How do i make my mopar a daily driver??
Is there any advantage of having a electric fuel pump vs mechanical, and is a electric choke better than a mechanical? Is there any must have parts on a daily driver that you know of?
Do not add an electric pump. When using an electric fuel pump, efi etc, a different electrical strategy should be used.
Since you are just learning, keep the big projects to a minimum. Just learn to fix what you have.
360 truck engine is going to be the first hurdle.
In stock form, it is similar engine to a '69 318 or 340, but not the same.
First question is what was swapped into your Dart?
The whole engine including intake manifold, exhaust manifolds, carburetor, EGR valve, coolant temperature sensors etc?
or
Was the basic engine installed, and intake, exhaust etc from a '69 Dart bolted on to it? If so, from what engine?
Or are these aftermarket items?
This is real important because the original '83 has a bunch of pollution control systems that need to run correctly or properly disabled.
The original '69 engines only had a couple of emissions items (at least in US/Canada models) which mostly affect idle.
Thats the funny part, its already set on max recommended timing.. 34 i think
As Rustyratrod posted, this is a huge part of your current problem.
With hot rods and certain racing cars it was, and sometimes still is, necessary to set timing using the maximum.
Otherwise, timing is always set using the base or initial timing.
1. Engine warmed up, choke off, throttle on slow idle.
2. Vacuum advance hose removed from the distributor. Hose plugged
3. At a specified engine speed, usually between 550 and 700 rpm, set the initial timing to the spec.
I can't be more specific than that without knowing more about the engine and the distributor.
For example the original carburetor from '83 had an idle stop solenoid on it.
If its using a distributor from '69, initial timing was set relatively low.
Once you get it running well, the only thing that I have consistantly had issues with on almost every A-body I've had is the headlights.
The wiring and connections were just OK when using the original headlamps. Almost all newer headlamps (since '73) draw more current. If you will be driving in the dark, its worth making up relayed headlight circuit that takes power directly from the alternator.
Everything else is as basically as reliable or unreliable as most other cars.
