New member from Bay Area Ca

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GURT WILDERS

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2020
Messages
43
Reaction score
57
Location
Concord CA
Hey guys, New member here. My name is Garrett and I live in the East Bay Area CA. I’m 30 years old and I’ve owned a 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger for 11 of them. Has a 318 and four speed a833. Been a slow project build over the last 5 years cause of budget, but I’ve been planning some big upgrades. Whenever I have specific research topics on parts and installations I usually find what I’m looking for right here. Figured I’d introduce myself and my Dart in preparation for documenting the rest of my build.

Been working on cars since I was a young teen. My dad and I used to race oval dirt track stock cars and late models at the Antioch Speedway. A couple times the track had to rewrite some rules cause we found a way to bend them and make our car faster haha (my dads idol was Smokey Yunick). We won a championship in 2013 with a late model we built. On top of that I worked at a pretty reputable speed shop for about 10 years in Walnut Creek called Morgans Machine & Marine. My bosses were Tim & Donna Morgan. Tim was big in drag boats and top fuelers, made a pretty big name for himself. Unfortunately the speed shop just closed it’s doors last week after being open for 50 years. But basically I’ve been surrounded by racing and hot rodding for a long time and it’s lead my car to the point where it’s at now.

*Plans for the car*

- Tubular k member/A-arms with power rack and pinion (gonna be changing entire pulley assembly and brackets to run GM type 2 pump and mini race alternator with cog belts)
-Ford T5 transmission swap
-Currie 9” axle swap
-Parallel 4 link coil-over conversion
-New wheels, Disc brakes front and rear
-Tilt steering column
-Wiring harness
-Autometer Mopar Gauges

Those are my plans for the Dart in the next month or two at my buddies shop. These pics are the cars current state.

Anyway, hello, excited to be here and talk MOPAR with y’all. -Garrett

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Hey guys, New member here. My name is Garrett and I live in the East Bay Area CA. I’m 30 years old and I’ve owned a 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger for 11 of them. Has a 318 and four speed a833. Been a slow project build over the last 5 years cause of budget, but I’ve been planning some big upgrades. Whenever I have specific research topics on parts and installations I usually find what I’m looking for right here. Figured I’d introduce myself and my Dart in preparation for documenting the rest of my build.

Been working on cars since I was a young teen. My dad and I used to race oval dirt track stock cars and late models at the Antioch Speedway. A couple times the track had to rewrite some rules cause we found a way to bend them and make our car faster haha (my dads idol was Smokey Yunick). We won a championship in 2013 with a late model we built. On top of that I worked at a pretty reputable speed shop for about 10 years in Walnut Creek called Morgans Machine & Marine. My bosses were Tim & Donna Morgan. Tim was big in drag boats and top fuelers, made a pretty big name for himself. Unfortunately the speed shop just closed it’s doors last week after being open for 50 years. But basically I’ve been surrounded by racing and hot rodding for a long time and it’s lead my car to the point where it’s at now.

*Plans for the car*

- Tubular k member/A-arms with power rack and pinion (gonna be changing entire pulley assembly and brackets to run GM type 2 pump and mini race alternator with cog belts)
-Ford T5 transmission swap
-Currie 9” axle swap
-Parallel 4 link coil-over conversion
-New wheels, Disc brakes front and rear
-Tilt steering column
-Wiring harness
-Autometer Mopar Gauges

Those are my plans for the Dart in the next month or two at my buddies shop. These pics are the cars current state.

Anyway, hello, excited to be here and talk MOPAR with y’all. -Garrett

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Garrett, great looking Dodge. I'm in the SF North Bay, Petaluma, with a 64 Dart GT convertible and a 64 Dodge Powerwagon. Charlie
 
Garrett, great looking Dodge. I'm in the SF North Bay, Petaluma, with a 64 Dart GT convertible and a 64 Dodge Powerwagon. Charlie
What’s up North Bay! My dad use to have an old Powerwagon, always been a fan. Hope you’re stayin safe with all the fires!
 
Hey guys, New member here. My name is Garrett and I live in the East Bay Area CA. I’m 30 years old and I’ve owned a 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger for 11 of them. Has a 318 and four speed a833. Been a slow project build over the last 5 years cause of budget, but I’ve been planning some big upgrades. Whenever I have specific research topics on parts and installations I usually find what I’m looking for right here. Figured I’d introduce myself and my Dart in preparation for documenting the rest of my build.

Been working on cars since I was a young teen. My dad and I used to race oval dirt track stock cars and late models at the Antioch Speedway. A couple times the track had to rewrite some rules cause we found a way to bend them and make our car faster haha (my dads idol was Smokey Yunick). We won a championship in 2013 with a late model we built. On top of that I worked at a pretty reputable speed shop for about 10 years in Walnut Creek called Morgans Machine & Marine. My bosses were Tim & Donna Morgan. Tim was big in drag boats and top fuelers, made a pretty big name for himself. Unfortunately the speed shop just closed it’s doors last week after being open for 50 years. But basically I’ve been surrounded by racing and hot rodding for a long time and it’s lead my car to the point where it’s at now.

*Plans for the car*

- Tubular k member/A-arms with power rack and pinion (gonna be changing entire pulley assembly and brackets to run GM type 2 pump and mini race alternator with cog belts)
-Ford T5 transmission swap
-Currie 9” axle swap
-Parallel 4 link coil-over conversion
-New wheels, Disc brakes front and rear
-Tilt steering column
-Wiring harness
-Autometer Mopar Gauges

Those are my plans for the Dart in the next month or two at my buddies shop. These pics are the cars current state.

Anyway, hello, excited to be here and talk MOPAR with y’all. -Garrett

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Welcome from burning hot Sonoma County.
Do you have any plans for the 833 you are gonna take out?
 
Welcome from burning hot Sonoma County.
Do you have any plans for the 833 you are gonna take out?
Gonna sell it, I’ll also have a McLeod clutch kit and hydraulic throw out bearing I’ll be selling too.
 
Welcome, also from Concord. I saw Morgan's closed about three or four weeks ago. Was it a COVID slowdown, or did he just decide to retire?
 
Welcome, also from Concord. I saw Morgan's closed about three or four weeks ago. Was it a COVID slowdown, or did he just decide to retire?
It was a combination of some unfortunate events, covid definitely had a part in it. The shop foreman got throat cancer and took some time off for treatment. He fully recovered after chemo and said he was going to come back but decided to retire instead and kinda pulled the carpet out from under Morgan. The machine shop was definitely the bread maker and the parts counter was a way to help support paying the bills. But with the head machinist calling it quits after 30 years Morgan couldn’t find anyone skilled enough to run the machines. So with all machine work stopped the parts counter alone couldn’t support the shop By itself. Then throw covid 19 Into that whole situation. Summit, jegs, and Amazon we’re always our biggest competitors but now with people being ordered to stay inside it was the cherry on top. So he decided to shut it down, retire and go camping with his dog. End of an era.
 
Look forward to seeing the progress on your Dart.

Sorry to hear about Morgan's...
 
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