My 70 dart thinks she's fat.

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MOPARMAGA

MOPARMAGA

" The other hard member"
FABO Gold Member
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Hey guys & gals, I'm getting ready to build a 471 stroker for my 70 swinger.
I plan on boogeying in her, I will be using a lift off six pack hood, front bumper & valance since my valance & bumper are crappy. Since this isn't a numbers matching rare car I'd like to know what non-structural weight (steel) can be removed by my new plasma cutter? I'd like to be at 2700 lbs.
If anyone is familiar with Tony from uncle Tony's garage on YouTube his dart is around 2500 pounds but a slant 6 .
 
Replace the front fender inner shields (sheet metal shield that keeps road crap out of your door jambs) with shields from a 73 or later Dart (2dr, 4dr, sport - it doesn't matter). They changed them to plastic when trying to save weight for gas mileage.
Make a door window set up like the 68 hemi darts - use seat belt material to pull up and hold the windows in place with a snap at the bottom of the inner door and ditch the heavy window regulators. For the back windows, fix them in place and dump those mechanisms too (how many folks are going to be in the back seat of this anyway???) And speaking of back seats, dump them and carpet the back seat area.

Somebody here makes light aluminum bumper bracket for your "for show only" fiberglass front bumper
 
Ditch as much cast iron pieces off that 472 as you can. Use a B/RB aluminum water pump housing, aluminum heads, aluminum intake, aluminum water pump, aluminum radiator, ditch the power steering for an aluminum manual chuck, remove your heater box, all the carpeting, spare tire, jack, trunk mat, and the afore mentioned back seat. Fix rear quarter windows in place, remove rear window regulators. This will lighten it up a lot more. I wouldent pull out window regulators in the front doors which would probably be a small nicety to have. This is gonna save you a lot more weight than carving on the thin unibody sheetmetal with a plasma cutter and possibly weakening the crap out of it. The only fiberglass parts that will save you a bit of weight over steel will be "race glass" parts like fenders. However, these will not hold up for over the road use in the long haul and will tend to start cracking as they are very thin for light weight on a drag race only car. A 4 pin light weight lift off hood would be ok as well as fiberglass bumper and aluminum bumper brackets.
 
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Ditch the big block and put in a nice 500 HORSEPOWER small block. Easier to work on, drives better, lighter.
 
Paint adds weight to to car. So it's going to have to be primer only for maximum weight reduction. Also most if not all of the interior needs to be removed also.
 
Oh I almost forgot. A mini denso starter off a late model ram truck, and a mini denso alternator.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Ditch the big block and put in a nice 500 HORSEPOWER small block. Easier to work on, drives better, lighter.
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I agree, however with weight reduction using aluminum you can get that big block down in weight quite a bit. Although you can get a small block down even lighter with aluminum parts.
 
str12-340 said:
Replace the front fender inner shields (sheet metal shield that keeps road crap out of your door jambs) with shields from a 73 or later Dart (2dr, 4dr, sport - it doesn't matter). They changed them to plastic when trying to save weight for gas mileage.
Make a door window set up like the 68 hemi darts - use seat belt material to pull up and hold the windows in place with a snap at the bottom of the inner door and ditch the heavy window regulators. For the back windows, fix them in place and dump those mechanisms too (how many folks are going to be in the back seat of this anyway???) And speaking of back seats, dump them and carpet the back seat area.

Somebody here makes light aluminum bumper bracket for your "for show only" fiberglass front bumper
Click to expand...
Thanks alot. That's some
pittsburghracer said:
Ditch the big block and put in a nice 500 HORSEPOWER small block. Easier to work on, drives better, lighter.
Click to expand...
Nope, not ditching the big block I'm sure with all the parts I have its close or less then a small blocks weight. It's a low deck so it's fine. I have a couple small blocks & they are a pain in the *** to do manifold swaps compared to big blocks. Plus small block stuff is the same price or more on race parts
 
moparmat2000 said:
Ditch as much cast iron pieces off that 472 as you can. Use a B/RB aluminum water pump housing, aluminum heads, aluminum intake, aluminum water pump, aluminum radiator, ditch the power steering for an aluminum manual chuck, remove your heater box, all the carpeting, spare tire, jack, trunk mat, and the afore mentioned back seat. Fix rear quarter windows in place, remove rear window regulators. This will lighten it up a lot more. I wouldent pull out window regulators in the front doors which would probably be a small nicety to have. This is gonna save you a lot more weight than carving on the thin unibody sheetmetal with a plasma cutter and possibly weakening the crap out of it. The only fiberglass parts that will save you a bit of weight over steel will be "race glass" parts like fenders. However, these will not hold up for over the road use in the long haul and will tend to start cracking as they are very thin for light weight on a drag race only car. A 4 pin light weight lift off hood would be ok as well as fiberglass bumper and aluminum bumper brackets.
Click to expand...
Yes, I have everything that can be aluminum is aluminum that goes on the block, I have a big light 4 core aluminum radiator. I have 2 inch primary fenderwell hookers (ceramic coated) so I'll be removing some & maybe most of the inner fenderwell as well. Also 15×3.5 welds.
As for any aluminum bracketry you're on to something, that plasma cutter is also an AC/DC tig welder & stick so I can easily make alot of things...thanks for mentioning that. I do love the idea of the Windows functioning on the seat belt slider system.
I also will be relocating the battery to the trunk & luckily have a few small starters from my ram & dakota r/t (extras) so I guess there's probably 100 pounds out of the car body itself. Thanks for your reply
 
72Dart6pack said:
Paint adds weight to to car. So it's going to have to be primer only for maximum weight reduction. Also most if not all of the interior needs to be removed also.
Click to expand...
i was thinking ill get a kirkey racing seat for race day, the cars getting atleast an 8 PT cage so maybe there's no room for a back seat anyways
 
72Dart6pack said:
Paint adds weight to to car. So it's going to have to be primer only for maximum weight reduction. Also most if not all of the interior needs to be removed also.
Click to expand...
I was thinking of stripping the body and just shooting a coat or 2 of clear that I could wet sand & polish
 
str12-340 said:
Replace the front fender inner shields (sheet metal shield that keeps road crap out of your door jambs) with shields from a 73 or later Dart (2dr, 4dr, sport - it doesn't matter). They changed them to plastic when trying to save weight for gas mileage.
Make a door window set up like the 68 hemi darts - use seat belt material to pull up and hold the windows in place with a snap at the bottom of the inner door and ditch the heavy window regulators. For the back windows, fix them in place and dump those mechanisms too (how many folks are going to be in the back seat of this anyway???) And speaking of back seats, dump them and carpet the back seat area.

Somebody here makes light aluminum bumper bracket for your "for show only" fiberglass front bumper
Click to expand...
I have some thin .011 aluminum I could make something for those I think.
 
pittsburghracer said:
Ditch the big block and put in a nice 500 HORSEPOWER small block. Easier to work on, drives better, lighter.
Click to expand...
No disrespect to small blocks by the way.
I know there's some bad *** la's & magnums. Ive just been MLK'ing (having a dream) about a big block dart since I was 15, I'm 42 now & wasted alot of years on the booze & hardshit that had me under a bridge for years but never gave up on my dream.
 
MOPARMAGA said:
No disrespect to small blocks by the way.
I know there's some bad *** la's & magnums. Ive just been MLK'ing (having a dream) about a big block dart since I was 15, I'm 42 now & wasted alot of years on the booze & hardshit that had me under a bridge for years but never gave up on my dream.
Click to expand...


I love both big and small blocks but having owned both the small block combo is so much easier to work on. And honestly there aren’t many big block faster than my small block at the weekly races. Not saying big blocks can’t be fast but for some reason many aren’t. Good luck with your build and you are off to a great start removing weight. Put a nice suspension in it and some good rearend parts and let her rip.
 
pittsburghracer said:
I love both big and small blocks but having owned both the small block combo is so much easier to work on. And honestly there aren’t many big block faster than my small block at the weekly races. Not saying big blocks can’t be fast but for some reason many aren’t. Good luck with your build and you are off to a great start removing weight. Put a nice suspension in it and some good rearend parts and let her rip.
Click to expand...
Just curious what diff do you run in that beast?
 
MOPARMAGA said:
Just curious what diff do you run in that beast?
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I'm hoping to go fast, but my car will be driven to the track & home (hopefully)
I'm looking to run an easy 10.50 & super comp capable 9.80s (basically I don't want a new car like a Tesla pulling up next to me & embarrassing me) so that's what I want, a quick street legal car. But since I haven't started yet on the car my plans may change, maybe just go a trailered race car. But then to me it better be running in the 9s with ease to trailer it. How fast is your car ? What does it weigh ? What smallblock are you running ?
 
MOPARMAGA said:
Just curious what diff do you run in that beast?
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In my car I have a Dana with 4.88 gears. My sons 360 has an 8 3/4 with 4.10 gears, spool, and good axles. Not backbraced and stock caps. He tries to change out the ring n pinion every 3-4 years for preventative maintenance. He beats on it pretty good with a 727 and transbrake.
BB69DDB6-1870-4FD2-9816-D6A13CD7A8ED.jpeg
E1761B59-3A71-4BCE-8101-130A672632CD.jpeg
 
My 71 Demon bracket car is 2500 lbs with a 416 stroker being built as I write this. I'm duplicating an engine that made 623 at the flywheel & went 9.40s in a 2800 lb car. My intent is to put the car in the 9's with the new engine, as the 408 has gone low 10's & it getting a little tired. My car has glass doors, hood, deck lid. & rear bumper with all lexan windows. The 408 is a screamer & I'm hoping the 416 will be even better.
 
pittsburghracer said:
In my car I have a Dana with 4.88 gears. My sons 360 has an 8 3/4 with 4.10 gears, spool, and good axles. Not backbraced and stock caps. He tries to change out the ring n pinion every 3-4 years for preventative maintenance. He beats on it pretty good with a 727 and transbrake. View attachment 1715526643View attachment 1715526644
Click to expand...
Bad *** ! Have you any experience with the 4.30 gears ? I have a 8.75 with 3.91 & was going to spool it but I also wanted to run a 28-29 inch tall tire & my cam is a 3400-7200 range& I should run 3800 stall minimum I'm told
 
Demonracer said:
My 71 Demon bracket car is 2500 lbs with a 416 stroker being built as I write this. I'm duplicating an engine that made 623 at the flywheel & went 9.40s in a 2800 lb car. My intent is to put the car in the 9's with the new engine, as the 408 has gone low 10's & it getting a little tired. My car has glass doors, hood, deck lid. & rear bumper with all lexan windows. The 408 is a screamer & I'm hoping the 416 will be even better.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a bad *** combo, where did you get your windsheild & door glass ?
 
MOPARMAGA said:
Bad *** ! Have you any experience with the 4.30 gears ? I have a 8.75 with 3.91 & was going to spool it but I also wanted to run a 28-29 inch tall tire & my cam is a 3400-7200 range& I should run 3800 stall minimum I'm told
Click to expand...


I personally love the 4.30 gear but if you want to get in the 9’s you may want to up that stall some. It’s still streetable with a good transmission cooler.
 
I have 4.30 gears in my Dana with 29.5 x 10.5 slicks & 4800 stall converter, leaving off of the transbrake. I made my windows out of a sheet of Lexan I acquired from a friend, it wasn't fun but I have a "lot" less money in mine than they want for them precut.
 
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