1966 Dirty Dart

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Ouch! It looks good and impressive specs but spendy!
 
Motor looks great but price is very high. They must have replaced everything in it with brand new top of the line parts. It should run good tho. I cant wait to hear how your headers fit up. I am doing a 66 Dart but going with a 360 and havent decided on which headers yet. Keep us updated as you go forward.
Rodney
 
66Dvert said:
toolmanmike;
did you add those red stripes to the tail panel or were they already on there?
oh and can I get a full shot of both tail lights and tail panel? I'm thinking of adding led's in that area on mine for running lights and the pic's might help me decide if I'm going to or not. BTW my convertible was originally gold poly metallic and gold interior also! now "cool" vanilla/hint of gold pearl and brown interior.

dirtydart NICE find on a great 66! mine didn't have patina it had RUST but it's getting there.
Click to expand...

The stripes were there. They are transparent like candy apple or just thinned paint. It's a factory thing. tmm
 

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I'm not sure what happened on the price, the shop owner assured me it was the correct price even though we had agreed on 6K. The engine is blueprinted, balanced and dyno tuned. Now I didn't give the engine builder specific details other than I wanted to squeeze as much power out of it without making it a full on race motor meaning I intended to operate mid grade pump gas.
 
Toolmanmike,
I had several people warn me that rebuilding a 273 would be expensive. I seriously did not think it would be "that" expensive to do it. Next time I will be buying a crate motor.
 
The installation instructions for the hooker headers state that I have to cut a huge hole in the fenderwell. I will post some pictures when I am prepared to tackle this next challenge. For now I have to buy the remaining parts such as radiator, starter etc etc.
 
While I was at sea, a whole bunch of parts arrived at the house, the correct motor mounts, engine brackets, transmission lines, firewall gaskets, and chrome thermostat neck. I am waiting on belts and radiator hoses.

I am preparing to blast and paint the engine bay then paint it black.

Install date will probably be April-ish. I like to dream.
 
Glad to hear you are getting back at it. Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress.
Rod
 
Looks like we got our Dart GT's around the same time. You're doing way more than I am though. Work looks great so far.

I hear you one the swap meets. There is a huge one down here in Pomona, CA. I was told by many that I'd be able to find almost anything for a classic there. I seriously underestimated how big this thing was. I walked the whole thing and I think I read somewhere that it is around 15-25 miles to walk it all. Sadly though I walked away empty handed. If you were looking for vintage WV stuff, Chevy Bel Air crap, or Mustang stuff you would be in luck. Anything else was extremely hard to find if it was there at all. Been wanting to go again, but because I don't "need" anything and the cost of entry is so high I can't justify it.
 
WOW-Did your butt cheeks pucker?????? Do you know what you could have got for $9,000 ?????????? Miscommunication BS-Did you not get a estimate??????
 
Mid September is looking good for an engine install or just placing it in the car. I've been at sea working a lot lately. A little sidetracked I guess.
 
So its been awhile, but we are back at it again. I had a heck of a time finding the correct flexplate. Mancini had the correct flexplate I got the engine & tranny mated last night. We are going to attempt to drop it all in tonight or tomorrow.
 
I had hell getting these fender well headers installed. I also discovered that the engine builder decided to re-use all of the original bolts on the new water pump. They were pretty much done for. $13 fix from San Angelo Bolt!
 

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I am in the same boat with you on what I spent vs what I got..but you are getting closer. Hang in there I also have the same fender hole headers that you do. Hope it goes ok. IF you have the 904 trans you should have good clearance, but if you have a 727 (which I decided to add at last minute) you may have clearance problems with the trans pan. Good luck, press on...
 
I stuck with the 904 I think I might have an issue with some of the steering parts but I haven't checked yet. So far fitting the headers has been the hardest part.
 
Scott the speed shop manager at Pep Boys in Corpus Christi provided me info and went all out to find me parts however he decided to move on to focus on his own shop.

His replacement at Pep Boys was shocked that I owned a 66 dart. It's not possible because they only started making them in 2013.:banghead:

FAIL
 
Always love those people at parts stores. The Autozone up the street use to have an old guy that was a classic car library. He finally retired and then the other "kids" there tried to help me. Nope. I found another one at the O'Reily down the road who is awesome.
 
Just saw your post so here's my 2 cents.
$9200 for the rebuild is shocking but at least it's over 300 HP. Too bad you don't have a 4 speed behind that screamer. As Martha Stewart would say, THAT would be fun.

We have lots of swap meets in Ohio but I only attend Mopar only, about 4/year. Otherwise too much time wasted wading through the other junk.

The comment about the 2013 darts is a classic. Made me laugh. When those guys try to ask dumb questions to look up a part I just say, hey just look up THIS part. I helped an old friend get his Firebird running again last week after sitting for 6 years. needed bowl gaskets for a 600 CFM Vacuum Holley and they wanted to know what year car? Huh? The factory Quadrajet is long gone. It's sad when I know more about all kind of cars than the counter monkeys.

Keep at it and enjoy yourself. Thanks for serving.
 
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