marksmopars
Well-Known Member
Nice ride, I love seeing folks do what they can with what they have available. I also like the creativity you demonstrate. Thanks for sharing.
'75 Swinger, The Dartness!
- Thread starter derrangedgadgeteer
- Start date
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derrangedgadgeteer
Well-Known Member
Well, I've been driving the dartness now for a couple of months. Changed the oil etc. and everything seems to be going well. I'm getting 19 mpg doing my daily drive every day, and that's WITH the holley constantly leaking fuel out onto the intake. I've also picked up a mechanical quadrajet from the junkyard, as well as a carb kit for it. I'm hoping to put it on and see about even better gas mileage! (crossing fingers for 21)
It runs really nice and smoothly, but it's an absolute dog on the bottom end. It definitely doesn't like to be stepped down suddenly, and it doesn't accelerate well until about 30mph, I'm suspecting it's probably carburetor, ignition, or transmission. The trans for whatever reason, likes to jump into neutral for a split second between 2nd and 3rd, as well as it tends to refuse to move for a second from a standstill sometimes. It's weird. But as long as it gets me around, I'll live with it.
My next step now is to start repairing some body rust. I mentioned earlier, that the previous owner just painted over a buncha rust, bondoed over it too, and generally did a damned jacklegged job on the body of the car. The scariest part though, is the rear leaf spring mounts. Actually, not the mounts themselves, as the sheet metal box they bolt to. The one on the driver side is GONE, and the spring rests against the floor of the trunk. The one on the passenger side isn't to that point yet, but it's getting there. It's a good thing too, that's where I got all my measurements.
These are the replacements I made in my welding class, they're 14 gauge steel (thicker than what they're replacing btw) and I hit them with some red oxide primer to keep them from rusting. I'm pleased with how they came out, but I'll say one thing for sure, this project had me come up with a new song: "I wanna box brake for christmas!" (sung to the tune of "I wanna hippopotamus for christmas.")
I also made replacements for the plates the spring mounts actually bolt to, but I've not gotten pics of them yet. They're grade5 3/8-16 nuts welded to 1/4" plate. I'll take pics as soon as I get near a camera again.
I don't know when I'll be putting these things in. Probably Within the next couple of weeks. And the next project here is going to be body work, wire wheeling out some bondo and peeling paint, and fixing some metal. I'm really stoked about this all.
BTW, if anyone needs them, I've still got my sketches for the dimensions of the brackets, I'd be happy to post them. :thumrigh:
I'm also considering doing some work up front, though this is only in the planning stages, adding a single leaf out of, say, a 250-series truck, transverse-mounted like a corvette to stiffen the front without having the cost of torsion bars. (my local junkyard will sell 'em to me by the pound.) I also figure I'm going to Redo the rear suspension when (not if, when) I blow up the 7 1/4 rear and have to replace it. I'm leaning towards a nascar style 2-link with a panhard bar, on either an 8 1/4 or a dana 44. Then I'll start considering sway bars depending on how the car handles after the changes. :iconbigg:
It runs really nice and smoothly, but it's an absolute dog on the bottom end. It definitely doesn't like to be stepped down suddenly, and it doesn't accelerate well until about 30mph, I'm suspecting it's probably carburetor, ignition, or transmission. The trans for whatever reason, likes to jump into neutral for a split second between 2nd and 3rd, as well as it tends to refuse to move for a second from a standstill sometimes. It's weird. But as long as it gets me around, I'll live with it.
My next step now is to start repairing some body rust. I mentioned earlier, that the previous owner just painted over a buncha rust, bondoed over it too, and generally did a damned jacklegged job on the body of the car. The scariest part though, is the rear leaf spring mounts. Actually, not the mounts themselves, as the sheet metal box they bolt to. The one on the driver side is GONE, and the spring rests against the floor of the trunk. The one on the passenger side isn't to that point yet, but it's getting there. It's a good thing too, that's where I got all my measurements.
These are the replacements I made in my welding class, they're 14 gauge steel (thicker than what they're replacing btw) and I hit them with some red oxide primer to keep them from rusting. I'm pleased with how they came out, but I'll say one thing for sure, this project had me come up with a new song: "I wanna box brake for christmas!" (sung to the tune of "I wanna hippopotamus for christmas.")
I also made replacements for the plates the spring mounts actually bolt to, but I've not gotten pics of them yet. They're grade5 3/8-16 nuts welded to 1/4" plate. I'll take pics as soon as I get near a camera again.
I don't know when I'll be putting these things in. Probably Within the next couple of weeks. And the next project here is going to be body work, wire wheeling out some bondo and peeling paint, and fixing some metal. I'm really stoked about this all.
BTW, if anyone needs them, I've still got my sketches for the dimensions of the brackets, I'd be happy to post them. :thumrigh:
I'm also considering doing some work up front, though this is only in the planning stages, adding a single leaf out of, say, a 250-series truck, transverse-mounted like a corvette to stiffen the front without having the cost of torsion bars. (my local junkyard will sell 'em to me by the pound.) I also figure I'm going to Redo the rear suspension when (not if, when) I blow up the 7 1/4 rear and have to replace it. I'm leaning towards a nascar style 2-link with a panhard bar, on either an 8 1/4 or a dana 44. Then I'll start considering sway bars depending on how the car handles after the changes. :iconbigg:
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