1965 dart charger 273

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My older brother was interested in this car because he wanted to paint it and flip it for a profit. When I told him that he would have to take the car down to the metal to get an idea of what shape it was really in, he began to have second thoughts. I told him that he would probably lose money on it since he physically can't work on cars anymore and his budget was unreasonably low after taking into account the purchase price of the car. He asked my opinion and I told him not to buy it. Nice to see that someone bought it and is willing to put money into it.
 
BillGrissom said:
Kind of surprised it didn't have front disk brakes. Since your car is unique, best to find the original Kelsey-Hayes front disks. Almost the same were used on Mustangs then. They are nice 4-piston type w/ fixed calipers. You need to change the spindle and lower ball joint too. One member here had a nice-looking refurbished set for ~750 a year or so ago. 14" Cragars work and look great on the early Darts. The original power booster might be hard to find, but many options there. Probably best to use a later 2 reservoir type. Many are happy w/ manual brakes even in a front disk car. You also need a proportioning valve in the rear circuit so the rears don't skid first.
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You don't need 15" wheels to add front disc brakes. Just start collecting parts to switch over to the factory option for any 65-72 a-body. I'm a purist when it comes to rare cars but I don't have a problem upgrading safety items if you are actually going to drive the car.

If it was me:

1. I'd switch to a dual circuit master cylinder while doing the disc brake swap. If you get any kind of leak with what you have now, it's total failure except for the parking brake. Unless you have a physical limitation, you do not need a power brake booster with disc brakes in an a-body, especially a first gen like yours. The MC to use is one for a 73 Disc brake Dart but run it manually w/o a booster.

2. I'd check the rear brakes and switch to the 10" drums if you currently have 9" on there now. Easy to find that junk.

3. I'd stay with the small bolt pattern and run 14 x 5-1/2" steel rims with the hub caps. Don't be surprised if the original wheels were only 13" diameter. The factory disc brake option included 14" wheels.

4. Does your car have a factory front anti-sway bar? If yes then that's good because it came with a suspension package and it probably included 10" drums, HD shocks, springs, etc.

Just my opinions.
 
Here is a fender tag decoder for 1965

http://www.1962to1965mopar.ornocar.org/ml-osterling65fendertag.html

Engine 31 : 273 4-barrel 235HP w/ Power Pak
Auto trans
Build date Nov 05 1964

I'll let Ulf do the sequence number.

Love the story of the 16 year old owner. 16 year old did not need a Hemi (well?)
Heard from a fellow this week telling me this week that he use to taunt the police with the original single un-baffled straight through Power Pak exhaust. Ulf had the story posted, I think, of a service man with a noise ticket due to the factory exhaust and turned it into the dealer.

Rear Axle (from blight.com):

There were only a few axle assemblies used by Mopar, and they are easy to identify. The names refer to the diameter of the ring gear in the differential.
7 1/4

This was the light-duty axle used in A-bodies and other slant-6 equipped cars. The identifying feature is that thedifferential cover is held on with 9 bolts.
8 3/4

All other cars used this axle. It's identified by the fact that the differential cover is not bolted on the back, but welded on and looks like a smooth bowl. The differential assembly comes out of the front as a complete unit, sometimes called a pig or a chunk.
8 1/4

This axle was not introduced until the late 60's, but sometimes you'll find them swapped into our cars. It can be identified by the 10 bolts holding the rear cover on.
 
Can I still get parts for the Carter AFB carb
Or does Edelbrock make one that fits the 273
 
Urgerman said:
Can I still get parts for the Carter AFB carb
Or does Edelbrock make one that fits the 273
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Parts for the original Carter AFB are getting hard to find. The smallest Edelbrock is a 500cfm and uses some different parts than the old AFB...jets, metering rods and covers, just to name a few. I think the throttle blades are too large for the holes in the stock intake, but you can open them up a bit, or run an adapter plate (my choice).
 
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/carter-afb-rebuild-kit

The Edlerbrock1406 is slightly bigger, needs a spacer/ slight intake mod ( As above.). Fuel feed is slightly different, base for stock air cleaner slightly different/ require slight mod or switch). 1406 is electric choke, auto trans linkage may work. This came with my 273 ( not factory) Some don't like it as well.
 
Do they make headers that fit inside the fenders the ones on the car now they cut out the fenders walls since they did that I really can't put bigger tires or els they would hit just wounder if Doug headers or hookers would fit in side the fenders anyone know thanks
 
Your car is possibly 1 of 180 made. It came with 13" chrome wheels and possibly Doug headers. Not sure what you are looking for? Tti for almost $800-900. See Spitfire sticky; stay with cast iron ...Google headers 273 a body 1965...
 
[ame="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dougs-Headers-D450-1963-1966-Dart-Barracuda-Valiant-A-LA-Ceramic-Coated-Headers-/390719197821?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1965%7CModel%3ADart&hash=item5af8add27d&vxp=mtr"]Dougs Headers D450 1963 1966 Dart Barracuda Valiant A La Ceramic Coated Headers | eBay[/ame]
 
Anyone know if that car came with duel point distributor I was messing with the timming and I was at 14
 
The Power Pack 273's had a Prestolite dual point distributor. Pop the cap on yours to find out. They were cast iron and I believe all the single point dist's were aluminum. tmm
 
Urgerman said:
Anyone know if that car came with duel point distributor I was messing with the timming and I was at 14
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Like TMM said above, 4 barrel 273's came with a cast-iron dizzy with dual points inside.

You should good at 14*...as long as it does "kick against" the starter when cranking.....may want to tweak that to get optimal timing when you get it mobile.
 
I still run the original dual point that came with mine. Tried electronic for about a week. The drive jusr didn't seem the same.
 

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So I put the timming at 10* but I will bring it back to 14* I did notice my dwell time was around 17 I also notice when I went driving when I put my foot in it the car fell on its face almost died
 
Dwell should 28 to 33 if using single point dist. NO worry if using electronic ignition..
 
Ya it's a dual point. I kind of understand the single point but not the dual. Do u need to add the dwell in a dual point like if it's at 17 you go 17+17=34 can anyone explain a simple way sorry for the question kind of new to all this
Next question is it better to go electronic distributor
 
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