Alex from Bulgaria

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FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
Bulgaria
Hi All,

Alex here. I live in Bulgaria (a small country in Europe).
Been a huge fan of the old Mopar muscle for many years and as I "retired" recently I decided to buy my first Dodge.
I'm a complete laymen so I hope people here will be patient with my "stupid questions".
I have a 1971 Dodge Dart that was built for drag in CA.
Goal #1 for me is TO LEARN how to maintain and upgrade the car and hopefully other mopars (have a decent list).
After driving it for a season (winters here are proper winters ;)) now the engines is completely taken apart (bare block) and will start assembling it in the coming days.
The Dart:
- 440 block drilled to 495
- Holley Dominator 1050 carb
- Edelbrock Super Victor intake
- Edelbrock Performer RPM heads
- Hughes rocker arms (7500 RPM by spec, car limit is at about 6500 RPM at the moment)
- SRP Forged flat-top H-beam pistons
- Crank and Cam are SCAT
- Torqueflite 727 trans
- Torque converter @4000 stall
- Strange Spools and Axle
- Wilwood breaks
- Flowmaster muflesr

Dyno shows 495HP / 707 lb-ft on tyres
The goal is to take it above 1000HP (increase RPM and add a supercharger) - may take time though - too much to learn until I get there.
 
Welcome aboard, 500 HP on the Dart platform is more than respectable And a whole lot of fun. Plus the benefit at 500 HP the motor is very reliable. Once you build past that it becomes very expensive and the parts become quite critical in how they interact with each other to achieve your HP goal of 1000. Keep in mind that with that kind of HP you will likely need a multitude of body modifications to pass tech at your local tracks. There is a large racers forum on here and most guys on here are a wealth of information, just a great place to learn and ask questions. Good luck and at some point someone is going to tell you pictures or it didn’t happen! They will want to see pictures of your Dart!
 
43191F60-785C-4019-8231-B24BC1DD0113.jpeg
 
Long said:
Hi All,

Alex here. I live in Bulgaria (a small country in Europe).
Been a huge fan of the old Mopar muscle for many years and as I "retired" recently I decided to buy my first Dodge.
I'm a complete laymen so I hope people here will be patient with my "stupid questions".
I have a 1971 Dodge Dart that was built for drag in CA.
Goal #1 for me is TO LEARN how to maintain and upgrade the car and hopefully other mopars (have a decent list).
After driving it for a season (winters here are proper winters ;)) now the engines is completely taken apart (bare block) and will start assembling it in the coming days.
The Dart:
- 440 block drilled to 495
- Holley Dominator 1050 carb
- Edelbrock Super Victor intake
- Edelbrock Performer RPM heads
- Hughes rocker arms (7500 RPM by spec, car limit is at about 6500 RPM at the moment)
- SRP Forged flat-top H-beam pistons
- Crank and Cam are SCAT
- Torqueflite 727 trans
- Torque converter @4000 stall
- Strange Spools and Axle
- Wilwood breaks
- Flowmaster muflesr

Dyno shows 495HP / 707 lb-ft on tyres
The goal is to take it above 1000HP (increase RPM and add a supercharger) - may take time though - too much to learn until I get there.
Click to expand...
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Welcome from NJ!:welcome:
 
Welcome from Wisconsin. We like pictures!! Post some up please.
 
Boy you jumped right in the middle of "getting started" with that combo!! Photos!!! LOL
 
Welcome aboard!

You’re south of Romania and north of Turkey.
I remember from school. Though I did look it up to be sure! It’s been a while since I’ve been in school. LOL

How did you find your car?
 
Last edited:
Sublime one said:
Welcome aboard, 500 HP on the Dart platform is more than respectable And a whole lot of fun. Plus the benefit at 500 HP the motor is very reliable. Once you build past that it becomes very expensive and the parts become quite critical in how they interact with each other to achieve your HP goal of 1000. Keep in mind that with that kind of HP you will likely need a multitude of body modifications to pass tech at your local tracks. There is a large racers forum on here and most guys on here are a wealth of information, just a great place to learn and ask questions. Good luck and at some point someone is going to tell you pictures or it didn’t happen! They will want to see pictures of your Dart!
Click to expand...

Thank you, Sublime! "Wealth of knowledge" is what I was really hoping to find here!
I know it's a massive stretch goal for someone as incompetent as me, but I'm willing to take the challenge - one step at a time.
I've retired at 44 because I've been following 2 simple principles:
* Don't give up because it looks impossible
* LISTEN to what people that know more have to say

Learning is more valuable than achieving that goal ;)
Looking at the the warm welcome so far, I'm really optimistic and excited about the community here!
 
rumblefish360 said:
Welcome aboard!

You’re south of Romania and north of Turkey.
I remember from school. Though I did look it up to be sure! It’s been a while since I’ve been in school. LOL

How did you find your car?
Click to expand...
Wow: you are good! I'd say 1 out of 100 people in the US I met would know that much :) Respect!
I was looking for a project Charger and stumbled upon the Dart. Decided to up the ante and learn from a custom build.
Knew a guy in Austria who imports classic US cars and asked him to buy and deliver it to Europe for me.
 
Long said:
Wow: you are good! I'd say 1 out of 100 people in the US I met would know that much :) Respect!
I was looking for a project Charger and stumbled upon the Dart. Decided to up the ante and learn from a custom build.
Knew a guy in Austria who imports classic US cars and asked him to buy and deliver it to Europe for me.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I did like History and Geography growing up. I did surprise myself on my own memory a bit. That’s pretty awesome that you found a guy importing cars close to you. That car MUST turn some heads over there.
 
Folks,

Thank you for the warm welcome - you are amazing :)
An important first question: What is the right forum to ask for "BASIC STUFF"?
I bought a couple of books (still going through those) and read a lot online about OHV engines and the drive train.
My biggest problem when I read through the forums though is that there is a lot of "jargon" that everyone seems to understand but means nothing to me.
Here's an example:
When someone says "600# valve springs" do they mean "max valve lift is 0.600 in or is that "open pressure of 600 lbs"?
That kind of noob questions.
 
rumblefish360 said:
Thanks. I did like History and Geography growing up. I did surprise myself on my own memory a bit. That’s pretty awesome that you found a guy importing cars close to you. That car MUST turn some heads over there.
Click to expand...
People loved it so much that (some) turned hostile when I told them that I plan to dismantle the engine to learn how to rebuild it ;)
It's awesome fun to drive for sure (scary too!) ;)
 
600# equals 600 pounds.
Normally the is open pressure. If it’s seat pressure, it’s normally stated as such.

MoPar general discussions or the racers forum is a good slot ether way.
 
Long said:
People loved it so much that (some) turned hostile when I told them that I plan to dismantle the engine to learn how to rebuild it ;)
It's awesome fun to drive for sure (scary too!) ;)
Click to expand...
Well, if it runs well, nonsense of fixing what’s broken.
 
Cool car, I spent a weekend in Sofia, Bulgaria. I had a great time wish I could go back. Every where has beer on tap even McDonald’s
 
rumblefish360 said:
Well, if it runs well, nonsense of fixing what’s broken.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more in general.
But the goal of buying the car was to learn. Driving it was to be a secondary benefit :)
It was important for me to blueprint the engine and I had VERY limited info on what's inside.
Without a detailed blueprint of the existing setup it would have been hard to plan upgrades.
 
I don’t like a lack of information on things like that ether. Mostly camshaft and pistons that are being used. For you it’s harder since you did t have the chance to speak to the car owner and or engine builder.

The big block guys should be chiming in on what books they liked for this engine tear down.
 
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