1970 Swinger 340 resto

[Spadman]

Without knowledge of this forum I have put pieces of information about my rebuild in other areas. I will try to limit a recap of previous posts and give the rest of the journey here. But first to recap: I owned a Rally Red Swinger 340 from new to about 1977. It was a street and strip car and my daily driver. The only changes I made at the time were adding a tach, eight track player under the dash ( that my knuckles hit often on a speed shift until I learned to palm it second to third. I sold it when building a new home to a building laborer and regretted it immediately. It took me until 1988 to search out a replacement after a subsequent owner of the original would not sell it to me for reasonable price. A friend now has the car and maybe I could buy it but I am into the other car now. Recent pictures of my old car attached, The block froze in the past and was sold for scrap.

 

[4mulas]

Good project!

 

[Spadman]

I built a garage to store the replacement car in1988 with a concrete floor. As long as I lived there I kept the floor dry by maintaining a ditch at the uphill side. I moved in about 2004 and the new owner let me leave the car there. However he did not keep the ditch open and the concrete became damp. When I retrieved the car two years ago rust had got to the trunk floor and interior floor. A word to the wise. I Often said rain had not touched it since 1988. I did not realize dampness from below was getting to it. One picture of bringing it out of garage attached along with one picture of it after acid dipping. I also found out at that time it had been wrecked before I got it and bondo’d.

 

[Spadman]

At this point the car is painted and buffed and going back together with all new metal. I had it painted Vitamin C Orange which was original. Attached is a picture when new and a recent picture during assembly of the restored body panels.

 

[Spadman]

I have the original four speed disassembled and parts from Brewers who looked at pictures of my syncros and advised me. It’s getting one new bearing, new syncros, new shifter arms through the side of the case and a mysteriously missing pin that keeps it from catching two gears at once along with new seals, bearing rollers and gaskets. Here it is disassembled except for pressing off the bad bearing on the main shaft. Also there’s a picture of a syncro assembly with slightly worn teeth.

 

[Spadman]

For parts cleaning I have a solvent parts washing tank, a plastic storage container of dilute phosphoric acid and Harbor Freight floor blasting cabinet as well as a tank type for big things I have to take outside. To aid in disassembling I have a Harbor Freight floor press.

 

[Spadman]

The engine I plan to initially use is a 1971 360 bored +30 with new hypereutec pistons, a Mopar Performance 484 lift cam, ported J heads with 2.02 intake and hardened seats, and generic under the steering headers of unknown origin ceracoated after blasting. I built this engine 30 years ago and want to see how it runs. With the gas available then I shaved the heads to add compression back lost to flat top pistons. The engine is disassembled for cleaning and I want to do something about the surface rust in the heads. I may pull the valves and go over them with some sanding rolls.

 

[Spadman]

For the future I have assembled a 340 block to go along with my original factory intake and untouched X heads, along with some stock 70 340 exhaust manifolds I bought. All are cleaned, painted, and wrapped in plastic in a dry area of my present shop.

For now the question is to stroke or not to stroke. Not leaning one way or the other on that.

More to come when the car is rolling again and I get it home from paint. Brakes and steering are new stock replacements. Rear is original 3.55 posi.

 

[Plymouth 65]

Nice work, started rough but looks great now! 65'

 

[Spadman]

Nice work, started rough but looks great now! 65'

Thanks Plymouth 65

 

[Spadman]

Good project!

Thanks 4mulas

 

[MoparMike1974]

C heads? Probably O's with one side machined off.

 

[Spadman]

C heads? Probably O's with one side machined off.

Typo, they are X heads. Fixed now thanks. My fingers are too big to get the right key on this phone.

 

[Spadman]

I am saving and/or collecting original parts for the car in case I want to put it back stock. Transmission, rear end all body etc were numbers matching but the block. A 318 was installed with the stock intake and heads when I got it. Haven’t found out what happened to the block. The original owner sold it and then bought it back, maybe more than once. All he knew is that he sold an orange car and bought back a blue one.

 

[Spadman]

I picked up a set of original exhaust mainifolds for the 1970. I soaked the little bit of rust on them off with phosphoric acid solution then painted before bagging them for storage.

 

[Spadman]

The front suspension is back under the car now. Will be bringing it back to my shop soon. I’m going with the wheels and tires I would have put on it in the seventies if I had the money then.

 

[Spadman]

Update, on all fours now, waiting for vinyl top and trim, has all new original style manual brakes. Rear is 8 3/4 posi 3.55 ratio. It is in good original condition. Installed green bearings and new seals.

 

[Spadman]

Not much progress lately because my wife has been sick and I couldn’t get away to bring the car home yet. The vinyl top is on and all glass but front windshield. I did put the A833 back together. Lots of good info on the web for that and Dan Brewer gave me great telephone support. On the web I enjoyed a site called “I Fix My Own Car” the most but I did do a few things different from him. Here is the top on before the trim. It’s getting there.

 

[MoparMike1974]

Looking real good. Your at the fun part of the restoration. It will go quick from here.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Looks like a nice job so far!

 

[Spadman]

Thanks for the kind comments. I hope getting the car back home will reinvigorate me. However I’m torn between installing the 360 I built years ago and never ran as opposed to stroking it first. I loved the stock 340 and this version has: more gear; 3:55 posi vs open 3.23. More cam; purple shaft 2992 with 238, 238 at .50, 474, 474 lift; 60 deg overlap and 110 centerline; air gap intake, home ported heads (j casting with 2.02 intake and hardened seats), headers and probably bigger carb. Also that gets me on the road quicker. If I install the 360 as is I have a 340 block and stock externals for a later build in addition to an early 318. At this time I’m leaning to throw the 360 in. What do you guys say? I’m not building it to race but will try it out on the strip for fun and to compare my earlier day’s running the stock 340.

 

[mpgmike]

I would install the 360 as-is for now and see how it runs. Get to know it. You invested time and money to get it together, reap the reward. If later you want more, go for a stroker. Just my opinion.

 

[Spadman]

Thanks Mpgmike. That’s most likely what I will do.

 

[mygasser]

I would install the 360 as-is for now and see how it runs. Get to know it. You invested time and money to get it together, reap the reward. If later you want more, go for a stroker. Just my opinion.

agreed, if you do find more power is needed then at least you can still enjoy the car while you build a stroker in another block.
neil.

 

[Spadman]

Agreed Mygasser; the ultimate plan is sometime before God calls me home to return it to stock for my three grandsons. Meanwhile I need to work out that four speed while my legs can still sidestep the clutch.