bigdaddydon
Active Member
i am going to start my own thread of the restoration of my 71 dodge dart swinger gt. this a true gt car with bucket seats, console, rimblow steering wheel, and several other options. it was a slant six powered machine and i was going to just fix it up and sell it. i owned a 70 dodge charger but unfortunatly had to sell it after about 4 years. it was a beauty too. well that's history. so i decided to do this one up right. seems that when i had no money and couldn't afford to keep the charger then the money came in. i part out darts when i can so in the process of doing so i kept all the best parts i had for this dart. something about a small car with big power. i've replaced the 7 1/4 rear with an 8 3/4 made by patrick leagal in minnasota. he sell rears on ebay and seems to be pretty good and knows his stuff. the rear springs are in real good shape so stayed with them i pulled the tank and it was rust free. just cleaned up and painted. when i pull a part off i usually sand blast it and repaint. trying to detail as much as i can. not show mind you just to keep it looking good. i completely cleaned the underside and reundercoated it. it is a street drive not a trailer queen. won't own one. not even if it was a number matching hemi car. why??? oh don't get me started. anyway, i have installed frame connectors and built myself a box tube front frame tie. i cut part of the flimsy panel out from under the radiator and installed the boxed tube piece. then i welded the remainder of the panel to the boxed piece. this should tie the front together with some more ridgitity. i've installed front and rear sway bars( 1" front and 7/8 rear) for good road feel. i used the angled rear spring shackles and the offset front hanggers so now i can get some pretty good meat under the rear. i replaced the fuel line with a 3/8th unit and replaced the rear brake line. has a new sending unit in tank,also 3/8, and installed rear air shocks. i have 2 1/2 inch exhaust with x pipe off of stock hipro manifolds. i'm going to port and polish as much as i can reach inside manifolds to free up flow as best i can. have a 2400-2800 stall converter and a 727. engine is a 360 bored over .020 with speedpro hyper pistons. moly rings and eagle h-beam rods. all balanced. sfi dampener and hi volume oil and water pumps. engine valley was all deburred and polished then painted with epoxy to add oil flow back. heads are j heads with polished chambers. ported and polished intake and exhaust with 1.78 installed spring heigth. smith brothers 3/8 push rods and comp .474 lift cam and lifters. rockers are 1.6 ratio and yeild a 5.12 lift approx. hopefully it will all work good. heads were cc'd at 69 cc's and pistons are around .020 down in the hole. should give me arount 9.5 to one. i have cap industries tubular upper control arms with poly bushings in all the suspension, front and rear. will have power steering and brakes. has all new ledgendary interior as well. will be hemi orange with black interior and black tail stripe. has twin hood scoops. oh, the engine also has the six pack induction. all new parts. i've spent a ton on this car but it will be worth it. thanks
big daddy don
big daddy don
