Building a 68 Dart for the strip

[Hazard County 29]

Well here we go. I've been taking notes from magnum swaps for awhile since the planning stages of my project. I picked up a 1968 Dodge Dart 270 as a roller originally being built to be a big block drag car at the beginning of July. The project plans started back in February when I got my hands on a 360 Magnum to rebuild. Eventually the motor will be made into a 408 stroker but for now it's getting a stock build for the sake of getting the Dart back up and running. My intent is to build a street legal drag car to drive to the track and race. Later I will be posting a list of everything ordered and picked up as well as what's left to do and purchase for the build to this point.

 

[Bobzilla]

Are those new replacement head castings? If so, did you have the valve guides check for size before installing them?
Looking forward to seeing more on this build.

 

[Hazard County 29]

Are those new replacement head castings? If so, did you have the valve guides check for size before installing them?
Looking forward to seeing more on this build.

So I took the original heads from the 5.9 to a auto machine shop local to me. They were only good for being ridiculously huge paperweights. So they ordered new castings and made sure everything was machined and ground so that the shop could put a warranty on it themselves.

 

[moparmandan]

Welcome! Look forward to watching your progress!

 

[Bobzilla]

So I took the original heads from the 5.9 to a auto machine shop local to me. They were only good for being ridiculously huge paperweights. So they ordered new castings and made sure everything was machined and ground so that the shop could put a warranty on it themselves.

Excellent.

 

[Hazard County 29]

https://youtube.com/channel/UC_9C8kt4hnsLEMrafwYRNjA

So I have forgotten how bad I am with posting updates and getting back to forums with them. I did start up a YouTube channel with a majority of what I had done after assembling the motor. But she finally made 2 passes without an issue at the drag strip Friday night!

 

[RustyRatRod]

Hell yeah man! Nice job. Cept for the updates. lol

 

[Hazard County 29]

Be prepared for a lengthy update with a list of parts used on my build. It's been definitely difficult keeping up with all the platforms I use in association with the car. I've had more time to collect a small list of parts and pictures after taking a little time off from the YouTube channel, Instagram, work, and life.

 

[Hazard County 29]

mild 360 magnum stock bottom end

Mild ebay regrind cam
Specs:
Advertised Duration
In. 276
Ex. 276

Duration @ .050
In. .224
Ex. .224

Valve Lift 1.6
In. .512
Ex. .512

LSA
112

Holley Sniper EFI Self-Tuning Fuel Injection Systems 550-511K

Holley Sniper EFI HyperSpark Distributors 565-304

Holley Sniper EFI Hyperspark Ignition Coils 556-152

Holley Sniper EFI HyperSpark CD Ignition Boxes 556-151

Trans-Dapt Performance Engine Swap Motor Mounts 4695

Summit Racing Headers SUM-G9040

TCI StreetFighter SB TF727 forget that!

Chrysler 8 3/4 rear end with Sure grip 3.55 posi

Jegs Sport Lite 8-Hole Wheels

Competition Engineering Adjustable Drag Shocks C2620

Competition Engineering Adjustable Drag Shocks C2735

Calvert Racing Split Mono-Leaf Racing Springs 420-35

Strange Engineering A1026 wheel stud kit

Moroso 46330 Drag Race lug nuts

Gasket match port and polish 318 Cylinder Heads

Nitrous Express ML1000

 

[Hazard County 29]

Here's some photos of the interior, the engine bay, the most recent times slips at the local dragstrip, Pueblo Motorsports Park in Colorado.

 

[Hazard County 29]

I'm gonna start being more active on the forums over the next couple of weeks. This winter I plan on getting a very large chunk of body work knocked out with a deadline of having the car put back together and driving by April 15th when they Certify roll cages. Hopefully I'll have the time to get the rot removed, patched, and prepped for paint by New years. This is all done on a harbor freight budget so far and plan to keep it that way.

 

[Siksty7 Dart 270]

Did those G9040 headers fit easily for you? Any bashing?

 

[Hazard County 29]

I had to do some grinding and massaging with the ole Tonya Harding. I wouldn't recommend using the gaskets that come with it. I'm using felpro replacement gaskets that I used for the gasket matching for the porting I did. I did a video on what I did back when I installed them about a year ago. Pardon the poor editing. I was still learning this YouTube thing at the time. Lol

 

[Hazard County 29]

Well everyone I've been working on the cosmetic side of things lately. I got started by pulling off some body panels and ripping off the 6 layers of paint and Bondo off the car. The current plan is to have the car stripped and primed by the end of the month.

 

[Hazard County 29]

Well I got most of the backside stripped of paint. Found a lot more Bondo repairs. Gonna head out to the store today so I can find some sheet metal to trim and weld in.

 

[replicaracer43]

Put a decent converter in that thing. The 60fts are horribly slow

 

[Hazard County 29]

Put a decent converter in that thing. The 60fts are horribly slow

I agree. I have a second transmission that'll get some love but I'll definitely add it to the list