Dave's 72 Dart

[Pete]

Tall gears are your friend if you are down on power and can live with high revs at highway speed and resultant poor gas mileage.

Julie's 318 Poly-powered 1962 Dodge Dart ("B" Body) ran 19's - with the "E" Brake applied, and I am sure it was a lot heavier than an "A" Body.

[Super Sloth]

See what your saying but in reality my fiberglass hood with its massive scoop is not really the height of aerodynamic efficiency. I'd be interested to see your timing slip, as if your crossing the line at the same speed I'd expect out ETs to be the same, not 1 second apart.

Being honest I was expecting and would have been happy with something in the 17s. The 19.3 to me proves that the motor, though reliable is a performance dog with a crap CR. All I can find is that in 77 it was dropped to 8.5 1 at 145hp. Given that it's an unknown entity and an old rebuild, then I'd expect my HP numbers are quite a bit lower than that.

I may actually be loosing a bit of low down torque with the exhaust system and such a low hp output.

Thought process at the mo is to get the rear end modifications done and add a tachometer so I can see rpm to manually shift. Then I'll run it again in spring and see what I have improved hopefully.

Sure thing, Dave. Timing slip at the bottom.
Ha! I remembered an 18.3 apparently it was a .43 doh!

Yes, we're both in the same boat re: compression. My wife's daily is an MGB with a very hot B series and that makes something like 105bhp. The Dodge is a gnats whisker quicker and maintains speed up our test hill so I wouldn't be surprised at all if our 318 is making sub 120bhp?

The numbers look very comparable, eh? I'm even more convinced she's got more in reserve, mate. Can't wait to see what you come up with over winter!

[Blue]

I'd say the low compression is a big factor. I had a low compression 440 in my Dart and it was gutless, I swapped in a set of 10.5 pistons and it was a different car. Swapping in a better set of pistons isn't especially expensive but it's an engine out job and you might as well change the came while you're in there yada, yada, yada...

[Dave999]

is it a 318?

jeep pistons with thin bottom ring

https://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/slp-wh814cp


or Keith black KB167 more expensive

the speed pros seem fine cheaper if you buy a box of 8

i honed out my rods and fitted them to my hemi 6

now have a 40 thou dome hahaahaha seems to work in a semi hemi head

they'd be more or less at the deck on yours so no extra fannying about and they fit your rods



Dave

[Dave81]

Pistons and Cam would help but if im going to open up the engine i'll go the whole hog and have it properly worked over.

Just need to find the money to get this next stage finished and i can start planning the motor.

Stroke a 318 or find a 360........or should i put a blower on the 318 i have. Time and money, but i enjoy the transition and little bits that go with it. The Project aspect is half the fun of owning the car!!!

[Dave81]

See what your saying but in reality my fiberglass hood with its massive scoop is not really the height of aerodynamic efficiency. I'd be interested to see your timing slip, as if your crossing the line at the same speed I'd expect out ETs to be the same, not 1 second apart.

Being honest I was expecting and would have been happy with something in the 17s. The 19.3 to me proves that the motor, though reliable is a performance dog with a crap CR. All I can find is that in 77 it was dropped to 8.5 1 at 145hp. Given that it's an unknown entity and an old rebuild, then I'd expect my HP numbers are quite a bit lower than that.

I may actually be loosing a bit of low down torque with the exhaust system and such a low hp output.

Thought process at the mo is to get the rear end modifications done and add a tachometer so I can see rpm to manually shift. Then I'll run it again in spring and see what I have improved hopefully.

Sure thing, Dave. Timing slip at the bottom.
Ha! I remembered an 18.3 apparently it was a .43 doh!

Yes, we're both in the same boat re: compression. My wife's daily is an MGB with a very hot B series and that makes something like 105bhp. The Dodge is a gnats whisker quicker and maintains speed up our test hill so I wouldn't be surprised at all if our 318 is making sub 120bhp?

The numbers look very comparable, eh? I'm even more convinced she's got more in reserve, mate. Can't wait to see what you come up with over winter!

Thanks for the Info Jon!
Very comparable. In actual fact id recon that manual shifting may just about get me to where you are currently.

You beat me at every marker on the timing slip......Challenge Set!!

[Pete]

Quickest fix is 100 shot of spray

Cheap initially, but like H.P.. "Wonga" will own you.

[MilesnMiles]

Find a 360 and build it whilst driving the Dart as is. I dropped in a stock rebuilt 360 with a mild 262 cam and ran a 14.3 on my first ever Shakey run and that was with open 3.23 rear.

[MattH]

Great thread. I too want to get a baseline number for the Challenger before doing any engine mods. It's 318 2 barrel with 3.23 gears. Ive got a 4 barrel and K&N so im keen to get a current figure then see what difference it makes.

I shall follow Dave's journey into the money pit with anticipation!!

[Dave81]

Testing Photo Upload from Mobile

FB_IMG_1506013510582.jpg (86.51 KiB) Viewed 1643 times

A photo from the HRDs and a chance to test the new site......no need to reply.

[lough3969]

Nice shot...

[Dave81]

Had the day off work and ive finally found some time to play with the Dart.......New Part:

[Dave81]

Had to sort some of the wiring to get a switched feed for it but all sorted and working now. Another 2 hour job that took 5.

Got to the end and realised that id used my last cable tie a few weeks back, so i need to tidy the rear wiring at some point.

Had a quick play on the street........
Need to find a quiet Sunday and a deserted country road to see what it does when i manually shift.

All in all another job done!

[Birdman]

Good stuff Dave, get that 8 3/4 in. Chris

[MilesnMiles]

318 Dave? Spank it to 6,200