Dodge73Dart
1973 Dodge Dart Sport restoration
This is what’s going in mine.
Your car looks nice.
1974 Duster build
- Thread starter Cuprum-74
- Start date
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This is what’s going in mine.
Your car looks nice.
Time for a long overdue update: My next upgrade. Reinforced lower control arms with swaybar tabs. Proforged ball joints and C-Body tierod ends. QA1 C-body tierod sleeve. And a performance PST 1.03" torsion bar to replace the 45 year old stock .87" one. This thing will handle much better once done. You can see how much beefier the C-body tierod assembly is compared the to stock A-body ones. Bilstein shocks are the next upgrade after this.
Done! Much improved handling, although it did make the ride a bit more stiff.
The alignment telemetry improve quite a bit as well. (No more set-negative camber due to weak torsion bars).
Now to get her aligned again.
The alignment telemetry improve quite a bit as well. (No more set-negative camber due to weak torsion bars).
Now to get her aligned again.
Well I finally decided to tear into the A500 I acquired awhile ago. It's out of a 92 dakota 2wd with a 5.2. As you can see it does need a rebuild. But all in all it was actutally in not too bad shape. As far as I can see all the clutches appear to be a red-orange color. The fluid does smell a little burnt. So I'll be inspecting further
Whew been awhile!
Currently in the process of installing a refurbished dash. Getting rid of the cheap dash-cap and shipping back the old dash back to the Ebay store for a core charge.
Also taking out my budget gauge panel and putting in a new aftermarket one from Classic dash.
All in all, the dash will look many times better than before.
Sadly not much more will be done, I've been extremely busy lately with work, finalizing my retirement with the Air National Guard and putting my house on the market so I can sell it.
Mainly looking for a bigger lot (bonus would be a shop) and farther away from apartments full of obnoxious idiots.
What I started with. Cheap dashcap all warped from the sun and heat.
Cap gone:
The old "budget" gauge panel that I mishmashed together to get her on the road:
All apart now:
And the new/refreshed stuff ready to be put in:
Currently in the process of installing a refurbished dash. Getting rid of the cheap dash-cap and shipping back the old dash back to the Ebay store for a core charge.
Also taking out my budget gauge panel and putting in a new aftermarket one from Classic dash.
All in all, the dash will look many times better than before.
Sadly not much more will be done, I've been extremely busy lately with work, finalizing my retirement with the Air National Guard and putting my house on the market so I can sell it.
Mainly looking for a bigger lot (bonus would be a shop) and farther away from apartments full of obnoxious idiots.
What I started with. Cheap dashcap all warped from the sun and heat.
Cap gone:
The old "budget" gauge panel that I mishmashed together to get her on the road:
All apart now:
And the new/refreshed stuff ready to be put in:
Well just to update. I'm currently homeless with a huge wad of cash since mid-July.
I sold my house and trying to get a newer, bigger model. With the house market going bonkers here in Utah it's harder than I thought.
So the last thing I did was update the old gauge panel and and put on new promaxx aluminum heads. Which bumped the compression from 9.3 to 10.4. (I also used cometic's .028 in all metal head gaskets.)
I sold my house and trying to get a newer, bigger model. With the house market going bonkers here in Utah it's harder than I thought.
So the last thing I did was update the old gauge panel and and put on new promaxx aluminum heads. Which bumped the compression from 9.3 to 10.4. (I also used cometic's .028 in all metal head gaskets.)
Well... Time for another over-due update:
We finally got a new house (I mean new, built in Sep. 2020). We lucked out finding this house that was only 5 weeks from completion when we bought it.
What a pain! We spent pretty much the whole 2020 summer looking at houses putting in offers and losing many bidding wars.
But so far the main thing I like about this house is the 4 car garage!
The only thing I don't like is all the landscaping I'll need to do, which takes my time away from the duster.
But another big change in my life, after nearly 21 yrs, I have retired from the National Guard. I started a new contractor position at Hill AFB the past several years after I got tired of working with the Guard full time for over 4 years, only to be "roadblocked" on my next promotion. So I figured it was time to go, I did the "traditional" Guardsmen thing the last 2.5 years of my career, which also interfered with the new job, which gave me more reason to retire.
But even so I did a few updates to her:
Went from 15 inch to 17 inch rims: (17x7 front, 17x8 rear with 225/50R17s up front and 255/50R17s on the rear):
Before with the 15 inch rims:
And here she is with 17 inch rims: (the front looks a little high because she wasn't quite "settled" after I lowered her from the jack)
And yes the rear springs will be replaced soon as well.
And my near future upgrade: (just gotta wait on the cam and heads since they're on backorder)
We finally got a new house (I mean new, built in Sep. 2020). We lucked out finding this house that was only 5 weeks from completion when we bought it.
What a pain! We spent pretty much the whole 2020 summer looking at houses putting in offers and losing many bidding wars.
But so far the main thing I like about this house is the 4 car garage!
The only thing I don't like is all the landscaping I'll need to do, which takes my time away from the duster.
But another big change in my life, after nearly 21 yrs, I have retired from the National Guard. I started a new contractor position at Hill AFB the past several years after I got tired of working with the Guard full time for over 4 years, only to be "roadblocked" on my next promotion. So I figured it was time to go, I did the "traditional" Guardsmen thing the last 2.5 years of my career, which also interfered with the new job, which gave me more reason to retire.
But even so I did a few updates to her:
Went from 15 inch to 17 inch rims: (17x7 front, 17x8 rear with 225/50R17s up front and 255/50R17s on the rear):
Before with the 15 inch rims:
And here she is with 17 inch rims: (the front looks a little high because she wasn't quite "settled" after I lowered her from the jack)
And yes the rear springs will be replaced soon as well.
And my near future upgrade: (just gotta wait on the cam and heads since they're on backorder)
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DionR
Well-Known Member
Congrats on your retirement and thank you for your service.
Missed this thread over the years somehow. Nice job.
Question, you said the ride got tiffed with the 1.03” torsion bars. What shocks are you running? Bigger bars need quality shocks and a mismatch can create a rough ride. I have .99” bars and RCD Bilsteins and my car doesn’t ride any rougher than the 2015 Challenger with the Super Track Pak suspension did.
Missed this thread over the years somehow. Nice job.
Question, you said the ride got tiffed with the 1.03” torsion bars. What shocks are you running? Bigger bars need quality shocks and a mismatch can create a rough ride. I have .99” bars and RCD Bilsteins and my car doesn’t ride any rougher than the 2015 Challenger with the Super Track Pak suspension did.
DionR,
I actually went with the QA1 shocks. Lemme say, MUCH better.
I was using KYB shocks, which was good with the stock torsion bars (.89). But once I put the 1.03" ones in that combo rode like a tank.
Here is the shocks I used:
(front) QA1 TN501 QA1 Stocker Star NA Shocks | Summit Racing
(rear) QA1 TN901 QA1 Stocker Star NA Shocks | Summit Racing
She now rides slightly stiffer (vs. the .89 bars and KYB shocks) with all QA1 goodies and 17 inch rims but handles awesome.
Let's just put it this way... she handles MUCH better than my old 2006 Honda Accord V6, when it used to be opposite when it had the more stock setup.
The lower control arms are the only part that is left original in the front suspension. It's been welded/reinforced of course, plus with a bigger anti-sway bar from QA1 installed as well to help things out.
The rear is going to have newer stiffer leaf springs and a rear anti-sway bar installed later on.
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DionR
Well-Known Member
Nice!
KYB where ones that I heard specifically didn’t work well with bigger torsion bars, so makes sense.
If I had a faster ratio steering I would put my Duster up with my old Challenger, so I agree these can be wonderful cars to drive with some simple upgrades.
That 408 should be nice when you get it in the car.
Me too, in fact I was close! Couple of days after I did this, I drove to Colorado taking the scenic route, 10 hours one way to Louisville to visit the wife visiting her family. Then from there we drove up to Estes Park to the cabin I rented for a few days, to *ahem* celebrate our 10th yr anniversary. We drove the duster there as well.
Let me tell you, with all QA1 and PST suspension goodies up front this thing is fun in the twisties!
After averaging between 15-16 mpg highways miles overdrive is the next big thing to update of course after I put together the 408 stroker, still waiting on cylinder heads and Cam.
Which will be a bit, I just found out that Edelbrock has just moved their HQ from California to Mississippi earlier this year.
Well... Not too much to update at the moment. The 408 build is (very) slowly coming along. Mainly due to parts on back-order and high shipping costs.
I tried ordering a headliner from Layson's, apparently their supplier has skyrocketed in price due to rising material costs, shipping has skyrocketed due to rising fuel costs, in fact it has more than doubled in some areas.
So it's not just them that are affected by what is going on sadly. Hughes Engines has almost the same story. I did finally get my camshaft from them.
There are others as well and it seems like it's the smaller businesses that are affected.
Sheesh! I really thought about hanging up the riding gear for motorcycles permanently, that is until now.
$75 to fill 13-14 gallons and only get about 11 mpg town, 16+ mpg freeway. VS. 5 gallons and getting 32 / 43 mpg (cty/hwy) on my 1700cc beast.
I tried ordering a headliner from Layson's, apparently their supplier has skyrocketed in price due to rising material costs, shipping has skyrocketed due to rising fuel costs, in fact it has more than doubled in some areas.
So it's not just them that are affected by what is going on sadly. Hughes Engines has almost the same story. I did finally get my camshaft from them.
There are others as well and it seems like it's the smaller businesses that are affected.
Sheesh! I really thought about hanging up the riding gear for motorcycles permanently, that is until now.
$75 to fill 13-14 gallons and only get about 11 mpg town, 16+ mpg freeway. VS. 5 gallons and getting 32 / 43 mpg (cty/hwy) on my 1700cc beast.
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Not quite duster related, but I have been busy putting back my bike together after a deer strike a year back.
I'll need another means of transportation while I do some serious work on the duster as well as assembling the 408. And also using something with much better gas mileage for now.
I'm paying over $5.49+ / gallon here for premium
Figured using something a tad bit more economical for now at 32 / 43 mpg (cty/hwy), would also be a good bonus until things settle down.
Here it was after the deer decided to freak out and run into my bike, (literally chest bumping it and making me lose control). Stupid animals.
Now she has been put together with new parts:
I'll need another means of transportation while I do some serious work on the duster as well as assembling the 408. And also using something with much better gas mileage for now.
I'm paying over $5.49+ / gallon here for premium
Figured using something a tad bit more economical for now at 32 / 43 mpg (cty/hwy), would also be a good bonus until things settle down.
Here it was after the deer decided to freak out and run into my bike, (literally chest bumping it and making me lose control). Stupid animals.
Now she has been put together with new parts:
Do you still like the NVU gauges? Working well? I’m deciding between those and Dakota digital for my build. They look nice
Sorry for not responding to your question earlier. Been crazy busy.
- Yes I'm still using the NVU gauges, The tach started wiggin' out because of a factory defect, they replaced it for free.
- The Dakota Digital looked nice as well, it just didn't have that nostalgic look to it like the NVU's. I was looking for something that had modern electronics with retro look. Kinda like what I'm doing with my restomod in progress.
And also to update...
I sold the bike to a happy young couple...
Primary reason is I got tired of the crazies on the road, both 2 and 4 legged. Secondary is I needed more funds for home landscaping and more work on the duster.
Sayin' goodbye:
I sold the bike to a happy young couple...
Primary reason is I got tired of the crazies on the road, both 2 and 4 legged. Secondary is I needed more funds for home landscaping and more work on the duster.
Sayin' goodbye:
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