1971 EV2 Dodge Demon "Sizzler"

[chlngr1970]

Intersting. I didn't know that.

So, the 318 cars had a 7.25 rear? WOW...I never would have guessed that.

I haven't measured the 8.75 that is in there now, but am guessing it is not original. That is why I was HOPING it would be on the fender tag...

j

 

[RPM]

Here is a blurb I had found on them... as was said before... there just isnt a lot of info on these cars.

Demon "Sizzler" -- Cool New Item From Dodge
DETROIT -- Dodge's little Demon, the popular 108-inch-wheelbase addition to the compact line for 1971, now offers a Demon "Sizzler" for sporty car enthusiasts more interested in "show" than "go."
The "Sizzler option package has 13 items, five of which are offered at "no charge" including rallye wheels, color-keyed grille collar, body side tape stripes and stylish, black hood treatment.

Grille collars to match body colors are available in special sporty colors -- Citron Yella, Plum Crazy, and Hemi Orange. The standard collar is silver.

Other bright body colors are Green Go, Butterscotch, and Top Banana. There are 12 standard body colors from which to choose.

Package items include dual, color-keyed outside racing mirrors (left remote); "Tuff", racing-type steering wheel; carpeting; combination plaid cloth and vinyl bench seats; rear deck panel stripe; bright drip rail and wheel lip mouldings; and 6.95 x 14 white side-wall tires.

Bucket seats and D78 x 14 or E70 x 14 tires with raised white lettering are optional. The standard Slant Six engine is 198 cubic inches. A 225-cubic-inch Six is optional. Standard V-8 is 318 cubic inches.

A-59 SIZZLER PKG 1971

I would keep the 8 3/4 myself... nothing wrong with that set up.

-RPM

 

[RPM]

 

[813Demon340]

I had a 71 Duster 318, auto car that came with an 8 3/4 so its possible thats the original rear. If nothing else has been changed on the car then why would somebody change just the rear? what bolt pattern is it? If its small I'd say its original. Sometimes build sheets were in the front seat backs and taped to the backside of the glovebox.

 

[chlngr1970]

The 8.75 in it is the big bolt circle. Like I said, I haven't measured it yet to see if it is the correct length for th A-Body. Is there a way to determine if the 8.75 is correct, but modified to have the big bolt circle?

RPM, I am DEFINITELY going to leave the 8.75 in it, since I found out the 8.25 wasn't available till after 71. There is NO WAY I am putting a 7.75 rear in this car. Since I am going to heat up the motor, it won't handle the kind of power I want to put to it. Plus, I have the two ( one in the Duster and THIS one ) plus another 8.75 housing . I am also thinking of pulling the 8.75 out of my '72 half ton Dodge that I am about to scrap.

j

 

[chlngr1970]

Thanks for sharing this with us 8)
I've got some additions / corrections to the info that you've received ; these notes will be in bold next to the info you've provided .
I'm mentioning these corrections / additions , not to bust your chops , but for educational purposes .
Don't get me wrong : I don't "know-it-all" ; quite the opposite : I'm pretty dumb .
However , I'm just passing-along info that I've learned throughout my 40 years :read2:

I appreciate any information I can get, specially corrections to misconceptions I have about my cars. So, go ahead and bust away

j

 

[chlngr1970]

OK, THIS is confusing me:

Sizzler's did not have trim rings on the ralley wheels and but did have the chrome fender mouldings. This car was the poor man's 340 Demon but only came with a 318, 904 and an 8.25 rear end.

So...Did they come with an 8.25 or not?

j

 

[needsaresto]

The 8.75 in it is the big bolt circle. Like I said, I haven't measured it yet to see if it is the correct length for th A-Body. Is there a way to determine if the 8.75 is correct, but modified to have the big bolt circle?

RPM, I am DEFINITELY going to leave the 8.75 in it, since I found out the 8.25 wasn't available till after 71. There is NO WAY I am putting a 7.75 rear in this car. Since I am going to heat up the motor, it won't handle the kind of power I want to put to it. Plus, I have the two ( one in the Duster and THIS one ) plus another 8.75 housing . I am also thinking of pulling the 8.75 out of my '72 half ton Dodge that I am about to scrap.

j

I would pull the pu diff.Can always be cut down to fit.

Any kind of respectable power and you need an 8 3/4. 8 1/4 will hold up to 400 hp with no trouble,but seeing as you already have the better diff who cares?

There are some who have swapped in the 8.8" ford,the 9" ford with good success. I even know a guy who swapped in a jeep 8 1/4 with disc brakes from a late 80's cherokee. Whatever you decide to do,best of luck!

 

[71ChallengerSE]

The majority of 318 A-bodies I have run across had 7.25 rears. Yours probably had a 7.25 factory and was upgraded to a BBP 8.75 later.

 

[chlngr1970]

I would pull the pu diff.Can always be cut down to fit.

That is why I was thinking of pulling the PU 8.75.

Any kind of respectable power and you need an 8 3/4. 8 1/4 will hold up to 400 hp with no trouble,but seeing as you already have the better diff who cares?

Yeah, I was just thinking of the 8.25 for a stone stock resto, ya know

There are some who have swapped in the 8.8" ford,the 9" ford with good success. I even know a guy who swapped in a jeep 8 1/4 with disc brakes from a late 80's cherokee. Whatever you decide to do,best of luck!

I have a Dana 60 from a truck in my back yard waiting to be cut down for my Duster. Then I'm gonna take THAT 8.75 and put it in the Dart. Since the Demon already has one, BONUS

j

 

[chlngr1970]

The majority of 318 A-bodies I have run across had 7.25 rears. Yours probably had a 7.25 factory and was upgraded to a BBP 8.75 later.

[Fingers in ears]LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!

I DON'T HERE YOU!

LOL!

Don't tell me that I do NOT want to put a 7.25 in the Demon, even it it WAS original. The 8.75 stays, end of story!

j

 

[LH23H2R]

Those 7.25" rears would grenade behind a 170 / 904 combo , with an old lady driving .
Total junk .

The big bolt-circle-pattern means one-of-two things :
1. It's a "B" Body piece
2. Someone put axles in an "A" Body diff that have the 5x4.5" bolt circle

The 1968 Hurst/Hemi Darts & Barracudas had standard-width 8.75" rears ( early-production T-Flite-equipped cars ) and Dana 60's from the "B" bodies .
This is one of -- if not the prime -- reasons why their rear wheel well openings were carefully (HA!) modified by Hurst-Campbell : clearance .
Typically , the "29" body style cars ( Duster , et al. ) don't / won't have the interference problems , as their quarter panels were generously-proportioned .

 

[greg]

What are you doing for heads? Have yu considered the closed chambeer cop/police car heads. I knos the mechanic at our shop suggested that foe my 318. In the end I went 340 but I was excited about the 318 low budget build. You can find a good article about it in the Mopar Magazine sitehttp://www.moparmusclemagazine.com/techarticles/mopp_0409_318_engine_build/index.html
Check out the article. My buddy built a 318 and the local community college used it as an example of what can be done with bolt on stuff and old school thinking. Brfore the internet etc. people had to be creative.

 

[813Demon340]

Its common for people spread the springs and put a B body rear in. The best way to tell would be to look at and measure the spring perches. If they look rewelded then theres your answer, b body. Factpry welds then measure between the perches and that should determine whether its and A body or B body. Stock A body perch width is 43". Love your Demon BTW!

Heres a link that may help:
http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/axle/17.html

 

[dusterbd13]

my duster was completely stock when igot it. 318, 3 on the floor, 3.23 sure grip 8.75.

most ive seen with 8.75 and 318 were stick cars.

 

[chlngr1970]

Got the balancer off, and the crank/cam out of the motor. The block is now ready to go to the machine shop. When I got the cam out, it looked like the timing gears were new. I am wondering if a previous owner had pulled the intake, and put the cam in to try and get it running, then either lost interest, money...what have you. It has a Crane 271-693971 Powermax 248 cam in the motor. If I put together a 318 for the car, I am leaning toward a 268ish grind cam. I was considering a MP P4452761 268/272; .450/.455 cam. My 340 has the MP 284/.484 cam and it is pretty lumpy I REALLY enjoyed how it sounded, and ran for that matter.

I'm probably going to send both my 318 blocks in when I take this 318 in. I am probably going to clean this block up, and store it, and build the spare 318 to 350HP. With the car being what it is, I think this is the best way to approach this numbers matching question.

j

 

[chlngr1970]

A couple pix of the worst of the body damage...

j

 

[chlngr1970]

I have a question for my learned brethren of the MOPAR community. I am considering moving forward with my "resto" plans instead of getting the car running for summer. Being on a limited budget for this project, would it be better to get started on a restoration style rebuild, or get it on the road ASAP?

I was thinking this weekend of completely stripping the car to the rolling chassis, and hauling it off to a body shop. There she would sit for however long it takes to get back a car ready to assemble. How do you fellas send off your restoration projects for what can amount to years at a time? I remember a long time ago ( when I had my FC7 71 Demon 340 ) a friend that had a 68 Barracuda Fast back in the body shop for over 3 years. This would allow me to get the most expensive part done over time, and give me a realistic way of funding it. I could even, in theory, have a freshly painted, running car, NEXT summer.

hmm...

That sounds like a good idea, actually...

j

 

[chlngr1970]

I picked up a Magnum 5.9 with auto OD trans and 9.25 rear from a 2000 Dodge Dakota R/T for an envelope full of Benjamins. Came complete with two computers, one stocker Dakota R/T, the other a MP Dakota Computer. The plan has become, swap the 5.9 in place of the 5.2 that resides in my '98 Dakota. I am planning to have them both freshened up, attach the 5.2 to the Dakota R/T Auto OD Trans, and massage them into the Demon. This is a boon, IMHO, because I was giving serious consideration to putting an OD trans in anyway. Adding Fuel Injection, and late model reliability to the package is just huge. I am also considering replacing the factory "kegger" manifold with the Hughes Engines Edelbrock Air Gap FI manifold.

So, gonna get the 5.9 swapped in to get the 5.2 out and freshened up ( rings and bearings. ) The kicker is going to be cutting those perfect floor pans for the transmission LOL! I'm getting more and more excited about this car...

j

 

[rapidtransitric]

thats a good swap. i've done that a few times. makes the old mopar very reliable. you'll have to spread the tunnel but not a big deal when it;s all said and done. i'll follow your build.....

 

[chlngr1970]

thats a good swap. i've done that a few times. makes the old mopar very reliable. you'll have to spread the tunnel but not a big deal when it;s all said and done. i'll follow your build.....

Any advice you can give? I'm dealing with the Evap Emissions control in my 03 Durango right now. How do you deal with that in an old Mopar?

j

 

[mossified340]

I have a 1971 demon Sizzler and it has a 725 rear end

 

[chlngr1970]

I have a 1971 demon Sizzler and it has a 725 rear end

To bad you are so far away. I'm replacing the 8.75 in my Duster with a Dana 60...

j

 

[chlngr1970]

Got some work done on the Demon today. Cleaned out the trunk more, pulled the bench seat, and the wiring from under the hood. I also pulled out the "custom stereo" wiring that was all over the car. Got the tail lights and side markers off as well as the left rear window replace. Probably just going to have to pull it back out when I send it to the body shop LOL. Still looking for a front bunper, and now want to switch it over to power steering, as i don't know if the Dakota's ever had manual steering or not. So, I now need a power steering gear box and a manual trans/PS column.

I found some rust in the car, but it is in MUCH better shape than my Duster at this point. Someone had put buckets in and one of the mounting holes for the buckets is cracked. I figure a 3'X3' plate welded to the floor for reinforcement should take care of that. I also thing the springs have lost thier...spring... When I had the rear up in the air ( almost did the brakes today ) with the wheel off, it looked like the spring was flat... Probably just pull the 8.75 rear from my Duster and put it in the Demon, springs and all.

So, next week, if it is nice, I'll get the 74 Dart Sport k frame and disc brakes installed, and rebuild the rear brakes. Wish me luck!

j

 

[chlngr1970]

I pulled this ( First and second pic ) off my firewall ( third pic, red circle ) and am wondering what it is. Any ideas?

j