'71 Dart 6.4L swap progress being made!

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GoldSwinger71

GoldSwinger71

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
Minneapolis, MN
After a solid week of wrenching, I've made a huge dent in the outstanding punch list before my car goes out to the shop for the engine install!

Got the engine removed in about 6 hours -
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Swapped the rear axle for the Moser 60... HOLY COW THIS THING IS HEAVY!
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New Wilwood discs - the fronts will be installed along with the QA1 K-Member
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New Wheel Vintiques 15 inch powder coated rims with proper vintage poverty caps -
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I removed the seats and carpet to prep the car for welding the frame rails, as well as running new wiring / battery relocation.

The carpet was factory original, which is shocking with 145k miles that the heel pad of the looked brand new, just faded.

It was neat to find the broadcast sheet under the front bench seat!
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I've got a whole pile of parts that will be sent along with the car, but it should be on the trailer next week. Now I just need to be patient to await some of the key components to come off of backorder, like the Holley Terminator Max X.

The car SHOULD be alive before spring hits! The engine builder put in a bigger cam and is doing some head work to push this thing to 600HP or so. The dyno should confirm in a few weeks. I'm just playing a "see no evil, hear no evil" method with my budget.

Just wanted to share some updates since my last post! Hopefully the next update will be of the engine in the bay.
 
That’s going to be awesome!! Please keep us updated with the progress. Looking at a 5.7 swap for my 74 Dart also
 
74 DART' said:
That’s going to be awesome!! Please keep us updated with the progress. Looking at a 5.7 swap for my 74 Dart also
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74 Dart,

I did it in my 74 sport and I can tell you I will never go back to a conventional small block, tuning has had its challenges but I am learning. but man what a difference!!!
 
a week or so ago my son and i put about 100 miles on mine doing tuning. so fun and no worries of overheating. I don't think it ever got to 200 degrees, and we were putting it thru some paces on the freeway. cruising at 75mph in third gear was unheard of with my 415 small block
 
Great looking car! Please keep us updated when you can. As all above have said, you'll love it!
 
I'm very excited for the progress! The motor is being gone through by Chuck Lofgren and KTRE, so there's no question it'll be set up right!

Sounds like it'll be about 3 weeks before I can bring it into the shop (due to parts shortages), but I'm first in line for when they're ready.
 
That thing is going to haul ***! What will you be doing to the front suspension as far as brakes and stuff though and your interior? Do you have an automatic or a manual? I have a 392 2018 T/A and the thing is a tank and hauls the mail....you will have some fun!
 
Front suspension is going to be using Wilwood drilled / slotted front discs, QA1 Tubular K-Member, QA1 Tubular upper and lower control arms, 1.03" torsion bars, QA1 adjustable shocks (to match the rears which will be installed), and Baer Master Cylinder. The Borgeson Steering Sector is going to be powered off of the Holley pump.

I'm keeping the interior stock, so it'll stay bench seat, column shifter, and using a built 727. You shouldn't be able to tell anything wild and crazy about it from the outside of the car. Also doing a Retrosound stereo to be totally stealth.
 
Are you gonna run a manual valve body in the 727 so you don't have to fool with kickdown linkage? I believe I'd mini tub that sucker to get a bigger tire under it. Traction is probably gonna be in short supply....lol.
 
JDMopar said:
Are you gonna run a manual valve body in the 727 so you don't have to fool with kickdown linkage? I believe I'd mini tub that sucker to get a bigger tire under it. Traction is probably gonna be in short supply....lol.
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I'm going to keep the body as-is for now. The objective was to keep any cutting to a bare minimum, which is why I'm sticking with the 727. We're still going to figure out the engineering on it, but it may require us to go the route of the Bouchilon kickdown kit with the divorced throttle. The neat thing about that is I get to keep my factory throttle pedal... another stealth element!

Basically the shop folks I'm working with are treating my car as a "beta test" to figure out what parts list is needed for a typical A-Body conversion.
 
So FYI - I ordered the Retrosound stereo on 11/15 at 10pm. I get an email the next day advertising their "Black Friday Special Discount". Contact support to ask to honor the price and they're refusing. Just something to think about if you are looking at them.
 
GoldSwinger71 said:
So FYI - I ordered the Retrosound stereo on 11/15 at 10pm. I get an email the next day advertising their "Black Friday Special Discount". Contact support to ask to honor the price and they're refusing. Just something to think about if you are looking at them.
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Well that’s lousy, can you cancel the first order and place a new one?

I deal with Antique Auto Radio, they’re always nice on the phone, but order date to shipping date is SLOW. I’ve never had an issue so I can’t comment on their “problem” resolution.
 
Hey all, quick update - been working with my engine builder - the parts shortage has been a real bear for getting progress done. I'm hoping they'll finally get the motor on the dyno in the next few weeks. I have a MASSIVE pile of parts to go to the shop for assembly - my hope is that since I've already done all the leg work on this it will speed up the process (but I'm inventorying everything before it leaves my house... no reason to not be safe on that front.)

The motor has the new Holley Front Accessory Drive system for clearance, and interestingly enough they just started releasing A-Body motor mounts which appear to be shifted forward to clear the firewall. Currently they have only the 73+ spool mounts, so we might have to do some fabrication to fit the earlier biscuit style. The other FABO folks doing that approach of moving the motor forward were on the right track. My only concern is whether or not a shift forward will cause clearance issues for my TTI headers. The hope is that the Borgeson steering box will help alleviate that. Good news is that I get to keep my column shifter! A solution has been worked out to make it feasible.

On the suspension front, I bit the bullet and bought QA1 adjustable shocks for front and rear. The car isn't planned to be a corner carver, but it would be nice to set it up for a better launch off the line. With all the other QA1 parts on the thing, it might as well be a show car for them... (hint hint)

Aside from that, I need to load up the front bench seat and bring that to the upholstery shop and see about getting some springs replaced, and/or some form of rebuilding to get the seat up to "modern comfort" status. I'm a stickler for doing things right, so it's gonna be as perfect as I can make it be. The Gold Digger will be a beast!
 
I’m interested in how you worked out the column linkage when you get to that point. Awesome build!
 
I have a 73 Scamp, 6.1, TTI headers and mounts. Factory column shift. Just had to trim outer sleeve back flush with firewall.
 
Hey haven't forgotten about this thread! I talked to my engine builder on Monday and we're all set for the dyno test and tune session on the 7th... PROGRESS IS BEING MADE! So we'll see how much it actually puts down. Apparently the newest castings are causing some power loss with their recipe, so they wanted to do some extra head work to get it where it should be. The target is 600HP. Previous castings were 610HP - new castings were 580HP... I don't want to give up that 30HP! Anyway - I will be taking video of the session and will report back on the results. It should also be opening up the slot at the shop to deliver the car so we can get started with installation. All the pieces are in play!

Yay! Progress so I can do more work and write more checks! :)
 
The dyno test and tune was completed today!
615.2 HP @ 6700RPM - 553.2 Lb-Ft @ 4600RPM

Now the big question - do I go directly to mini-tub? :)
 
GoldSwinger71 said:
So FYI - I ordered the Retrosound stereo on 11/15 at 10pm. I get an email the next day advertising their "Black Friday Special Discount". Contact support to ask to honor the price and they're refusing. Just something to think about if you are looking at them.
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I will tell EVERYONE i know, that they suck!
 
Mini tub!!! I am in process in adding some more tire under mine. blazes tires at 30 roll with no effort.
 
Great numbers! Mini tub? Uh, yeah! Lol. Could you elaborate on differences in head castings? Thanks for sharing with us!
 
GoldSwinger71 said:
The dyno test and tune was completed today!
615.2 HP @ 6700RPM - 553.2 Lb-Ft @ 4600RPM

Now the big question - do I go directly to mini-tub? :)
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I'm going to request some engine details please??? :) cammed? What engine management? Details !!!!
 
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