restoring my Canadian 71 Dart 340 Swinger Special
So here goes....
My restoration of my 1971 Canadian 340 Swinger Special has officially started.
Here is my tale of woe about the car and its fortunes and misfortunes. I bought the car when I was 16 after my 72 383 Duster got hit my a bus ( another tale for another time). I found the car in the local auto trader. When I looked at it it was in pieces just a shell really and painted red, but it came with the 8 ¾ and the 4 speed, ia also had a cage and a ladder bar setup in it. I got all the interior and more little bits. I spent the winter dismantle my Duster and putting everything in the Dart. I put in the duster dash, buckets front end actually a later disk and spool mount setup, shoehorned the 383 in it backed by the 4 speed and the 741 323 gears I got with the Dart. I drove it like that for a bit even took it to the track for the high school drags. I decided in grade 12 to cut out some rust and primer it so I did. We moved in my grade 12 year and I threw out a bunch of stuff :( the white bench seat and the drum drake set up as well as a bunch of other things.....
After high school I apprenticed to be a mechanic, I bought a 1990 Daytona and the Dart languished. I did drive it a few times on permits and tried out NOS a few times. I noticed a kink in the roof started to develop and so I gathered up some funds and and sent it off to the speed shop for frame connectors and a new cage that was tied in and met NHRA specs. At the speed shop I was informed that the ladder bars were installed wrong and were not adjustable and there was no floater for the diff as there should be with ladder bars. I was up sold a new ladder bar set up and diff floater, narrowed diff (luckilly he said I should keep the original as they were getting hard to find and sold me a c body one) cheater tubs and moving the springs into the frame. He also installed a couple of rear quarter panels, I won't say more on this but ti was a speed shop not a body shop :s.
Nearing the end of all this the speed shop was running into financial problems and I was running low on funds too. The car sat in an outside but covered storage yard for a bit until I paid off the bill and a friends underground. While in storage it was vandalized and some stuff was stolen off the car.
During this time I got my Automotive ticket and in 2001 I bought the shop I had been working at. I brought the car over and it has sat in the corner for the past 9 years. With constant shop responsibilities, having kids and buying an apartment then a house the Dart was of course but on the back burner. I have built a few cars for customers though in this time though.
My son who is 7 now kept asking me if we were ever going to do something with the car in the corner. So on a slow day when we were doing shop cleanup we dug the car out. I started doing research on fixing up the Dart. I was going to go new hemi, 5 speed, disk brakes ect, but in the process of doing research I discovered how rare the car was. I always knew it was a Canadian only car but I always figured there was more-not that it was a dealer special order car ect ect.
So as it sits now I have ordered a bunch of stuff for it, new quarters trunk, carpet and some other stuff. I have found a 71 Scamp seat locally and a couple of 340 blocks and other items. We pulled off the fenders and such the front and rear bumper, I have sent a bunch of stuff off to the sandblaster. I will pull the windshield and rear window this week and strip the rest of the car as well as cut off the botched quarter panels and remove the trunk floor.
I am still torn about what to do with the rear suspension and cheater tubs and cage. Should I return these all to stock or leave the car with some war wounds?
I am still looking for some stuff too. I need the instrument cluster and radio/heater bezel (I have the original dash). I also need the little chrome pieces for the center of the rear seats-new covers don't come with them. I am sure there is a myriad of other stuff I will need and will post them here when I find out what else I need.
Here are a couple of pics to get going....
bad iphone pics
Keep me on task guys.
Garth
So here goes....
My restoration of my 1971 Canadian 340 Swinger Special has officially started.
Here is my tale of woe about the car and its fortunes and misfortunes. I bought the car when I was 16 after my 72 383 Duster got hit my a bus ( another tale for another time). I found the car in the local auto trader. When I looked at it it was in pieces just a shell really and painted red, but it came with the 8 ¾ and the 4 speed, ia also had a cage and a ladder bar setup in it. I got all the interior and more little bits. I spent the winter dismantle my Duster and putting everything in the Dart. I put in the duster dash, buckets front end actually a later disk and spool mount setup, shoehorned the 383 in it backed by the 4 speed and the 741 323 gears I got with the Dart. I drove it like that for a bit even took it to the track for the high school drags. I decided in grade 12 to cut out some rust and primer it so I did. We moved in my grade 12 year and I threw out a bunch of stuff :( the white bench seat and the drum drake set up as well as a bunch of other things.....
After high school I apprenticed to be a mechanic, I bought a 1990 Daytona and the Dart languished. I did drive it a few times on permits and tried out NOS a few times. I noticed a kink in the roof started to develop and so I gathered up some funds and and sent it off to the speed shop for frame connectors and a new cage that was tied in and met NHRA specs. At the speed shop I was informed that the ladder bars were installed wrong and were not adjustable and there was no floater for the diff as there should be with ladder bars. I was up sold a new ladder bar set up and diff floater, narrowed diff (luckilly he said I should keep the original as they were getting hard to find and sold me a c body one) cheater tubs and moving the springs into the frame. He also installed a couple of rear quarter panels, I won't say more on this but ti was a speed shop not a body shop :s.
Nearing the end of all this the speed shop was running into financial problems and I was running low on funds too. The car sat in an outside but covered storage yard for a bit until I paid off the bill and a friends underground. While in storage it was vandalized and some stuff was stolen off the car.
During this time I got my Automotive ticket and in 2001 I bought the shop I had been working at. I brought the car over and it has sat in the corner for the past 9 years. With constant shop responsibilities, having kids and buying an apartment then a house the Dart was of course but on the back burner. I have built a few cars for customers though in this time though.
My son who is 7 now kept asking me if we were ever going to do something with the car in the corner. So on a slow day when we were doing shop cleanup we dug the car out. I started doing research on fixing up the Dart. I was going to go new hemi, 5 speed, disk brakes ect, but in the process of doing research I discovered how rare the car was. I always knew it was a Canadian only car but I always figured there was more-not that it was a dealer special order car ect ect.
So as it sits now I have ordered a bunch of stuff for it, new quarters trunk, carpet and some other stuff. I have found a 71 Scamp seat locally and a couple of 340 blocks and other items. We pulled off the fenders and such the front and rear bumper, I have sent a bunch of stuff off to the sandblaster. I will pull the windshield and rear window this week and strip the rest of the car as well as cut off the botched quarter panels and remove the trunk floor.
I am still torn about what to do with the rear suspension and cheater tubs and cage. Should I return these all to stock or leave the car with some war wounds?
I am still looking for some stuff too. I need the instrument cluster and radio/heater bezel (I have the original dash). I also need the little chrome pieces for the center of the rear seats-new covers don't come with them. I am sure there is a myriad of other stuff I will need and will post them here when I find out what else I need.
Here are a couple of pics to get going....
bad iphone pics
Keep me on task guys.
Garth
