70 340 4 SPD Swinger

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ACC carpets have fit good for me. Just need to trim them on the sides. Padding is a little thin, but at least it is there. Car looks awesome!
 
I started getting the new Legendary Interior finished. Also finished up complete rebuild of the steering column. Picked up the block and rotating assembly yesterday. Should start on the short block assembling this weekend. The U heads are almost done too. Someone said the x heads were correct.... but the second owner who bought the car in 70 said these are the original heads....dates line up with his info. I have never seen a 70 360 motor, what vehicle in 70 had a 360?
 

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Your Swinger is looking great! I can't wait until it's time to start putting mine back togerher. I'm debating about having my bumpers rechromed vs AMD bumpers. How did you like the AMD pieces?
 
Plum Crazy and white are a great combination..since you didn't replace the Rear Quarter panels, I assume your going to fill up the cut out area with some big tires ? Any details, regarding tire sizes ?
 
Looking great!! I'd like to know about those bumpers as well... Particularly the chrome. Is it your typical Chinese chrome or good quality? I've been very happy with AMD stuff so far.

Keep posting pics!
 
I all ways glue down my carpets. Not the way the mother Mopar did it but it gives the best fit and wear hands down. This is the way Porsche has done it since the 50's
 
The bumpers seem really nice to me. The front bumper the top line is just not as sharp as my original, but re-chroming in California is out of sight. It was about $200 less to by the AMD bumpers and have them shipped to my door, than re-chrome my straight bumpers. They are production grade. IMHO re-chromed bumpers are polished out to the point where some of the production marks are gone. The rear lights fit good, I had to open up one of the mounting holes a little to center the light more. I would buy them again no problem.
Thank you for the compliments too. Its been nice to get back to working on the car after all the "holiday Cheer".
Ron
 
The rims are American Racing Tourque Thruster.... in grey....rears are 16 X 8, fronts are 15 X 4.5. The front were custom ordered. I haven't picked tires yet. I want to go as big as possible on rears, and still tuck a little, fronts are pretty limited in choices, but I really like the retro racing look. Since this car spent its life racing on the weekends it seem right to leave the racing look. The last owner who actually drove the car raced this one with his kids. His driver was a 70 plum crazy 340 4 speed Duster. After the kids grew up and out he parted and sold the dart. Then years later sold the Duster, with the 340 out of the dart as a spare for the duster. After I tracked the racer down from old paperwork that came with the car, he forwarded my info to the Duster owner, after some arm twisting I finally was able to purchase the original motor for my dart. So some 20 plus years after being seperated the original motor close to being back where it belongs. I did pay way to much for the motor but it seems like the right thing to do.
 
Some pix of vapor barrier and resealing
 

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but re-chroming in California is out of sight.
I know what you mean, I had mine done at SJ Valley Plating in Santa Clara @ $400 a bumper. To bad no one makes 73-76 bumpers, so I had to get them re-chromed. I was concerned that they would shipped them out and I might not get my originals back, but come to find out they do all their work in house. They did a great job on them. It's been over 2 years since I had them done and they are still nice and shiny.
 
Great progress, I can't wait to see more! Thats so cool you were able to track down the original engine. Nice job, keep the updates coming!
 
Thank you for the compliments, I finally got the block on the stand. I hope to have short block put together this weekend.
 

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It's been a while, I was able to get back on my Dart project again. Motor is assembled, a local machinist did all the prep. Squared the deck(s), balancing, complete rebuild of the U heads ( I believe they are original to the engine, matching dates) The tranny is a 75 OD. The bell housing is a OCT 70 originally orange then black then dark blue (like Ford blue), I had it stripped with walnut shells. The fork pivot pictured has a reddish coloring to it, just a side note for the OEM Numbers Guys, seems original to me.
 

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Update, I built a rack/cart that holds k frames and tranny tail. The Idea was to build it up from K frame to carb>>>Fan blade to drive shaft yoke. After several test fits and rework it came together. In the future i will add for a radiator and control panel. The goal it to get it running and idle, and set body over it. On the third start attemp she fired and ran until dry.
 

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Haven't posted in a while of the progress on my Swinger. Here is the running gear being installed. Went in super smooth.
 

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After the engine and transmission were installed, I removed rear end, here are pics with markings and a really cool NHRA red, white, and blue peace sticker. I am looking for that sticker if anyone has one.
Thanks
Ron
 

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you should be able to find that sticker on Ebay. I've picked up a few myself
 
Will we all be able to see it in person at Spring Fling this year?
 
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