Hey folks,

I thought you all might be interested in the craziness that is *Lou*. Maybe it's too late at night, but I just put up a monster post on <A HREF="http://www.slantsix.com">www.slantsix.com</A> in the "Member Slant Sixes" section on my latest mods to my '68 and '64 Darts.

In order to avoid reprimand from the management, I'll copy the whole mess right here...

Any questions people have are appreciated.

This will be like that outmoded form of entertainment - a book - where you have to use your imagination...

About 6 months ago, I finished the front end on the '64 Dart 270, just before the Spring Fling Car Show. The main motivation here was BETTER BRAKING. In short, I did the 12" disc brake swap with the '73-'76 spindles and A-arms, AND the Wilwood calipers, while stiffening up the suspension and going to 15" wheels w/Z-rated tires in front. I think these mods, along with a fresh buff and wax job, helped me win 3rd in A-body modified that day. Not bad for a 4 door.

- Procured hot-tanked upper cont. arms and spindles at Fall Fling Car Show last year in Van Nuys - $120 total
- Installed MOOG offset upper control arm bushings for more positive caster/negative camber.
- Installed all new MOOG ball joints ('73-'76).
- 11.75" rotors from '78 Cordoba (on other cars too, cops!), only $55 each at local parts store. Uses same bearings/etc as late A-body.
- C-body 11/16" tie rods for stiffer steering linkage - $110 for all. All suspension parts from Allied Auto Supply in Pasadena, CA (626) 793-1893, an awesome place.
- Wilwood Billet Dynalite 4-piston calipers with polymatrix "D" pads, $120/ea for calipers, $40 for pads - from Summit Racing
- Goodridge stainless steel hoses, about $50/pr
- My wonderful welding fool friend Mike Roy and I MIG welded up some bulletproof front swaybar brackets out of the crappy ones that I got with the Addco 1 1/8" bar.
- Factory Chrysler 15X6.5" (or 7"??) steel wheels from Chrysler 5th Ave ($25/pr), and Yokohama AVS Intermediate 225/50ZR15 tires ($80/ea at America's Tire - a steal). Soon the wheels will be replaced with a set of 15X7" Aluminum Outlaw II type American Racing ($25 ea, Thanks Matt!).
- Aligned to 2.25 deg positive caster, 1 deg negative camber, 1/8" toe-in. I didn't go too nuts with camber and toe since I put a lot of street miles on this car (inner edge tire wear = bad). $50.
- Previously I had added a Summit (Wilwood) adjustable proportioning valve in the rear brake line, and I had to dial out a bit more of the rear brakes for even braking.
- Total cost was $1200.

The braking and handling are nothing short of breathtaking. A few times I have driven around for about an 30-60 min. doing successive hard stops (like 30-50 times) from 60-80 mph, and I never succeeded in getting these suckers to fade. It now does between 120-140 ft 60-0 stopping distance depending on road surface. I can EASILY lock up the tires at 100+ mph. With the improved alignment and Z-rated tires, I have added some g's to the turns as well. With a lightly used steering box (no sector play), this thing is tight. The next mods will be subframe connectors to stiffen the chassis.

I am looking forward to some road track time at the 1.9 mile "Streets of Willow" at Willow Springs Int'l raceway in two weeks with the LA Shelby Club. With all the mods since last year, I should be running several seconds faster.

I've also done some even more sweeping mods to the '68 Dart 270, just finished last week, and I am still fine tuning things. I'll get out a more detailed report on performance later, but here is the buildup in a big nutshell:

- 1993 or 1994 A500 (42RE) automatic transmission from Dodge pickup. I copied the homebuilt shift kit ($4 for springs from hardware store) in HP Mopar from a couple of years back and it shifts HARD. Cost - $140 from swap meet. Replaced front seal and filter (ALWAYS do this).
- SMR lockup convertor, stall is about 2200 rpm. They claimed 3000 behind a built V8, so I expected it to be more like 2500, so I'll have to decide what to do about that. Other than that it seems like a very well made unit. $480 with shipping. I will not skimp on convertors ever again.
- Cast iron adapter plate from '67 Dodge pickup with Slant Six and A727-A trans. $20 from swap meet.
- Relocated engine 1/2" forward by drilling out motor mounts and welding washers on - for more easy fit of trans bellhousing into car.
- Built new deep-sump oil pan, lowered pan and pickup 1.25" from stock '64 Dart pan, and shortened sump in the back to allow drag link clearance. Baffled on all sides for oil control in cornering, acceleration, braking. Ground clearance is close to stock. Thanks Mike Roy for TIG expertise.
- Fabricated new lower crossmember and used 4-bolt Chevy trans mount. Had a great friend (Thanks Mike Roy!) TIG weld all of this up to perfection.
- I cut about 1/2" out of upper crossmember just around the trans OD unit to allow decent driveshaft angle (trans not pointing down too much at the back). I love sawsalls. At this time, I didn't have time to weld in new supports, but I think there is enough "angle iron" left to hold 'er together. Really, I think I should cut a little more out and run a whole new x-member over the top with box tubing. Later. The driveshaft angle is not bad (maybe 2-3 degrees?) and I haven't noticed any vibrations yet.
- OD and lockup operated (for now) with lighted jumbo rocker switches just above the ignition key under the dash. $8 with mount panel.
- Ran 5 ft. kickdown cable with high quality bicycle cable and housing and homespun brackets. $6.
- Shortened driveshaft (3" diam) at Cannon Engineering in North Hollywood to 45 1/4" (joint center-center) and used A727 slip yoke. Balanced to 4000 rpm, and they claim it's good to 7300 rpm. $100.
- Swapped axle gears to my tried-and-true (built in 1993) 3.91 sure grip unit in the ol' 8 3/4 axle.
- 2 Dutra Dual manifolds front and rear. Thanks Doug - they look fantastic.
- 2 X 2 1/4" head pipes into a 2 1/2" Y pipe and then 2 1/2" single pipe out the back with a Thrush Turbo - nice custom job done at Kartek in West LA. Plenty of flow for a Slant, and it sounds great without being loud. $350 for all.
- Rebuilt whole front suspension similar to '64 Dart, but with new lower control arm and strut rod (MOOG) bushings. Reused the almost-new A-body tie rods off of my '64 Dart.
- Installed 4-piston Kelsey-Hayes Dart brakes (to keep 4" bolt circle. I just have too many nice small-bolt wheels around. Used old junkyard rotors that are within spec, and got rebuilt Raybestos calipers/pads ($80/side from Allied).
- Again, had to dial out rear brakes a bit to maintain even brake bias.
- Alignment set to 3/4 deg negative camber, 2 deg positive caster, and 1/16" toe.
- Now running 215/60HR-14 Falkens on the front on 14X7" Aluminum American Racing slots w/ 3.5" backspacing. No fender clearance problems even with wider-track disc brakes. Whew.
- Total cost for new suspension, disc brakes, OD trans,and full exhaust and manifolds was about $2200 - plus a Dartload of man hours.

It is very reliable and leak free so far, and the OD/lockup are sweet on the highway. Even with 24.5" tires, I'm only running 3000 rpm at 82 mph. Except for the absence of EFI and power steering (I don't like PS anyway), this thing is like a modern car. The brakes feel great - goodbye 9" drums. More performance reports to follow....

BTW, if anyone from the CA area wants to see the '64 Dart road race, just show up at the "Streets" track at Willow Springs I. R. (www.willowspringsraceway.com) the weekend of 9/29 and 9/30. It's $10 to enter the gates and it's fun to watch ALL the cars run.

Peelin' the skins...

Lou

Geee Lou, you have been busy!
I would love to see a PIC or two of this stuff, especially that exhaust pipe work.
Email or snail mail a few if / when you can an I will post them.
Thanks for the up-date.
DD
PS....here is a link to the "Dual Dutra Duals" as an "overview" but you did not have any of the starter clearance problems with your set-up.



Dual Dutra Dual Exhaust Manifolds

Thanks Doug. I had some fun and some busted knucles on the jobs, but they're all good. Lots of thanks to my buddy Mike Roy for all of the expert MIG and TIG welding. I am recurving my distributor to compensate for the lower stall. We'll see...

I forgot to post the adapter brackets I used for the Wilwood calipers on the '64 Dart. They are billet steel - very light - and can be had for $150/set from Hershberger Motors in WA state. If anyone needs the phone/address, I can dig it up, otherwise calling information should work. The total cost for that job should be $1300 - I added it all up again with the brackets and I had fudged a little high before.

Also, I forgot to mention that I used the stock '68 A904 slant six trans dipstick on the A500 with just a slight bend in the long section to clear the firewall.

Cheers,

Lou

madsenl@caltech.edu