''I'm going to fix it up someday'' The resurrection of a '74 Dart Sport......

[Dartnut]

I also installed the longer M.P. shocks to go with the Super Stock springs.
The part number is P4529514 and they were a little under $100.00 for the pair from my local Mopar parts department.
Here's pics of the length difference from a stock replacement shock to the M.P. ones.
They were a direct bolt in!

 

[Dartnut]

And the results are in......
What a huge difference!
About 4'' of lift on the passenger side and about 3'' on the driver's side!
After driving the car, i decided to crank up the torsion bar up on the driver's side 1 1/2 turns to make it drive and look a little better......
I love the stance the car has now and the ride isn't that harsh at all.
The car wandered a bit before i changed the springs, and i attribute that to the worn out bushings in the stockers primarily. The front spring bushings were so shot that the front bolt had about 1/4'' slop!

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[Dartnut]

The old springs.......
Not broken or anything, just sacked out and worn out bushings.

 

[mr.smockey]

Looking good!

 

[Dartnut]

Looking good!

Thank you.
I can't wait to see more upgrades on your Swinger project when you get home.....:cheers:

 

[Dartnut]

I finally got around to installing the rear tail stripe and Dodge quarter panel decals i got from challengergary.
They all went on with no problems, i would recommend his stripes and decals to anyone.
I also took the time to clean and polish the tail light lenses as well as paint and detail the tail light chrome trim around the tail lights.
I like the change, what do you all think?
Any questions or comments are welcome as always!

 

[Dartnut]

More pics.......

 

[Dartnut]

Now on to the quarter panel decals......

 

[Dartnut]

Now, hopefully nobody is going to call my car a Camaro or Duster anymore!

 

[hemiperry]

great work, great thread

 

[dart340h1973]

How did you do the black in the tail light area? Mine need done, just bought a nice set at nats 2 weeks ago.

 

[CudaDust]

Looks great!! Read your whole thread this past winter. Like all you have done.

 

[Dartnut]

Thank you for all of the kind comments.
i drive the car a lot more than i work on it now, but i still have a few more upgrades i want to get done before the end of the year.
Now i just have to get off my butt and do it!

 

[Princess Valiant]

this thread is inspiring and making me like dart sports a lot more

 

[Dartnut]

How did you do the black in the tail light area? Mine need done, just bought a nice set at nats 2 weeks ago.

It was a pretty long drawn out process.
First i cleaned the bezels with some steel wool S.O.S pads, used a scotchbrite pad to further rough up the original painted surfaces, then i masked out the chrome part with 1/4'' 3M tape, and finally sprayed 2 light coats of the semi gloss black on them.
It took about an hour and a half for all 4!
I went through 4 or 5 sets and used the ones that had the least amount of pitting.
Non pitted ones with good studs are hard to find for these cars, the pot metal they used back then was pretty crappy. :banghead:

 

[Dartnut]

this thread is inspiring and making me like dart sports a lot more

Thanks for the nice comment,
There was something about this car that tickled my fancy back in the day when i got it.
Since then, i have always liked the ''beak'' cars, they just kind of grow on you!
I like them all though!

 

[Captain Canuck]

The tail panel stripe looks great! Very nice work!

 

[Dartnut]

Thank you!
I'm just having fun with the car, nothing serious!

 

[chryslerfat]

Now, hopefully nobody is going to call my car a Camaro or Duster anymore!

Your Nova looks great! Sorry lol

 

[unknownsnake]

Looks good. Same stance my car has. Always good to see someone else tooling around with a dart sport

 

[Dartnut]

Your Nova looks great! Sorry lol

How DARE you call my Fairlane a Nova!
But thanks anyway.......

 

[Dartnut]

Looks good. Same stance my car has. Always good to see someone else tooling around with a dart sport

Thanks, i have watched your build thread since you started it.
Some day my car will have a nice paint job and a big block like yours, you are doing some great work there! :cheers:
I have always been a fan of the ''beak'' cars.......

 

[sireland67]

I like the Resto threads that a guy pulls a car out of a field / barn and slowly fixes them up.
Not a ton af cash spent, but has fun doing it and ends up with a nice driving car that turns heads.
Shiny paint jobs look great, but you really cannot enjoy driving the car, always worried about where you park, rock chips etc.
I have both ends some cars with shiny paint totally restored, hardly ever drive them.
I like the ones with 20-40 year old paint mechanically sound drive them the most in my collection because you don't have to worry about rain, rock chips etc.
I think your car is perfect the way it is!!!!

 

[Dartnut]

I like the Resto threads that a guy pulls a car out of a field / barn and slowly fixes them up.
Not a ton af cash spent, but has fun doing it and ends up with a nice driving car that turns heads.
Shiny paint jobs look great, but you really cannot enjoy driving the car, always worried about where you park, rock chips etc.
I have both ends some cars with shiny paint totally restored, hardly ever drive them.
I like the ones with 20-40 year old paint mechanically sound drive them the most in my collection because you don't have to worry about rain, rock chips etc.
I think your car is perfect the way it is!!!!

Well, thank you for the compliment!
Yes, i too have had more fun with the cars that i have had over the years that were ''drivers'', that's why i am building this one this way.
It's easy to get carried away on expensive paint jobs, engines, etc.
I made that mistake with one car in particular......which i never ended up finishing or driving.
Been there. Done that. Never again.
The future upgrades are intended for the purpose of driving the wheels off of it and not making it a ''show poodle'' with some more minor cosmetics.........
To me it's all about having fun and seeing another one on the road instead of on a trailer to a car show.

 

[Princess Valiant]

I just had to read the whole thread again from page 1 to the end ......I love it.

These "later" cars are so under appreciated and yet they are so cool. Chrysler sure had a special car here and dart sports should never be overshadowed by the demon when its the dart sports that filled in where the E-body left off at the end of 74. Really its these "later" cars that are vital piece of history considering all the social and economic problems that existed when these cars were born. It was these cars that were intended to take us through the famous gas crunches and demands for cleaner and more efficient cars. These cars were supposed to be the answers to these problems, and in many ways they were....only to be forgotten.

People argue that early As were better built cars....to that I always say "oh yea, is that why you need 73+ suspension parts to make your well built car better" LMAO.

The engineering that Chrysler put into these cars 73+ was probably ahead of its time and its refreshing to see a piece of history and importance revived.