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Stone Runner

Stone Runner

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Nov 26, 2009
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Montana
Great web site, been lurking for a while. I am a child of the 60s & 70s and never had a muscle car. My brother had a '70 340 swinger 4 spd, wish I would have bought it, but then I might be dead. Now I would like to build a clone or something similar. I am thinking of buying a project car with an auto and switching it to a stick and a 340 or 360. Building a driver and performing most of the work myself including body and paint.

Before I dive into a purchase and a lot of work I was hoping for some sage advise from you veterans.

It appears A bodies are less expensive to get into. Are there certain models that parts are readily available?

Would it be worth it to start with a '73 or similar that has power steering, power brakes, front disc brakes and A/C? I am looking at a '73 scamp with the above and a running 318 auto, but needs a lot of work. Or would it be better to find a 69-71 dart and go from there? It seems the most desirable body styles are more difficult to find.

Are there certain parts of the country (West or South West) where project cars are more available? I am in Montana and selection is limited. I would be up to a road trip.

I would appreciate any help. This is the start of a journey.
 
Welcome to fabo,seems you already have some good ideas where to start and what parts you need to build a decent a body,Good Luck and Enjoy the vast amount of knowledge to be shared and the want ad's have many part's and cars to be had...............Wagg's :grommit:
 
Welcome to this great site Stone Runner :cheers:
Keep a close eye out here and enjoy, we have some great tec's and folks here on your subject that can bring up some good info for ya.
Looking forward to seeing you find your new builder project :happy10:
 
Welcome to the site

As someone that grew up wanting my big brothers 69 Dart GTS 383, auto, 3.91 gear that dad told me I could not have because "YOU'LL GET KILLED IN THAT THING"

I have had lots of cars but never a 69 Dart Big Block car

I built a 67 Dart GT convertible and put a small block 4 speed in it, guess what, I still want a clone to his White ext., white int., red GTS stripe 69 Dart with 68 dart grill (his had been wrecked and repaired with 68 grill)

What to buy. Buy the best car you can afford and if you are wanting a clone to your brothers, get the car as close to his as possible or you will never be satisfied.

The better the car the less work and in turn cost less to restore. 4 speed cars are hard to come buy. If you can find an auto and plan on converting, check the cost of parts and labor to do it. You might be able to find a 4 speed car that is quite a bit more but in the long run cheaper than converting an auto car.

I took a 67 slant 6 auto on column and made a 340, 4 speed with factory console an Hurst Comp Plus console shifter, this was not cheap to do, rechrome console, NOS shifter, all trans parts, pedals and mod to floor

Now if I were to do another auto to 4 speed would look into new 5 speed conversion so it would have OD, all new parts and not much more than I have in all the parts to convert to factory 4 speed once all said and done.

Build the best car you can afford

If you are going to rebuild the front end and plan on headers, or maybe a different size engine than it came with think about a K alteration Tube K member with coil overs, disc brakes and rack and pinion steering. make a great driver and gives you much more room and adjustability.

I rebuilt a 340, should have bought a Blueprint engines 408 stroker crate engine (didn't know about them when i built engine). Or a new late model Hemi, great for drivability, much easier than when I started building my car. Not even sure if they had them out when I built the engine.

I had in mind when i built mine to put white interior in it, but went with a blue like it came from the factory, so it has a blue 69 GTS stripe instead of red. Had I put the red stripe with white interior and white convertible top it could have been very close to Tony's 69 GTS hardtop. Wish I had did that but too much $$$$$$$$ to change it now and think I would like a hardtop and make it look just like his.

So, build what you like the 1st time and have no regrets for what it ends up as.

All it takes is TIME & MONEY

Good Luck
 
Welcome to FABO, Stone Runner. You're going to have fun here!
There's still some good values around. You just have to keep your eyes open. I've seen more screaming deals come along due to the current economy.
It's true southwestern cars are usually good candidates for restoration/restomod due to a general lack of rust or less rust to start with. Keep your eyes on Craigslist and eBay as well as local ads and shows. You never know what you're going to find.
Good luck with your search and future project.
 
WELCOME TO FABO!!!! good luck with your hunt. you would be surprised what you might find if you just start looking around. i live near spokane, and there are fields of cars around here, have not looked at any of them, got more than enough to do. this is a link that searches all of craigslist, http://www2.jaxed.com/cgi-bin/mash.cgi?cat=cp
if you find something interesting in another area, post it here, might find someone willing to take a look at it. might want to send Crackedback a message, not to long ago he had 71 Dart that he was trying to sell, if I remember right. pictures i saw of it looked good and he wanted a more than fair price.....
 
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