A Teenager and His Swinger

-
Sorry for no new updates everyone. I've had the car street legal and I've just been enjoying driving it. I got all the lights to work except for one tail light. It seems that it may have a bad socket or the actual harness is bad. I reused the old headlight harness and all the lights work, but when you hit the brakes, the parking lights come on. It doesn't bother me, but is there anything to check to see why it does this? Also the turn signals aren't working, but I have an idea why it doesn't. I think the turn signal switch is bad because you can hear the clicking sound in the dash even though they aren't on. I've managed to diagnose most of the leaks. I'm still leaking transmission fluid so that's a fix I don't look forward to. I've just really been enjoying taking it places and showing it off. Now I'm just waiting for car show season. This thread isn't over yet. I still have plenty of things left to do.

Thanks for checking out the thread and expect more to come.

the issues with hitting the brakes and parking lights coming on, sometimes can also be in the turn signal switch in the steering column. i had this issue with a friends 72 dart. i put a new signal harness in the column. problem went away. sounds like you found it.
 
Nice Dart!! You've done a great job, and its awesome that your keeping the Mopar car hobby alive.. That senior picture was really cool.. something you treasure and look back upon with a smile.. I will keep checking out your thread...
 
Nice Dart!! You've done a great job, and its awesome that your keeping the Mopar car hobby alive.. That senior picture was really cool.. something you treasure and look back upon with a smile.. I will keep checking out your thread...

Thanks I really appreciate it he kind words. Definitely keep checking it out because there's still plenty I have in mind for this car.
 
Great job on the restoration. Are you planning to bring it down to the TN Valley Mopar Club meet June 14th at Huntsville Dragway?
 
Great job on the restoration. Are you planning to bring it down to the TN Valley Mopar Club meet June 14th at Huntsville Dragway?

Thanks! I definitely am. That'll probably be the first show the car is in. Check around for it there.
 
I washed the Dart today. I've been driving it mostly everywhere.

You'll see a picture of it next to my Mustang as well.

Thanks everyone who has checked out this thread, and don't forget to check in to see what else I'm doing to it.
 

Attachments

  • photo 2.jpg
    50.6 KB · Views: 508
  • photo 3.jpg
    54.5 KB · Views: 485
  • photo 1 (1).jpg
    46.5 KB · Views: 499
I'm having some trouble with the car getting hot. The master cylinder gets so hot that the brake fluid is running out and spraying on to the inner fender. It made the paint wrinkle up which means I'll have to repaint it. What can I do to keep the master cylinder fom getting so hot?
 
Heat shield on master cylinder and maybe get the headers coated. Coating them alone easily took 10-30 degrees out of the engine bay easily

Posted via Topify using iPhone/iPad
 
The Edelbrock carburetor is not being very user friendly. At first start up and idle it's fine, but when you start to drive the car it wants to sputter and miss until it's been warmed up. I thought it might be just that it's cold, but when I start the car after letting it sit for around 5 minutes after driving it at operating temperature, the edelbrock drips enough gas while sitting to make it very hard to start and very easy to flood. Then once it's running and you go to drive it, the sputtering doesn't stop. It's been taken apart and thoroughly cleaned multiple times so it can't be that it has trash in it. The carburetor was given to me and it didn't run properly on the car it was on before mine, so I'm not losing anything. It'll run fine while driving it a while it just irritates me how it does what it does. I decided to try out a Thermo-quad that came off of a running RV 440. It ran alright on the tired 440, so I figured it would be worth a shot since it was given to me as well. If it doesn't work out then I'll just put the edelbrock back on until I can pick up something else.
 
Thermo-quad runs much better. It idles smoother and the ride isn't choppy anymore. The only problem right now is that at WOT it acts like it's getting bogged down but still accelerates, but when you ease off very slightly, it opens right back up. Any guesses? I'm gonna buy a rebuild kit and thoroughly clean it out. A friend of mine has rebuilt them before so he said he'll do it for me since I've never torn a Thermo-quad apart. It's a little dingy looking but hey it works!
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    49.2 KB · Views: 414
So at WOT the thermoquad bogs down. What should I check to see why it does this? As soon as you back off slightly it clears right up.
 
Picked up some super nice Mopar valve covers for $60. I went ahead and plasti dipped the air cleaner to match it. I like it a lot better than the chrome.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    82.7 KB · Views: 365
Eddy's back. I took it apart and cleaned it out the best I could. It didn't really help any. I just really missed that electric choke...

I still have hopes for the Thermo-quad, but that'll be for a later date. Anyone going to the Tennessee Valley Mopar Club's show at the drag strip? That'll be my first show in this car.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    56.1 KB · Views: 356
So the car was making a loud ticking noise, so I pulled the valve cover to check the rocker arms. I pushed down on one and it had no pressure at all. After pulling the intake the noise was coming from a lifter that had torn apart. After pulling it out, the lifter had worn down so far that it made a hole which caused the lifter to lose oil pressure. I've never seen one do this before, especially only having a few hundred miles on it. New lifter, new 160 T stat, and an oil change later, it's all back together and running.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    18.2 KB · Views: 489
Here's the Swinger in it's very first show. I'm extremely happy with where the car has come from. It's been a long journey that still hasn't finished, but I finally made it to where I wanted to be.

Also I traded my old seats with some boot with a set of decent seats that were recovered. The covers don't fit perfectly because I think that they were made for the seats instead of reproductions, but they are a huge upgrade from what I had. I'm going to pull the front and back seats and respray them with white. It'll hold me over until I get to the point where I want to buy new seat covers for it. Until then, they look great.
 

Attachments

  • photo 3 (1).jpg
    64 KB · Views: 330
  • photo 2 (1).jpg
    36.7 KB · Views: 357
  • photo 1 (2).jpg
    65.2 KB · Views: 358
Well here's a new update. I haven't done a lot to the car here lately, but I have big plans coming up. I ditched the hub caps and turned the white letters out on the rear. I love the way it looks now. Also if you look back in this thread you'll see a chin spoiler that I picked up at a local swap meet. I installed it and for the 15 minutes it took it was well worth it.

I drug out my 8 3/4 today. It wouldn't spin freely so I tore it apart. The chunk was bone dry, so it's soaking in oil in hopes of freeing up. It's a 3.23 sure grip that's getting BBP axles from Dr. Diff. From what I've read I'm going to use my backing plates from the 7 1/4, that way I'll have all new brakes.

The other thing I have planned is a six pack hood scoop and painting the hood black.
That's all for now and thanks for checking this out!
 

Attachments

  • Fall Dart 3.jpg
    36.3 KB · Views: 307
  • IMG_2125.jpg
    47.9 KB · Views: 311
  • IMG_2124.jpg
    52.5 KB · Views: 305
Long time no talk! Winter has been brutal. School has kept me busy. Yet I still find time to mess with this car. I have some plans coming up for this summer:

New tires. Maybe some Cooper Cobras so I can get white letters all the way around.

New exhaust. I get a weird look when I tell people that my car isn't loud enough. I don't think it is! I'm looking into some 3" Dynomax Ultraflos part #17220 that exit right in front of the rear wheels. Maybe an H-pipe as well.

Revamp the interior. The white is pretty, but it got old quick. The slightest dirt on your hand will leave a spot somewhere. SO I'm going to wrap the door panels in black vinyl and redye the seats (for now). New black carpet as well because the blue carpet fits terribly and looks like it was spray painted. Also I would like to get a new windshield and gasket.

This will be spread across the summer because I don't want the car to be torn apart to the point that I can't drive it. Until then I'll just be driving around while the weather clears up.
 

Attachments

  • Cold Dart 6 small.jpg
    45.4 KB · Views: 270
  • Dart Light 7 small.jpg
    33.3 KB · Views: 261
I love the blacked out grill. Decided to keep my Swinger grill stock lock, but will blacken the Demon with the chin spoiler. Nice!
 
very cool... I too love the blacked out grille. of course I may be a little biased to that sort of thing since the grille in my Dart is mostly blacked out.. Cant wait to see what you do next... I have to ask, how did you get the cool driving pics? A friend hang out of another car to get them?
 
Cool Dart! I bought my Dart at the age of 18. :) I think that a dark interior is a good decision. In your case it works perfectly with the blacked out grille.

I don't know how the reputation of Cooper Cobra is in the U.S. but in Austria they are not known for performance and good grip, particulary in rain...

Just a example...
We have some cases with Cooper Cobra in the rain...
DSC08874.jpg


This 'Cuda (383c.i.) was fresh restored, but the track was wet...
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XuVEqvUvVA&index=5&list=PLpnPg8G6HJAQ7vL_Nd-aOx1SvOp9NG42E"]Autorevue Speedparty (1970 Dodge Dart Custom GT Onboard) - YouTube[/ame]
In this video at the beginning you can see the start of the 'Cuda. The car has a sure grip and disc brakes, but had a lot of troubles to get the power on the road. Yeah, it's a BB and the weather condition were bad. The accident happend in the first corner...:sad7:

Within a few months there was a second accident in rain with a firebird.

Just my 2cents:
I personally think that they aren't the best tyres, especially in rain they are pretty bad... When you are not driving in the rain very often, they maybe are ok.

I used to have Falken. Great at cornering, but they weren't white letters. Now I have some uniroyal tigerpaw white letters mounted. They are pretty good - and my Dart hasn't a sure grip.

Greetings from Austria:)
 
-
Back
Top