65 dart revival

[Curiousyellow71]

Our 65 dart project is finally underway. It's been parked for 18 years awaiting a plan. We repaired the pans and quarters in 1992 stuck in a very used .060 over 318 w a 340 cam and drove it 2 college for a few years, and then my youngest brother drove it to high school till 97. In '96 Dad drove it 170 miles to Kansas City mopar event and ran a 15.4@92. We are ready to pull the 318 and install a fresh 383, 10.2: 1 with ported 346 heads. Edelbrock performer and a voodoo 704. Going to try 72 b body hp manifolds. 727 we are using came out of 400 powered volare that lost reverse...so we have to repair that and we have a 3000 stall. Going 2 upgrade front suspension to disc, rear end not sure yet but big bolt pattern is the plan. My twin brother and I are tackling this. But I found out yesterday I have to overhaul the 68rfe in my diesel pickup...so it may be a bit till I get to the 65. I rode in this car in '85 when the neighbor had it w a 225...fond memories riding in the back seat of the little car catching air over a bridge on the way to youth group at church and going 96 mph. Probably my earliest memory of going over 90.. Previous owner..she had a lead foot.
Been doing research on this site. Headers maybe some day...not interested in fenderwell...yet. probably custom in frames...but no time now...really hope BB hp's fit wo 2 many mods. It's been a long time...I forgot how small these cars are. LOL

 

[Tad]

NICE!!! 65’s rock!!

 

[Curiousyellow71]

318 got pulled out yesterday, the 904 as it turns out was out already in the trunk so only 20 minutes to pull it out. The intake on the 318 was a early 70s 2 barrel single plane we took the 2 barrel flange off and opened it up for a 4 barrel and bolted a carb adapter 2 the intake. Did that almost 30 years ago. 4 barrel on a budget.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Almost have our 383 put together for our 65 dart.
The 383 is 10.27:1, has ported 346 heads, a 704 voodoo. edelbrock performer, going to try b body hp manifolds. Likely use our motor plate.
Also want to put a 8 3/4 out out of a duster in and use one of the front disc b body set up we have. Likely drill the axles for big pattern.

It's finally coming together shoe horn comes out very soon. Heads have been shaved a bunch so hoping that helps make it fit.
Want to do minitubs sometime but for now...we are tackling plenty.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

383 first trial with 73 hp manifolds. Its tight!. Need to make some room on the passenger side. Pulled the master cylinder and column out to help w room.

We found a 70 duster power steering box and replaced the manual box. Looks like its going to need a 90 degree fitting for the pressure line. We are using 77 aspen spindles and disc brakes with 75 dart ball joints and upper control arms.
Overhauled a 727 yesterday. It had a blown seal on the back drum. But we had robbed the pump gasket so waiting for parts.
Master cylinder is sure close to the manifold. We may move it. Anyone use the kit to move the master cylinder over...couldn't hurt? Doesn't appear like it will move it enough to help with the heat.

 

[Keith Mopar]

Wow looking good, is there room for a heat plate to bolt under the master to divert the some of the heat?

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Should be room for a shield. Going to be a lot of heat nearby though. Master cylinder is perhaps 2 inches away from manifold... I thought I had a better picture. Took the master cylinder off and then the engine can go in with both manifolds on. The master cylinder is right above the manifold. Planning on beating back the fenderwell on the passenger side a bit to gain all we can for steering column clearance. Not sure how much the small transmission tunnel will let the 727 move.

 

[mopowers]

Have you thought about using a 2-bolt master cylinder? I think they inherently position the master a little higher than a cast iron 4-bolt master.

Here's a photo of a 2-bolt adapter I made for my 66. While I was at it, I moved it up and over 3/8". I figure ever little bit helps. I'll probably run a heat shield as well.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Tackling a lot of early a body upgrades with this little car!... Front discs and spindle upgrade, added power steering, changing to 5x 4 1/2 wheels, installing a 8 3/4, have a posi carrier coming for a 741 set of 3.55s we had laying around. Planning on drilling out the rear axle. The wheels showed up today! 15x8s for the back w 5.5" backspacing 255-60r15s for the back. We will make a 1/2 thick wheel shim because the rims rub the leafs. Looks like a 5" backspacing would have been perfect Have 3 small places to repair rust on the top of front frame so I made some repair pieces with our brake.
Next decision rear disc brakes or rebuild the drums? Not sure...but leaning toward a disc kit from speedway motors.

 

[Keith Mopar]

Looking good. There is a kit to move the leaf springs over 1/2 an inch, but not sure if that will be enough for those rims to clear. There are lots of rear disc kit for the 8 3/4 out there.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Looking good. There is a kit to move the leaf springs over 1/2 an inch, but not sure if that will be enough for those rims to clear. There are lots of rear disc kit for the 8 3/4 out there.

Thanks, I have seen those, and its not a bad idea. 1/2" should be all we need to clear. We do have room on the outside to move it out 1/2". Now you have me thinking if we moved the spring in... maybe a 275 would fit. Lol

 

[Curiousyellow71]

picture is passenger rear control arm.

We tried a passenger log style manifold and it had no more room then the pass hp manifold. So I trimmed the fenderwell out on the passenger fender right where the bulge is for the back control arm. I heated up the control arm mount on the front side and pounded it in a bit. Now we have clearance on both sides. Its close to the steering column but we have maybe a 1/4" clearance on each side with unmodified manifolds and gaskets. We would be done if we didn't have stock power steering. To clear the top fitting on the power steering the tunnel has to be beat up from the front all the way 6 inches past the body seam that many weld or beat flat. Also engine needs to come up for spark plug no 5, its 2 close to the power steering. I doubt anyone makes motor mounts to run the engine higher so we will make them. We were about 5" from the crank centerline to the k member were it wouldve been happy with manual steering. We have a front motor plate but we are hoping to not use it as the accessories are harder to drive. We have a cnc plasma table and a 100 ton brake for prototype stuff and can model stuff in 3d for when we commercially replicate parts. Motor mounts at least align up with stock location, the tranny mount is stock.
We have beat the front pass corner of the oil pan for some k member clearance, and worked over the firewall on the passenger head so it has lots of room. Sure helps as we have had the engine in/out a dozen times now.

 

[604B1duster]

Curious, did you actually “move” the rear control arm mount or just flatten out the back of it a little? Or ?

 

[Curiousyellow71]

didn't move it at all. The manifold actually comes down on the front edge of the bump that's there for the control arm. Cutting the fenderwell sheetmetal helped.. it did gain some room. Once its open up you can see the control arm mount and then you can see where you can gain a little more room yet without affecting geometry by beating it in right where the manifold is. I am assuming to get max camber the back control arm bolt will be all the way in. It still has room for offset bushings if needed.
I will probably weld my fenderwell hole shut and it will be hard to see any mod. Every 1/8 counts on this project to clear the steering column.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

After we beat the tunnel up behind the body seam for the needed clearance to get the drivers manifold above the power steering fitting we had enough room for mid 70s era spool mounts. Not the prettiest welds and we need to find the proper Motor mounts washers...but both sides are done and it was pretty easy. We cut the k member motor mounts out of another car and welded them in w the engine in the car. We had to use a plate on the passenger side because the mount is below the original mount. Driver side was directly welded to the original place on the cross member.
7 1/4 is now out...8 3 /4 has the 3.55s and ready to go in. Progress!

 

[Matto]

Nice work! I would highly recommend using the Dr. Diff master cylinder adapter to move it over that 3/4” or so. I did manage to squeak a heat shield in under the MC on my valiant. Will need to add some lava mat before next race season. Also had to hack into the passenger shock tower to fit the headers I made. Here’s my build if you need some tips, headers start on page 5.
64 Valiant 440 build

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Holding itself up for the first time with a big block, disc brakes are on as well as a 750 double pumper.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Been so long since I started this thread the Dart is covered with dust.
Really not very happy with what we had going. The 8 3/4 stock A body rear was a little wide for tire fit and I wasn't really interested in drilling the axles to the bbp, and I converted to bbp discs on the front. So called Dr diff and got axles, then narrowed a 8 3/4, spool w 3.90s, bought calvert -1" monoleafs and minitubbed it. Have 295/50/15s on now(its what was sitting there) w room for more.
As for the drivetrain I almost have a 904 built for it replacing the 727. Trying to keep weight off the front and the tunnel is tight for a 727 even after we pounded the hell out of it..The 904 has a 5000 stall from ultimate convertor, hd Pump from A&A, 5 clutch front drum with reverse wound spring, tf2 from transgo, billet rear servo, deep pan. Probably get drag radials eventually. Been working on my B bodies, but I think the pieces are in to finish this girl.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Back at it again. This project needs to get done! We got sidetracked last year when the first engine in the dart 383/727/8 3/4 got moved to a 67 valiant and is now running...but, getting another car on the road is spreading ourselves thinner.Lol
We had a dart engine plan, when we built a 440 w e street heads for it, but our 510 had a issue in our 69 charger so the 440 went in that. Then built this engine, 440 w Tf240s w a 269/276 at .050 .640 lift roller cam.
This weekend I bolted the adapter from A&A. Hope the 904 holds, it has some good parts in it. If you have not seen the bb to sb adapter..here it is. It also works for the later od transmissions as well.
Since we minitubbed the dart..we wanted a more serious engine..this is more serious.
...but still a street car.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

This is where the 65 darts 383 ended up. We bought the valiant from a neighbor bachelor in the early 90s. He never drove over 35 on the highway. We hope to change that!
We managed to get hedman b body headers to fit after banging on them and pulling the engine out 8 times or so. We put in strange axles in the 8 3/4 with the a body rear drums. We drilled out the drums. This 67 has plenty of charactor.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

The 65 dart we built a "driver" pump gas 440 last year. It had 11.2:1 compression, E street heads and a HR cam 243/247 at .050 .640 lift with 1.6 rockers with a team G and a 850 dp. We have had a 510 rb in our 69 charger since the mid 90s. Since the 510 had been in the car for more then 20 years we pulled it out to check things over, but not wanting the charger to be down..we stuck the 440 in we built for the dart. This delay set back the 65 dart build. We just got the rotating assembly back for the 510 and it will go back in the charger. But to get the dart together NOW we had to build another engine that I posted above with TF240s which is built more for the drag strip then street. Maybe the E street 440 will some day get back to the dart..but for now it's in this. We took it on a 240 mile trip, it runs real well..would've been one heck of a motor in a little 65 dart.Lol

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Worked on installing the trick flow 440 today. Need to remove the heater next.
Opened the glove box and found time slips from Kanas City International raceway. I drove/raced our charger, my twin brother raced our 70 cuda, younger bro drove his 70 challenger, and my Dad drove the 65 dart down there and raced, 170 miles down there! Dart had a sad 318 and I believe Dad's best was a 15.6 car #291. But I found this e.t. slip from October 6, 1996. And the owners manual. Brought back memories! Time sure flies!

 

[604B1duster]

Very cool !
What exhaust manifolds were in the 65 dart with the 383 ?

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Very cool !
What exhaust manifolds were in the 65 dart with the 383 ?

'73 hp manifolds off a b or e body.
We had them on unmodified. Doing it again I would angle mill them to suck them in a bit.

 

[Curiousyellow71]

Dart has a 440 sitting in it for the first time. We made some room in the transmission tunnel by the firewall so we could drop it in with the 8 quart pan. Helped bunches to get it past the k member. 440 is noticably larger then the 383. Would've been nice to have a stroked b engine. But we will get this 2 work....somehow. Lol
Also found a scale ticket of when we weighed the 65 dart with the 318 back when it was a daily driver. It had steel ralley wheels, 273 exh manifolds and a iron intake and a stereo..of course.Lol
So this car in its past life, has had a 225, 318, 383, and now a 440!