1971 Dodge Dart Resto/mod

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sobiecam

sobiecam

College Student
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Messages
525
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10
Location
Clermont, IN
Okay, I don't know if anybody had read my welcome wagon post but uhmm, I'm 16 and have two Mopars. I just wanted to show off my mess of a Dart. I am hoping to start this project this summer. This here is my first car. I would like to put a 340 in her with one of those new retro styled superchargers, like what was on Mr. Norms GSS Demons. I forgot who makes those now.... anyways my family has a large stockpile of other Mopars and parts. I get to teach myself how to weld now to work on this car haha. Anyways, here are a few pics and I will update this when I start working
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Holy crap, dude!!! I set my computer on the table and went all the way accross the room
and I still can't see your car!!!

Lets work on the resizing a bit... LOL
 
jrlegacy23 said:
Holy crap, dude!!! I set my computer on the table and went all the way accross the room
and I still can't see your car!!!

Lets work on the resizing a bit... LOL
Click to expand...

LOL!:-D

Yes I will keep posted to see the progress. Just let me hook this up to the big screen.:-D
 
cudaspaz said:
Cool car for a resto mod.

What are your plans for as far as the mods, color, stripes etc?
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I plan to do a 650 HP 340 with a Paxton supercharger, four speed (original Hemi four speed somewhere around my garage), four link rear suspension with a Strange S60, Coil over front suspension, tubs, 6-pt cage, buckets, was planning on Viper red with a white bumblebee stripe, cowl hood, and Weld Dragstars for wheels. I'm gonna start sheet metal repair this summer. On my small budget I would like to reuse as much as possible.... There might be a 318 in the bay before I build the 340 because it was originally my dream to drive this Dart to school, so maybe Senior year I will be able too in primer lol
 
Those are some nice plans..big plans, but nice plans....but why all that and only a 6 pt cage?
 
I was thinking 6 or 8 pt, I want to drive it on the street too so its not going to be horrifically radical.
 
Nice project!

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you for sure. Your paint code should be GK6, that is dark bronze metallic though.

Look forward to seeing the updates!
 
72bluNblu said:
Nice project!

Looks like you've got your work cut out for you for sure. Your paint code should be GK6, that is dark bronze metallic though.

Look forward to seeing the updates!
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thanks man, yea... over the summer I am going to start patching stuff up like the drivers side fender (top rusted out) and inner fenders. Anybody have a PS fender? It was smacked by something before I got it and then my bud went AWOL on it with a hammer <_<. Any help in the parts department would be appreciated because I am going to have to slap the rear axle and springs off a 1988 Dakota until I can find a decent rear end to put under her.
 
The Dakota rear may be too wide, it's about 4" wider than the dart rear. You are probably better off asking around here, there are plenty of people that would be willing to give you an A-body 7 1/4 rear which will hold up behind a 318 for now. If you come to NY to get it, I give you one I have under my 72 Dart.
Post in the wanted section, everyone here is great and you will get a ton of help, maybe even score an 8 1/4 rear for free.
 
jrlegacy23 said:
The Dakota rear may be too wide, it's about 4" wider than the dart rear. You are probably better off asking around here, there are plenty of people that would be willing to give you an A-body 7 1/4 rear which will hold up behind a 318 for now. If you come to NY to get it, I give you one I have under my 72 Dart.
Post in the wanted section, everyone here is great and you will get a ton of help, maybe even score an 8 1/4 rear for free.
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Sweet, I think a while back I did some measurements and it would fit... oh well, i dont care to radius these quarters because the PS one is 90% bondo and the DS one has the lower edge crunched.
 
sobiecam said:
I am going to have to slap the rear axle and springs off a 1988 Dakota until I can find a decent rear end to put under her.
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Track width on an '88 Dakota rear end is 61", that's 5.5" wider than the standard A-body track with (55.5"). I doubt you could even get tires on that rear under a dart unless you cut it down, and of course the spring hangers would have to be moved. Also, unless its a well optioned Dakota, its probably only a 8 1/4 anyway.

What rear end is in your Dart now? Both of my 318 equipped '71 Darts had 8 3/4" rears from the factory. Even if it has a 7 1/4 that would be fine with a 318 around town, until you found a more suitable donor.
 
72bluNblu said:
Track width on an '88 Dakota rear end is 61", that's 5.5" wider than the standard A-body track with (55.5"). I doubt you could even get tires on that rear under a dart unless you cut it down, and of course the spring hangers would have to be moved. Also, unless its a well optioned Dakota, its probably only a 8 1/4 anyway.

What rear end is in your Dart now? Both of my 318 equipped '71 Darts had 8 3/4" rears from the factory. Even if it has a 7 1/4 that would be fine with a 318 around town, until you found a more suitable donor.
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Well, when I got this car there was no rear end.... it was loaded on a wrecker and brought to me (probably why the DS QP is crunched) I'm not sure what I'm going to do just yet, it wasn't going to be a permanent rear end anyways, just means of getting it rolling in and out of my garage.

Also, after talking to 72bluNblu, I found out the factory screwed up this car because they forgot to apply the M31 code trim on the lower body, because there are no trim studs or black paint in that area on my car and it has all original paint.
 
You have a lot of work ahead of you. Im 17 and I have a 71 Challenger, 72 Dart Special, and a 75 Swinger. The Challenger has taken me 3 years and Im nowhere near done. The 72 will be done this summer and looks to be in the same condition as your 71. But I don't have a mopar family to pull parts from.
 
hey 71ChallengerSE, didn't you have your cars in Mopar Muscle? this is kinda cool, I'm going to be submitting my Dart and Dakota to the young guns soon... ugh, i think im just gonna start a drag car build... car doesn't have a title and its too big a hassle to get one.
 
Yeah I had my Challenger and 75 dart in MM. The 72 Dart I just picked up is in about the same shape as your 71 and it doesn't have a title either, just a bill of sale. I need to go to the dmv to get a title for it and hopefully it will work out because I really don't want to cut this car up to race it. You should still try and get a title for it if you don't really want to make a drag car out of it.
 
eh, either way I was gonna cut it up for double duty anyways, I was talking to my uncle and when it's done I may be able to apply for a special title for it, which I would have to do through the police department. might do that, might just build a entry level drag car out of it and have fun. not sure at this point
 
here's some more pics that I've taken recently

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Kind of an odd place for a penny. not a 1970 like i expected, i believe it was a 1981 penny

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trunk before installing new decklid

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Passenger side wheel tub...

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Wider view of the Passenger side trunk area... car is actually pretty rust free... its all mostly surface rust. unfortunately the drivers side quarter panel is crunched along the lower edge and the passenger side quarter panel is 80% bondo...

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Drivers side trunk. extension was pushed out of place when the lower quarter was smashed.

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Firewall, about 10 minutes later I removed the wiper motor and heater box.. which was pretty much trash (well the actuall box anyways, I think the blower motor was in good shape)

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Drivers side inner fender. needs patched up...

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Passenger side inner fender. about the same shape as the drivers side

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Passenger side suspension. Looks pretty clean! lol

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Dash. I think it's been hacked up to fit a radio at one time...

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Rear floor. It's clean! lacks rust until the dip into the floorpan, that's where the holes are. I think a worker might have gotten a little over-zealous with the seam sealer in 1970 lol

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Passenger side floorboard, covered in sludge and surface rust. My dart's driver side door doesnt close right... the striker post dislodged itself and now sits at an odd angle so when it snows or rains at a decent angle water gets in and collects on this floorboard. Im going to fix this problem as soon as it gets in the garage in a few months

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the trashed trans tunnel and drivers side floorboard

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Here's the only other hole in the drivers side floorpan

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Wide pic of the interior.
 
Well I'm going to be starting the project here in a few weeks and I decided I'm going to start building a relitively cheap bracket racer. First mod is subframe connectors, which will be one piece, instead of something that sandwhiches the floorboard, these will have the floorboard built around them. I'm going to try to modify a Dana 60 out of a 1990 Ram for it
 
BUMP
I'm heading to the junkyard tuesday and I'm thinking about chopping the quarters off a 1974 Scamp thats sitting in there for her, maybe some bits and pieces of floor and tranny tunnel too. my dakota project is almost done and summer is on its way so it's time to start working on this beast!

anyone care to vouch for the 904? i found one in a 73 charger in the same yard as the Scamp and im half tempted to pull it...
 
bummed out today, cut off almost all of my marker openings for flushing out and selling the openings to 71challengerSE, put the three that were cut off on the decklid of our Plymouth Acclaim and my grandpa took off in it and i lost two of the openings....
In othere updates i almost have the junked trunk extention taken out... might do some other cutting tomorrow... wish it was moblie so i could start welding the stuff that i want to...
 
sobiecam said:
BUMP
I'm heading to the junkyard tuesday and I'm thinking about chopping the quarters off a 1974 Scamp thats sitting in there for her, maybe some bits and pieces of floor and tranny tunnel too. my dakota project is almost done and summer is on its way so it's time to start working on this beast!

anyone care to vouch for the 904? i found one in a 73 charger in the same yard as the Scamp and im half tempted to pull it...
Click to expand...

I have a 904 in my 75 Dart and its ok if you need a transmission. The 727 is much better and would be more worth it to pull on of those. Make sure it fits your application V8 vs /6, I have a couple of /6 904's around I dont think I'll use anytime soon.
 
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