Learn me 1975 Dodge Dart Sport

I have a line on the afore mentioned car. Gutted and caged, previously used in hillclimbs (no offs).

What to look for? It has the 318 V8.

What do you plan to do with it?

HOW gutted is it? Mid-70's A-bodies were the heaviest of the run. The bumpers are massive. Door beams, too.

Rust of course. Rust in the subframe suspension mounting points can be a particular problem.

Look for damage to the torsion bars and bent strut rods from impacts and improper jacking/towing/tie-down.

I'll put most of the front end back on it (it's a solid air dam right now but he has the stock pieces), get it road legal and tool around a little in between hillclimbs and track events.

"1975 Dodge Dart Sport race car. Gutted, full roll cage, fuel cell, electric fuel pump, all fuel and brake lines are braided ss, aluminum racing seat, hydraulic clutch, 4 speed, 4.11 posi rear end, super stock springs, holley double pump dual feed 750 carb, 318 ci, headers, 10 inch wide NASCAR style wheels and tires front and rear, rear battery, new flaming river steering box, less than 100 miles since full front end rebuild, new brakes, too much to list."

I know the gentlemen who own it, the entire family races so I'm not concerned with them trying to screw me over. I just to know of specific things I should check.

318 is gutttttttttless, no matter what you do to it.

Sports are stronger then the Swinger due to having B pillars so that a good start.

Places to look as with most Mopars is the trans crossbeam where the torsion bar Hex is. They tend to rust there in the high stress area then rotate out. Easy to fix now that saddle mounts are availible from several supplers.

Other spots: Floor to firerwall bend in floor pan. Unibody in the area of the 4 BIG K frame bolts. In front of rear springs the mount boxes tend to rust. Rear quarters in trunk the hollow area tends to hold dust /dirt crap thus holds mosture in the sheet metal.

318 is not that bad. Yes 340 or 360 would be nicer but not cheap. I happen to have a NOS set of Speed-Pro std bore 340 13.5:1 forged pistons availible (match weighted allready)

44

About 8 years ago Hot Rod did a CHEAP buildup of a 318 and pulled 400 horsepower on the dyno with the thing. Magnum heads and an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake on a 318 pulled from a Diplomat cop car, along with plenty of cam and careful machine work with stock piston. There doesn't seem to be a better head for the thing from the factory because they all kill compression and the ports are too big if you move to a 360 head, and the 340 is pretty much the same story.

It's a domestic V8 RWD car, the drivetrain isn't going to be a problem, it's going to be rust and accident damage.

44 Dwarf got the biggest structural rust issues; one less structural rust point is if the cowl drains aren't cleaned out, you can have rust holes under the dash that drip water on you whenever it rains. The holes won't be all that accessible, but they also won't be very visible if you try a ghetto fix.

Unless the front end was tube framed, look out for fenderwell headers. The inner fenders are stressed structural members on an A-body, but I sometimes see guys who wanted more header room Sawzall them as if they were in a Nova.