What should I do?!

What should I do?

  • 360 cubes of gas guzzling tire shredding awesomeness?

    Votes: 41 67.2%

  • 170 cubes of slightly peppy yet economic awesomeness?

    Votes: 8 13.1%

  • Quit crying and drive your damn car?

    Votes: 12 19.7%
  • Total voters
    61
-
Where's Bill Dedman when you need him?

I vote......Turbo the little banger with a Pishta Pipe. It's more fun being different.
 
vntned said:
So my beloved '64 Dart has me in a predicament. I bought the car off of Craigslist a few years ago for $500. It was intended to be a temporary fix for my vintage Mopar cravings. Well I ended up falling in love with the old heap. I've since replaced the old wore out 170ci with a low mile 170ci out of an old lady owned Valiant, the three on the tree has been replaced with a 4spd OD, and the rear was replaced with a 8.25 rear end with 3.55 gears and a SureGrip. The suspension has all been done also. Front end rebuild kit, 1.03" Tbars, front 11.25" disk conversion from PST, Hellwig sway bars, Espo leaf springs and KYB shocks. It used as a daily driver off and on.

The good is that it gets stupid good gas mileage and is as docile as a sleeping paraplegic kitten.

The bad is that the old girl is slooooooooooooooooow! And the gear spacing in the OD trans is absolutely horrible for anything resembling spirited driving!

So do I swap in the warmed over 360 I've got on the bench?

Or should I just do some mild power mods to the little 170 and hope for acceleration?

Either way I think I'm gonna go with a close ratio 4spd instead of the OD. All my driving is in town or backroads anyway.
Click to expand...

I think you've answered your own question.......
A 360 with your current drive train setup would be the logical way to go in your case.
It won't be slooooooooow anymore, and you say that most of your driving is in town or back roads anyway. I would keep the o/d trans as is with it as long as the 360 has a very mild cam, something along the lines of a stock 340 cam. The o/d will help bring back a little of the mileage you lose over the anemic 170, and the torque of a 360 should help a lot with the wide gear spacing.
I love the slant sixes, don't get me wrong, and it's hard to go away from the mileage and reliability of one.
However, i get the impression that you want more out of the car than the slant 6 will give easily, and that's the bottom line in your case.
Just my 2 cents.......
Tom.
 
with the OD a healthy 225 can get 30. had one/ even a somewhat tired slant with the od should get at least 25. had those too.
if you do go with the S B, you are looking at a look of more paRTS,: rad. better rearend, at least 10 in drum brakes min. etc., driveshaft, dual exh. etc
 
The 360 since you have it. If a DD and you want better mileage, consider later installing EFI. One TBI kit is <$1000 now.

Get the elusive parts needed ahead of time. You must have a V-8 steering x-link, a ring spacer to fit the crankshaft snout (at least for autos, not sure about manual), 1.5" to 1.75" adapter for lower rad hose (or a new radiator), motor mounts for early V-8 (plus adapt one side for 360 block). You probably will eventually need a bigger rear-end, probably with no notice when your 7.25" one fails.
 
Good gosh..........you got all the high performance suspension/braking parts
and nothing to power it with.
Seems like a no-brainer to me, that sad little sixer should find a new home
in a geezermobile or under a tree in the shade and the V-8 in the hotrod ratmobile.
 
Years ago, when I first built my '65 Dart. I choose a \6 for the power train. But I built the car so that I can drop in a small block anytime I want too. I have never found a reason to do so. The \6 is a very interesting engine to make perform.

I would turbo the 170, at least it wouldn't be another cookie cutter 360 powered A Body.
 
Did I miss where a slant six OD transmission will fit on a 360?
 
With the appropiate Bellhousing any a833 4spd will bolt up.

And I'm running a fresh built 8.25 rearend with a 3.55gear and a SureGrip. The 7.25 rearend is long gone.
 
To put a 360 into your car you would need to do the following:

1) Update the radiator
2) modify a pair of 273 motor mounts to fit the 360
3) Install a V8 center link
4) Install a 10 1/2 clutch , bellhousing and clutch linkage, this may require surgery on the firewall
5) Install sub-frame connectors
6) Find some sort of exhaust manifolds that will fit the chassis, this may be the deal breaker due to costs

You will need to balance this against staying with the \6.
 
V-8 cars are a dime a dozen. Everybody's got one. I recommend a 225 with some power options. The car will be a lot less nose heavy, and it looks like you have it set up to handle. The 225 will make it a much more unique car.
 
Now this is just me,,(I do have Slant Sickness) A Hopped up Slant has a sound all it's own. Cool and different.
 
You've got the 360 which can still get reasonable mileage (especially with a well tuned thermoquad or yes quadrajunk). Get some of the good manifolds from Treblig so you don't have to worry about ground clearance and speed bumps and drive it like you stole it!
 
It depends on what you want and who you are. I keep looking at 68 Chargers or early 70's Challengers. I would love to sell the Dart and buy one, but I know I like speed. I don't like to lose those street races. If I spent all the money on the car, I would not be able to afford to make it as fast as I want it. So I keep the Dart. The point of all this? If it were me, it gets the 360. I love your car, by the way. If I do another a body, that's the car I'm going to do.
 
KosmicKuda said:
Where's Bill Dedman when you need him?

I vote......Turbo the little banger with a Pishta Pipe. It's more fun being different.
Click to expand...

X2!!! Mileage and power. Use the money it would cost to build the 360 to build something different. Everybody has a 360 or big block.
 
Well I think the dart is going to keep a slant six under the hood for now. Probably going to go with a 225 I recently acquired, with a few power adding upgrades of course.

As far as the 360 goes, I've got a new home for it. I'm thinking hot small block, lumpy cam, open headers, 4spd trans (of course), and steep gears. meet my new rat gasser project!



















Oh, and I just lowered my truck a bit, figured id show it off.

 
If you swap a v8 in plan on an od and efi with it. There are folks with a stupid amount of power still getting decent fuel economy. Just have to be able to justify the cost. Certain guy in Florida has (had?) Quickest N/A street car in the country...according to Hot Rod. Mr Millers Duster had a Predator headed big wedge. Powerglide with a Gear Vendors. Twin Chevy LS throttle bodies controlled by a Holley ECU. Somewhere in the area of 1200 hp at the tires. Think Mr. Miller said he got 14mpg during the road portions of DW. Owner of Fastman EFI was getting 14mpg or so with his EFI setup on a 800 or so hp 572" HEMI. Ain't no reason to not get 20mpg with a 450hp small block...
 
big ol' can of worms you opened up here - soooooo, of course "everyone" has a V8 - cost to performance, it's the way to go... the old formula, big cubes - light car = go fast. Are you trying to keep it "easy"? go 6banger and make it work. Up for some retro fitting and spending a few extra bucks on pieces and parts? go V8 - from the sounds (and looks) of it you do have basis for a hot dog of a hot rod.. very cool car!
 
Detroit Iron said:
V-8 cars are a dime a dozen. Everybody's got one. I recommend a 225 with some power options. The car will be a lot less nose heavy, and it looks like you have it set up to handle. The 225 will make it a much more unique car.
Click to expand...

I believe there is only about 50 pounds difference between a / and a smallblock. That would not be nose heavy in my book.
 
First up vntned,I love the look of your ride,thats exactly what I'm in the process
of doing to my '64 GT!! Did that spoiler fit w/o much mod work?Looks good on there.
Second up,even tho' I'm doing a built 225 for mine(third version of the same eng.)
the only way that slanty can compete w/a mild 360 is efi and a turbo.Which is certainly more
interesting, but not more cost effective.Smaller engines only shine in city driving and flat hi-
way trips.Any consistent hill climbing or long grades will have you gearing down sooner/more
often, and have your foot in the carb enuff to keep putting it into the power circuit,which is
not more efficient.The 225 w/some basic mods will perk that thing up and give maybe better
mpg at that,but it ain't runnin' w/a mild 360!!
Lastly,what year is that little old lady 170 you've got in it now?I've got a thread
on the slanty forum about those,looking for casting#'s and core hole count for '68 & up, ?
 
I have a free diplomat front suspension for your gasser project if you want to come get it. I also have a 4 spd non OD.
 
How much $$ are you willing to throw at it? And what are you looking for? Contrary to what some folks think it is possible to have a hot rod get reasonable fuel mileage...as long as you are willing to step out of the dinosaur days of karbanators and non-od gear boxes....if you have a slush box add a lockup converter.
I know of a few folks that have big cube, higher hp power plants that get double digit mileage. Ain't no reason why a 450-500 hp small block can't get 20 mpg....you just have to leave the Thermojunk, single point and archaic 3 speed hydraulic trans where it belongs...for the purists.....

Didn't read the entire thread....didn't remember leaving a comment..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top