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1973 Dodge Dart

moparnut

Administrator
1973 Dodge Dart - $10,950 - 147 Concord Road, MA - 1973 Dodge Dart - Nice dart sport just up from Florida!! This dart has a healthy sounding 340 with headers, and automatic transmission. The exterior is white with the sport stripe down the side, a black hood scoop, and silver painted bumpers give this hot-rod a custom flair. Its got a nicely detailed engine bay, and clean interior. This car is a nice driver quality car that gets thumbs up wherever you take it!!
Call 978-846-2783 and For more Classics visit our website... www.clairclassics.com


Link to ad on Hemmings.com
 
One look at the painted bumpers and my first thought is, "where else did he cheap-out?" :hmmm:
 
Carolina Chrome, baby!!

Where else did he cheap out? Buying a beak-nosed '73 Dart.. Oh, and the trunk. And apparently he couldn't afford a bunch of stuff that used to live under the hood, either.
 
Painting the filler-tube gasket was brilliant; rates right up there with painting the $17 Pep Boys chrome valve covers and breather that were probably just as rusty as the bumpers. It looks to be a solid car, but the lack of electronic ignition points to it being a 318 car that's still probably powered by its original engine. As far as missing underhood items, real men don't need radiator overflow bottles, windshield washers, heaters, or data tags. If one was attracted to such a car, and I don't think I know anyone that would be, this one's probably worth half its asking if that is in fact a 340. Deduct about $1,500 if it's the 318 I suspect.

Today's puzzle: Why isn't the ballast resistor connected?!
 
Wait a minute.. I've had three '73 318 vehicles now.. two trucks and a Fury.. all have had electronic ignition..

Come to think of it, I've got a friend whose dad way overpaid for a 12,000 mile '73 Duster.. it's a 318 car with electronic ignition. Maybe this guy switched back to points.. I have friends who do that.. "Electronic ignition is too complicated" they say.. "I don't understand fuel injection.. carburetors are way better".. Right. Carburetors are cool, but fuel injection's the reason motors can go for up to 300,000 miles, and make more power doing it. Jeezus, my friend Brendan and I go round and round.. He swears that points are better than a set it and forget it electronic pickup that keeps a tune for years..
 
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Today's puzzle: Why isn't the ballast resistor connected?!

I just thought about it.. if he's runnning Pertronix, he wouldn't need a ballast resistor with an aftermarket coil.. My truck isn't running one right now, either.
 
Wait a minute.. I've had three '73 318 vehicles now.. two trucks and a Fury.. all have had electronic ignition..

Come to think of it, I've got a friend whose dad way overpaid for a 12,000 mile '73 Duster.. it's a 318 car with electronic ignition. Maybe this guy switched back to points.. I have friends who do that.. "Electronic ignition is too complicated" they say.. "I don't understand fuel injection.. carburetors are way better".. Right. Carburetors are cool, but fuel injection's the reason motors can go for up to 300,000 miles, and make more power doing it. Jeezus, my friend Brendan and I go round and round.. He swears that points are better than a set it and forget it electronic pickup that keeps a tune for years..

after beign broke down on the side of the road countless times all directly related to something up with the mopar electronic ignition..i officialy HATE it, be it bad grounds bad moduals weak pickups ignition switch issues causeing the box to malfunction..ive basicly had every rendition of mopar electronic ignition failure possible.....i have a "wire extension" msd 6aL with quick connect to strap it to the battery and quick plug into all the right spots on mopars.along with a performance coil .i call it my get me home setup

points WILL get you home...and you cant deny that so will a carb(assuming its simple enuf to rebuild on the road side)..i wont argue that electronic isnt better it just has more potential to fail
 
I just thought about it.. if he's runnning Pertronix, he wouldn't need a ballast resistor with an aftermarket coil.. My truck isn't running one right now, either.
It depends on both the version of Pertronix used, as well as the coil itself. The Ignitor I requires the resistor to stay in place with a stock coil. Aftermarket (and Ford) coils with internal resistors can be used without the ballast, obviously, but coils like the MSD Blaster 2 often require a second resistor inline with the first.

The only Mopar electronic ignition failure I've ever experienced was attempting to run a gold ECU on the street. It was a murder/suicide, because it took the Blaster 2 (without the secondary resistor) with it. I have never had a single problem with it otherwise, including the "failure prone" ballast resistor that I've never once had to replace. If you know how a ballast resistor actually works, and the reasoning behind it, it's a brilliant piece of engineering and far superior to an internal-resistance coil, such as those used by Ford. Regardless, I always wonder about the condition of wiring in cars belonging to people that tell me Mopar stuff is unreliable. The only electronic part I've had to swap with any kind of regularity is alternators, and never more than once per car. I've never been failed by a stock ECU, resistor, voltage regulator, etc.

Prior to my ownership, my 300 had the ESA disconnected and the distributor replaced with a points unit. Whomever did that swap wired the ignition coil to an accessory terminal for some stupid reason. With the key turned backward so I could listen to the radio, it fried the points. They would not get me home. Points suck. They do not have a single advantage over electronic ignition other than resistance to EMP. So, if you've got a nuclear warhead detonating nearby whilst driving, the car will stall but restart. It won't be an issue, though, since you'll be vapor and ash at that point.

My boo-boo on the electronic ignition. It was optional in '72, being standard only on the high-performance engines, high-end Chrysler models and Imperial that year, since points are especially worthless on a performance car, and a premium car should start more quickly and reliably. It became standard across the board in '73.
 

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