Sunday, May 9, 2010

1973 dodge dart carb install

I don't own this car,I often whore out my automotive talents and work on other peoples cars. This is a 1973 Dodge Dart Swinger owned by Ryan Tucker It has a 318 with a 904 tranny and 4.10:1 cogs in a 8 1/4 rearend.It also has front disc brakes and large bolt pattern Rally wheels. Did I mention It was a California car with very little rust? A huge change from the rusted out hulks that usually grace the driveway.
To continue the persistant carburburetor theme on this blog we spent a day swapping out the old crusty 600 cfm Holley (left) for the shiney new 570 cfm Holley street avenger
When test fitting the carb we noticed the throttle blades caught on the manifold. So a carb spacer was needed
We ended up using this old Mr. Gasket carb adapter on an even more ancient Weiand intake manifold.The throttle linkage was really hacked together by the previous owner which caused a ton of grief.


The new carb ran nicely,The stock jets were #54 which were waay lean I went up to a #64 (the smallest I had) to fatten up the fuel curve.besides the weiand intake the 318 also has an aftermarket cam with unknown specs.The headers flow into a pair of glasspacks. This little car moves pretty good for what it is. It still needs the electric choke hooked up and maybe some additional tuning, But the owner is happy with the performance so I'm happy.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

                                  
     I started getting the Holley 850 cfm double pumper ready for the challenger,I did a quickie cleanup and added a chrysler throttle lever extention  HolleyP/N 510-20-7
I also had to change the power valve from the stock 6.5  to 3.5. The method to determine the correct power valve is to take a vacuum reading and divide it in half. I had a vacuum reading of 7 inches which gave me 3.5. here I am getting "intimate" with the power valve to make sure it works.
 Heres the 850 installed and ready for action! next on the to do list is to get the slicks mounted and install the long lug studs on the axles.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

8 3/4 rebuild Part II

I pounded in the axle seals P/N 8695S with some RTV
These are the 11inch drum brakes I'm using....These have been on the shelf for a long
time I'm glad they're finally being used.
The 3.23 Third member was pretty sludgy I'm gonna clean it up with mineral spirits,cross my fingers and bolt it in

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

8 3/4 rebuild Part 1

 
Top to bottom: Housing gasket,axle seals,metal flange gasket and outer foam gasket
My original plan was to use the aftermarket "Green"axle bearings but since the factory timkens were in fine shape I decided to keep them. I packed the bearings with high temp grease using a needle tip on a grease gun.
I cleaned up all the threads on the housing and cleaned the gasket surfaces
I thoroughly cleaned the housing and coated it with POR 15.....Wear gloves with this stuff because once it gets on your hands it doesn't come off.
I scored this C-Body 8 3/4 housing in a junkyard. A common theme in my projects
The 9 1/4 rearend was introduced for the 1973 model year. It's an extremely durable unit and was used by Chrysler until the late 90's . The only problem is there isn't much to be had for aftermarket gears and posi units. Which is why I'm switching to a 8 3/4 with a used 3.23:1 "sure grip.

Monday, April 26, 2010


This is my 1973 Plymouth Fury III I purchased on september 1, 1997 for a whopping $1900 it had 55,000 miles on the 360 2 barrel. Last summer I finally got the Fury back on the road after sitting dormant for about 8 years. I yanked the 2 barrel carb and cast iron manifold and replaced it with an edelbrock performer and a 600 cfm Holley carb. I replaced the stock wheels and tires with 15x7 cop car rims with P235/70R 15 Uniroyal tigerpaws. The single exhaust was replaced with a 2 inch dual exhaust with Hooker super comp mufflers. The first project on the Fury will be swapping out the 9 1/4 rearend for a 8 3/4 with a 3.23:1 "sure grip"

Saturday, April 24, 2010


This is probably the jewel of my ramshackle fleet It's a 1970 Dodge Challenger. I purchased this car the day after I graduated high school. It's powertrain consists of a 440 with a 4-speed and a 4.10:1 Dana 60 out back. The plan is to get this thing on the dragstrip this summer