Red Headed Stepchild-75 Swinger LSX Swap

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Have to pull the pan back out due to a leak at the turbo drain. but ill be getting a Weld in bung installed so I wont have to worry about leaks anymore.
 
Happy thanksgiving to All!!!

Got my oil pan back welded up. Should be installed again tomorrow. Ordered a new set of gauges that work with my current sensors so I dont have to guess at fuel level anymore.

Ordered 1/4" spacers instead of the 5/16 for the track trio next weekend. As well as an adjustable prop valve for the rear brakes so we have a solid feel before we send this thing down the 1320.

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Got the oil pan back on this morning, and I got my new gauge set in the mail.

Again I switched to these because they have dipswitches on the back to accept a variety of 6 or 7 different sensor inputs.

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Got my pan installed and all the lines tightened back up.

Also got the trans overflow tank installed and the drain tube hooked up.

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Got the new gauges in yesterday and got them all setup. I can actually see my fuel level now!!

Simple stage box will be here today along with my adjustable prop valve for the brakes.

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I've been chasing an oil leak all week and finally got it fixed in time for the track visit this Saturday.
 
YoungDart75 said:
Well everyone I wouldn't necessarily consider this a restoration to the extent some of you are going through, But I'm still restoring what needs attention on my 75 Dart Swinger. It has a few rust spots underneath that I will be addressing on top of just maintaining it and jut driving it. To begin my story I've always been a die hard Mitsubishi 4G63 turbo all wheel drive guy and I've recently made transition into the Classic side of the house as I've always had a love for classics, and the level of stupidity in the import side has grown exponentially as of late.

So far starter's I Have my 1975 Dodge Dart Swinger with 75,601 miles on it. Here are a couple pictures from the day I went to go see her. I had seen the ad online and thought it looked pretty well taken care of and the owner had an entire book of paperwork to go all the way back to when it was bought in December of 1975. So this intrigued me even more. As soon as I saw how clean it and well kept it was I knew even with the slant 6 I had to have it.

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Then about a week later I got to the day where he hauled it down for me and dropped it off. This was right after I had an appraisal done on the car which they said valued it between 9000-9500.
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I took this photo primarily for a beginning reference because I knew id be making some changes in the engine bay to make it as clean as the rest of the car.
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The old Ford wheels were in decent shape with brand new tires and they look great on the car so no real need to switch them right now.

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Wow. From then to now Congratulations on a badass car
 
loganscuda said:
Wow. From then to now Congratulations on a badass car
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Thanks alot man I appreciate it. It's been alot of hard work and alot of hours but after my test drive last night on full boost and my first trans brake launch on this thing, I cant wait for the track tomorrow. I just hope the track is a little warmer, the Hoosiers are a little stickier and the traction is alot higher. If so it should be a hell of a pass.

Have to finish setting up my bump box tonight and do my last few checks ok n the cars before I load it on the trailer to head south tomorrow morning for Fayetteville, NC to run at the track and then sit back and let my family see the car for the first time and enjoy being back home for the first time in iver 8 months.
 
Loaded up and ready to head south in the morning. See what this turd will do in the 1320. Heading to Fayetteville, NC in the am.

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MrJLR said:
Can't wait to hear the results!

Jeff
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Traction was the biggest problem as expected. Bringing all the boost in at once gave me nothing but issues from the release of the transbrake. Best I could muster was 12.0 at 122. Time for a progressive boost controller and more drag specific suspension.
 
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Once I setup the boost by gear(rpm), it will be alot easier to get the traction. And she will definitely get that 9 or 10 after we can get grip.

Here is my 2nd pass when i tried to footbrake it and then get into it. Got squirrely 3 times so it wasnt much of a pass but it was definitely a pucker factor pass.
 
MrJLR said:
Bad azz man.....
How did people react to the LS Mopar? !!!

Jeff
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People loved it. Jaws were dropping when it rolled up. Initial show car comments till I pulled out the Hoosiers. Then I got the "oh **** hes gon a run it". Grandstand announcer kept saying I was giving it to much "sauce" after getting squirrely every pass.
 
I've been talking to the chassis guy at work and we have a pretty good plan for winter upgrades. Ladder bar/coilover setup out back with the minitub and cage this winter and coilovers up front to get rid of the torsion bars.

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YoungDart75 said:
I've been talking to the chassis guy at work and we have a pretty good plan for winter upgrades. Ladder bar/coilover setup out back with the minitub and cage this winter and coilovers up front to get rid of the torsion bars.

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That Hotchkis setup isn't doing you any favors for drag racing. If you are looking for a new home for those Hotchkis shocks, let me know how much you want for them.
May I ask why you wouldn't us a set of caltracs, with their springs and shocks? It's much less fabrication. There are cars running 4.0s in the 1/8 on leaf springs. No reason they wouldn't work for you. Also, I don't think the coilover setup up front will gain you much except header clearance, which you clearly don't need. There are plenty of guys going fast with torsion bars and good shocks.
I'm not knocking your decision, it's your car and you can do whatever you want, I just hate to see someone spend big bucks and not get the results they expected.
If you don't have a roll bar in the car, it wouldn't be a bad idea to install one (aside from the safety aspect). Back when I used to drag race my car, I was worried the extra weight would slow me down. It actually made the car faster and it started pulling the wheels after the roll bar. Hard to believe how much these things flex.
 
YoungDart75 said:
Traction was the biggest problem as expected. Bringing all the boost in at once gave me nothing but issues from the release of the transbrake. Best I could muster was 12.0 at 122. Time for a progressive boost controller and more drag specific suspension.
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Nice to see another LS powered a-body post some results. I'm curious, how much boost are you running? What fuel(pump/e85/racegas)? What stall converter speed are you running?
 
Followed this build for a while. Nice plan, nice execution, and well deserved awards. The car shows well (at least in pics) and certainly runs good judging by the trap speed. Well done.
 
TT5.9mag said:
Followed this build for a while. Nice plan, nice execution, and well deserved awards. The car shows well (at least in pics) and certainly runs good judging by the trap speed. Well done.
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Very well done! The haters can hate, but you've done a fantastic job!
 
racerjoe said:
That Hotchkis setup isn't doing you any favors for drag racing. If you are looking for a new home for those Hotchkis shocks, let me know how much you want for them.
May I ask why you wouldn't us a set of caltracs, with their springs and shocks? It's much less fabrication. There are cars running 4.0s in the 1/8 on leaf springs. No reason they wouldn't work for you. Also, I don't think the coilover setup up front will gain you much except header clearance, which you clearly don't need. There are plenty of guys going fast with torsion bars and good shocks.
I'm not knocking your decision, it's your car and you can do whatever you want, I just hate to see someone spend big bucks and not get the results they expected.
If you don't have a roll bar in the car, it wouldn't be a bad idea to install one (aside from the safety aspect). Back when I used to drag race my car, I was worried the extra weight would slow me down. It actually made the car faster and it started pulling the wheels after the roll bar. Hard to believe how much these things flex.
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I've been tossing around those options as well. thought about going back to slant 6 torsion bars and some good Vikings in the front and back with caltracs. Regardless of my choice suspension wise, ill be minitubbing and adding a cage this winter. i want to go fast at the track and have fun, i also want to come home if it ever goes wrong.
 
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