purplebeast
Well-Known Member
Yep, it's been about a year since I last posted here. About a year & a half ago, I tore into the 273 in my newly acquired 1969 Dart Swinger. The engine is original to the car, and I wanted to improve the performance, so I swapped the cam and had a set of 302 heads worked up to put on the motor.
Well, life kinda gets in the way of all projects, and the Dart sat, untouched, for about a year. Until this spring, when the urge took over to pull the 273 and drop a 340 into the old girl. So I bought a spare 340 from my brother, a late '72 cast crank motor. I wanted to pull the heads to see if they were 1.88 or 2.02 intakes, and I'm glad we did- the last buttcracks to work on the engine had the installed 10:1 pistons in it (good), but had them in upside down, that is, the valve reliefs were on the bottom of the bore instead of the top! The pistons actually had very faint marks where the valves had actually made contact. Needless to say, the pistons came out and were re-assembled on the rods, along with new bearings. The rest of the motor was freshened up and dropped into the Dart. I still have to get a new exhaust system installed, I hooked up the 1 7/8" pipes temporarily just to get her home.
So, I'm back into the A-body fold, and it's been great catching up on the old posts. I will be posting questions, as there are still some issues to be resolved with the Dart. It's good to be back!
Well, life kinda gets in the way of all projects, and the Dart sat, untouched, for about a year. Until this spring, when the urge took over to pull the 273 and drop a 340 into the old girl. So I bought a spare 340 from my brother, a late '72 cast crank motor. I wanted to pull the heads to see if they were 1.88 or 2.02 intakes, and I'm glad we did- the last buttcracks to work on the engine had the installed 10:1 pistons in it (good), but had them in upside down, that is, the valve reliefs were on the bottom of the bore instead of the top! The pistons actually had very faint marks where the valves had actually made contact. Needless to say, the pistons came out and were re-assembled on the rods, along with new bearings. The rest of the motor was freshened up and dropped into the Dart. I still have to get a new exhaust system installed, I hooked up the 1 7/8" pipes temporarily just to get her home.
So, I'm back into the A-body fold, and it's been great catching up on the old posts. I will be posting questions, as there are still some issues to be resolved with the Dart. It's good to be back!
