furrystump
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I added the rear plug
408 Build Thread
- Thread starter BrianT
- Start date
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After over two years off the road, the Dart pulled itself out of the garage under it's own power tonight! We tightened up a loose fitting on the transmission coolant line and lowered the level of the Evans coolant in the radiator per their instructions and fired her up. No leaks at the transmission so we let the engine warm up to temperature and topped off the radiator and the trans fluid. The fans cycled on and off as set so we aired up the tires and bolted the hood back on.
We only took it for a short cruise because of the open headers but everything seemed to be functioning as well as we had hoped. Temps never got above 200 degrees and the oil pressure and battery voltage looked good. Got on it pretty hard a couple of times and it went straight and fast. Pulled into the driveway and rinsed two years of dust and cobwebs off of the outside. All in all a pretty good evening!
We only took it for a short cruise because of the open headers but everything seemed to be functioning as well as we had hoped. Temps never got above 200 degrees and the oil pressure and battery voltage looked good. Got on it pretty hard a couple of times and it went straight and fast. Pulled into the driveway and rinsed two years of dust and cobwebs off of the outside. All in all a pretty good evening!
I forgot to add that yesterday was my 26th wedding anniversary. That was the best gift I could have received. I'm very lucky to have a bride that supports my hobby and doesn't get pissed every time I go and buy expensive parts for the Dart!
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bkd
No more Scoops
AWESOME!!!! Looks GREAT!!! love that everyone is HAPPY!!! ENJOY!!!
v8_vega
Active Member
Congratulations Brian on building a sweet ride! Now go enjoy it finally.
69valiant21
Well-Known Member
What wheels are those? And what size tire are you running on the rear? Lookin good Brian!
They are Centerline Qualifiers. 15X10 with a 325/50/15 Mickey Thompson drag radial.
The Dart is currently back up on four jack stands while Tom and I fabricate custom 3" mandrel bent exhaust for it, so no videos for a while. We are working on it pretty steady though and hope to have it back on the road soon. Here's a little peek at the exhaust fabrication.
While we wait for the exhaust pipes to come back from the fabricator, there's a couple of other things I'd like to address before the Power Tour kick-off on June 10th. One thing that I've been looking forward to installing since I bought it here on FABO 2 years ago was my Hemi hood scoop. It's been in the trunk the whole time I've been working on the engine so I figured now was as good as time as any to get started.
There are several threads going on how to install a hood scoop so I'm not going to bore you with the details. Needless to say I read all the threads and took what I needed from them. I started by removing the DODGE letters and front trim. I laid tape on the hood where I was going to be laying out lines. Then I set the hood on there using specs found here and made sure that the scoop was centered.
Next, I traced around the mounting studs to get an idea of where to drill the holes. We pulled the scoop back off and started drilling the holes. Once we had it mounted flat we pulled it back off and cut the hole out underneath. I stole an idea from my buddy Gary's car. He has a big scoop and the air cleaner doesn't need to protrude into the scoop the same as mine so he only cut the area out between the braces. Here's a pic of his scoop and cut out area.
And underneath...
That's universal windlace that I bought off of eBay for $3/ft, I'm going to put the seam at the top of the hole closest to the front so it's less visible.
We got everything mocked up and bolted in place.
It's in the truck now on the way to by buddy Shawn's house, yes the guy who painted my engine and everything else. We plan on using a long board on the top and smoothing everything out nice and flat, and then scuffing up the bottom side. Everything will be painted PPG Hot Rod black using paint that he has left over from a previous project. All of the trim, lettering and strut bolts will be polished up nice and shiny over at Shawn's while he is doing the painting. I'm supposed to go over there one night this week. We'll see how that works out...
There are several threads going on how to install a hood scoop so I'm not going to bore you with the details. Needless to say I read all the threads and took what I needed from them. I started by removing the DODGE letters and front trim. I laid tape on the hood where I was going to be laying out lines. Then I set the hood on there using specs found here and made sure that the scoop was centered.
Next, I traced around the mounting studs to get an idea of where to drill the holes. We pulled the scoop back off and started drilling the holes. Once we had it mounted flat we pulled it back off and cut the hole out underneath. I stole an idea from my buddy Gary's car. He has a big scoop and the air cleaner doesn't need to protrude into the scoop the same as mine so he only cut the area out between the braces. Here's a pic of his scoop and cut out area.
And underneath...
That's universal windlace that I bought off of eBay for $3/ft, I'm going to put the seam at the top of the hole closest to the front so it's less visible.
We got everything mocked up and bolted in place.
It's in the truck now on the way to by buddy Shawn's house, yes the guy who painted my engine and everything else. We plan on using a long board on the top and smoothing everything out nice and flat, and then scuffing up the bottom side. Everything will be painted PPG Hot Rod black using paint that he has left over from a previous project. All of the trim, lettering and strut bolts will be polished up nice and shiny over at Shawn's while he is doing the painting. I'm supposed to go over there one night this week. We'll see how that works out...
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v8_vega
Active Member
Going to look great Brian!
Well, the hood project got put on hold (who'da thunk it?) because of graduations and an out of town trip by my painter, but he said we can work on it one night this week.
In the meantime, we are still waiting on the mandrel bent pipes to come back from the guy in TN. We have talked to him several times by phone and email and he assures us that he'll be getting our pipes out to us soon. Member VOETOM finally got frustrated and brought over a pair of Dynomax turbo mufflers and some head pipes that he just happened to have lying around. We mocked them up Saturday and we will take them up to the local muffler shop this week to get them welded on. It's not exactly what we were wanting to do, but it'll be something that I can use to drive my car this summer. We'll worry about the fancy mandrel bent custom 3" exhaust next winter.
Yesterday, my buddies Adam and Gary came over and we did a little test and tune session. When Doc set up my MSD E-curve distributor he had it locked out at 40 degrees total advance. That was great for dyno runs but not really for street driving. Adam read the MSD instructions (which reads like a different language to me) and figured out how to set the base timing and then we programmed in a curve that gives us 25 degrees of advance, all in by 3000 rpm.
We took the car out for another test run (with open headers) and that really seemed to wake things up! My wife stood outside with one of the neighbors and said that they could hear us a 1/2 mile away when I got on it pretty hard. Things are starting to come together and the "to do" list keeps getting smaller. I even got the radio and amp hooked back up yesterday so that we'd have some tunes while we were working!
In the meantime, we are still waiting on the mandrel bent pipes to come back from the guy in TN. We have talked to him several times by phone and email and he assures us that he'll be getting our pipes out to us soon. Member VOETOM finally got frustrated and brought over a pair of Dynomax turbo mufflers and some head pipes that he just happened to have lying around. We mocked them up Saturday and we will take them up to the local muffler shop this week to get them welded on. It's not exactly what we were wanting to do, but it'll be something that I can use to drive my car this summer. We'll worry about the fancy mandrel bent custom 3" exhaust next winter.
Yesterday, my buddies Adam and Gary came over and we did a little test and tune session. When Doc set up my MSD E-curve distributor he had it locked out at 40 degrees total advance. That was great for dyno runs but not really for street driving. Adam read the MSD instructions (which reads like a different language to me) and figured out how to set the base timing and then we programmed in a curve that gives us 25 degrees of advance, all in by 3000 rpm.
We took the car out for another test run (with open headers) and that really seemed to wake things up! My wife stood outside with one of the neighbors and said that they could hear us a 1/2 mile away when I got on it pretty hard. Things are starting to come together and the "to do" list keeps getting smaller. I even got the radio and amp hooked back up yesterday so that we'd have some tunes while we were working!
v8_vega
Active Member
Sweet, finally coming together!
doogievlg
Well-Known Member
I just read this thread from start to finish! Nice to see someone's plan coming together! Nice ride man
So last night I drove 5 miles straight through the heart of town in rush hour traffic with open headers. I tried to stay off the gas as much as possible and was constantly scanning for cops but I made it okay. When I got to the muffler shop Tom was already there waiting for me. We had to wait until 5:00 when the shop closed before the owner had me pull my car in and put it on the lift.
It was a quick and painless operation. I've never had an exhaust go on so easy in my life. Pat the owner cut the head pipes down to the length we needed while Tom and I hung the mufflers. He also expanded the front pipes so that he could weld them to the header flanges that Tom had cut on the water jet at work.
The rest was just slipping pipe together and tightening clamps.
And here's the final result. Overall I'm very pleased although this is only a temporary exhaust meant to get me through the summer car show season. While we were waiting for 5:00 the guy in TN called and said that our custom bent mandrel pipes were ready to ship. Go figure.
http://vid21.photobucket.com/albums/b253/bdtunks/Dart stuff/Exhaust Project/8C4ED4C9-3773-4218-8EC6-5417F770487B_zps6zz0xp6t.mp4
I talked to my buddy Shawn the painter last night and the plan is for me to come over on Memorial Day and work on the hood, we'll see how that goes.
It was a quick and painless operation. I've never had an exhaust go on so easy in my life. Pat the owner cut the head pipes down to the length we needed while Tom and I hung the mufflers. He also expanded the front pipes so that he could weld them to the header flanges that Tom had cut on the water jet at work.
The rest was just slipping pipe together and tightening clamps.
And here's the final result. Overall I'm very pleased although this is only a temporary exhaust meant to get me through the summer car show season. While we were waiting for 5:00 the guy in TN called and said that our custom bent mandrel pipes were ready to ship. Go figure.
http://vid21.photobucket.com/albums/b253/bdtunks/Dart stuff/Exhaust Project/8C4ED4C9-3773-4218-8EC6-5417F770487B_zps6zz0xp6t.mp4
I talked to my buddy Shawn the painter last night and the plan is for me to come over on Memorial Day and work on the hood, we'll see how that goes.
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dadodgekid
When in doubt... floor it
Awesome! Sounds nice and crisp!
v8_vega
Active Member
Sounds great! What mufflers are those?
They are Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers and they belong to Tom. He's just letting me borrow them until we can get the three inch system built.
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-17748/overview/
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/wlk-17748/overview/
v8_vega
Active Member
What are you using on the 3" system?
Those Dynomax always sound good though.
Those Dynomax always sound good though.
A page or two back there are pics of the custom mufflers that Tom built. Here is a pic that the pipe bender in TN sent last night.
v8_vega
Active Member
I thought you had already mentioned it, just didn't have the time to look then.
In between races and playing in the pool yesterday, my son and I managed to get some work done on the Dart.
I used an AutoZone 20% off coupon when I bought my Edelbrock Thunder Series 800 cfm carb and the only one they had available was a manual choke version, so I snapped it up. I figured I've been driving cars for 40 years with various forms of chokes, I could probably get away without running one. I was wrong. At cold start, I would have to keep pumping and feathering the gas or the engine would die, restart and repeat. So I broke down and bought a manual choke cable. It was easy to install and took about thirty minutes. Now, I can pull the choke out, start the car, let it idle high for a minute, push the choke in and drive away.
We checked some connections and got the tach to work. It's an older Sun Super Tach II and we had it wired to the tach wire coming out of the MSD distributor just as the directions instructed. We couldn't get it to work and we knew the tach was working fine on the old engine. We took the tach lead and jumped it to the negative side of the coil and the tach sprung to life! I'm not sure if it's because it's an older tach and not compatible with the E-curve distributor or what, but it's working now and that's all that matters.
We did a couple of little things like tidying up some wiring and painting my horns and putting them back in place. I only had flat black paint and I don't care for the look, so they'll be coming back out for a coat of satin paint or maybe I'll coat them with some clear that I have. They look better than what they did, so I'm going to consider them a partial success.
Keeping with the two steps forward, one step back theme, now my turn signals don't work. I checked the all the fuses and couldn't find anything wrong, it was getting late and it was time to eat so I'll have to dig into it deeper later. Today is Memorial Day and I have to work because of a demanding customer, but only a half day. I plan on going out to painter Shawn's shop at noon to work on the hood and scoop. Hopefully, I'll have some pics to post tonight when I get home.
I used an AutoZone 20% off coupon when I bought my Edelbrock Thunder Series 800 cfm carb and the only one they had available was a manual choke version, so I snapped it up. I figured I've been driving cars for 40 years with various forms of chokes, I could probably get away without running one. I was wrong. At cold start, I would have to keep pumping and feathering the gas or the engine would die, restart and repeat. So I broke down and bought a manual choke cable. It was easy to install and took about thirty minutes. Now, I can pull the choke out, start the car, let it idle high for a minute, push the choke in and drive away.
We checked some connections and got the tach to work. It's an older Sun Super Tach II and we had it wired to the tach wire coming out of the MSD distributor just as the directions instructed. We couldn't get it to work and we knew the tach was working fine on the old engine. We took the tach lead and jumped it to the negative side of the coil and the tach sprung to life! I'm not sure if it's because it's an older tach and not compatible with the E-curve distributor or what, but it's working now and that's all that matters.
We did a couple of little things like tidying up some wiring and painting my horns and putting them back in place. I only had flat black paint and I don't care for the look, so they'll be coming back out for a coat of satin paint or maybe I'll coat them with some clear that I have. They look better than what they did, so I'm going to consider them a partial success.
Keeping with the two steps forward, one step back theme, now my turn signals don't work. I checked the all the fuses and couldn't find anything wrong, it was getting late and it was time to eat so I'll have to dig into it deeper later. Today is Memorial Day and I have to work because of a demanding customer, but only a half day. I plan on going out to painter Shawn's shop at noon to work on the hood and scoop. Hopefully, I'll have some pics to post tonight when I get home.
v8_vega
Active Member
Any more progress? Hood done?
I spent a couple of hours Monday sanding both sides of the hood. Shawn is out of town this weekend but has promised that it will be painted Monday night.
I still have a few loose ends to tie up like an alignment. That should be taken care of this week.
I still have a few loose ends to tie up like an alignment. That should be taken care of this week.
I got it out and drove thirty miles in rush hour traffic at highway speeds to go get my front end aligned last night. It ran really well but temps climbed to 220 on the highway even though air temperature was only 78 degrees. That concerns me a little especially when it starts getting really hot later in the summer. They say that Evans waterless coolant is supposed to run a little hotter, so we will see.On the way home I went through the city, stop light to stop light, and the temps stayed right around 200 degrees.
The alignment went fine. The car drives nice and straight and the steering wheel is centered once again. No more pulling to the right. I slipped my buddy Adam a $50 bill and the shop manager warranteed it for me because they had done the alignment 5 years and 200 miles ago!
I called Shawn and asked if my hood was ready and he said that he was filling pin holes in the fiberglass scoop and that it would be painted last night. I told him I don't want to be putting on a hood with wet paint Friday night as I'm trying to detail the car.
The alignment went fine. The car drives nice and straight and the steering wheel is centered once again. No more pulling to the right. I slipped my buddy Adam a $50 bill and the shop manager warranteed it for me because they had done the alignment 5 years and 200 miles ago!
I called Shawn and asked if my hood was ready and he said that he was filling pin holes in the fiberglass scoop and that it would be painted last night. I told him I don't want to be putting on a hood with wet paint Friday night as I'm trying to detail the car.
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