Anyone ever turn an old Dart into an ultimate daily-driver?

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jesuschrysler

jesuschrysler

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....cuz that's my plan.

The sad reality though is I can barely keep my 74 Dart on the road much less make it an ultimate anything. I would LOVE to get her to a point she can be a 4-seasons-Iowa-shitty-weather-mobile; but alas, that would take a lot of money and mechanical prowness. Of which I possess neither. :(

Back story: 2 years ago I picked up my Dodge via a Craigslist ad for $500. I needed a car to get back and forth to work (less than 10 miles a day). It ran. I drove it 75 miles home.

I put new shocks, tires and brakes on it. (Well a shop did). Had the carb rebuilt. Had a fella weld a new rear shock-absorber-mount as mine rusted away and one shock popped into the trunk. I replaced the starter myself (yaaay Matt! ;)).

So I have about 2 grand in it currently. It's been parked though since summer as I can't get more than about 8 miles to the gallon with it. And I don't have the $$$ to drive such a guzzler. Which is puzzling as it's a stock 318 2-pot. ???

Meanwhile I've been driving a 1988 New Yorker my neighbor gave me when her dad died. Though I can't ***** about a free vehicle; I miss the Dart. The Chrysler gets 15 mpg. I would like to think a well-tuned 318 could knock down 15, perhaps better.

So when I figure out the fuel issue I still have to have the front end rebuilt. Suspension is shot. But a kit is like $300 or so. THEN maybe I can drive my old car.

But that's why I'm here. Try to get things where they should be. I don't want a muscle-y car. I want a car that's dead reliable and dependable. Sip as little fuel as possible.

I could then revel in the manual steering and enjoy the 318 thru a pair of dual pipes.
I don't even want to fix up the body. A rusty quarter panel is patina.

Oh yeah and as to the title of this thread; I think dropping in a new 360 (fuel-injected) and tranny and upgrading the rear to an 8 3/4 Sure Grip, with 15-inch wheels would do it for me.

Sorry I ramble.

I'm new. You can tell me to shut up.


:)


Matt
 
Welcome, and can it really be an ultimate cruiser without a rope licorice dispenser? Alas, I make due with what I have.
 
Welcome
As for the milage, as long the engine is not smoking, I would say it way out of tune.
16+ mpg should be easy.
Is the choke sticking?
What shape are the plugs and wires?
Timing?
You need to down load a copy of the Factory Service Manual, it is on this site.
Understand how things work, and work on them yourself. These cars are very easy to work on.
If you were close to me I would show you how to do things.
Maybe a member here is close to help out.
 
Tried to do this with a 73 4-door /6 car. It's a great concept. Mine worked great for about 3 years. (Electrical issues)

IMO, get someone who knows these cars and go through yours. If there are structural rust problems, cut the car loose. Even if there are no plans to do body work, you may want to consider checking the floorboards to make sure there are no holes.

I agree entirely that it should be first, reliable, then economical.
 
my first question would be: do you have to pass an emissions test to register your car?

After that, my comment would be: less is more. Less crap in the way to deal with can mean more simpler ways to make it more efficient. Less crap under the hood will also make it less intimidating for you to work on.
 
I did it to a 74 duster this spring and drove it all summer till it snowed.But I have antique plates on it and cant legaly drive it nov till april. But it will be back out then.Its got a 318/904 combo and a average 24mpg on the hyway and 18mpg in town.The 318 is a 88 roler motor with a two barrel carb dam fun car.So yes it can be done. 8 mpg is really really bad mpg. unless its a dual quad 426 race hemi. then its good. lmao hit me up if you need help
 
yur kidding right???? I'm gonna go with the other poster and choke is stickeng for 50 points and air filter plugged as a second guess you need to find a teacher to guide you that thing should bang out 15 mpg towing a boat behind it
 
Thanks for the welcomes and advice!

I am glad I came here. I know it sounds silly but I needed someone to tell me to grow a brain and work on this **** myself. I know it's not rocket science ; I just have no mechanical background and the most basic of hand tools.

Oh; and to clarify a couple of questions: the rust does not extend to the frame rails or floorpan. Mostly rocker; fender.

The car is a 74. No emissions baby! And no god-forsaken Lean Burn!

Wish I had a gearhead buddy. Oh well. And a garage... ;)


Matt
 
the front suspension could be hurting the fuel economy...but not that much!!!! start replacing fuel filter, air filter then move on to rebuild the carb or adjust it and the choke, check the vacume advance to make sure it functions properly, new plugs....gap them...check air gap in distributor check or replace plug wires....maybe find a car nut to hang with and they might help ya???? get a factory service manual and start learnin....????
 
8mpg?! I get that in town with a 360/granny 4 speed/4.10 gears in a 5900lb truck! Something is definitely wrong. Either whomever rebuilt the carb did a crappy job or that thing is more out of time than the nascar chase contenders
 
I drove this car in all seasons when I lived in New York during the 80's and 90's, it ran fine in the snow as well and had good heat. I was living in the Hudson river valley at the time. Now I'm almost 70 and hardly even drive it in the rain, but it's still a daily driver..
 
Good thing if you can find whats wrong you should be able double what your getting now, my 5th ave gets 15-16 in town with my heavy foot.

There's three types of main mod's you can do, performance that hurts mileage, performance that increase or at least keeps mileage, and mileage improvements that sacrifices performance.

I see you say 5.9l fuel injected, 8 3/4, 15 tires, the 5.9l in my jeep only gets 12.5 mpg in maybe a lighter dart with highway gears it would get 2-3 mpg more. So as mod for more performance with little or no sacrifice to mileage a 5.9l swap might be a good one.. but when for an ultimate driver mileage vehicle you got to factor cost vs time to recoup the costs in mpg savings, things like fuel injection mainly replaced carbs for emissions reasons but as a mileage increase would be slight over a properly set up carb and would take a long time to recoup the cost.

Unless your gonna gut the cars weight your stuck with that and there's a few things you can do for aerodynamics by lowering and 1.5 degree rake and front air dam. And the cars weight and aerodynamics that takes a certain hp which is probably around 70hp which takes a certain amount of fuel to accomplish the task. That would be the maximum mileage you get anything over that could be considered performance mod's with sacrifice for mileage. So even a /6 is a performance mod over a basic needs to propel your car.

An 8 3/4 maybe a good idea for strength and would increase mileage with a higher gear and 15" could actually hurt mileage, lighter and less rolling resistance is whats needed.

I would first figure out whats wrong now, as long as you got a good long block
I would go headers and duals, performer intake and carb or something similar (2 barrel carb aren't for gas mileage but for cost savings same with 4 and 6 cylinders engines) a RV cam and a decent ignition system. I'd also swap in a A833 3 speed O/D (overdrives aren't really a mileage mod but performance without sacrificing mileage mod) with 8 3/4 and 2:94 gears, should give great mileage with good performance. Two other mods I could think of would cost a lot for mileage gain but would be 302 heads milled and pocket ported and EFI.
 
Yes you should be able to have a unique daily driver with a Dart.
For the same amount of money what else could you drive?

One item not specifically mentioned was the exhaust cross-over in the intake manifold (this would be one cause of the choke not opening up).
 
The Dart below my name is my driver but it was a solid car to begin with. It sat for 8 years so I went all through the fuel system first. Dropped the tank, replaced all the rubber lines and blew out the hard lines. New pump filter and rebuilt the carb. I went through the brakes from front to back and top to bottom. Serviced the tranny and changed all the hoses. I made it a restore project that lasted a year. A little here and there with it being down the longest for body and paint but mostly weekends and evenings.

My neighbor painted it and my bro-in-law is a body man whom helped me with the body. I have about $8.5k in the car at this point from start to finish by doing my own work and knowing others who could help me with things I don't have the experience to do but even those things I try to learn. Headliner install? Like having a baby: right afterwards a woman swears she'll never do it again but after a bit? Sure! The paint's not perfect and neither is the body but that's because I knew it was going to be a driver and didn't want to blow a huge bundle only to find my first door ding just after. The reality is that six days after paint I got rearended by some old timer on oxygen. Insurance paid and we fixed it.

I have less in this car than I would for a nice late model used car so find friends, make contacts and post on this site looking for people close to you who can help. Most everyone on the forum is thrilled to help. It sounds like you just want it to be mechanically sound and reliable. That's not hard to do and it's good experience for you. Get crackin'! ...and have fun.
 
I appreciate all the encouragement. :)

I will download the manual and get schooled on checking the timing and all that good stuff.
Unfortunately I work 50 hours a week and have 6 kids. ;)

But I will chip away at the Dart and post my progress (or frustration) .


Matt
 
jesuschrysler said:
I appreciate all the encouragement. :) I will download the manual and get schooled on checking the timing and all that good stuff. Unfortunately I work 50 hours a week and have 6 kids. ;) But I will chip away at the Dart and post my progress (or frustration) . Matt
Click to expand...

Holy cow! How did you find time to so much as start a thread?! Lol I have 1 kid and 40hrs and have a hard time finding time for anything lol
 
You can do this and there is enough threads that can be searched along with members advice when you ask for it. Be be careful you may end up with a really Nice Dart.
 
6 kids? you don't need a dart, you need the brady wagon:D
 
waggin said:
the front suspension could be hurting the fuel economy...but not that much!!!! start replacing fuel filter, air filter then move on to rebuild the carb or adjust it and the choke, check the vacume advance to make sure it functions properly, new plugs....gap them...check air gap in distributor check or replace plug wires....maybe find a car nut to hang with and they might help ya???? get a factory service manual and start learnin....????
Click to expand...

Great advice right here....You mention an EFI swap. If you decide this one day might want to go with a much more tunable aftermarket ecu. Someone above mentioned getting only 12.5 mpg with a Jeep and a heavy foot....Rich from FastmanEFI has gotten 14 out of his 725 HP 572" HEMI, granted it was with a light foot but.....
 
Where in Iowa are you? Maybe we can find someone local to you willing to lend a hand.

Everyone's hit on the basic tune-up stuff, which is where you should be starting. Ignition (plugs, wires, timing, distributor cap/rotor) and carb (check/adjust choke so it's open when the car's warm). All of this stuff can be done with basic hand tools and a timing light, which would be a good investment or you may be able to borrow one. You could fiddle with the idle mixture or a carb rebuild, but I would recommend starting with all those other items first.
 
In my neck of the woods , if you found an old dart.It would be rusted so bad , take you a life time to fix it.Love to come accross one though, but price would shock you.
 
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