Suggestions for my Dart

[Ledhead]

Hello all,

I know there are some who really know there stuff on here. throwing this out for some feed back with some mods.
I have a 72 Dodge Dart w/ a 1969 340. as of now It's been tubed a little w/ N50's tucked under, skinnies on the front. engine bored 30 over, 484 cam, Weiand stealth dual plain.
Mopar distributor, Holley DP 750, 727 trans, 3500 stall, manual shift body w/ a set of
3:55's and 3:91's. roughly 3100 - 3200 lbs.
Future plans are to add Edlebrock RPM heads which I have. Hydro roller cam, roller rockers, also I have a Gear venders unit to put on this spring.

Any suggestions for my future plans? like cam size, intake, that would work well
with the Gear vender unit. Its a weekend driver. want to cruise and blow doors off
if provoked

Thanks for any input!

 

[skep419]

Need more info. Pistons, compression. With the gear vendors you could go steep on the gears but the converter is going to have to work with everything. Edelbrock rpm air gap seems to always be the intake of choice. To be honest I think a longer arm would be the best for what your trying to do.

 

[Ledhead]

Thanks skep419,
Its basicly a stock motor 10:5:1 compression w/ flat top pistons, forged crank.
you think my converter will be to much? a longer arm???

 

[stansblue72]

Nice looking dart!

 

[skep419]

Thanks skep419,
Its basicly a stock motor 10:5:1 compression w/ flat top pistons, forged crank.
you think my converter will be to much? a longer arm???

With the overdrive your going to want a converter that is set up to cruise at that low of rpm.

Longer arm means stroker.

 

[rumblefish360]

As is, I would install a set of well ported Edelbrock heads. 1.6 rockers.
Once you know what the heads flow, the cam selection comes down to what speed you cruise at. Select the cams duration based on where that is and have it ground with as much lift as the heads can handle. IMO, a set of 1-3/4 headers should be looked at. 2-1/2 street exhaust or 3 inch for max out put.

The RPM or Stealth intakes are your best bet on making power with a single 4bbl. With a street bound car. The 750 DP will work fine. A larger carb may make a little more power but the slow speed operation may suffer a little.

 

[bigus1949]

nice dart. i may be interested in the cam and lifters when you pull them

 

[Abodybomber]

As is, I would install a set of well ported Edelbrock heads. 1.6 rockers.
Once you know what the heads flow, the cam selection comes down to what speed you cruise at. Select the cams duration based on where that is and have it ground with as much lift as the heads can handle. IMO, a set of 1-3/4 headers should be looked at. 2-1/2 street exhaust or 3 inch for max out put.

The RPM or Stealth intakes are your best bet on making power with a single 4bbl. With a street bound car. The 750 DP will work fine. A larger carb may make a little more power but the slow speed operation may suffer a little.

Rumblefish nailed it.
Love the 80's look, & the reference to the Zep.

 

[OldmanRick]

Man I can't believe such a beautiful A body is just across the "Ashley" from me . From my 70's/80's back round, you've nailed it! That car has got to be already "street fast" against 90% of N/A cars running the roads around here these days.

Moving forward, and since you have them, the Eddy heads would be a reasonable upgrade. I personally would have them gone over.....Valve job, mild port & bowl cleanup, and also confirm the valve guide clearance is acceptable. If you're going there, you want to get the most out of them. Besides that, if the roller is truly in your budget/future, I'd have the pushrod holes opened up for clearance? It tends to be tight with the "tall" lifters.

As far as the O/D.....With your current tires and a 3.55, unless you're running the Mark Clark, I26, or I95 on a regular basis, I just can't see spending that coin from a cost/benefit basis. With the 3.91's, maybe, but for weekend/hotrod use, I'm still not totally convinced on that yet?

Back to the roller cam replacement, a high lift, moderate duration grind would probably work best with the mild gear and/or O/D. I'd look for something in the .520/530" lift range with 230/235* @ .050 to start with? All the final details will need to be determined before any specific grind could be recommended, and a custom ground stick may end up being your best bet?

Sorry for being so long winded.....But I will sleep better tonight knowing there's a super nice Dart here in the Low Country.

 

[Ledhead]

well guys, wanna thank ya for the tips/advice and compliments. I love this site.

As far as the Gear vender O/D goes and my 3500 stall, here is what the G/V company
says about O/D with low gears and high stall.


Can I run a high stall converter in overdrive with a 3.42 axle?

Yes, this is one of the most often confused questions (even when you ask people you would think would be knowledgeable). Here is the detail. Our example could be this 3.42 Chevy guy. In overdrive he is going to be a 2.67 final drive ratio. He is a Cutlass body with 27 inch tire and so at 75mph in overdrive the motor will be turning 2484 rpm and he has a 3500 stall speed on the back of a pretty nicely built 350ci motor making close to 400hp. 95% of the people you would ask (even tranny guys) would say no-way and yet we know this is an awesome package (drives wonderful, no high temps in the trans etc) why does it work? When his converter was made it was set up to stall at 3500 with 400hp. However if you put 600hp to it it would stall at something like 4500. Conversely if you only put 125hp to it (as when you are just crusing at 75mph not accelerating) then the stall is way down at 2,000 rpm. So his stall with a 3500 converter is not 3500 at cruise because he is not making 400hp. Car drives wonderful. If he romps on it while cruising then the trans is going to downshift to a lower gear and get him into the powerband. (note: read gear vendors passing gear in this section) So, this is why you never lie to you converter builder (because if you overstate your hp you will not get the stall you wanted).

The package of 3500 and 3.42 with 400hp is a sweet setup with a GEAR VENDORS . Without a GEAR VENDORS the trans will not have a great passing gear because 2nd is too low. But with a GEAR VENDORS it will it will jump right into 2nd-over which will rip nicely and put the converter right in the power. You can use this setup as a guidline and say move up or down in ratio related to stall from this good setup with a GEAR VENDORS. Below you will see we have listed an actual formula for Aerodynamic load.

Aerodynamic drag force may be defined as follows:
Fd = (1/2) Cd r A V^2 (1)
where

Fd = aerodynamic drag force
Cd = coefficient of drag
r = density of air
A = frontal area of vehicle, into the direction of motion
V = velocity of vehicle, into the direction of motion

Thanks again, OldmanRick, Rumblefish, stansblue, abodybomber