65 dart revival

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Curiousyellow71

Curiousyellow71

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Joined
Oct 5, 2019
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Location
Nebraska
Our 65 dart project is finally underway. It's been parked for 18 years awaiting a plan. We repaired the pans and quarters in 1992 stuck in a very used .060 over 318 w a 340 cam and drove it 2 college for a few years, and then my youngest brother drove it to high school till 97. In '95 Dad drove it 170 miles to Kansas City mopar event and ran a 15.4@92. We are ready to pull the 318 and install a fresh 383, 9.8:1 with ported 516 heads. Edelbrock performer and a voodoo 704. Going to try 72 b body hp manifolds. 727 we are using came out of 400 powered volare that lost reverse...so we have to repair that and we have a 3500 converter that's set tight for the street.. Going 2 upgrade front suspension to disc, rear end not sure yet but big bolt pattern is the plan. My twin brother and I are tackling this. But I found out yesterday I have to overhaul the 68rfe in my diesel pickup...so it may be a bit till I get to the 65. I rode in this car in '85 when the neighbor had it w a 225...fond memories riding in the back seat of the little car catching air over a bridge on the way to youth group at church and going 96 mph. Probably my earliest memory of going over 90.. Previous owner..she had a lead foot.:steering:
Been doing research on this site. :thumbsup:Headers maybe some day...not interested in fenderwell...yet. probably custom in frames...but no time now...really hope BB hp's fit wo 2 many mods. It's been a long time...I forgot how small these cars are. LOL

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318 got pulled out yesterday, the 904 as it turns out was out already in the trunk so only 20 minutes to pull it out. The intake on the 318 was a early 70s 2 barrel single plane we took the 2 barrel flange off and opened it up for a 4 barrel and bolted a carb adapter 2 the intake. Did that almost 30 years ago. 4 barrel on a budget. Looking at the brake options, We have 2 possible donors a 72 b body disc brake front end and a 75 dart sport disc brake complete front end... Or could go with new? My question Is the 72 b body worth using? Or is the late big pattern A body caliper style preferred.

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Almost have our 383 put together for our 65 dart.
The 383 is 10.27:1, has ported 346 heads, a 704 voodoo with rhoads lifters, edelbrock performer, going to try b body hp manifolds. Likely use our motor plate.
Also want to put a 8 3/4 out out of a duster in and use one of the front disc b body set ups we have. Likely drill the axles for big pattern.

It's finally coming together shoe horn comes out very soon. Hope it fits. Heads have been shaved a bunch so hoping that helps make it fit.
Want to do minitubs sometime but for now...we are tackling plenty. :)
Thought long and hard about installing the 700hp 440 sitting in the corner instead but decided to use it for our 69 bee.

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383 first trial with 72 hp manifolds. Its tight!. Need to make some room on the passenger side. Pulled the master cylinder and column out to help w room.

We found a 70 duster power steering box and replaced the manual box. Looks like its going to need a 90 degree fitting for the pressure line. We are using 77 aspen spindles and disc brakes with 75 dart ball joints and upper control arms.
Overhauled a 727 yesterday. It had a blown seal on the back drum. But we had robbed the pump gasket so waiting for parts.
Master cylinder is sure close to the manifold. We may move it. Anyone use the kit to move the master cylinder over...couldn't hurt? Doesn't appear like it will move it enough to help with the heat.

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Wow looking good, is there room for a heat plate to bolt under the master to divert the some of the heat?
 
Should be room for a shield. Going to be a lot of heat nearby though. Master cylinder is perhaps 2 inches away from manifold... I thought I had a better picture. Took the master cylinder off and then the engine can go in with both manifolds on. The master cylinder is right above the manifold. Planning on beating back the fenderwell on the passenger side a bit to gain all we can for steering column clearance. Not sure how much the small transmission tunnel will let the 727 move.
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Have you thought about using a 2-bolt master cylinder? I think they inherently position the master a little higher than a cast iron 4-bolt master.

Here's a photo of a 2-bolt adapter I made for my 66. While I was at it, I moved it up and over 3/8". I figure ever little bit helps. I'll probably run a heat shield as well.

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Tackling a lot of early a body upgrades with this little car!... Front discs and spindle upgrade, added power steering, changing to 5x 4 1/2 wheels, installing a 8 3/4, have a posi carrier coming for a 741 set of 3.55s we had laying around. Planning on drilling out the rear axle. The wheels showed up today! 15x8s for the back w 5.5" backspacing 255-60r15s for the back. We will make a 1/2 thick wheel shim because the rims rub the leafs. Looks like a 5" backspacing would have been perfect:( Have 3 small places to repair rust on the top of front frame so I made some repair pieces with our brake.
Next decision rear disc brakes or rebuild the drums? Not sure...but leaning toward a disc kit from speedway motors.
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Looking good. There is a kit to move the leaf springs over 1/2 an inch, but not sure if that will be enough for those rims to clear. There are lots of rear disc kit for the 8 3/4 out there.
 
Keith Mopar said:
Looking good. There is a kit to move the leaf springs over 1/2 an inch, but not sure if that will be enough for those rims to clear. There are lots of rear disc kit for the 8 3/4 out there.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I have seen those, and its not a bad idea. 1/2" should be all we need to clear. We do have room on the outside to move it out 1/2". Now you have me thinking if we moved the spring in... maybe a 275 would fit. Lol
 
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picture is passenger rear control arm.

We tried a passenger log style manifold and it had no more room then the pass hp manifold. So I trimmed the fenderwell out on the passenger fender right where the bulge is for the back control arm. I heated up the control arm mount on the front side and pounded it in a bit. Now we have clearance on both sides. Its close to the steering column but we have maybe a 1/4" clearance on each side with unmodified manifolds and gaskets. We would be done if we didn't have stock power steering. To clear the top fitting on the power steering the tunnel has to be beat up from the front all the way 6 inches past the body seam that many weld or beat flat. Also engine needs to come up for spark plug no 5, its 2 close to the power steering. I doubt anyone makes motor mounts to run the engine higher so we will make them. We were about 5" from the crank centerline to the k member were it wouldve been happy with manual steering. We have a front motor plate but we are hoping to not use it as the accessories are harder to drive. We have a cnc plasma table and a 100 ton brake for prototype stuff and can model stuff in 3d for when we commercially replicate parts. Motor mounts at least align up with stock location, the tranny mount is stock.
We have beat the front pass corner of the oil pan for some k member clearance, and worked over the firewall on the passenger head so it has lots of room. Sure helps as we have had the engine in/out a dozen times now.
 
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Curious, did you actually “move” the rear control arm mount or just flatten out the back of it a little? Or ?
 
didn't move it at all. The manifold actually comes down on the front edge of the bump that's there for the control arm. Cutting the fenderwell sheetmetal helped.. it did gain some room. Once its open up you can see the control arm mount and then you can see where you can gain a little more room yet without affecting geometry by beating it in right where the manifold is. I am assuming to get max camber the back control arm bolt will be all the way in. It still has room for offset bushings if needed.
I will probably weld my fenderwell hole shut and it will be hard to see any mod. Every 1/8 counts on this project to clear the steering column.
 
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After we beat the tunnel up behind the body seam for the needed clearance to get the drivers manifold above the power steering fitting we had enough room for mid 70s era spool mounts. Not the prettiest welds and we need to find the proper Motor mounts washers...but both sides are done and it was pretty easy. We cut the k member motor mounts out of another car and welded them in w the engine in the car. We had to use a plate on the passenger side because the mount is below the original mount. Driver side was directly welded to the original place on the cross member.
7 1/4 is now out...8 3 /4 has the 3.55s and ready to go in. Progress!

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Nice work! I would highly recommend using the Dr. Diff master cylinder adapter to move it over that 3/4” or so. I did manage to squeak a heat shield in under the MC on my valiant. Will need to add some lava mat before next race season. Also had to hack into the passenger shock tower to fit the headers I made. Here’s my build if you need some tips, headers start on page 5.
64 Valiant 440 build
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Been so long since I started this thread the Dart is covered with dust.
Really not very happy with what we had going. The 8 3/4 stock A body rear was a little wide for tire fit and I wasn't really interested in drilling the axles to the bbp, and I converted to bbp discs on the front. So called Dr diff and got axles, then narrowed a 8 3/4, spool w 3.90s, bought calvert -1" monoleafs and minitubbed it. Have 295/50/15s on now(its what was sitting there) w room for more.
As for the drivetrain I almost have a 904 built for it replacing the 727. Trying to keep weight off the front and the tunnel is tight for a 727 even after we pounded the hell out of it..The 904 has a 5000 stall from ultimate convertor, hd Pump from A&A, 5 clutch front drum with reverse wound spring, tf2 from transgo, billet rear servo, deep pan. Probably get drag radials eventually. Been working on my B bodies, but I think the pieces are in to finish this girl.

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