My car might be a fake? Please help.

-
Liquidspine

Liquidspine

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2014
Messages
110
Reaction score
0
Location
MD
Hey everyone,

First off let me say this site has been a wonderful source of knowledge and information.
And you all have already help me quite a bit.

Now for the story.......

I recently bought a matching numbers 1970 340 four speed Dart Swinger. (Or did I)?
let me explain....

When I bought the car I got the original Build/Broadcast sheet.
The fender tag, dash vin and build sheet all match.
So I didnt think to much about it.

So today Im doing some interior work and pulled the back seat and there was another build sheet. It is a build sheet for a slant six. My car has the 83/4 rear end and the 4 on the floor 340 motor.

How can I check to see which sheet is correct? Are there numbers stamped somewhere else I can look at.

Also the fender tag is screwed on. Shouldn't be riveted?

I have two theories....One is that someone put the fender tag on, switched dashs, swapped the motor, trans and rear end. and put all that in a donor slant 6 car. But That seems like a lot of work to try to fake a true 340 car.

My other thought is that someone simply put in a back seat from another car and never saw the sheet. Please let me know what you guys think.

Im not sure what to do.

Thanks again everyone.
 
........It is not that all uncommon to find a build sheet from something else in ur car, 1 of my darts had a B body build sheet in it.............also cars r faked fairly often and sold to unsuspecting buyers......................kim...........
 
Look under the vin number section of each build sheet.

If it's swapped at the factory, usually the other car has the same color trim level interior. The factory worker just installed the same seat, just meant for another car with same interior.
 
Does the car have the torque boxes that were on the 340 4 speed cars? I searched around for an example photo, but I couldn't find anything. They can be faked, but if i doesn't have them at all it's a dead giveaway that it's not an original.
 
I believe that the vin is stamped in the sheet metal somewhere around the radiator support and also under the trunk seal, but you have to peel the seal back to see it. I can't remember the exact locations, someone else should be able to help.
 
Not sure what the touque boxes are? I also had a bunch of work done to the front end bushing, ball joints, shocks etc.... the guy at the shop told me that it was a slant 6 car originally because it had the smaller ball joints and so on. Thats what got me looking and wondering if it was a true 340 car.
 
The fender tag should be screwed on.Look for vin numbers on the radiator support on the drivers side.There also should be vin numbers stamped on the package tray.It is common for cars to have the wrong buildsheet in them or buildsheets from two differents cars.
 
ON a 1970 340 Dart
The front vin you will not find because it is stamped on the inner fender under the passenger fender. The one on the back is under the trunk weather strip.
 
Due to how the sub assembly lines at the plants were run, broadcast sheets ended up in different cars all the time.
 
Liquidspine said:
Not sure what the touque boxes are? I also had a bunch of work done to the front end bushing, ball joints, shocks etc.... the guy at the shop told me that it was a slant 6 car originally because it had the smaller ball joints and so on. Thats what got me looking and wondering if it was a true 340 car.
Click to expand...

it should have the small ball joints
 
davescuda said:
ON a 1970 340 Dart
The front vin you will not find because it is stamped on the inner fender under the passenger fender.
Click to expand...

This is a myth. Both of my 1970 Darts have the partial VIN on the radiator support.
 
Liquidspine said:
Not sure what the touque boxes are? I also had a bunch of work done to the front end bushing, ball joints, shocks etc.... the guy at the shop told me that it was a slant 6 car originally because it had the smaller ball joints and so on. Thats what got me looking and wondering if it was a true 340 car.
Click to expand...

All 72 and earlier A bodies had the small joints, bolt pattern etc.
 
Liquidspine said:
Not sure what the touque boxes are? I also had a bunch of work done to the front end bushing, ball joints, shocks etc.... the guy at the shop told me that it was a slant 6 car originally because it had the smaller ball joints and so on. Thats what got me looking and wondering if it was a true 340 car.
Click to expand...


Torque boxes are on the frame where it attaches to the floor boards. there are 4 per car, two for the front frame (left and right) and two for the rear frame to floorboards (left and right also).


What size brakes are on it. Slant 6 cars had 9" drums standard, V-8 had 10" drums standard. However brakes can also be changed, but if there are 9" drums, I would think it was originally a slant 6 car....
 
Alaskan_TA said:
This is a myth. Both of my 1970 Darts have the partial VIN on the radiator support.
Click to expand...

I have never seen one. you might be correct but I never seen a 1970 340 Dart with one on the radiator support stamped
 
I used to think all 340 cars had 4 piston discs and a front sway bar, but I may be wrong. Do you have pics of the car?
 
Did you ever consider sometime ago maybe the back seat was changed and the donor cars build sheet is the one you found???
 
Yeah thats what I was thinking about the rear seat. My car definitely has the torque boxes. The rear leaf springs are bolted to them. I will get a few pics tomorrow and check the other spots for the vin. Thanks for all the help guys
 
This isn't that hard.

Does the VIN on the /6 buildsheet match your VIN on your dash or your registration??
 
You might even have the original seats, as already mentioned a lot of these things got mixed up on the assembly line.

I found not one, but TWO buildsheets in my '74 Duster, one under each seat. Both were for the same car, which had the same color interior and the same scheduled build date as my car. But they weren't for my car :violent1: . The other car had fairly similar options (nothing fancy), but a very different sequence number. And since my car was a /6, low option '74 Duster that retained a lot of it's original parts and interior, I'm pretty certain nothing was swapped.

So, that seat could have been installed on the assembly line, the worker just grabbed the seat with the wrong build sheet stuffed in it. Somewhere there's a /6 car with a 340 build sheet...

If it's an original 340 car, you might also find a washer welded to the front of the K frame and gussets welded around the lower control arm pivot pin mounts in the K frame. See this thread on the 340 K frames...

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=49444

attachment.php


attachment.php
 
I do have the washer on the k frame. I was wondering what that was all about.
 
70 340 A's were std with disc brakes.

Here is the approximate location of the trunk stamp on most every 70 dart I've seen.




None of the 4 Swinger 340 cars I have/had got a stamp on the rad support. All were built at the Windsor plant, 7th digit in VIN = R.
 
Torque box rear. Just in front of the spring hanger mount.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top