1975 Dart

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tjmopar

tjmopar

Member
Joined
Jun 18, 2020
Messages
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Location
Georgia
My first car was a 67 barracuda, which one of my brother now owns. It may sound weird, but I ended up doing an in family trade for a 75 Dart as it was the last project car my dad had. I figured that it would be a perfect project that I could enjoy with my three kids and something we could take to events as a family. This will be a way for the kids to be able to look back at the progress on this car as we get it back on the road and then get it to a track worthy vehicle. The kids really love the show Roadkill and they want to drive the car up to Roadkill nights next year. Getting back more on the car, it is a 1975 Dodge Dart Custom with a 318 and a 904 transmission. It started life (as far as we know) as a California car and my Dad had it halfway torn apart working on multiple projects at one time. One of my brothers got it able to drive on a trailer so that it could be shipped out to us in Georgia. When it arrived to me the motor mounts were just sitting on the cradles, half of the lug nuts were lose, and the distributor cap was broken into 3 pieces.

Short term items to get it back on the road:
- Air cleaner
- Cap and Rotor
- Properly install the motor mounts
- Bleed and check the brakes
- Hook up the cooling lines for the transmission
- Reinstall the power steering pump
- Check the bearings
- New lug nuts
- Oil and filter change
- Change the transmission fluid and filter
- New Carb and Valve cover gaskets
- New plugs and wires
- Change the old rusty front shocks

Medium term goals:
- Exhaust upgrades
- New leaf springs (probably Espo)
- New UCA (Bergman's)
- 1.12 Tbars (Feel Firm)
- Subframe connectors
- Cam upgrade (if the cylinder compression is good)

Longterm goals:
- Either stroke the 318 or drop in a 360 Magnum
- I would love to convert it over to a manual transmission, but I might just build up the automatic and switch to a floor shifter

Sitting halfway torn apart at my dad’s.
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Engine mostly put back together.

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Interior shot.
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Waiting to get picked up.
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First day I had it, the Dart had to sit at the curb for the night until I picked up a new cap and rotor.

Here is the old rotor.
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In her new home.
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After getting her into the garage, I tackled the motor mounts first. Took a little longer than I hoped, but I had the engine fully bolted down yesterday. Since then went to the wrecking yard and got the needed pulleys to install the power steering pump, although I am still missing the the piece in the back where the high pressure hose connects.

I had to adjust how the belts run as it originally had an air pump and a/c.
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No offense but if you want to teach your kids "somthin" keep them away from the TV show "mechanics"

I have a 74 Scamp slant I "should not have bought." Vinyl top, it has rusted through the roof in the rear window, C pillars, along the top of the front glass, and maybe a few other places. "I have a guy" (I hope) lined up to replace the roof
 
67Dart273 said:
No offense but if you want to teach your kids "somthin" keep them away from the TV show "mechanics"

I have a 74 Scamp slant I "should not have bought." Vinyl top, it has rusted through the roof in the rear window, C pillars, along the top of the front glass, and maybe a few other places. "I have a guy" (I hope) lined up to replace the roof
Click to expand...
Awe come on. TV show mechanics only job is to boost sales of a product that paying their paycheck that week. They need love too!
 
That's a nice looking Dart! I have to get my 75 Dart SE back on the road, I miss driving it...

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67Dart273 said:
No offense but if you want to teach your kids "somthin" keep them away from the TV show "mechanics"

I have a 74 Scamp slant I "should not have bought." Vinyl top, it has rusted through the roof in the rear window, C pillars, along the top of the front glass, and maybe a few other places. "I have a guy" (I hope) lined up to replace the roof
Click to expand...

Roadkill is for entertainment and much like other shows, I explain to my kids that is not necessarily the proper way to do things.
 
HemiSSDart said:
That's a nice looking Dart! I have to get my 75 Dart SE back on the road, I miss driving it...

View attachment 1715547940
Click to expand...

Thanks. You have a good looking Dart as well. The kids are dying to get the Dart on the road. We have a written list at home that they can check off for what needs to be done before we can drive it around the block and then for driving it around town.
 
That is such a cool car

I have almost the exact car except a 2 door. For some reason I can never find good 4 doors.

Your car is perfect..... that is when cars had real style.

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Woody'sScamp said:
Welcome, I've got a '75 Scamp/Brougham myself. You've got a nice looking 4 door! Is that triple black?
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It is currently triple black, but it was not like that from the factory. The paint code for it is LE9, which is Vintage Red Poly, but under some of the trim the Dart almost looks like a maroon color.
 
It’s been awhile since my last post. Since then I have Knocked out the following:
- power steering fully functional again
- bled and adjusted all the brakes
- hooked up cooling lines for the transmission
- change the oil (I opened up the filter and did not find metal, thankfully)
- compression check (140lbs across the board)
- installed aftermarket temp gauge (have an oil pressure gauge to go in next)

In installing the new temp gauge I found out that the factory gauge is off by about 40–50 degrees. At some point I’ll pick up a solid state IVR to see if the factory one is bad (likely considering the age). The engine is only supposed to have about 55k miles on it, but there is a real good chance that it has the factory timing chain. Assuming I have good oil pressure when I hook up the gauge this week, I will then pull down the font of the engine and put a double roller on. Now to my dilemma, should I change out the cam when I change out the timing chain? The main reason I would not do it is because then I need to change the valve springs. Then I would probably pull the heads and do a home port like @318willrun did. I’m not sure I want to put that much work in a 318 that I will eventually swap out for a 360.
 
Today I got the mechanical oil pressure gauge hooked up. Running at 60 psi when cold. Around 35 psi in neutral when warm, 25 psi in gear, and close to 50 psi under WOT when warmed. Forgot to add that I threw a newer starter in from mid 90s 318 too.
 
Tested the slack for the timing chain a couple of days ago and it ended up between 7 and 8 degrees. So I decided to pick up a new timing chain for her. Was able to get it mostly torn down today and I found that I need to replace the harmonic balancer as well. Since I have it off and the rubber ring is looking pretty bad.
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Front end is fully pulled apart and I have the old timing set off. I was impressed by how clean and intact the gears were on the factory set. Tomorrow I will hopefully get her all put back together.
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Got the Dart put back together today. Wasn’t expecting much of a difference and I ended up being pleasantly surprised. The little 318 is still no stump puller, but at least she can chirp the tires now. Makes me want to get rid of the single 2” exhaust and drop in a set of headers.
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Dropped of the Dart at a transmission shop on Monday to have it checked out and put a shift kit in it. On Wednesday I stopped by and found out that a previous owner likely put in a newer transmission into her. Looks like a have a lockup converter. When I get the Dart back next week I will need to crawl under and check out the serial number on the trans. See if it is a A998 or an A999.
 
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