Project 440DD

[dukeboy_318]

Introducing my project. I've been skimming around here for month now, figured I'd post something other than a question.

The Car is a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger, 2 door hard top. Originally a Slant 6 225 cubic inch, running driving car. Being a 74 dart and not a desirable year according to the purist, I'm doing a street/PT/drag build on this car. This is not a dedicated race car and with a family for cruising, I am sacrificing some performance and such for ease of use on the street. Anyway, the plan outlines:

Engine:

1973 440, bored .030, decked to .05
Speed Pro Forged pistons with a compression ratio around 10.5 to 1
Forged Crank
Stock rods shot peened and checked for truness, rotating assembly internally balanced.
Custom ground Comp cam, hydraulic flat tappet. .509/.512 lifts
Still saving for the heads, which will either be RPMs or Trickflows if they are shipping by then.
King bearings throughout

Engine is at the machine shop as we speak.

Trans:
Rebuilt unit by Brewers, A833 4 speed.

Rear:
8.75 A body rear, 489 suregrip, 3.23s at the moment. Plans will be for 3.91s to swap in for race trim.



The day I found her:

[dukeboy_318]

Parts gathering starts:

The 440 as picked up for a very cheap price... guy that had it thought it was a 455 Pontiac block....yeah he wasnt the smartest cookie.





The new guts:







The 8.75 rear:







New interior pieces:

[dukeboy_318]

Replaced the crappy flat hood with a Fiberglass unit from Glastek I got at a local swap meet directly from the Glastek booth for the whopping price of 100 bucks. It is a pin on, so that means more weight savings by ditching the hood hinges and latches...roughly 15 lbs give or take plus about 30 lbs in the hood itself.








New Deck lid, the other one was rusted out:



Interior is stripped, only one bad floor pan, drivers side front.

[dukeboy_318]

New (old) fender :



Sanding down the other fender:

[dukeboy_318]

4 speed








A little unique touch I gave the shifter





Now what could I be doing with this:

[dukeboy_318]

Out with the old slant

[DavidBoren]

Cool project. I like the hood. And the motor you are building sounds like it will be a beast.

I am interested to see how you hook up the joystick. Personally, I prefer to use the steering wheel...

[dukeboy_318]

Originally Posted by DavidBoren

Cool project. I like the hood. And the motor you are building sounds like it will be a beast.

I am interested to see how you hook up the joystick. Personally, I prefer to use the steering wheel...

Thanks,

Still will use a steering wheel. The joystick is an actual cobra attack copter stick I picked up at an Army/Navy auction years ago for a quarter.... Plans are to use it as a shift knob with some tricky functions for the buttons.

Engine should be around 500, maybe more at the flywheel. All will depend on the heads and if i decide on any porting.

[68Cuda]

dukeboy... keeping the factory power steering? What suspension changes are you planning on?

Hey... that looks like a '69 Barracuda hood. FYI - They use the same hood as a '74 Dart if you did not know.

I have been playing with big blocks in A body Mopars for 27 years...

Where are you located?

[dukeboy_318]

Originally Posted by 68Cuda

dukeboy... keeping the factory power steering? What suspension changes are you planning on?

Hey... that looks like a '69 Barracuda hood. FYI - They use the same hood as a '74 Dart if you did not know.

I have been playing with big blocks in A body Mopars for 27 years...

Where are you located?

Yep, I knew I'm in Indiana

Factory steering...well no. Front will be tubular rack and pinion coil over suspension eventually.... cost for that is $$$$

Rear suspension is going to be a parallel 4 link, fully adjustable rear, working on the design of it now, still trying to decide between a Watts setup or just a panhard bar.