodge and chrylser parts. Good guy for sure and a great reference.
After a few stop ins for odds and ins I was able to procure a 8.75 A-body housing from him for a decent price. I found Dr. Diff through this site, and ordered his green bearing axle kit. I located a 741 3.55 used gear and housing and had it shipped. And again, once all the parts were on hand we did some rebuilding. The gear set seemed fine. So just a bearing kit was done as I couldnt afford the Suregrip. The housing was sanded, blasted and painted and finally all assembled.
I have a close friend who teaches autoshop at the local high school so you will see the parts or car there in pictures throughout the build. A rack is nice if available. He too is a dodge guy and was a huge help during the build.
After all was said and done, it took a while to figure out the parts needed, locate and order them and assemble. We got it handled, and it was soon rolling. It was a great feeling knowing the last time it was really rolling around was when my brother owned it.
The build really has no budget, but the sentimental value outweighs the cost. But overtime pay was really the money used. I wanted to just get it rolling and driving, and from the beginning was just gonna be a driver. Could I have done some things first before others, sure. But the project does wrap up nicely so stay tuned for more of our fun times.
Cheers!
