SpeedracerX
Still on this side of the dirt member
Hey gang... Just killing a little time and figured I would give a quick update as to what this winters project was.. (at some point soon, i plan to go back and start a thread showing all I have done to my Dart up to this point.. ) ... Anyways with alot of help from my friends, this year, I decided I had beat on the 7 1/4 enough, I got 4 years out of it (2 with the 360 in it) and had gone on several trips, and cruised plenty of shows with my girl... not to mention many, many burnouts in the alley outside the garage...
So last year at the Nats, I picked up an 8 3/4 at a good price.. while I was under there I realized it was way past time to change the gas tank. I mean you can only plug so many leaks in a 40+ year old tank before it just starts to look dumb.. Found a 323 sure grip to go in the housing.. I was set.. or so I thought.. Once we tore everything out of the rear of the car we found frame rail issues.. ones I never realized I had.. at some point in the Darts life, some one did a quick patch over for inspection purposes I am sure.. its amazing what you can do with pop riveted tin, roofing tar, and a good coat of undercoating...
So.. a good amount of time was devoted to fixing the frame rails properly, now she is probably stronger and more solid than the day it rolled off the line.. Got the rear all painted up, all new brake lines, fuel line... painted up the springs and got everything slapped back together.. the pics here are poor quality, and I apologize.. they were done with my phone.. I will take better pics of the finished project...and get them posted soon...
We got the Dart back on the ground last Friday night.. took it out for its first run, and as my signiture says... drove it like we stole it... what a differance the gears made! its wasnt long til we were bringing her back in and putting her back up on stands LOL ... in an effort to save some money we just went with a quick visual inspection of the axle bearings... decided not to change them. replaced the inner seals only... turns out the drivers side bearing was bad... nothing like the smell of burning gear oil on the brakes LOL ... oh well.. minor setback.. should have my axle back today, the Dart will be back on the ground tonight... just in time for round 2! hehe...
So last year at the Nats, I picked up an 8 3/4 at a good price.. while I was under there I realized it was way past time to change the gas tank. I mean you can only plug so many leaks in a 40+ year old tank before it just starts to look dumb.. Found a 323 sure grip to go in the housing.. I was set.. or so I thought.. Once we tore everything out of the rear of the car we found frame rail issues.. ones I never realized I had.. at some point in the Darts life, some one did a quick patch over for inspection purposes I am sure.. its amazing what you can do with pop riveted tin, roofing tar, and a good coat of undercoating...
So.. a good amount of time was devoted to fixing the frame rails properly, now she is probably stronger and more solid than the day it rolled off the line.. Got the rear all painted up, all new brake lines, fuel line... painted up the springs and got everything slapped back together.. the pics here are poor quality, and I apologize.. they were done with my phone.. I will take better pics of the finished project...and get them posted soon...
We got the Dart back on the ground last Friday night.. took it out for its first run, and as my signiture says... drove it like we stole it... what a differance the gears made! its wasnt long til we were bringing her back in and putting her back up on stands LOL ... in an effort to save some money we just went with a quick visual inspection of the axle bearings... decided not to change them. replaced the inner seals only... turns out the drivers side bearing was bad... nothing like the smell of burning gear oil on the brakes LOL ... oh well.. minor setback.. should have my axle back today, the Dart will be back on the ground tonight... just in time for round 2! hehe...
