Swingin73Dart
Well-Known Member
So I got tired of driving my 88 sh*tbox Camry around every day and missed driving around old muscle all the time like I used to but I don’t want all the worry of door dings or leaving something with a big $$$ paint job alone in a parking lot to get damaged or stolen if I’m not keeping an eye on it. Plus I’m a huge fan of Roadkill/Roadkill Garage, which made putting good parts on ratty cars cool. So I came across this Dart over the summer and snapped it up for 1800 with the idea of building a decent daily driver car that would still give me the satisfaction of getting to drive old American iron every day with enough muscle to make it fun and go beat on at the track if I feel like, or use as a backup if my 67 Cougar (my main bracket car) is down for repairs. It was originally a 318 2bbl/904/7.25 car and I had planned on using the speed parts that came with the car to make the 318 as good as I could on a budget but I came across a free 360 so that’s currently in the machine shop and will be going in the car. This is 100% a budget build so without cutting corners I’m trying to build this as cheaply as possible. I do all my own work so I’m saving a ton in just elbow grease and parts I have laying around or can scrounge up/buy on the cheap. My end goal is to have something that at least runs 14’s in the 1/4 mile and I can take down the freeway and on road trips without worry. Not so great when my other hot rod has 4.11 gears out back! So anyway, this is the car as I sat when I first bought it, it has some rust in the quarters and a couple small holes in the floor but surprisingly solid and straight for an (ex) vinyl top car.
I managed to find another 73 swinger with a slant 6 as a parts car for 1000 that I got a complete black interior with a perfect dash pad from. Plus wheels, better bumpers, nice grille, and other assorted parts from.
Since I’ve started working on the car I’ve yanked the 318 out and sold it to help pay for the 360. Out with the old smogger, in with another 40 cubes!
After I had the engine bay cleared out I thought it was a good a time as any to strip all the suspension and the K frame off to be cleaned and painted since I bought a kit and put all new bushings in it anyway. I also shitched this car to manual discs by taking the master/booster assembly off this one and stealing the lines off the parts car since it had manual discs from the factory.
I haven’t done anything else major to the car since I finished up the front suspension and brakes as my next big expense will be paying off the machine work on the 360 and putting that together but I’ve been doing small stuff on the cheap until then to still be making progress. I just restored the old set of Offy valve covers that came with the car and fabbed up some homemade oil baffles to help give the 360 that old school 70’s survivor look u want the car to have
I also “repurposed” a ford air cleaner I had laying around since I already had it and it matched the covers nicely. All I needed was to knock the ford emblems off and run a program on the water jet with my own custom emblem!
That’s about all I’ve got for now. This week I’m planning on getting rid of the factory 5/16 fuel line and installing a Carter rotary vane pump I got for free with all -6 AN line I already had from when I upgraded my Cougar to -8 a while back. Some interior pieces might find their way into the car as well. I’ll keep updating the thread as I make progress.
I managed to find another 73 swinger with a slant 6 as a parts car for 1000 that I got a complete black interior with a perfect dash pad from. Plus wheels, better bumpers, nice grille, and other assorted parts from.
Since I’ve started working on the car I’ve yanked the 318 out and sold it to help pay for the 360. Out with the old smogger, in with another 40 cubes!
After I had the engine bay cleared out I thought it was a good a time as any to strip all the suspension and the K frame off to be cleaned and painted since I bought a kit and put all new bushings in it anyway. I also shitched this car to manual discs by taking the master/booster assembly off this one and stealing the lines off the parts car since it had manual discs from the factory.
I haven’t done anything else major to the car since I finished up the front suspension and brakes as my next big expense will be paying off the machine work on the 360 and putting that together but I’ve been doing small stuff on the cheap until then to still be making progress. I just restored the old set of Offy valve covers that came with the car and fabbed up some homemade oil baffles to help give the 360 that old school 70’s survivor look u want the car to have
I also “repurposed” a ford air cleaner I had laying around since I already had it and it matched the covers nicely. All I needed was to knock the ford emblems off and run a program on the water jet with my own custom emblem!
That’s about all I’ve got for now. This week I’m planning on getting rid of the factory 5/16 fuel line and installing a Carter rotary vane pump I got for free with all -6 AN line I already had from when I upgraded my Cougar to -8 a while back. Some interior pieces might find their way into the car as well. I’ll keep updating the thread as I make progress.
