'70 Dart 392 Project; what direction?

[208Dart]

Well yesterday I got the engine/trans back out and pulled the seats.
Hauled the car to my buddies shop and we hammered out some work in a few hours!
First up: this is how I plan on lifting the car. Granted I’ve got access to a forklift and an overhead hoist… this could probably be modified with a riser/extension to work with a cherry picker. The round stock fits in two holes located on the bottom of the frame rails just behind the core support. Should work great.

Then we cut the trans tunnel from the donor panel, cut the auto tunnel out and got the new one welded in place. Check out those “factory” welds from the donor floor!!! Laughable at best haha

Going back in the AM to bolt in my pedal assembly and load the car up to haul back to my shop. Might pull k member at get that prepped to drop off at powdercoat.

Mike

 

[DionR]

Doing the spring relocation at your place, or not all now?

 

[208Dart]

Doing the spring relocation at your place, or not all now?

Will be doing that at my place. Didn’t have the parts yet or enough time to occupy my buddies shop for too long and he needs to pull his trans out of his pickup this weekend.

Mike

 

[DionR]

Will be doing that at my place. Didn’t have the parts yet or enough time to occupy my buddies shop for too long and he needs to pull his trans out of his pickup this weekend.

Mike

Makes sense. I hate being the guy plugging up someone else’s shop, not that it has never happened. One of my best friends is my fabricator and when I do my T56 swap it might be at his place. Hopefully it is a weekend of hard work and out of his way after that. Or maybe his Dart will be here in my way while my Duster is there.

 

[208Dart]

Yeah definitely don’t want to be THAT guy!

Can anyone tell me what the bracket on top of the trans tunnel to the right of the shifter opening is for? Seen it on a few other factory tunnel pics but never on any of the aftermarket ones…

Mike

 

[racerjoe]

Yeah definitely don’t want to be THAT guy!

Can anyone tell me what the bracket on top of the trans tunnel to the right of the shifter opening is for? Seen it on a few other factory tunnel pics but never on any of the aftermarket ones…

Mike

That may be part of a console bracket.

 

[208Dart]

That may be part of a console bracket.

That’s what I wondered but the console brackets I’ve seen have been up under the dash more and back mid floor? I wondered if it might be for reverse light wiring?

Mike

 

[racerjoe]

That’s what I wondered but the console brackets I’ve seen have been up under the dash more and back mid floor? I wondered if it might be for reverse light wiring?

Mike

I'm familiar with the brackets you mention, but I've honestly never seen brackets for a 4 speed console car. That being said, I have seen that bracket before...

 

[208Dart]

I'm familiar with the brackets you mention, but I've honestly never seen brackets for a 4 speed console car. That being said, I have seen that bracket before...

This donor panel came from a ‘70 duster. Contemplating cutting it off but want to make sure it’s not needed first. I’m not inventive enough to imagine what it’s for. Might take a look in the factory service manual to see if it lists anything…

Mike

 

[208Dart]

Got the car back home and up on stands. Front K is out and almost ready to go to powdercoat. Just gotta pull ball joints. Could go with grey or black powdercoat…. Been thinking grey would look good. Thoughts?

Next up is rebuilding trans, reconditioning shifter linkages, and starting the minitub/spring relocate.

Once that’s done I can start the rear end build.

Then after that it’s onto assembly…. Crazy to think about!

 

[Kiddart1]

Black

 

[208Dart]

Couple more things knocked off the list. Got my balljoint socket today so can finally drop off front suspension to powdercoat.
Got headers cerakoted.
Trans crossmember is coated.
tranny linkage blasted and coated
Rebuilt 833 with new bearings/gaskets/syncros…etc

Next up I gotta clean and paint the bell housing/tranny. Make a crossmember adapter. And fab up a better roller dolly for the assembly.

Going to be calling coldmaster inc this week for a heat/cool combo hopefully.

Then I’ll be spending some time on the minitub. Just keep swimming…..

 

[208Dart]

Oh yeah also I had to shorten the input shaft .550”. Hopefully my math works out cause trans is back together and I really don’t want to pull it again haha

Mike

 

[DionR]

Got my balljoint socket today so can finally drop off front suspension to powdercoat.

If I had known, I would have loaned you my ballpoint socket. I can understand wanting your own if that was your thought, and too late now.

 

[208Dart]

If I had known, I would have loaned you my ballpoint socket. I can understand wanting your own if that was your thought, and too late now.

Appreciate that. No worries it’s not like it’s holding up the build, still have WAAAAAY too much work to do to finish this thing.

Mike

 

[208Dart]

less than 24hour turnaround time on the powdercoat! Looks awesome.

 

[208Dart]

$40 worth of steel and casters and about 2 hours I’ve got the engine dolly made. About as simple as it gets but very functional so far. Also got my transmission painted. Had to helicoil two holes to mount bellhousing to the transmission. But so far so good.

Wheels also showed up from weld craft but haven’t unboxed them yet!

 

[208Dart]

Last pics for a little while. Clutch/pressure plate installed with trans on. Will have to pull back off for hydraulic TO bearing (ordered the McLeod unit). But everything is looking great. Going to get shifter linkage on as well. Hopefully prepping for minitub and spring relocate this weekend.

 

[208Dart]

Few more small things done.
Got my rear axle/leafs/shocks all torn out ready to start minitub next week.
Headers are torqued on.
Starter ordered.
Added a 4th wheel on my engine dolly.
Installed McLeod hydraulic TO bearing, and got my plugs/coil packs installed and got my shifter linkage mocked up. Everything shifts good but I’ve got a HURST shifter that I might rebuild and swap in.

FYI the TO bearing will NOT fit through the bellhousing I put shaft hole. You have to take bellhousing off block after taking measurements and install on trans before installing TO bearing. Contrary to what the instructions say

Progress is progress!

 

[Edsrt]

Cool project. Just a thought , you may want to want to upgrade to a Hurst competition plus over what looks like an Inland shifter. The Hurst has a tighter feel and has strong lever stops to keep excessive shift pressure off of sincros and shift forks. Also you can use many different shifter handles. I have run Inland and factory Hurst shifters and they tend to be a little sloppy. Also what clutch are you using , I had to mill my hydraulic throw out bearing to get proper clearance with a Lakewood scatter shield and Center force duel friction clutch.

 

[208Dart]

Cool project. Just a thought , you may want to want to upgrade to a Hurst competition plus over what looks like an Inland shifter. The Hurst has a tighter feel and has strong lever stops to keep excessive shift pressure off of sincros and shift forks. Also you can use many different shifter handles. I have run Inland and factory Hurst shifters and they tend to be a little sloppy. Also what clutch are you using , I had to mill my hydraulic throw out bearing to get proper clearance with a Lakewood scatter shield and Center force duel friction clutch.

Great minds think alike. After testing the inland shifter (definitely a touch sloppy) I ordered parts to rebuild my HURST shifter that also came with the trans. I was watching some YouTube last night and I’ll be adding the stops and hardened steel bushings myself to the hurst shift gates when I rebuild it. Thanks for the tip!

Regarding the TO bearing in running a McLeod super street setup. The hydraulic TO bearing had great instructions and it has a screw in/out collar on the back to adjust it. Don’t anticipate having to modify it further.

I am on the lookout for a bottom inspection cover for my bellhousing…

Mike

 

[208Dart]

Hmmmm having some starter issues. Got a starter off of partsgeek listed for a 2005 ram 1500/manual trans. No luck. Hits the side of the block and the top mounting hole is threaded whereas my bellhousing already has a stud there.

Picked a 1999 Ram1500 5.2L starter from autozone. No tapped upper mount hole but definitely hitting the headers.

5.7 starter left, 5.2L starter right

 

[DionR]

TTI‘s website say the starter you bought for the 2005 Ram, and also 61R274 at Bouchillion Performance. But they both look to expect a hole in bellhousing at the top spot rather than a stud/threaded hole. There was also a RobbMc Performance 3005 for 11” flywheels that looks to work, but no idea which

Maybe there are bellhousing that didn’t have a stud on the top? Mine does, so no sure.

Worst case, you could drill the threads out on either the bellhousing or starter.

 

[DionR]

Mancini has a starter that looks like it might work - MREBU61R274

Mancini Racing Extreme Chrysler Mini Starter

Weird thing is, that's a similar part number to the Bouchillion offering and their picture shows a threaded hole in the starter. Maybe call one of them and verify?

 

[toplscuda]

Somewhere I believe I have a pic of where I ground that nub down that it hits. I also just drilled out the threads to be able to bolt it in place. Realwing probably has a detailed pic of what needs to be done in his vert build.
starter is a Denso 280-4256