Dodge Dart Sport

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Oh yeah I stand by buying the car for sure sight unseen especially if it was my grandpa's on whatever terms he was going to give me. The fun part will be when you look back on this thread and you find out what a handful it is as it is and think what was I thinking about forced induction already? I can't keep this on the road as it is! From someone who's came from a car that has 10 times more handling abilities no matter what you have or what you do. I can only imagine after you drive it a few times that you will immediately want to do some work to the suspension to make it handle like every other car you've ever driven before. I think you'll find the power more than adequate for a first-timer with a muscle car. I'd be shocked to find out grandpa doesn't have this dialed in completely.

I absolutely will be looking into suspension upgrades first, and most defeintely a disc brake swap, may be my first Muscle car, but not my first rodeo. I appreciate the suggestions though, I doubtfully will go FI at all, let alone anytime soon. My right foot is gas happy, and my wife gets car sick hahaha
 
now that you mentioned that, i have one question...what color is the engine bay?

(you'll get a chuckle out of that question as you grow into mopars....speaking of growing, im kinda curious about your age?)

now, a few things about this dart sport

first of, it is a gorgeous looking car, it is obvious your grand dad put a lot of work into it making it his own
the downside of that is that "personalization" can, in the eyes of some, reduce value
take the interior for instance, i love the red stripe in the upholstery, but a purist may not
for resale value (not like you're ever going to sell this care) that could be a minus

do you know if the roof was vinyl before?
if it was, there are some areas that may have had rust repaired and can be burdensome

when you open the hood, on the drivers side fender there is a tag (sometimes two) with a bunch of codes on it
this tag will tell you how the car was first ordered, if you post a picture of it, we can decode it for you and tell you if it had a vinyl roof or not


The engine, from what i can see, is black. Also, I am 22.

As far as the roof, im not sure if it was vinyl originally, but, judging by the paint job (and my grandpa eye for detail) i doubt rust will be an issue.
 
The engine, from what i can see, is black. Also, I am 22.

As far as the roof, im not sure if it was vinyl originally, but, judging by the paint job (and my grandpa eye for detail) i doubt rust will be an issue.

i meant the engine bay, the sheetmetal around it
but thats of no real concern
if you want to, check the fender tag, and we can figure out if it was a vinyl roof or not (not that it matters)
 
Are you sure it's not disk already?

By 1973 a LOT of cars were disk from the factory.

It would be kinda odd for a v8 car to be drum by 74.

...unless it's a factory 6 car.

What would the VIN start with for a 360 car?

LS29L4?

and a six-

LL29C?
 
Are you sure it's not disk already?

By 1973 a LOT of cars were disk from the factory.

It would be kinda odd for a v8 car to be drum by 74.

...unless it's a factory 6 car.

What would the VIN start with for a 360 car?

LS29L4?

and a six-

LL29C?


If it's a factory 360 it should have front disc brakes.
 
Here is a picture of the engine and engine bay, that my grandpa sent. Im asking him about the original engine, and if it has disc brakes.
IMG_0146.JPG
or not.
 
Bet it was a slant 6.

That’s not a smallblock V8 radiator, the inlet is on the wrong side.
 
It was a slant 6 original engine. My grandpa installed solid motor mounts along with the 360. It has disc brakes up front. (Ill probably go disc in the rear as well, once I make it mine.)
 
I will say it again.
1. Buy it NOW. NOW. NOW. If you aren't going to, give Grandpa my phone number. If the rest of the car looks as well done as what we can see, you have a very nice prize from him.
 
Thats a good price for the condition of the car. I have well over 9k invested in my 73 340 dart sport and that was just purchase price and cost to go through and get it mechanically sound. Still need to buy a couple grand worth of body panels and restore the body.
The good news is the aftermarket is stepping up for the 73+ owners. I see classic industries is getting ready to repop the grills, headlight bezels, park lights(TS) and trim. Tail light lens and bezels are available now. Im seeing a lot of 73+ cars for sale lately. I guess the supply of all the early ones are starting to dry up. I dont care for the beak front on the dodges but it does grow on you after a while. In my opinion, they got it right with the 72.
Buy that car and drive it for a while. I think you will find it has more than enough power without adding boost. Also, rear disc brakes wont help you much. Yeah they will help but for the $$ it cost you might want to invest in other parts of the car. The factory front discs do a decent job of stopping the car. It requires more effort than the new cars but it stops just fine.
Good luck and im sure you will enjoy that car for many years.
 
Is that easier to do than changing the front end to a duster front end?

Yeah way easier. Two bolts and the rubber blocks just come off. Then you can cover the bolt holes in the bumper with a set of bumper bolts. Easy peasy.

I’ll see if I can find the thread on hood scoops for the later cars...

***edit***

Couple of useful threads on the snorkel scoops that came on the Dart Sports
Dual Snorkle Scoop Information

Best looking hood on 74 Sport, opinions.....
 
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Yeah way easier. Two bolts and the rubber blocks just come off. Then you can cover the bolt holes in the bumper with a set of bumper bolts. Easy peasy.

I’ll see if I can find the thread on hood scoops for the later cars...

***edit***

Couple of useful threads on the snorkel scoops that came on the Dart Sports
Dual Snorkle Scoop Information

Best looking hood on 74 Sport, opinions.....

Thank you, I’ll check those out. I’m trying to find a better option than the snorkel, cause I think they ugly, I would rather a drag cowl style hood or anything else honestly.
 
I'm putting together a '73 Dart Sport right now and I can assure you that there is no way in hades I could ever get my car in that kind of condition for $7500!!!
"Buy it now" is verrrrry good advice. Just do it. I wouldn't worry about doing upgrades/mods for now. Buy and drive it for a while before you do anything....except maybe for those real shackles. There are a lot of guys on this site that can give you some very good, honest advice when the time comes to do any changes.
 
The dual snorkel scoop would be correct for the car but the earlier twin scoops look much better, in my opinion.
 
My biggest question is why did Dodge try and make the ugliest scoops they could? hahaha

Honestly, I would like to find something that is more similar to the 60's dart scoops, although, if I have to fabricate it myself, I'd do it. If I don't have to, though, that'd be great.
 
You mean like the Hemi scoop? Those things are totally overdone. And they look completely out of place on the Dart Sports, the body lines are too curved for a big straight scoop like that. Obviously just my opinion. On a race car if you need that kind of room for your intake I get it, but then you're not worried about what it looks like. On a street car it just looks like you're compensating for something...

dsc_0287-jpg.jpg


I'm not a big fan of the snorkel scoops on the '72 cars, but I think they actually work pretty well with the beak cars, with or without the stripes.
1973-dart-sport-jpg.jpg

22716_147crs17.jpg


The dual scoops weren't factory for that year, but you can put them on there. You'd have to figure out the location, there won't be any holes in the understructure of the hood to locate them and they might not work with the '70/'71 location anyway because of the curve in the middle...
Picture 357.jpg
 
The middle picture is my car ‘73 Dart Sport H code originally 340 but now has an MRL built 360. I paid $18K for it. $7500 is a steal. That car is easily worth $15,000 without the thrashed main bearings and rings mine had after purchase. Hence, the MRL 360 now. My son will rebuild the 340, he is currently a Jr in HS Auto Shop.
 
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