Picked up my 1st early A body

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bcmopar

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I picked this up from a friend of mine that started to put it together to play with at the drag strip but due to bad health and having to many race cars, i got it off him. He already put a full roll cage in it, mini tubs, springs move in, 8 3/4 with big bolt pattern, disk brakes up front, 4.30 gears, line lock, its got a 318 with dakota manifolds, 904 stock converter, reverse valve body, and the frames tied.:toothy10:

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here are some pics

Are these manifolds off a particular year of Dakota? Do the flow well or what?

I wonder would they clear power steering in an early A? Might be a good option in lieue of tubular headers if they give good bang for the buck.
 
That thing would be a sweet drag car. Leave the paint how it is and drop in a strong stroker and a high stall converter and go spank some chevy butts.
 
Are these manifolds off a particular year of Dakota? Do the flow well or what?

I wonder would they clear power steering in an early A? Might be a good option in lieue of tubular headers if they give good bang for the buck.
No particular just got to find one with an v8, they do flow well and each port flows the same direction, I dont think they will fit with power steering tho.
 
BCMopar, Any chance you can get a pics of exhaust from underneath?

stop-the-beast, The '92/93 Dakota manifolds (also same on B vans and full size trucks with 5.2/5.9) are the best flowing small block manifolds Mother ever made. BUT, they gotta be '92/93. In '94, they were restricted for emmisions purposes. Much larger dumps on the early ones (2-3/16), versus 1-7/8" on the later ones. Part numbers are 53006618 and 53006619.
I'll be finding out myself if they fit with power steering in the next feew months. I sure hope so.

Mike Bynum
 
stop_the_beast

I forgot to mention in my previous post that the center outlets are different between the LA heads and Magnum heads.

If you are using Magnum exhaust manifolds with LA heads, you should definitely spend a few minutes with a grinder doing a gasket match on the exhaust manifold as the center ports are raised and seperated. Not like the siamesed center ports on typical LA exhaust manifolds.

Better yet, use a set of Magnum heads. Definitely the best bang for your buck... closed chamber (means higher compression ratio), swirl ports, better flow, lighter valve train. If using junkyard heads, get them off of a 5.2 engine. The heads are exactly the same between 5.2 and 5.9, but 5.9's were run a lot leaner for emmisions requirements and this makes them more likely to be cracked between the valve seats.

If you do the Magnum head conversion on an LA block, there are two things you need to do;
1) Special pushrods, typically 7.625" to work with the stock Magnum rockers
2) Either use a Magnum bolt pattern specific intake manifold (or dual pattern manifold) or redrill the Magnum heads with the LA bolt pattern. See this link for more details; http://www.bigblockranger.com/Magnum.html

Mike Bynum
 
BCMopar, Any chance you can get a pics of exhaust from underneath?

stop-the-beast, The '92/93 Dakota manifolds (also same on B vans and full size trucks with 5.2/5.9) are the best flowing small block manifolds Mother ever made. BUT, they gotta be '92/93. In '94, they were restricted for emmisions purposes. Much larger dumps on the early ones (2-3/16), versus 1-7/8" on the later ones. Part numbers are 53006618 and 53006619.
I'll be finding out myself if they fit with power steering in the next feew months. I sure hope so.

Mike Bynum
Ya i will take some pics from the bottom but will be a few days the dart isnt on the trailer any more and got to get my 68 dart fixed and out of the garage then Im gonna start on the 65.:toothy10:
 
stop_the_beast

I forgot to mention in my previous post that the center outlets are different between the LA heads and Magnum heads.

If you are using Magnum exhaust manifolds with LA heads, you should definitely spend a few minutes with a grinder doing a gasket match on the exhaust manifold as the center ports are raised and seperated. Not like the siamesed center ports on typical LA exhaust manifolds.

Better yet, use a set of Magnum heads. Definitely the best bang for your buck... closed chamber (means higher compression ratio), swirl ports, better flow, lighter valve train. If using junkyard heads, get them off of a 5.2 engine. The heads are exactly the same between 5.2 and 5.9, but 5.9's were run a lot leaner for emmisions requirements and this makes them more likely to be cracked between the valve seats.

If you do the Magnum head conversion on an LA block, there are two things you need to do;
1) Special pushrods, typically 7.625" to work with the stock Magnum rockers
2) Either use a Magnum bolt pattern specific intake manifold (or dual pattern manifold) or redrill the Magnum heads with the LA bolt pattern. See this link for more details; http://www.bigblockranger.com/Magnum.html

Mike Bynum
and thanks for the info
 
It looks like it has a front motor plate type mount and not stock style frame motor mounts? Is that what I am seeing?

Chuck
 
I got a grille and headlight bezels but no "candy cane" mouldings.
Thanks, Mark
 
BCMopar, Any chance you can get a pics of exhaust from underneath?

stop-the-beast, The '92/93 Dakota manifolds (also same on B vans and full size trucks with 5.2/5.9) are the best flowing small block manifolds Mother ever made. BUT, they gotta be '92/93. In '94, they were restricted for emmisions purposes. Much larger dumps on the early ones (2-3/16), versus 1-7/8" on the later ones. Part numbers are 53006618 and 53006619.
I'll be finding out myself if they fit with power steering in the next feew months. I sure hope so.

Mike Bynum
sorry it took so long, but here are the pics. and some other ones

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