70 Dart, how to change regular dash to Rallye dash?

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70CRUSH

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Purchased restored 70 Dart with standard dash. It should have been restored with the Rallye dash. Can I install a Rallye dash without removing all the current dash assembly? Will the electrical system need to be changed to use the Rallye dash guages etc? Thanks for any help or advice. 70CRUSH
 
I think the dash is completely different. Meaning you can't just put the gauges in there. I have a 70 dart. I made my own cluster to hold autometer gauges.
 
The entire metal dash frame is different for the rallye dash, so the whole thing really needs to come out.

The wiring isn't really that different, you can move some of the wires around in the connectors and make it work. For a '70 you may have to change the connector as well.

I converted the dash frame in my '74, but after doing it that way I wouldn't recommend it. It was a lot of work and rallye dash frames aren't all that difficult to find.
 
72bluNblu said:
The entire metal dash frame is different for the rallye dash, so the whole thing really needs to come out.

The wiring isn't really that different, you can move some of the wires around in the connectors and make it work. For a '70 you may have to change the connector as well.

I converted the dash frame in my '74, but after doing it that way I wouldn't recommend it. It was a lot of work and rallye dash frames aren't all that difficult to find.
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Good advice. At least I can start thinking about how to approach the replacement idea. Too bad it was done this way. Not sure why unless it was cheaper or someone had access to the standard dash parts. The car was sold by a restorer to a charity to raffle. I bought from the winner. Thanks for your help everyone!
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No disrespect intended, but are you sure it's a real 340 car?

Only 340 cars got rallye dashes in '70. And, if the dash frame was swapped, the VIN tag was swapped too. Do all of the numbers match? What does the fender tag say?
 
72bluNblu said:
No disrespect intended, but are you sure it's a real 340 car?

Only 340 cars got rallye dashes in '70. And, if the dash frame was swapped, the VIN tag was swapped too. Do all of the numbers match? What does the fender tag say?
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Well, to be honest it is a bit of a mystery. The vin tag, the fender tag, and ownership history claims it to be a 70 swinger 340. I bought the car from a raffle winner who did not make any claims of proof about the history. He owned for about 10 years so it is now difficult to get good historic Intel. Bottom line now is that I own the car, it's real nice but should I consider going with a Rally dash. The 340 engine is not original but runs great. Car drives nice.
 
The windshield needs to come out to properly change the dash as the screws that fasten the top edge of the dash frame are underneath the windshield rubber. Also, as has been said you will also have to swap your VIN onto the new frame.....

Have you run the VIN number? Does the dash VIN match the paperwork, rad cradle and or trunk stamping?

If you want to share the VIN there are many here who will decode it for you.
 
I'd be checking some numbers if I were you, car might be a rebody, possibly stolen, who knows. That's why it's a good idea to check VINS before purchasing, imo
 
70CRUSH said:
Well, to be honest it is a bit of a mystery. The vin tag, the fender tag, and ownership history claims it to be a 70 swinger 340. I bought the car from a raffle winner who did not make any claims of proof about the history. He owned for about 10 years so it is now difficult to get good historic Intel. Bottom line now is that I own the car, it's real nice but should I consider going with a Rally dash. The 340 engine is not original but runs great. Car drives nice.
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Thanks d55dave and 72bluNblu. Car is legit. Lots of ownership records. Just not a lot of resto info from 10 years ago. Think I will consider going Rallye sometime in near future.
 
I seriously doubt ANYONE would remove a rally dash frame, cluster, wiring harness and all the other parts and replace them with standard non-340 swinger parts, during a legit restoration.
 
Not to be negative......but it is more likely that the original car was too far gone.....rusty, so a donor chasis was located which turned out to be a different year and had the standard dash. Is there any sign of the VIN tag being changed on the dash? Does it match the body stampings?

It is possible that Chrysler was out of rallye parts and built the car with a standard dash......
 
The elctrical is the easiest part of it. Move the wires into different style harness connectors, change the oil sender, done.
One can alter the dash sheet metal to work with a rallye inst' panel while in the car. Some dashes are more difficult than others. It has been done before. Cutting bending drilling holes is messy. Welding is to be avoided for obvious reasons. Anyway... One owner stated close to 1200 total spent. He did it right though, reproductions bezel, all instruments restored, etc...
The sale of what you have there would offset the cost a bit.
 
Any chance you have a build sheet?

I agree that it's pretty darn unlikely that just the dash was swapped. That would be unusual to say the least, but of course anything is possible.

I think it would actually be MORE likely that the car never came with one. Now, I'm not saying that I've heard of '70 340 cars that didn't have rallye dashes. But, knowing Ma Mopars track record, I would actually be less surprised that it came that way than if that was the only thing swapped.
 
72bluNblu said:
Any chance you have a build sheet?

I agree that it's pretty darn unlikely that just the dash was swapped. That would be unusual to say the least, but of course anything is possible.

I think it would actually be MORE likely that the car never came with one. Now, I'm not saying that I've heard of '70 340 cars that didn't have rallye dashes. But, knowing Ma Mopars track record, I would actually be less surprised that it came that way than if that was the only thing swapped.
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I thank you all for your thoughts on this. I will do some more investigating. Stay tuned!
 
Got any more pics of the car? Looks nice, I just cringe when I see shady practices like VINS swaps, rebodys, stolen cars ect. Hopefully that's not the case in your situation!
 
70CRUSH said:
I thank you all for your thoughts on this. I will do some more investigating. Stay tuned!
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Think before you post again.

If indeed your car is a collection of a few different cars, keep it to yourself. I've got no issue with VIN swapped Mopars, it helps keep more cars (like yours?) on the road. Many here, like our good friend above, think VIN swapping is a practice aligned with child slaughtering.

If you post a VIN here and you've indicated some question about your cars history, some do-gooder will add it to his list of "suspect" Mopars and you'll be unable to sell it online in future without said do-gooder doing his best to kill the sale.

Welcome to the forum :)
 
Mr Gorsky said:
Think before you post again.

If indeed your car is a collection of a few different cars, keep it to yourself. I've got no issue with VIN swapped Mopars, it helps keep more cars (like yours?) on the road. Many here, like our good friend above, think VIN swapping is a practice aligned with child slaughtering.

If you post a VIN here and you've indicated some question about your cars history, some do-gooder will add it to his list of "suspect" Mopars and you'll be unable to sell it online in future without said do-gooder doing his best to kill the sale.

Welcome to the forum :)
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VIN tampering laws exist for a reason. It is quite possible, the OP poster bought what he was told was a legit, restored, 70 "H" code swinger. Now if in fact it ISN'T, then he was mislead, and if he sells the car to someone later, he might be miss representing the car also. None of us here are "VIN NAZIS" or equate it to "child slaughtering" we simply dont like people being miss lead and lied to for profit. He came here looking for a answer, and now hopefully he has one, and knows what to look for
 
Mr Gorsky said:
Au contraire, mon ami. Nearly everyone here is a VIN Nazi.

...and the defense rests, Your Honor.
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VIN tampering is fraud. Period. Would you pay 4 or 5 times as much for your car just because? No? What about only twice as much? That's not that bad right? You'd pay double for your car for no reason, that's not a big deal. If you sell a car that's had its numbers altered you've committed a crime and deserve to be in jail.

Personally I think the numbers game is silly. Lots of those high dollar Hemi cars have less original metal than even my Duster/demon clone has. So what are you paying for? The right combination of stamped numbers. But if they played by the rules then it's ok. That's the way it works. And there a plenty of legal ways to repair damaged cars without just swapping VIN's. They involve more work and require more talent, and that's why lazy, untalented people that want big profits do body swaps.

Somebody gets left holding the bag. But I'd rather be the guy left holding the bag and lose that investment than be a dirtbag that misrepresents a car and loses my integrity.
 
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