Decisions, decisions... 72 swinger

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swingthat72

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Ok, I need some advice on what you guys and gals on this fabulous site would do. I bought my 72 Dart (318, 904, 7.25 open) on Ebay during my first deployment to Iraq(Nov 07). The first thing I did when I came home for R&R in April 08 (well, maybe not the first thing... Waffle House, Burger King, beers, Outback, beers, billiards, girls, shots, girls... you see where this is going:blob:) was put duel exhaust on her. I stayed at my dad's in TN for a week and drove through Chattanooga. Stopped by Coker tire and picked up some new Ralley wheels and stayed the night. More girls and beer and free braves tickets. Stopped in Atlanta for the game ... more g&b... stayed the night and drove it down to SC to visit my mom for the remainder of my leave. It wasn't as peppy as I had daydreamed it would have been while driving my HMMWV and doing missions in Iraq, but it did get 21 miles per gallon. So, the pattern began of the drives to and from TN and SC. Saved me on rental cars.:cheers:I got back from Iraq to my duty station in Alaska(Sep 08 not a good place for classic cars). I went on leave again. went to my moms first and then drove it to my dads house. Somtime and during one of Her extended stays at my moms house, I received a great Xmas present, a vinyl top. I went on leave two more times and then had my mom and step-dad pick it up and take it back to SC. I had them pick it up because Greg(step-dad) is a great mechanic and because I am deployed to Afghanistan nowand make a LITTLE extra money and decided to buy some things. 408 Blueprint crate engine, 727 B&M street/stripnever used, 8.25 .391 fresh, SS springs. Now, the questions on what would you do? My car was numbers matching. It now has the 408, which I put in during my leave last Nov, but I still have the 318. It will soon have the rest of the items mentioned when I go home on leave in April. I know the engine is pretty decent because I made so many trips to and from TN and SC (6.5 hours), but what would you guys do with the engine, tranny, Steel wheels, Hubcaps, Edelbrock performer intake, electronic ignition, msd and anything else that comes off of the car? Would you keep them to make a numbers matching car at a later date, or sell them? I am on the edge here because if I kept them I would have to travel with them to each new assignment the Army sends me to and hope I had a place to store them. is a 72 318 car even worth trying to keep as a numbers matching (parts on hand) car? And I could use the money from selling them to buy more parts and further the progression on my car... because sadly I have reached my budget limit that I set for myself. Also, the guy that I bought it from painted the hood and the tail stripe on. The stripe is incorrect and I would like to it fixed. would I be able to sand it off somehow and polish the paint under it? When I bought the car it had a very small can of paint the same color as the car. There is limited surface rust on the car, but there is one very small spot starting to bubble behind the passenger rear quarter. I have a blue 2010 Ram. I'm thinking of painting it that color. Would you leave it original color or put all the time and effort changing it? I have 14's on it now, but I have to either drill out my axles or buy new rims in BBP. Would you buy bigger rims with BBP and have big rims in the back and smaller in the front, or would you just drill the axles out and keep the 14's all the way around? Well, I'm sure I have a ton more questons to ask, but I have an early wake-up and a long day. Please be patient on my response because internet over here is sketchy to say the least. Thank you ahead of time!

Mark
 

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First of all , Welcome Home ! :cheers:
My first car was a '72 Swinger , so my *advice* is going to be vicarious in nature ; however , I *will* try to remain objective :pl: ...

I prefer the "looks-relatively-stock-but-runs-and handles-better-than-factory-stock" builds .
Personally , I'd dress that 408 to appear as a '72 340 (Chrysler Engine Blue all-over , and an orange air cleaner , but with a twist : a reproduction '69 air cleaner , or an open-element 'cleaner , dechromed and painted orange .

Braking-wise : 4-wheel disc brakes ; use a conversion which allows use of 15" wheels .

Wheels : Steel 15" wheels with factory-issue Deluxe wheel covers as used on the '69-'71 Polara / Monaco 500 . Trust me , they look very nice !

Exhaust : Duals (which you already have) without tips ; just turned-down under the rear valance .

Tuff-Grip steering wheel .

XV Motorsports (or whomever) 3-point front seatbelts . These mount using the factory points ; no cutting / welding / modifying necessary !

If that's its original paint , I'd leave it alone for now . Something's original only once !
If that's not the original paint , I'd still let it alone for now . Put your coins towards "operating upgrades" .

8.25" diff is a decent choice for now . I wouldn't recommend flogging it , as its threshold for torque --and a 408 has lots of that ! -- is low in comparison to the coveted 8.75" .
3.91 gear seems like overkill with a light car and a torquey engine , unless you're planning to add an overdrive trans ; and , even then , 3.55 would be more-than-sufficient .

Please keep us posted :burnout:
 
Here are some now pics with the 408, ralley wheels, and vinyl top installed. It already has the tips installed, but I am still debating on what to do with the 318 and 904 numbers matching to the car. keep or sell, what would you do? Same with the steel wheels, 500? cfm carb, eddy performer intake, hubcaps, and anything else original that is going to come off of the car. Again keep or sell?
 

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I can't see a numbers matching 318/904 swinger being worth big bucks for a long long time so i wouldn't worry abt it.
 
Hey Mark - welcome to the site and big thanks for your service!

Nice Dart. I gotta agree with nqkjw, numbers matching won't matter on resale for a long time to come on high-volume cars. Consider having to lug all the stuff around vs. having the cash from it to take your car where you want it to be. There's some good threads on here about rust repair too, so you can tackle that blistering before it progresses any further.

Thanks again for what you do, and keep us posted on your progress.
 
So, I guess my Step-dad is selling a few things for me on ebay. Sellers name is mmbgmb.
valve cover, electronic ignition kit, carb plate, and performer intake.
 
Hey Mark - welcome to the site and big thanks for your service!

Nice Dart. I gotta agree with nqkjw, numbers matching won't matter on resale for a long time to come on high-volume cars. Consider having to lug all the stuff around vs. having the cash from it to take your car where you want it to be. There's some good threads on here about rust repair too, so you can tackle that blistering before it progresses any further.

Thanks again for what you do, and keep us posted on your progress.

Thanks, that's what I thought about it too. Thank you for your feedback as well nqkjw. So, I still have no idea how to tackle that annoying stripe though. As I said, it is painted on over the brown. I guess sometime in the future i will have all the steel wheels w/tires and hub caps up for sale as well as the engine tranny and rear complete with springs. With hardened seats i think it would make a great daily driver. It is my pleasure to serve our country. I am glad to say that I have hit the under two month mark and I am looking forward to seeing my wife, my one year old daughter, and my car!
 
The only time it's worth keeping a '72 Dart 318 in stock condition is if it needs little-to-nothing to keep it stock .
Since yours has that irritating stripe on it (are you sure it's not a decal ? It looks like a Charger R/T stripe !) , and since you drive and enjoy it , then modify away .

Damn , that stripe is bugging me ! I don't understand ; if someone's going to go through the time and trouble , then why not add the correct-for-1970 stripe , even if it is painted-on ???
 
Yes, damn that stripe is bugging me puts it mildly!

It did not need too much to keep it stock and still doesnt. ALL the pieces were there. I can keep all those "pieces" for sometime down the road, but I am not sure what kind of housing and storage I the Army is going to give me in the future. Plus, like Jay said, the cash could come in handy to do more improvements. And LH23H2R, I am pretty sure it is not a decal. traced it down the quarter panel and you can see where it fades off. I having my step-dad, greg, put a call in to a body shop. Hopefully he will Give me a good deal. Maybe get that rust outta there too!!
 
Are engine and tranny's numbered matched to each other? I guess what I am asking is when I take out my 904 tranny would it help someone building a car to have them together?
 
So, selling them seperate wouldn't break some poor guys heart out there that might need the two of them together then?
 
So, Here are a couple of photos from a few months back on a MATV that my team recovered after and IED attack. Vehicle was hit and lost control. It ran off a steep embankment and we recovered it from there. Thats me on top of the truck on the right. Man those chains must weigh 150lbs each and then and the 100 lbs of gear I wear, plus my weapon. That makes for a real hard climb to the top of an unstable truck. I couldn't post the one we had to recover last night because we had some injuries, but everyone should recover okay and be back in the fight soon! I also had to recover a helicopter off the side of a mountain! Jerk offs wouldn't let me take photos of that though. Can't wait to get back home and spend time with my wife and daughter! AND get back to work on my DART!

Speed and Power!

mark
 

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Here is a pic of my daughter, Emma Breane, on the day she turned one while i was on leave last November. Still cant figure out how to upload the pic of the engine compartment.
 

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Finally! One of the engine! Guess Emma B wanted to get started early on her driving lessons. Also, are I able to change the gearing out in a 8.25 from say a 391 to something lower if I find the 391 is too much? And if so, how hard is it?
 

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Ok so I'm back from Afghanistan and I finally got down south from Alaska and reunited with my car! I put the 8.25 391's, the B&M 727 street/strip, and SS springs in! I love the new reaction of the car and the ride height! A few quirks to work out and I think I'll be where I wanna be mechanically!
 
Pics will be coming soon. Still in the process of moving from Alaska to new York. I'm in
Murfreesboro TN right now and can possibly take any parts up through a route to fort drum NY
 
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