lightest a-body??

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Man,theres some light early a-bodies..i thought my '70 duster was light at 3180...
 
71duster06 said:
My Duster weighs 2770 lbs with 1/4 tank of gas. Complete car...i was really surprised on how little it weighs
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I'd be willing to bet that scale was off by several hundred pounds..........or you own a factory freak. Factory curb weight for the Duster was closer to 3300 before fluids and accessories for V-8 cars. Even the Feather Duster with it's aluminum panels and aluminum S6 block was still significantly heavier than the 63-66 Valiant/Dart sedans.

That said, I really wish they hadn't built the 64-66 Barracuda's out of lead panels as compared to their Valiant sedan brethren. My 65 Barracuda weighs in at 3020# after significant weight removal: glass hood, aluminum heads, AlterKtion front end, rear seat removal, no spare tire or jack. It probably tipped the scales around 3500+ in stock trim. Nowhere as light as the sedan.
 
'66 Darts are heavy. '66 Barracudas are heavy. Niether one is lighter than a factory stripped down Duster. With the sole exception of the early Valiant, it is a myth that early A-body cars are lightweights.
 
I would definately place my vote for the early darts, I like them anyway =)
 
my 66 Dart stripped of interior except light plastic seats, with a alum headed 360 w/airgap, 904 and 8-3/4 weighs 3000 even with the heater box removed.
Fox body mustangs are 300# lighter with interior. Must be thicker gauge steel on those old mopars...
 
The factory drag package, '66 D/Darts were 2946 pounds from the factory. That was exceedingly heavy for the class. They were 300 pounds lighter than the standard GT. The '68 hemi Superstock Darts were built to weigh 3000 pounds.
"Man,theres some light early a-bodies..i thought my '70 duster was light at 3180..."
That is about right, and nearly the same as my '71 Demon. My '66 Dart drag car is much heavier than my Demon, and it has had all the bracing cut out, all the splash shields removed, and every non-essential bracket and bolt stripped off.
I'm not buying some of the weights being thrown around this thread.
 
My 68 Barracuda was originally a 383, 4spd., car and the title listed it as 3109 lbs.. I can tell you that is far from accurate. I`d say closer to 3400 lbs. Now the car has a 440 six pack with a Tremec 5 spd. and a ton of lightweight parts such as fiberglass fenders, hood, header panel, aluminum heads, waterpump/housing, intake, radiator, and a hydraulic clutch. The car still weighs 3450 lbs. with no driver and about a half tank of gas. It does have a complete 3" exhaust system, stereo ,and full interior including a folding rear seat.
 
Longgone said:
My 68 Barracuda was originally a 383, 4spd., car and the title listed it as 3109 lbs.. I can tell you that is far from accurate. I`d say closer to 3400 lbs. Now the car has a 440 six pack with a Tremec 5 spd. and a ton of lightweight parts such as fiberglass fenders, hood, header panel, aluminum heads, waterpump/housing, intake, radiator, and a hydraulic clutch. The car still weighs 3450 lbs. with no driver and about a half tank of gas. It does have a complete 3" exhaust system, stereo ,and full interior including a folding rear seat.
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I agree. Arguing shipping weights is pointless. They are always too light.

We need real scale numbers.

The 63-66 post Valiants (not hardtops) would be the lightest that will fit a V-8 easily. I would think the 63 would be the lightest because of the least amount of frills and safety stuff.

It's the safety stuff and the overall size of the Feather Duster makes it lose out. The 5 mph bumpers, steering wheel column with lock, emissions items, padded dash, headrest, back up lights.

You could get a 63 Valiant with an aluminum block. My guess is that would equal the Feather Duster's aluminum intake and hood/trunk under bracing.
 
Lotus-14 said:
When the Trans-Am rules from the SCCA came along, it was intended to level the playing field, with all cars not being able to weigh less than 3200 lbs, and all engines at a maximum capacity of 5000 ccs. It wasn’t till the E-body cars that Mopar got back in to it, although somewhat half heartedly.
In 1967, Ron Grable ran a specially prepared ’67 Dart, which was really a remnant of any interest by the factory. This car like the ’66 cars was specially made, with a number of chassis tricks. Unfortunately in order to build a 5000cc engine, it had to be based on the 318, with an early pre LA 318 truck crank which had a shorter stroke. The car also had to run a custom flywheel, as the crank had a different offset, and rear seal from the later engine. Grable’s effort didn’t have factory sponsorship, or the money necessary to make the custom engine parts that would have been necessary. Grable’s '67 car has been more or less “restored,” and is running the vintage circuit, although the current car is running a much more powerful and modern engine based on a 340; an engine that the original car never saw.
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The 318-3 truck crank #2268810 was included in the Dodge Tech bulletin regarding the ugrade of factory D/Darts or other 235hp 273 4-barrel cars to race in D/class, Modified Production, FX, and Gas. The 318-3 truck crank was a replacement for the 273 crank, and had identical balance.
 
My 73 340 duster, PS, PB, 727, Dana, AL heads, 4 ch amp, Big sub box, 30 lb tool bag, buckets, console, 17" AL wheels and a full tank weighed 3485 without a driver. That's with the spare and the jack, and a few extra tools. It was weighed at the NHRA track scales in Reynolds, GA. Not sure how accurate they are, but I expect the would be relatively so.
 
Haven,t weighed this empty?Oops it,s full?

re and re of 66 Dart 007.jpg


re and re of 66 Dart 005.jpg


re and re of 66 Dart 006.jpg
 
SilverFish said:
I'd be willing to bet that scale was off by several hundred pounds..........or you own a factory freak. Factory curb weight for the Duster was closer to 3300 before fluids and accessories for V-8 cars. Even the Feather Duster with it's aluminum panels and aluminum S6 block was still significantly heavier than the 63-66 Valiant/Dart sedans.

That said, I really wish they hadn't built the 64-66 Barracuda's out of lead panels as compared to their Valiant sedan brethren. My 65 Barracuda weighs in at 3020# after significant weight removal: glass hood, aluminum heads, AlterKtion front end, rear seat removal, no spare tire or jack. It probably tipped the scales around 3500+ in stock trim. Nowhere as light as the sedan.
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I think the big glass back window adds a lot of weight. Glass weighs more that steel panels.

Have you thought about running our Barracuda at Buttonwillow at Spring Fling Speed Festivel this year? Buttonwillow is closer to you in Dublin. We have a lot of old Mopars and AMC's. Even Bob Tarozzi is coming and bringing some of his personal collection of 70 AAR team pictures and videos. He did work on the 66 Team Starfish team too with Scott Harvey.
 
i didnt read all the posts but if your going to build a duster i have hood & trunklid off a feather duster for sale and yes thay are perfect along with rust free weelwels just athough if your iterased
 
Outsider said:
The 318-3 truck crank #2268810 was included in the Dodge Tech bulletin regarding the ugrade of factory D/Darts or other 235hp 273 4-barrel cars to race in D/class, Modified Production, FX, and Gas. The 318-3 truck crank was a replacement for the 273 crank, and had identical balance.
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The 318-3 was a heat-treated and shot-peaned crank identical to the 273, in my hurry typing about the engine in Grable's car, I made a mistake, as the crank they used was the 301 "Poly" crank from 1957/58 A engine, which was a different crank altogehter. Sorry 'bout that.
 
Lotus-14 said:
The 318-3 was a heat-treated and shot-peaned crank identical to the 273, in my hurry typing about the engine in Grable's car, I made a mistake, as the crank they used was the 301 "Poly" crank from 1957/58 A engine, which was a different crank altogehter. Sorry 'bout that.
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No harm, no foul. Sounds like an interesting build.
 
autoxcuda said:
I think the big glass back window adds a lot of weight. Glass weighs more that steel panels.

Have you thought about running our Barracuda at Buttonwillow at Spring Fling Speed Festivel this year? Buttonwillow is closer to you in Dublin. We have a lot of old Mopars and AMC's. Even Bob Tarozzi is coming and bringing some of his personal collection of 70 AAR team pictures and videos. He did work on the 66 Team Starfish team too with Scott Harvey.
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I weighed the rear glass from my '66 and it was right at 60 pounds.
 
My 71 Dart weighed 3410 with me in it and a near full tank of gas last time I was at the track. It is a 318/904/8 3/4 with full interior and that was with the spare and Jack. I am right at 200 lbs so I guess it would be 3210 without me in it. I was expecting it to be lighter but those are real numbers.
 
Early Valiants (pre-'67) had 4" shorter wheelbase than Darts or even later Valiants. My '65 200 scales in at 2610# W/a little less than 1/4 tank of gas.
 
my 67 dart in full street trim with no spare or jack came in at 3080lbs. that was with half tank and a glass hood. 318/904/8 3/4. This was on a DOT scale and is accurate.
 
Outsider said:
'66 Darts are heavy. '66 Barracudas are heavy. Niether one is lighter than a factory stripped down Duster. With the sole exception of the early Valiant, it is a myth that early A-body cars are lightweights.
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Dodges typically have a 2-3" longer wheel base than the comparable Plymouth. An early 64-66 Barracuda has that heavy rear window, fold-down seat, etc. Newer models added safety equipment that was not on the first generation. All that adds up.

Dusters and Demons had flipper rear windows instead of roll-ups. The Feather Duster and Dart Lite also had aluminum bracing for the hood and decklid. A dart Lite hood followed me home from a swap meet once and it was considerably lighter than an all steel hood. I once thought of using it on my 69 Barracuda.

My vote is a strippo 63-66 Valiant. Under 3000 lbs.
 
younggun2.0 said:
i got my money on a 67-69 valiant. i bet they are the lightest of the bunch.
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Plymouth Valiant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Valiant

'61-'62 106.5" wheelbase curb weight 2750#
'63-'66 106" wheelbase curb weight 2692#
'67-'73 108" wheelbase curb weight 2743#
'74-'76 111" wheelbase curb weight 2819 #

Adding 2" to a cars wheelbase makes it heavier not lighter.

Equally equipped, the Gen II W/the shortest wheelbase should be the lightest as evidenced by the above

The "A" Body Dart started out @ 111" so it's not even in the running.

The "A" Body Lancer would be the same as the '61'62 Valiant.
 
PowerWagon896 said:
Plymouth Valiant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Valiant

'61-'62 106.5" wheelbase curb weight 2750#
'63-'66 106" wheelbase curb weight 2692#
'67-'73 108" wheelbase curb weight 2743#
'74-'76 111" wheelbase curb weight 2819 #

Adding 2" to a cars wheelbase makes it heavier not lighter.

Equally equipped, the Gen II W/the shortest wheelbase should be the lightest as evidenced by the above

The "A" Body Dart started out @ 111" so it's not even in the running.

The "A" Body Lancer would be the same as the '61'62 Valiant.
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So shoot me I was off by 50lbs. that is only 1-2 options different away from being lighter.
 
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