My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

[Silver68RT]

Well, like a lot of car guys, I have a hard time resisting a good deal on a project car, so I've got a lot of stuff that doesn't run yet. When I get enough money together to make some progress on one of the ones I've already got, inevitably, I hear about something else really cool that's up for sale.

This is my '69 Dart GT. It's got a 360 with a 727, 8 3/4 rear with super stock springs and 4.10's. It's run 13.40 @ 101 mph, but mostly I just cruise in it now.



This is my '69 front engine dragster, I went 8.94 @ 145 mph in it last time I had it out. 400 Chevy small block, .060-over, Dart Iron Eagle heads, powerglide, 8 3/4 rear, real magnesium 16x11 Halibrands with M&H nostalgia top fuel 12.00-16 slicks. It's an animal.



I've got a '69 Mach 1 428 SCJ 4-speed car that was a street racer until the guy blew the engine and parked it with 24K miles on it. He just threw a tarp over it, and it sat in his garage for 30 years, until a buddy of mine found it. I'd just bought a house, couldn't afford it, bought it anyway. Can you blame me? I bought another 428 SCJ engine to build for it a couple of years ago, and a just picked up a '68 390 to stick in it just to get it running.



Then I heard that a guy at work had decided to sell his '68 Charger R/T 440 4-speed project that he was never going to get to. Of course I couldn't pass that up, so it was off to Kentucky for another one. It's got a '78 440 and a 727 in it now, but the clutch pedal and the Dana 60 are still in it. I bought a Hemi 4-speed, bellhousing, shifter, hump and console for it to convert it back. It was originally silver with a red interior, but no fender tag or broadcast sheet.




I was really starting to make some progress on the Charger when I heard about a '70 318 Barracuda from another guy at work, and I couldn't talk myself out of that one either. It came with a bunch of other parts, which happened to include a matching '69 440 engine and 727 trans. I posted the VIN on moparts.com, and they turned out to be from a '69 1/2 440 6bbl Road Runner that was being restored locally. Those guys were thrilled, and I made back a big chunk of what I paid for the car.




I'm out of space, I've got engines and transmissions and car parts everywhere, and I think I've got a lifetime supply of projects here. When I read that Freiburger's got 35, I don't feel so bad though. I've got a bet going with a guy at work as to who can get something running first, so I'm going to work on getting that 390 in the Mach 1 and get it back on the road.

I'll let you know if I get anywhere with it.

Doug

[milner351]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Doug
- how goes it!

I'll get in on that bet too!

I'll let you know how the 428cj turns out - Millen agreed to have his guys look into the sleeve -

we've got to do lunch some time - see you 'round at APTL.

[Silver68RT]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Hi John,

It'd be going better if I didn't have to work tomorrow. Kind of hard to get some garage time in if I'm never home. The bet is - loser buys dinner at Hooters. Randy's Model A snowmobile vs. my Mach 1. Figure we could both use a nudge, since neither one of us has made much progress lately. He just went and bought another car, so that's bound to set him back though. Hopefully my $350 390 will fire right up without too much trouble. I do need to pick up a flywheel for it though.

I saw the pic of your Mustang - looks cool. Good luck with your 428CJ build. I'm not sure if mine will need any sleeves, there's some pitting in one of the cylinders where it had water sitting in it at some point. If I'd known those Genesis blocks were coming out, I'd have probably waited and got one of them instead.

Lunch - definitely!

Doug

[BigBlockMopar]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Well, like a lot of car guys, I have a hard time resisting a good deal on a project car, so I've got a lot of stuff that doesn't run yet.

...

I'm out of space, I've got engines and transmissions and car parts everywhere, and I think I've got a lifetime supply of projects here. ...

Doug, stop giving me Deja Vu's and telling my life's story... ;D
Nice collection of wheels you have there!

[Scott Liggett]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Holy set of cool cars, Batman. Very nice.

[Freiburger]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Man, you're scum! Great deals on great cars! I may have 35 rides, but few as great as yours. Let me know when you're ready to trade off that Mach. I'll give you a Hemi for it that would be perfect for your Cuda!

[shaun callaway]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

you have a really nice collection there 8)

[Silver68RT]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Thanks guys. Hemi. Hmmmm. You really know how to tempt a guy. Around the same time I heard that the '70 Barracuda was for sale, another co-worker told me a guy who'd done some work on his cottage had mentioned that he had the front clip from a hemicuda. My immediate response was "How much for the front clip, and what happened to the rest of the car?" After bugging my co-worker for a while, he called the guy (it had been a year since he heard about it!!!), and found out it was the whole car sitting in a barn. He'd bought it new when he got out of the service, then wrecked it when it was a couple of years old. Hit some railroad tracks going way too fast, and bent it in the middle. He'd given the hemi to his uncle, but otherwise it was complete. Trouble was, he'd gotten divorced in the past year, and his ex-wife got the farm, with the barn, with the car in it. So now we've got to go from the guy, to the guy's son, to the ex-wife. Story comes back - she just had her new boyfriend drag it out of the barn with the front-end loader, smash it flat, and load it in a dumpster with the rest of his junk, and haul it off for scrap. That one's going to haunt me for the rest of my life. Said it was grey, with a black interior, and a hemi stripe on the side, but he couldn't remember the year. I'm betting it was a '71. I'd have done just about anything to get my hands on that car. Moral of the story is - follow up on every lead - immediately!! And never pass up an opportunity to talk cars with a guy - you never know what might turn up.

My buddy Tim bought the Mach 1 off the original owner in the fall of '03 for $3,000. His neighbor heard about a guy with an old Mustang from a guy at work, but didn't have any money. He went over to check it out, offered the guy 3 grand, and he took it. When I saw it, sanity left the building, and I had to have it. Even as a die-hard Mopar guy, there was no way I could pass up a 4-speed, Drag Pack, 428 Super Cobra Jet Mach 1 in this kind of condition.





There was still trash in the lifter valley from the engine failure.



Thing is a freakin' time capsule. Lots of dents, some wear from the tarp, but no rust. On a Michigan car!!!

Later,

Doug

[Freiburger]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

I'm talking complete, running Hemi, ready to drop in, ya know...

I'll even deliver.

[milner351]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Doug
At least let me come over and take pictures of your car in detail so I'll have them for reference as I try to resurrect mine from the drag car it is, to the driver I want it to be.

This trade may be the only way we can get DF to the motor city! ;)


Seriously cool car - all of them!

[Silver68RT]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

I'm talking complete, running Hemi, ready to drop in, ya know...

I'll even deliver.

I'm pretty sure I know what you're feeling, because when I walked into Tim's garage and saw the Mach sitting there, it just blew my mind. Coolest thing I'd ever seen. I had seriously just bought a house a month before, so I had to dig deep to buy it. I even traded him my Dart and then bought it back later. I'm not ready to part with it, but your instincts are dead on, because it would take a hemi car to do it. If I'd managed to get that poor, bent hemicuda, I'd have sold the Mustang, the Charger, the dragster, and maybe a kidney to finance it's restoration, because that's my ultimate dream car. The Mach, though - dual quads, headers, solid cam, mags, Lakewood scattershield - I bet it was a pretty fearsome beast in its day too. It's too bad he loaned the rear wheels out and never got them back, because I want to put it back to the way it was the day the engine scattered. If things change, I'll let you know. Economy's a little shaky here in Michigan, and I have to say I'm a little nervous.



Is that the Landy-built Hemi from your Bee you're offering up, or have you got another one? Are we going to get to see the Bee resurrected here on the forum? What's the plan?

Doug

[milner351]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Doug

I have a solvent tank and a sandblasting cabinet - we can make that dual quad intake look new!
I've never run dual quads or a a solid cam, but this FE build may just be the time to do it.

Did the heads on the engine that blew have the adjustable 427 rocker set up or something more fancy.

This reminds me - I still have to go pick up that 390! I may end up having to take it apart where it sits just so I can get it out of there with out killing my back or getting a piece of equipment stuck in the process --- it's pretty buried in a guys barn down in Willis.

[Silver68RT]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

John,

I have a pallet with an FE-sized box built on it that the 428 I bought from California came on. I also used it to pick up my 390 - the pan rail sits on the box, and then I ran some tie-down straps over it to hold it in place. You're welcome to borrow it if you want. I have to say, that fully dressed 390 must be ridiculously heavy, because my cherry picker was kind of balanced on the outrigger casters with the boom at the 1/2 ton position getting it out of the back of my F250. The back 4 casters were kind of hovering just off the ground. A little scary. Dismantling it may not be a bad idea.

Did you get the 390 from Aaron, or somebody else? If you need a hand, let me know - I might be able to help.

My rockers on the blown-up 428 are adjustable - they're cast iron with a light-colored hollow adjuster screw. If you've got "How To Rebuild Big-Block Ford Engines" by Steve Christ - they're the ones in the middle picture on page 140. The other CJ I've got has non-adjustable rockers. I'm pretty sure the 390 does too, but I haven't taken the valve covers off yet.

The dual quad intake is apparently the one they used on the '67 GT500 Shelby's, according to the part number. I might save it for when I build the 428, and just put the Edelbrock Streetmaster I have on the 390. It's got a cast iron 4 bbl intake already, but it doesn't look especially performance-oriented. C4SE-9425A. Not sure what that's from, but I think it was cast in '63. I think my block was cast in '67, and the engine's supposed to be out of a '68 pickup truck.

Doug

[milner351]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

Doug
you've got some valuable stuff there, you could probably finance a good part of your mach project by selling off that intake and carbs and other spare parts - the FE parts prices are simply rediculous.

I traded Aaron a set of twisted wedge heads I had for the 351C ranger he got from Barnaby, he threw in an FE C6.

I'm trading a different guy small block parts for the complete 390 - this thing still has all the front end accessories on it - which is part of the reason I want it - even if they are the wrong brackets for the '69 mach - they are brackets - which will let me get the thing going down the road, wether it be with the 390, the 390 with the 428 crank, or the 428.

That box sounds interesting - thankfully the guy is not in a hurry to get rid of it - and it is on a cart with wheels so -it's somewhat mobile....
yea - this FE stuff is HEAVY - I've carried fully assembled shortblock 302s by myself -- I don't think I'd even try to move a bare FE block by myself!

[jaybnve]

Re: My projects - 3 Mopars, a Mustang, and a dragster

I'm talking complete, running Hemi, ready to drop in, ya know...

I'll even deliver.

LOL! Are you going to paint it green?? And put on a shaker?? ;)