New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule... '73 Dodge Dart

[BigBlockMopar]

...a '73 Dart with a '71 frontclip.
Eventhough I'm breaking my #1 rule* here by bringing in this small block car, :o ;D I think it's still a fun little driver good enough for daily usage.
(but if the harrassment of me owning a smallblock now gets too much I'll probably be forced to drop a bigblock in it one day of course )

*life's too short to be fooling around with smallblocks...


It's got a 2-bbl 318, running on LPG/propane (=cheap here), auto, air, power discbrakes and power steering.
The K-member on the car has been powder coated once and all suspensionparts and bushings have been replaced.
My current daily Euro-heap probably won't pass it's yearly mandatory checkup, so this Dart will be a good subsitution for it.

The Dart has been sitting idle outside for the past 6 years so there are a number things to check/fix/recondition.
Plans are to get it technically sound and dependable for daily use by going over the brakes and tune and clean-up the engine and surrounding area. The engine bay is still riddled with smog-related crap, all probably prone to fail soon, so most of it will soon find it's way to the 'recycle-bin'

The roof has some rust-issues at the rear window so that's need to be tackled aswell one day. The car came with a new black vinyl top and a repair panel for the lower rearwindow part.

[Darren N.]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

This will make a sweet daily! Why drive a Euro-heap when you can rock it like Joe Dirt? ;D

Out of curiosity, what does LPG cost you in the Netherlands compared to gas?

[Blazerteam]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

You need to ad one more rule..no euro trash as daily driver :D.Life is too short for that..It sure looks like a Dart that has been sold new down there,and has been taken care of for awhile at its first owner..it has all the right marks..brown and no repaint?.

[BigBlockMopar]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

I had that last rule for some 14 years, then stuff happens and before you know it you're living a nightmare driving a crappy euro-box all day... ;D Time to wakeup again

LPG is about 1/3-1/2 the price of regular gas here.

[BigBlockMopar]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

Well I found a couple of surprises in the car. The rust issues with the roof were more severe than I hoped for so I decided to tackle them a bit sooner.
After removing about 20pounds of mostly moist sounddeadening material I was able to have a look at the floorpanels. Unfortunatly besides the roof, the leftfront floorpanel didn't survive all too well either.
I looked ok until I started tapping on the panel to break loose and remove some rustscale. Suddenly some holes started to appear and the harder I tapped the larger they got... Maybe I shouldn't have tapped the damn panel at all ;D
Anyway, today I bought a 2-sq.foot piece of sheetmetal and spent the day bending and hammering it roughly into the shape of the former LF floorpanel. Tomorrow is welding day!
Also, tomorrow a friend of mine is coming over and will be handling the roof repair.

Some pics of the newfound misery;








This Left Front panel looked fairly OK...




... until all the loose and scaled rust was removed...

[BangShift McT]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

Rust...it's a bitch.

[JOES66FURY]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

looks all to familiar

[Scott Liggett]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

Rusty floors? Rust under the vinyl top? Yep, its a Mopar. :-\

[88 Dippy]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

vinyl tops where invented by satan

[Huskinhano]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

Looks like the glass was holding the rust in place. Nice project, I've always liked sb Darts ever since a co-worker had a 68 Dart GT that had a 340 and 727. He told me of a night he out ran the cops in it doing 4 wheel drifts around intersections.

[BigBlockMopar]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule...

I've been eyeballing that puny little 318, covered under all of those smog-related hoses in the engine bay but after a while my head automaticly goes into Performance-mode and I find myself looking for cheap ways of making the car perform better
Things that have been pondered over are;
- Bigger motor! ;D 360, or go to bigblock! ;D
- Megasquirt efi
- Turbo...? But that only takes care of mid&upper rpms. I just want torque. So,
- a centrifugal supercharger then? But I don't like their pricetags.
- Overdrive transmission, so counter act the rising fuelprices a bit.

One thing I DO need to do is change the entire rear axle. The current one still has the 4" boltcircle, while the front has 4.5".
Here comes another 'dilemma'... Do I go out and locate a 8-1/4" axle with 4.5" boltspacing, or do I do the 'right' thing and go with a 8-3/4" instead to be better prepared for the future?
The problem is, 8-3/4" axles in Dart-widths are hard to find and therefore also expensive.
I've been thinking of shortening an existing C-body housing but that still leaves me to have some suitable short axle-shafts made.
I really don't want to pour a lot of money into this car since it's 'only' a dailydriver.

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

In the mean time, we've dug into the rusted rearwindow iron yesterday and replaced the lower leftcorner. Soon the otherside will be tackled aswell.

[Junk Whisperer]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule... '73 Dodge Dart

That '73-and-up rear Bumper has GOT TO GO! The '70-'72's are WAY cooler. Companies DO make reproduction '70-'72 Tail Light Lenses for them. I kinda had *that* feeling that you'd eventually end up with your Buddy's Dart,Herman ;D. I just *know* these sort of things.... ;). And of course,they make new Floorpan sections for these Cars too. Good luck with it. ~J/W.

[Blazerteam]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule... '73 Dodge Dart

Do the 83/4 now..its better,and you will regret it later if you dont..and go 360 smallblock and 727..just use 3,23 gear ratio,and you wont need a 4 speed.

You said daily driver,but this sounds like a strret machine already :D

[Tom Slick]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule... '73 Dodge Dart

bench racing out loud here, maybe one of the learned guys will pipe up, but a turbo or two will build all the low rpm torque you can hook up if they are sized right. What you're after is cylinder pressure which is a problem for low octane gasoline. LPG is what, 110 octane? Sounds like a match to me. No more than that car weighs, should be fun.

I think there are some guys using a variable vane off the newer Dodge / Cummins. I haven't looked to see if anyone has finished one yet, but a controller is the trick there. If you get something that can be tuned to handle the vanes, you can have torque AND horsepower.

[DanStokes]

Re: New arrival at the BBM-stash, and an exception to my #1 rule... '73 Dodge Dart

Herman - Sorry about the rust but it's par for the course. It's not a MOPAR-specific issue, I can assure you. That top rust is a special gift from Satan but that's sort of how it goes. With the top peeled and the welding gear out, this is the perfect time to weld up those trim holes and make it a non-vinyl top car.

On the power plant - a SBM can make nice power, especially with Magnum heads. No clue how common those are over there. I'd be happy to score a pair and ship 'em over but I have no clue what THAT bundle of bureaucratic snakes looks like. I'm also now sure if they bolt on or if steam holes need shuffled, etc.

Have fun with it!

Dan