What Are You Doing To/With Your Car Today?
Today there was a cruise-in in Willow Springs (about 30 miles door-to-door). So I got the Dart out of the garage for the first time since last fall... amazing how dirty a car can get in a closed garage. Anyway I spent two hours cleaning the interior (and the silt from our dirt roads out of the trunk) and hand-washing it too. Looked pretty good afterwards.
It was a perfect day for a cruise - warm and sunny. They had a DJ, a 50/50 raffle (the guy who bought tickets right before me won $147!) and a cupcake truck. I brought 3 home for my SO ;)
The Dart ran fine too, and even with evaporation since last fall, I still averaged 10.7 mpg. (I can get 11 and tenths if I keep it below 65 on the highway). On the uphill ramp from the Willow Springs interchange onto US 60/63 I finally floored it all the way in 3rd gear starting at the bottom of the powerband (~3000 rpm)... holy crap. :steering: I was going 75+ before I knew it, and short-shifted at only 5000 into 4th, too. AFR was a good rich 12.5 when I glanced at the gauge. I'm still afraid to go wide-open in the first two gears after 1300 road miles! And that's before I add another 80 hp with the PRH-ported Speedmasters that are still sitting in the boxes, going on 3 years... something more important always seems to come up in the off-season.
I may start the head swap tomorrow, and hope I can get it back together before the next car event on the 29th... pushrod clearance and length are the big questions. These heads are supposed to be a bolt-on, but we all know how that goes :rolleyes:
My '72 Dart in the foreground :thumbsup:
The only other Mopar at the entire event, a '49(?) Dodge pickup.
This Mini Countryman now has a Mercury Mountaineer drivetrain :)
Today there was a cruise-in in Willow Springs (about 30 miles door-to-door). So I got the Dart out of the garage for the first time since last fall... amazing how dirty a car can get in a closed garage. Anyway I spent two hours cleaning the interior (and the silt from our dirt roads out of the trunk) and hand-washing it too. Looked pretty good afterwards.
It was a perfect day for a cruise - warm and sunny. They had a DJ, a 50/50 raffle (the guy who bought tickets right before me won $147!) and a cupcake truck. I brought 3 home for my SO ;)
The Dart ran fine too, and even with evaporation since last fall, I still averaged 10.7 mpg. (I can get 11 and tenths if I keep it below 65 on the highway). On the uphill ramp from the Willow Springs interchange onto US 60/63 I finally floored it all the way in 3rd gear starting at the bottom of the powerband (~3000 rpm)... holy crap. :steering: I was going 75+ before I knew it, and short-shifted at only 5000 into 4th, too. AFR was a good rich 12.5 when I glanced at the gauge. I'm still afraid to go wide-open in the first two gears after 1300 road miles! And that's before I add another 80 hp with the PRH-ported Speedmasters that are still sitting in the boxes, going on 3 years... something more important always seems to come up in the off-season.
I may start the head swap tomorrow, and hope I can get it back together before the next car event on the 29th... pushrod clearance and length are the big questions. These heads are supposed to be a bolt-on, but we all know how that goes :rolleyes:
My '72 Dart in the foreground :thumbsup:
The only other Mopar at the entire event, a '49(?) Dodge pickup.