1970 Dart Swinger FINALLY UNDERWAY

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You're right I'm not putting them in just yet, that's really good that you caught that. I know these cars can flex a little when on the rotisserie compared to being on the wheels but I didn't even make that connection that it could affect the subframe connectors.

Good catch. Might not make a HUGE difference like you said but it might make just enough of a difference to crack some body filler if it flexes in the wrong place.
 
Then I guess the whole drivetrain better be in too. This REALLY affects how the car flexes too.
 
Well,
I agree that having all of the front suspension installed (i.e. torsion bars, controls arms, front wheels and tires) along with the rear end with wheels and tires will make a real difference, having the motor in the car will not create any type of torsional load on the subframes. I bolted and welded my frame connectors in without the motor in and I don't expect any problems. It was sitting on all four tires on a ramp-style lift.
 
Now my question would be if the subframe connectors are installed with the front suspension fully loaded (the rear wouldn't be affected as much) and then welded in while that load is on the subframe. Couldn't that possibly have a negative affect when the load changes (like load transfer in corners) during suspension travel? For example an ever so slight torsional pressure on one side as the suspension unloads in a hard corner.
 
I'm not quite sure I follow, but the bottom lines is that it's best to install (bolt or weld) the subframe connectors on the car as it sits with all four tires on the ground. The engine being installed should not matter, since it does not deflect the chassis to the left or right. The majority of the load deflection in the chassis will be torsional during a corner, which is where the frame connectors come into play.

All of these questions, Eric... You should probably try to avoid all of the gray area and just put a 12-point cage in the car. This will essentially eliminate ANY chassis deflection and prevent further questions lol.
 
Well you are the engineer here lol, it's just me worrying about things that probably aren't important and play no part in anything.

You know I was actually thinking about a cage, but that will come at a later date when I have the money to put one together.
 
Cage was a tricky one for me. I need to use the back seat,so the most I'll put in is a 6 point. But I went with other improvements outside the interior,like subframe connectors,torque boxes,(firewall to shock tower,to lower rad support bar),and a lower rad support,both great stuff made by Badart. Plus lots of stock suspension improvements via firmfeel. I think a 6pt is the minimal requirement at the track as well,in the 10 sec zone.Please correct me if Im wrong..

Im kinda concerned about the sheer amount of weight a 12 pt would add!
 
needsaresto said:
Cage was a tricky one for me. I need to use the back seat,so the most I'll put in is a 6 point. But I went with other improvements outside the interior,like subframe connectors,torque boxes,(firewall to shock tower,to lower rad support bar),and a lower rad support,both great stuff made by Badart. Plus lots of stock suspension improvements via firmfeel. I think a 6pt is the minimal requirement at the track as well,in the 10 sec zone.Please correct me if Im wrong..

Im kinda concerned about the sheer amount of weight a 12 pt would add!
Click to expand...

I felt the same way. I considered a cage but I will likely use the back seat from time to time.
I believe the six-point cage is required for anything below 11 seconds, but I could also be wrong. I would have been interested in a four-point cage, which is all that was previously required, but the addition of the door bars pretty much made me scrap the idea. Too much of a headache for me.
 
Been a little while since I posted an update, not a lot happening with the car till after christmas probably. I'm just waiting on my gallon of POR15 to come in so I can get at painting the K frame and all the other chassis parts.

Car is home now and in the garage. I'll be waiting until spring to do paint but the shop managed to finish up seam sealing, sprayed it with sealer, a coat of etch primer and guide coat it within my budget. Debating on either building some sawhorses or just supporting it with 4 big jackstands while I work underneath it assembling everything. Excited to have the car home now since really all I need to do no is build the engine and then assemble everything.

Had a bit of a hiccup bringing the car home, we had put it on a 4x4 dolly instead of putting the whole rotisserie on the rollback, didn't want the body to flex on the rotisserie. Well one of the legs on the dolly splintered on the way back so we ended up having to roll it off using a floor jack for a shade tree caster wheel replacement. :violent1:

My garage is getting a little messy again....:banghead:

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At least it looks as if there is no damage to the car. A piece of wood breaking sure is a pita though!
 
Still moving REALLY slow because of the cold. Though christmas brought some things that will help me out a little, namely a small space heater. But got some other useful things as well like a 14" chop saw that I needed to work on narrowing the 8.8, along with another set of jackstands so I could finally get it off the wood dolly. Just trying to get it into a position where I can start assembling things underneath it.:coffee2:

Unfortunately being that this is my garage and my garage is a death trap for metal apparently I've already got some very very light surface rust on the primer underneath. I hate my garage. See 1st pic for what I'm talking about. I'm not sure what to do to prevent this since it's too cold to spray anything to protect it.

Once I get a hold of my gallon of POR15 I'll get to work on painting up the more manageable parts like the bumper brackets and other stuff I can move to the basement where it's warm enough.

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Surface rust underneath your car immediately after bodywork!? Looks like your car already knows it's going to be receiving Ford parts haha It's playing the part!

Seriously though, don't be discouraged by the light surface rust on the underside. I sanded the entire underside of my car down to metal and used self-etching primer and several coats of black paint. When I checked back under there a year or two later, there was more surface rust showing through. I sanded it down until the discoloration disappeared and applied another coat of rustoleum. I think the only way to keep these old mopars from rusting is to keep them moving! lol
 
Well now that it's starting to warm up so I can get back out in the garage again it's time to start working and give a small update!

The goal right now is to get all the suspension painted up and reassembled so I can get her on her wheels again, at least moving around so I can finish up the rest of the blocking and put a final coat of primer on.

Leads me to a question though what do you guys recommend I do with the rear leafs, I'd like to do a 1" drop should I take my old leafs and have them re-arched or buy a new set? I like the spring rate the XHD leafs give you but I don't want to have to buy a new set just to re-arch them anyway for the drop.

Had to clean up the garage again since it got cluttered while work on the car was stalled throughout winter. However I got some nice shelving (the orange ones!) from a friend who was moving and that really cleared up a lot of space and let me organize my parts. :cheers:

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Got my gallon of POR15 today (damn expensive stuff!) to start painting everything I possibly can with it, well that's not exposed to direct sun anyway. :glasses7:

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So since I forgot to mention it before, I've ordered a SCAT 408 stroker kit from summit, dished pistons, forged rods, and a SCAT cast crank with bearings and rings. Block was dropped of at the machine shop today to get bored, honed, and bead blasted with new cam bearings and freeze plugs.

Gettin things movin' now
 
Noticed this when I was cleaning up the K frame today to POR15 it, this was under a cake of grease and looks like it was bottomed out on something during its life that left a pretty good dent in it. Kind of hard to tell from the picture but it's dented in a bit from the front lip to right over that hole, the frame itself is still straight and level.

Is this going to compromise it at all? I'd like to put a sway bar on it so I'm thinking of trying to pull it out somehow.

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Is that a later-style K-frame? If so, you should be fine. I believe the sway bar will be biased to the top of the hole through the k-frame.
 
It's a 1970 frame, no factory sway bar. I'm not worried about whether the sway bar will mount up correctly, pretty sure the dent won't interfere with the brackets I just want to make sure It's not going to affect the structural stability of the K-frame itself.
 
FomocoReformed said:
It's a 1970 frame, no factory sway bar. I'm not worried about whether the sway bar will mount up correctly, pretty sure the dent won't interfere with the brackets I just want to make sure It's not going to affect the structural stability of the K-frame itself.
Click to expand...

Shoot that's not a dent. Looks good compared to some that I have seen. I wouldn't be scared.
 
The parts collection begins today. Block should be done by monday at the latest and everything I need to complete the bottom end is on the way from summit along with some suspension bits, these guys getting rich off my wallet. :burnout:

Decided to go with a kevco pan with baffles and a crank scraper, we'll see how the scraper fits. I still am not 100% on what I want to do for heads, been throwing darts at the idea of shelling out more $$$ for a pair of RHS heads but I'd prefer to get a set of 340 X heads since going with the closed chamber RHS heads would throw my compression calculations out of whack. Or should I just have 2.02 valves installed in my 596 heads and open up the intake runners... decisions decisions my wallet and my brain can't reach a peace treaty :coffee2:

Got some heavy boxes arriving on my doorstep today, what could all this be? :glasses7:

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First box, it's a battery relocation kit! Will make plenty of room if I ever feel like adding a second turbo.

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Moving on to the bag, my angle grinder demanded food so I had to oblige. Honestly, you can never have too many angle grinder wheels I have yet to find I task I couldn't accomplish with liberal angle grinder application. :violent1:

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I proceeded to use the angle grinder to cut all the brackets I won't be using off my 8.8 to get ready to narrow it. My plan is to weld tabs for a triangulated 4 link onto this as well before I put it under the car. I just need to find a way to mount the coilovers to it. I'm basically copying the RHS street lynx but with an 8.8 at the center.

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I also put a buffing wheel on the angle grinder and tried to polish up the old bumpers a little, the center area is after buffing it for a minute or so. I think I can probably save this and use them until I can spring for reproductions.

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And, we save the best for last!

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Shock hoops

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Lower rad support

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Upper coilover mounts

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ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING work by Badart with his new coilover setup, checked the fit on all the parts and nothing is even a hair off. Even comes with new cotter pins for castle nuts. :blob: I would recommend his stuff to anyone, super quality, great prices, and a great guy to deal with.

My goal is to be moving under it's own power by june (tax refunds helped out a lot) so I'll be sure to give plenty of road testing.
 
I have serious lower control arm envy right now lol.

Also, I have a set of 340 j-heads sitting on my work bench that have been ported, polished, and have the larger 2.02 intakes. Any interest? Not 100% sure if they will fit a 360 right.
 
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