Might as well join the elite with a Magnum powered Dart
As implied I am planning an engine swap for a tired 1970 Dart Swinger. The original slant six runs decent, but a 5.2 Magnum would make things a lot more interesting. I would like to make this a build/engine swap thread because there are some issues that need to addressed before the original engine is removed.
I picked the car up a few months ago, thinking I was cured from fighting rust and degradation after selling other projects. To my better half's disappointment, there is no cure.
Here it is on the trailer form Douglas, MA:
It was cheap and rust free, I mean the rust was free. It's pretty crunchy but not beyond repair. First order of business was to introduce it to it's organ donor:
The leaning pile of Dodge is the result of a dissolved torsion bar mount and collapsed rear leaves. All things that will be dealt with prior to the engine swap.
I needed something to hold down my jackstands with. This should do:
The surgery begins by removing the cancerous areas and replacing them with less cancerous materials harvested from a junk yard Valiant:
A friend donated some Jeep J-10 floor panels to the cause, so I'll cut them to fit:
Then crudely form them over a block of wood with a hammer and swear words:
Welded in place. The filler plate at the top of the filler panel was flux-core MIG'd in and looks pretty bad. The result of running out of Argon and having to switch to flux-core. I'll deal with it later:
The worst is over, at least that's what I'm telling myself. Now to move on to brakes. There is a thread on here about using M body spindles and it is accurate. Hot Rod Magazine even did a pretty comprehensive article about it:
Swapping Disc-Brake Spindles - Mopar Muscle Magazine
A good read for sure. Plus, if it's on the internets it has to be true.
Anyway, here is the money shot. An A body '73-'76 lower ball joint bolted to an M body (1977 LeBaron to be exact) spindle:
Since neither are threaded, you'll need 5/8"x18 grade 8 bolts, 2 1/2" long. I used metal lock nuts on the back side since clearance to rotor on the front is pretty close.
I went with the Dr. Diff adapters for the upper ball joint since finding disc brake A body parts in the junk yards is slim pickings:
Mopar A-Body Upper Ball Joint Tapered Adapter
The nuts they supply did not match the thread of my Autozone upper ball joints, so be advised.
Here is the assembled disc brake:
I did get a considerable amount of toe-out after converting over to disc brakes:
My buddy who is allowing me to ruin his Dad's storage lot and garage with bad ideas helped adjust the tie rods to get it the toe-in fairly close:
It had just been lowered off the lift, that's why it looks like it has so much positive camber.
The hardest part of this was replacing all of the brake lines. We welded in a bracket for the proportion valve from an 80's Dodge pick up that matches the booster and master cylinder we made work for this:
It took a decent amount of cutting, drilling, and welding to make it fit so I wouldn't advise it as a bolt on swap.
More on this as I make progress.
As implied I am planning an engine swap for a tired 1970 Dart Swinger. The original slant six runs decent, but a 5.2 Magnum would make things a lot more interesting. I would like to make this a build/engine swap thread because there are some issues that need to addressed before the original engine is removed.
I picked the car up a few months ago, thinking I was cured from fighting rust and degradation after selling other projects. To my better half's disappointment, there is no cure.
Here it is on the trailer form Douglas, MA:
It was cheap and rust free, I mean the rust was free. It's pretty crunchy but not beyond repair. First order of business was to introduce it to it's organ donor:
The leaning pile of Dodge is the result of a dissolved torsion bar mount and collapsed rear leaves. All things that will be dealt with prior to the engine swap.
I needed something to hold down my jackstands with. This should do:
The surgery begins by removing the cancerous areas and replacing them with less cancerous materials harvested from a junk yard Valiant:
A friend donated some Jeep J-10 floor panels to the cause, so I'll cut them to fit:
Then crudely form them over a block of wood with a hammer and swear words:
Welded in place. The filler plate at the top of the filler panel was flux-core MIG'd in and looks pretty bad. The result of running out of Argon and having to switch to flux-core. I'll deal with it later:
The worst is over, at least that's what I'm telling myself. Now to move on to brakes. There is a thread on here about using M body spindles and it is accurate. Hot Rod Magazine even did a pretty comprehensive article about it:
Swapping Disc-Brake Spindles - Mopar Muscle Magazine
A good read for sure. Plus, if it's on the internets it has to be true.
Anyway, here is the money shot. An A body '73-'76 lower ball joint bolted to an M body (1977 LeBaron to be exact) spindle:
Since neither are threaded, you'll need 5/8"x18 grade 8 bolts, 2 1/2" long. I used metal lock nuts on the back side since clearance to rotor on the front is pretty close.
I went with the Dr. Diff adapters for the upper ball joint since finding disc brake A body parts in the junk yards is slim pickings:
Mopar A-Body Upper Ball Joint Tapered Adapter
The nuts they supply did not match the thread of my Autozone upper ball joints, so be advised.
Here is the assembled disc brake:
I did get a considerable amount of toe-out after converting over to disc brakes:
My buddy who is allowing me to ruin his Dad's storage lot and garage with bad ideas helped adjust the tie rods to get it the toe-in fairly close:
It had just been lowered off the lift, that's why it looks like it has so much positive camber.
The hardest part of this was replacing all of the brake lines. We welded in a bracket for the proportion valve from an 80's Dodge pick up that matches the booster and master cylinder we made work for this:
It took a decent amount of cutting, drilling, and welding to make it fit so I wouldn't advise it as a bolt on swap.
More on this as I make progress.