My latest project: 1970 Dodge Dart 512 C.I. Bracket Racer

Some of you may remember that I used to have a 1972 Dodge Dart which I drag raced.

Well, I got the itch to get back into racing Our new house is only 3 miles from the Speedworld racetrack and I can faintly hear them running the cars from our house. It was just too much for me to bare I haven't been doing much in the way of local fourwheeling, so I thought drag racing would give me something to do on the weekends.

A couple weeks ago I bought a 1970 Dodge Dart off of E-bay. The car was located in New Jersey, a mere 2500 miles from home I decided this was the right car for me mainly because I really needed to get out of the house on my own for a couple weeks and this was just the excuse I needed

The car is going to be stripped and repainted. It will get new quarter panels, at least one rocker, one floorpan, new door hinges, fiberglass hood, bumpers, and most likely trunk lid as well.

The new color will most likely be orange, but it just may end up being red, like my old one. Plans for it include a 650HP, 512 CI, big block Mopar and an automatic transmission. I'm just not sure if it will be from BB or SB or whether or not it will even be a Mopar I plan on ditching the torsion bar front suspension for an aftermarket K member which gives you rack and pinion steering, upgraded brakes, and the choice of coilover shocks or airbag suspension.

The rear end in the car right now is a trussed Mopar 8 3/4", with a three link suspension and coilovers.

 

[Tbars4]

someones been having some fun....

 

[Rick]

Yep, and the fun has just begun

 

[Stic-o]

Very nice Rick! I knda like the green, I thought about doing my Ex that color


On another note...is that the doors back on the Explorer I see in the background?

 

[Rick]

Yep, sharp eye

 

[EMG7895]

I vote for a cadillac 500 ci under the hood.

 

[BrooklynBay]

So how long do you estimate this restoration project will take until you could take it to the track for drag racing? Will it still be a street legal car or track only?

 

[Texan01]

Reminds me of my friends 74 Dart, except with a V8 instead of the Slant Six, a better front and rear end instead of the battering ram bumpers, and well, less grampa-looking than his.

The 500 Caddy is a great torque monster, but lordy is it big and wide. A friend of mine and I stuffed one in a 78 Impala, we thought it'd be pretty much a slam dunk, but had to re-drill the frame mounts, re-jigger the A/C suitcase and convert it to a floor shift because the column shift hit the engine. Though it's a fairly stock engine, we did put a decent cam in it, and I think it would hit 60 in about 5-6 seconds with a 2.73 rear and skinny 205-75-15s. we never did track test it.

The A-body mopar I don't think is big enough for it, but if a 426 Hemi fits in there.......

All in all, looks like you a got a cool toy to play with. Congrats on the find!

 

[Rick]

Latest progress:

I'm just replacing the section of floor that is bad. I didn't see any need to cut out so much good metal. I've got the perimeter cut and a few spot welds drilled. Slowly, but surely...

Cleaning up the surface rust on the firewall.

 

[Rick]

So how long do you estimate this restoration project will take until you could take it to the track for drag racing? Will it still be a street legal car or track only?

Hopefully not more than a couple years. This car will setup for track only.

 

[SVO]

Great project, I can't wait to see this come together











Jeff - :navajo:

 

[410Fortune]

dart dart dart dart
my buddy (best friends older brother) has a Dart (63?) with a 460 HP built 360, 9" rear, discs, tubbed, one seat, cage, fastest car I have ever been in

Great to see this new project Rick
I plan to build a VW GTI someday (when I hit powerball) yeah yeah I know its not detroit muscle but I wanna stuff a turbo V6 under the hood

 

[JDraper]

I can't wait to see this monster done !!

 

[Rick]

I can't wait to see it done either... But at this rate

I'm doing the nastiest part right now, and have been for the past week. I've been spending a couple hours a day scraping off all the crud and undercoating from underneath the car. After it's scraped as best as I can get it, I take solvent and wipe it until the rag comes up clean.

A rotisserie would be very nice, but unfortunately I don't think I have the length I would need for a rotisserie without using the whole three car garage's width. I still like to park in the garage, so that's out...

 

[Turdle]

mmm, old undercoat. Tasty yes?

 

[410Fortune]

rotissarie is not as big as you may think, Brett has one and it takes up 1.5 bays of his dad's 3 car garage with mustang body installed, when broken down (no car on it) it stacks up nicely in the corner

Sure is handy to have such tools

I am with you though, overalls, face shield and eat undercoat

 

[Rick]

I just ordered a 10 point cage for it today I want the cage here for a test fit of the main hoop before I put the floor back in.

I'm most likely going to have FST install the cage.

 

[culhan9]

Sweat project car! I'd like to see more pics of the progress! I hope you keep that same color!!!

 

[Rick]

Been busy... It doesn't show it, but I have worked on something nearly every day since my last update. LOTS of work

Update:

I've got all the undercoating off the car from the rear axle forward. After scrapping off the heavy stuff, I used a hand held wire brush dipped in metal cleaner to dissolve the rest of the undercoating. So far I've only done that to the underside. The wheel wells still need to be cleaned.

Test fit of the drivers floorpan. I ended up removing the majority of the old floorpans.

All four pans removed.

Ladder bar mount and subframe connector.

As it currently sits...

 

[Turdle]

Undercoating+wire brush+metal cleaner = black freckles

It looks like you got quite a bit done actually--