I bought me a small tire car

[pittsburghracer]

Its a 372” (3.58 stroke 360 crank) small block W2 head 14:1 hydraulic roller cam.




For sure left an impression on me years ago! My buddy and I actually went to “The Valley” to see it street race in the mid 90’s after seeing the magazine.



I have been collecting, restoring, and racing Mopars for over 30 years. You amass a bunch of junk after a while



Hell NO! Right now I am in full swing prepping the Dart for Dragweek! 7 second passes or bust!!!!




Thank you! Look out for some action from this Duster. Its getting a new motor and bigger nitrous kit.



Unfortunately I wont be able to make that although it sounds like a great opportunity to go fast. I will be back east for Dragweek during that time.



It was in hiding for 15 years while Greg dealt with life. I plan exercising this thing. I would like to do some small tire grudge racing and possibly Rocky Mountain Raceweek next year.




Just like the stock block. People say the stock block wont last past 600hp well this car makes more than that on the motor and then it gets hit 250 of nitrous on top of that. The 8 3/4 has made 100’s of passes with no problem. I don't plan on changing it. Especially now that I am adding a nitrous controller to the car to soften the hit.

i thought I read where he broke the 8 3/4. I see a better rearend in your future.


Greg took the car to Irwindale for its maiden hits last fall after a long hiatus and blew the 8.75 out of her before even making a full hit. He drug the car home got the rear fixed and sent the 904 back to Pro Trans for an inspection/freshen. I really think it was at that point that the pendulum started to sway towards

 

[EVILB1DART]

After getting it home I drove it to work (32 miles round trip) and it didn’t make it home. Turns out it needed some love. It had several broken rocker arms, 2 melted plugs. So we went through it and gave it the maintenance. Now it runs properly although I think the motor is really tired (which in fairness Greg told me it was). It has 16 psi of oil pressure at idle when warm and 30 psi going down the road. Not sure why its so low but I have some ideas. First I figured it had too much clearance from being worn out. I cut open the oil filter and it was very clean. Which points to the bearings being ok. Next after some discussion with Greg it turns out he didnt have the lifter bores bushed and it has a hydraulic roller cam. Mopars leak a ton with this set up and will kill oil pressure. Also it might have a defective pressure relief in the oil pump. I have seen this before and honestly it is behaving exactly like that. So the plan is to remove the pan and replace the oil pump. Then remove the intake and prime the oil pump while rotating the motor by hand and observe the leakage past the lifters. If its bad then I will replace the hydraulic lifters with solid offset rollers from my old turbo motor to solve that issue. If that works and the oil pressure is better then we head and out and run it.

Glad you're bringing it back to life again, and the lil guy is turning wrenches too. I always liked that car since the article, and after meeting Greg. Its just cool. I remember the PSCA L/S cars had that hyd roller rule. Good luck with it.

 

[autoxcuda]

Glad you're bringing it back to life again, and the lil guy is turning wrenches too. I always liked that car since the article, and after meeting Greg. Its just cool. I remember the PSCA L/S cars had that hyd roller rule. Good luck with it.

Ahh, now that makes more sense.

 

[turbodart68]

Glad you're bringing it back to life again, and the lil guy is turning wrenches too. I always liked that car since the article, and after meeting Greg. Its just cool. I remember the PSCA L/S cars had that hyd roller rule. Good luck with it.

Thanks. He did real well with it in L/S for a half dozen years. Its always been a well sorted car.

“The valley” that was a long haul in the 90’s from Orange Co.

Sounds like a lot of 90’s tech in that thing. ….Go figure it was built then.

It was, but we were really active in streets back then. I raced in LA, OC of course and even went out to Ontario a bunch. This Duster is a rolling Direct Connection catalog Haha. Greg's dad worked for a Chrysler Plymouth dealer back in the 80's when they built it.

 

[Walker434]

Cool car buddy, can't wait to see it in person

 

[A body]

Very high on the “to do” list if it were mine would be to upgrade that rear. Iirc when the gear broke at Irwindale it did indeed scramble the sprag in the 904.

 

[Bluecuda340]

Neat car!