1968 Dart 270 NON-build
I've had the opportunity to take the car out a few times. Went to a local show with my daughter (5). She wasn't impressed, and spent the whole ride watching her tablet. My wife was surprised that as soon as I pulled in, it drew a small crowd. She just see's it as a beat up old car I spent too much money on. We later drove it to get ice cream, about a 10 mile trip. It ran well, but was downright scary when I would hit a bump. The handling needs help.
The ride was way to floaty for my taste. I took the car up to work to let my students install some 1.03 torsion bars and offset upper bushings. We discovered that the lower bushing were also shot, so we installed some poly LCA bushings and new Moog strut rod bushings. I only bought the poly because I had heard that they installed in the stock sleeve, and I wasn't looking forward to pressing that out. Well some may reuse the lower bushing sleeve, but not the one I got! We set the ride height where it had a slight rake forward and was off the bump stops. We were able to dial in some decent caster, and I am much happier with the handling. Even with the loose steering, it no longer wanders all over. There is a rebuilt box from Steer and Gear waiting in my garage, maybe I'll tackle it over Christmas break.
I am not happy with the power of the 273. I've decided that I want a 5.9 Magnum (been looking local on Facebook Marketplace, but nothing so far. There was a post a week or two ago about a clearance sale at Mancini. They had unmarked Edelbrock Magnum heads for about 640 each. I was just planning on taking a junkyard engine, throw in new gaskets and a mild cam, and call it a day. But after hearing about how 90% of Magnum heads are cracked, and E/Q heads are about the same price as I got these, I decided to pull the trigger. I haven't torn them down to inspect yet, but did notice that one head has an area that is mismachined on the intake gasket area. Seems to go right through a coolant port. I'll have to look into ways to make sure that doesn't leak.
I've had the opportunity to take the car out a few times. Went to a local show with my daughter (5). She wasn't impressed, and spent the whole ride watching her tablet. My wife was surprised that as soon as I pulled in, it drew a small crowd. She just see's it as a beat up old car I spent too much money on. We later drove it to get ice cream, about a 10 mile trip. It ran well, but was downright scary when I would hit a bump. The handling needs help.
The ride was way to floaty for my taste. I took the car up to work to let my students install some 1.03 torsion bars and offset upper bushings. We discovered that the lower bushing were also shot, so we installed some poly LCA bushings and new Moog strut rod bushings. I only bought the poly because I had heard that they installed in the stock sleeve, and I wasn't looking forward to pressing that out. Well some may reuse the lower bushing sleeve, but not the one I got! We set the ride height where it had a slight rake forward and was off the bump stops. We were able to dial in some decent caster, and I am much happier with the handling. Even with the loose steering, it no longer wanders all over. There is a rebuilt box from Steer and Gear waiting in my garage, maybe I'll tackle it over Christmas break.
I am not happy with the power of the 273. I've decided that I want a 5.9 Magnum (been looking local on Facebook Marketplace, but nothing so far. There was a post a week or two ago about a clearance sale at Mancini. They had unmarked Edelbrock Magnum heads for about 640 each. I was just planning on taking a junkyard engine, throw in new gaskets and a mild cam, and call it a day. But after hearing about how 90% of Magnum heads are cracked, and E/Q heads are about the same price as I got these, I decided to pull the trigger. I haven't torn them down to inspect yet, but did notice that one head has an area that is mismachined on the intake gasket area. Seems to go right through a coolant port. I'll have to look into ways to make sure that doesn't leak.
