Anyone else have an a body ute

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Got pulled over doing double the speed limit on the way to grand canyon & got let off (cool).Cop asked if I realised how fast I was going & i told him I did but we had just come from LA & everyone was doing 85-90 in a 55 zone & since we were out in the open road I figured it was ok to go a bit faster (110-115).He said that if you do that around here we'll pretty much jump on you,asked where we were from told him from australia & let us off with a warning.Asked if he would let us take a couple of photos with him & he agreed.Blanked his face out,cause he was a real nice guy & wouldn't want someone to recognise him & have him get in trouble.

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Vegas was cool we were thinking of getting married there too but my missus & my mum dont really get on that well due to some previous happenings (would take 3 days to explain you know what women are like.) & my missus would not have my mum at our wedding.Could not really say to my parents I'm taking you to the states to thank you for all you've done for me throughout my life & by the way we got married you could not come.I think that would crush them so we did not get married.(decided to take them for a holiday after I found out I have a growth on my lung that may be cancerus could not really afford it but worst case life insurance will pay the bills & best case I've got another 20 years to pay it off.)There is always something to do in Vegas I did not even get to have a gamble,went to sema though (very cool).The only time I could have had a good time gambling a couple of hard earned away was when the boy was asleep & I was tired from doing so much as well (my 5 year old was often up unitl 11:30 after we finished showing him things).
Lifes ok over here I guess,still got to go to work etc.not as many cool cars here & cost of living is more expensive but we get by,ac/dc are australian but believe it or not I'm more a country music fan (australian country music sucks to).Dont get crocs this far down but we do have a few kangaroos & koalas around although the dog keeps them away mostly.I guess there is a lot more anything you feel like asking I'll try to answer.
 
sounds like ya had fun over here. you like U.S country music? i like some of our modern country, but i like the older country better like stuff from the 60s 70s and early 80s. i really like all kinds of music. one minute i can be listening to country, then metal, then irish folk music. wierd, but it works for me
my mom got me hooked on elvis and my dad got me hooked on old cars. but they were divorced before i was old enough to remember them together. my mom lives with us (man thats hard to do), but it was something me and my wife decided to do to help my mom out. i dont know how long thats gonna work out.
heres a pic of my new house. this pic was taken in October. i rolled the 64 out of the garage and took some pics. i bought this car two months before and have never even got to drive it. my 2 car garage needs to be organzied. before this house we had a smaller place, but the basement was finished, and my new house doenst have as much storage space (without stuffing the garage full). im fighting for space.
my 64 is real solid. most of the work to the body will be dent repair, this car has very little rust damage. this is one reason i bought it. the previous ouner said it was a california car which normally means very little rust. i cant say for sure if it is a cali car, but the bumper did have a cali plate on it (i kept it to hang in the garage).
sense ive gotten it, iv bought some stuff for it, but havent really did any work to it, except taking out the engine and tranny and cleaning the car up. im bringing every thing up to date for most of the car. i ordered the Alterktion unit from bill at RMS which will give me rack n pinion steering and coil overs, also i had bill do new hemi motor mounts, id like the 6.1 hemi of course, but the mounts will work for 5.7 or 6.1 hemis (just incase i go with the 5.7). bills also supplying my new steering column from flaming river.
i have an 8 3/4 rearend housing. i got my axles from Moser with green bearings (although the green bearings say for race only). i plan on going with a 5 speed tranny from tremec. i dont have alot of money right now, so i can only make big purchases once a year, like bills alterktion unit i ordered this year. sounds like alot of money to invest in a 64 dart, but i want my car to be different then anyone elses. plus my 64 is my only toy (right now). my daily driver is a 2004 dodge neon, which will be payed off in two years. once its payed off ill have more money to toss at my 64. i hope to have the car done in 5 years, which is possible if things go well at work and at home. the wife has actually been very cool about.
the idea is when its complete i want to take it to a few car shows and maybe on the Hot Rod Power Tour some time. again, alot of time and money to invest, but sense its my only toy it wont be to bad.
as far as vegas goes. i dont plan on gambling all that much anyway. we have a few places to gamble here in Missouri (on the river only by law), and me and the wife will go every once in awhile. we take $20 bucks each and when thats gone we leave. i hate even loosing $20 bucks.
keep us updated on your health. my dad has some growth on his lungs, but they dont know if its cancerous. hes smoked sense he was 13, hes 70 now.

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I like most music as well & do prefer new country stuff,also an elvis fan my dad used to listen to it a lot (he does a little impersonating to) so I took him to graceland while we were over there & took mum to the grand olde opry & ryman theatre because as long as I can remember she always said one day she would like to go.
House looks sweet & the 64 looks well on its way.Should be pretty cool when its done,I have to do everything myself to afford toys which is why the ute only owes me about 8500 (pretty good considering the wheels owe about 4500).Seems like we are pretty similar,we have 2 casinos close by as well & only take about 20 bucks & same applies once its gone so am I.Not good to hear your dad has a growth to.I know that sucks.I dont smoke or drink or anything sometime it seems that even breathing will kill you.
Here's a pic of my peace of paradise.

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hi all how are ya all yes flamindodgeutes ute is nice have seen it in real life and our ute is a Valiant VG not a Dodge like flamindodgeutes. We love the utes think they are the best and VG the nicest with the square headlights.
 
nice house man. pics of australia remind me of florida and arizona, wide open skys for miles (id have to load up on the sun screen big time in the summer). probably the coolest thing about the internet is the fact all us mopar nuts around the world can talked to each other (well in a letter/post form anyway).
are kangaroos really as rud as theyre made out to be, ya know, going around and kicking people and all? ive seen video of one sneaking up behind a guy who was looking at a lake, the kangaroo actually lines himself up perfectly behind the guy and BAM! the roo kicks the guy from behind right into the lake. when i saw this i bust out laughing, i couldnt believe how much though that roo but into kicking that guy. afterward i was thinking maybe that roo was used to being around humans and decided to have a little fun, kinda like a goat, head butting people when theyre not looking. cant feel good getting kcicked by a kangaroo.
so do all you guys from australia on this site know each other? if so thats cool. i guess you hit the cars shows together?
 
Hi i dont know flamindodgeute personly but have chatted to him on anouther site on the fourm. Your 64 convertible looks the goods cant wait to see pic's of it finished.What colour you painting it. Hope to meet flamindodgeute at a show soon if we get to the same ones. Anyway have a good one,chat later maybe. Doe's anyone ever use the Chatroom on here?
 
thanks for the replies on my 64. i had a few colors i was trying to decide between. lgith blue, silver, white, black, then i started to see a very silvery blue color on some old mopars from the 60s. then just last week while looking on line i found the color i think i want for sure. it is actually on a car thats my year. still dont know what color it is offically, but it looks silvery with lite blue. it kinda looks like gun metal grey, but its lighter and bluer. heres a pic.
im a long way off from needing paint though, the last ouner just primed it up. the car still has dents and dings that need fixed.

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The silver looks good but I'd go something more out there,I once had a friend who wanted to paint his fairlane silver & I said to him,lets say your out for a cruise & you pull up next to a ferarri or lambo & your car is painted silver.The cars back in the traffic wont even notice your car but paint it something more out there & they wont notice the exotic until they get close you will have thier attention.He ended up painting it purple & it looked great & he got heaps of great feedback everywhere he went.Not saying silver wont look great & it depends on what you want out of your car,silver looks classy but wont get as many looks.Plus silver is a very hard colour to touch up if you use the car alot that may be something to consider.
Kangaroos are quite timid & alot of the time you cant get close to them exept in wildlife parks.They can be agressive though & if they do kick you they can rip the **** out of you.My cousins used to have one they got when its mother was hit by a car.they used to hang a pillow case from a door knob & it would use it as a pouch & stayed in the house for a long time.They kept it for years but then it started beating up on there dogs so they gave it to a wild life park.It was fine with people but not with the dogs.In country areas they are actually pests & people get paid to kull them because a mob of kangaroos will do a lot of damage to crops etc & they are in the hundreds of thousands.
Hey vg we will have to catch up at mopar sunday or chrysler expo.I'll be at both even if the utes still not got the engine fixed.
 
yeah, im kinda hoping that at a show people are gonna see my car and go "what is that?" and on the street im hoping they only remember what my tail lights look like :burnout:.theres not alot of early A bodies at cars shows and being a convertible adds a bit. what i really want to grab thier attention is what i want under the hood. so far no ones put a new hemi in my year car, with the suspension upgrades and drivetrian goodies either. i think people seeing my car are gonna remember it for its "wow havent see that year dart in awhile and never seen one with a new hemi" factor. on the road the car will also have that "sleeper" feel. on the outside it will look like a 64 dart convertible with some newer style rims, but under the hood a 400ph new style hemi. most guys will look at my car and guess maybe it has a built 340 or 360, but with the mild idle they might guess she doesnt have too wild of a cam. thats the cool thing about the new hemis, they wiegh less then old 318s, but can put out stock 440 horsepower with a fairly mild cam. my hope is that while people are strolling past my car they stop and go "oh man, you got a new hemi in this thing", thats when ill smile from ear to ear and then start explaining all the things i did with it. even most Mopar nuts dont take an interest in the early darts and valiants so it should be a a shock for them as well.
id really like the 6.1 hemi but may suttle on a 5.7, it really depends on how things are when its time to get an engine (down the road a ways). i just think the 6.1 would look real nice between my 64s fenders. heres a pic of the beast between the fenders of a 70 challenger. 425hp and thats not even with TTIs new headers (which would bring it close to 450hp. also the 6.1 gets that 425hp with a farely mild cam.

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The new hemi's are cool would look great in a old car would like one in our ute with 5 speed auto be good. Could run low gears in diff say about 3.7 and still be good on highway and quick over 1/4 mile. Sounds good to me and i like your idea of your car looking like a sleeper.Keep updateing pics so can see how ya going with it. Well have a good one mate cya. :)
 
The new hemi is a great looking engine & will look great in your engine bay,maybe you could consider buying a wreck instead of just an engine.That way its pretty cheap & you can use other parts as well like maybe late model seats with the heaters in them & maybe some late model dash components & switches etc.Just a thought that might help keep cost down & make it even more different.
 
ive considered buying an engine from a wrecked car, the 5.7 hemis are always up on ebay, they go from anywhere between $2500-$3500. ive seen a few 6.1s on ebay, but they were new engines. the cool thing is you can buy a new 5.7 for $5500 from S&P (a performance shop) and 6.1s for $7200, still pricey for most i know, but this is way cheaper then the crate hemis from Mopar Performance which run $8000 or more. youd still have to buy wiring harnesses, but the after market harnesses are cleaner and easier to figure out, theyre labled for easy instalation. both hemis fit in my year car, but the 5.7 and 6.1 car hemis alternator is mounted low and i might have to notch my frame out in order for the alternator to fit. the 5.7 truck engines alternator is mounted high and may not clear my hood (gotta research this more). heres a few more pics of some hemis in older car projects. the first few are from a guy building a second generation barracuda. you can see how close his alternator is (car hemis are mounted low). he can notch the flange and be ok, but i have a little less room in my 64 dart, so ill have to notch out even more. also in the pics youll notice the custom k member, thats from RMS, its the alteKtion thing ive been telling you about. i ordered mine last month, it will have motor mounts for the new hemis with it. one of the great things about using bills alterktion unit from RMS is header clearance. without torsion bars and gear boxs, headers fit so much easier, and TTi makes headers for the new hemis that flow better then 6.1 header/manifolds that come with the 6.1.
in a Hot Rod tech artical last year they took a 5.7 with the TTi headers and raised the rev limiter up past the conservative factory 5800rpm and at 6100rpm they got 401hp. very nice. later with comp cams big cam for the new hemis they got 480hp, however they did say the valve springs would probably have to be upgraded to stronger ones with this cam. this was done only to the 5.7 hemi, imagine what hp they could get out of the 6.1 :burnout:

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heres a few more pics. they are of the 5.7 truck hemi. it doesnt look as sexy as the 6.1 car hemi, but they still put out some fun horsepower and get the job done. the blue car is a guy who goes by Bakaruda on these forums, very nice 2nd gen cuda. the other pic is to show you how the 5.7 truck hemi alternator and a/c are mounted high, in my year car they might touch my hood (gotta research this more).

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the 6.1 does look mean. at first i didnt like the super high hump for the intake, but now when i look at it it screams power.
 
Its the bunch of bananas intake I like,can't wait to see what people do with them mod wise.Any pics of them that have been modified or pretty'd up.
 
heres two pics of a 6.1 all polished up in a GTX. "bunch o bananas", i like that one, howabout the camel hump from hell?

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you guys might want to check out this website. it takes awhile for it to download, but its worth. the gtx and a few other hemi swap cars on on this site.http://www.hotrodlane.cc/indexhome.html these can get ya a 6.1 for $7200 new check, out the price sheets.
also the gtx was in mopar action a few months back and at sema.
 
I'll check that site out tomorrow.Don't have much time tonight & my internet is reeeeeaaaaall slow,Cant get broadband out here yet.Seems to be my street only though which sucks.
 
Dodgenut64 said:
man i love thos utes. are they common at shows down under? if i had the fab skills id take a dart or valiant wagon and chop it into a ute. what is the wheelbase on thos utes???it just sucks we never got these. every now and then i eyeball those little rancheros on ebay. nice car bytheway. got any more pics of utes? thanks

check out the wagon i photo shopped. i did it in a short time so forgive the bad art. just wanted to see what a wagon converted into a ute would look like. ill work on more later, i notice now utes have a little more meat behind the doors.
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Chopping a wagon down into a ute might not be as hard as you think - the utes were actually built on a wagon floorpan. Main differences are the rear quarter panels, the bulkhead behind the seats, and the extra panel pressings to create the 'extra meat behind the doors'.

I've got a 1966 VC Valiant 'Wayfarer' ute that I'm rebuilding. I'm swapping the dash and front sheetmetal from a 1964 AP-5 model to create a 'one-of none' model (the utility did not appear in the model line until the next model, the AP-6).
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This is the B-pillar from the inside - the gold painted bit is normally the only bit visible. Looking through the square holes in the added panel behind the B-pillar, you can see the seam between 2 panel pressings that make up the outside of the B-pillar - this seam is also where the roof gutter angles down on the B-pillar. The cardboard panel at the right of the picture normally covers this area on the inside.
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This is the B-pillar from the outside. At the top of the picture you can see where one of the added panel pressings overlaps onto the B-pillar, with the longer, ute-specific quarter panel presing overlapping it. You can see where an extra panel has been welded in to fill the gap between the quarter panel and the B-pillar, where the rear door hinges would normally be in a wagon.
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This is the bulkhead between the cabin and load area. The floor level in the load area corresponds to the bottom edge of the upper section of the bulkhead with the vertical ribs pressed into it.

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This is the wagon floorpan, normally hidden under the load area floor, which is a removable wooden panel that sits at the level of the metal crossbar in the middle of the picture. This is basically the same arrangement as the lift-up panel in the load area at the back of a wagon that gives access to the spare, only longer, covering the area where the rear seat and rear footwell normally is.
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This is where the spare wheel goes - same location as in a wagon, but rather than dropping in from above, it slides in from the rear, via a door that hinges down to give access. The rear bumper is in the form of two 'bumperettes' that only extend in as far as the edge of the spare wheel compartment, allowing access to the spare wheel door (mine is the rusty panel sitting in the load area above the spare wheel well).
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This is what the whole thing looked like when I brought it home in pieces.

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You've got some work to do morgan but it looks like it's in pretty good nick,certainly is better than when I got mine anyway.
Seems word is getting around about this site ay.
 
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