v8440
Well-known member
Helluva sleeper idea with what I have (with pics!)
Hi all,
My buddy John (wontgetdusted) came up with a great idea for a cheap sleeper for me. Here it is:
You guys may remember that I sold him a '75 dart sport that had been wrecked. From it we pulled a running 318, 904 trans, 8 1/4 rearend, driveshaft, etc. (the importance of this will become apparent shortly...)
It so happens that not long ago the recently-swapped-in /6 in my '70 4 door green valiant developed the Rod Knock Of Jesus. There the car sits, terrible looking but in basically good shape except for the engine. Now, let me list some stuff that I have sitting around, both mine and stuff John owns but is not going to use...
Running-when-pulled 1977 360 2 bbl motor and 904 trans
1976 vintage W2 heads, modified to use a standard intake manifold
A set hi po a body manifolds (from a 340 car)
An a body 8 1/4 rearend with 2.45 gears
In a junkyard is a dakota with an 8 1/4 with 3.55's and a suregrip
Either a stock iron or a performer rpm intake manifold
Freshly rebuilt 800 cfm thermobog
Another buddy is a TCI dealer-a breakaway converter will run about $150
A set of superstock springs
A set of adjustable lakewood front drag shocks
A set of MP rear drag shocks
Nitrous bottle, line, and solenoids
A buddy who owns a muffler shop
You see where this is going, I'm sure. The plan is, stick the 360 off in the green valiant with a 904 and about a 2400 rpm converter. Put a shift kit in the transmission, leaving the valvebody full auto so I can continue feeling the column shifter love. Put the 3.55 suregrip setup in the 8 1/4 a body housing, and install that in place of the current 7 1/4. The 360 will get either John's stock iron intake or my performer rpm intake. If I go the edelbrock route, I'll grind off the letters on the manifold that would give it away, and paint it to match the rest of the engine. I'll also put the 800 thermobog on there instead of a holley-same reason I'll use the hi-po manifolds I just happen to have lying around. Inside the air filter housing will be the nitrous and fuel solenoid, as well as a top shot nozzle. That way, I can pull the air filter off and show them that there's no nitrous or big holley carb. The line and wires will be hidden in vacuum lines. The suspension will also be quietly up to snuff, with the aforementioned superstock springs, and drag shocks. For a cam, I'm probably gonna run an edelbrock performer (not performer rpm) cam, and shift at about 5500 rpm or so. I hear those cams work especially well on the bottle, and it ought to sound about stock at idle in a 360. If a teardown shows I must go through the motor, I have a good buddy at a machine shop who LOVES smallblock mopars. To keep it cheap, if a rebuild is needed I'll probably run stock replacement '71 cast pistons. 1971 because that's the one year that used flattops instead of a dish-cheap and easy compression gain.
No flashy aftermarket wheels here-stock cop wheels with the dog dish hubcaps correct for the car on them. I'll weld subframe connectors safely out of sight, and leave the cage for some other car.
Oh, the car has working power steering and a/c. I see no reason to change that-I'll leave those hooked up. What do you guys think? I bet it'll go 11.80's or quicker on the bottle if I can get everything dialed in right, and look funny as hell doing it.
Hi all,
My buddy John (wontgetdusted) came up with a great idea for a cheap sleeper for me. Here it is:
You guys may remember that I sold him a '75 dart sport that had been wrecked. From it we pulled a running 318, 904 trans, 8 1/4 rearend, driveshaft, etc. (the importance of this will become apparent shortly...)
It so happens that not long ago the recently-swapped-in /6 in my '70 4 door green valiant developed the Rod Knock Of Jesus. There the car sits, terrible looking but in basically good shape except for the engine. Now, let me list some stuff that I have sitting around, both mine and stuff John owns but is not going to use...
Running-when-pulled 1977 360 2 bbl motor and 904 trans
1976 vintage W2 heads, modified to use a standard intake manifold
A set hi po a body manifolds (from a 340 car)
An a body 8 1/4 rearend with 2.45 gears
In a junkyard is a dakota with an 8 1/4 with 3.55's and a suregrip
Either a stock iron or a performer rpm intake manifold
Freshly rebuilt 800 cfm thermobog
Another buddy is a TCI dealer-a breakaway converter will run about $150
A set of superstock springs
A set of adjustable lakewood front drag shocks
A set of MP rear drag shocks
Nitrous bottle, line, and solenoids
A buddy who owns a muffler shop
You see where this is going, I'm sure. The plan is, stick the 360 off in the green valiant with a 904 and about a 2400 rpm converter. Put a shift kit in the transmission, leaving the valvebody full auto so I can continue feeling the column shifter love. Put the 3.55 suregrip setup in the 8 1/4 a body housing, and install that in place of the current 7 1/4. The 360 will get either John's stock iron intake or my performer rpm intake. If I go the edelbrock route, I'll grind off the letters on the manifold that would give it away, and paint it to match the rest of the engine. I'll also put the 800 thermobog on there instead of a holley-same reason I'll use the hi-po manifolds I just happen to have lying around. Inside the air filter housing will be the nitrous and fuel solenoid, as well as a top shot nozzle. That way, I can pull the air filter off and show them that there's no nitrous or big holley carb. The line and wires will be hidden in vacuum lines. The suspension will also be quietly up to snuff, with the aforementioned superstock springs, and drag shocks. For a cam, I'm probably gonna run an edelbrock performer (not performer rpm) cam, and shift at about 5500 rpm or so. I hear those cams work especially well on the bottle, and it ought to sound about stock at idle in a 360. If a teardown shows I must go through the motor, I have a good buddy at a machine shop who LOVES smallblock mopars. To keep it cheap, if a rebuild is needed I'll probably run stock replacement '71 cast pistons. 1971 because that's the one year that used flattops instead of a dish-cheap and easy compression gain.
No flashy aftermarket wheels here-stock cop wheels with the dog dish hubcaps correct for the car on them. I'll weld subframe connectors safely out of sight, and leave the cage for some other car.
Oh, the car has working power steering and a/c. I see no reason to change that-I'll leave those hooked up. What do you guys think? I bet it'll go 11.80's or quicker on the bottle if I can get everything dialed in right, and look funny as hell doing it.
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