So I called this friend of the girl's dad (the one he wants to have work on the car, who I suspected has never even touched a slant) to at least give him the benefit of the doubt and see if we could work together to get the car in better shape mechanically.

I wouldn't trust that nitwit with a lawn mower.

First he says "I don't usually do Dodges", then when I asked him if he's worked on many slants, "None, but they're all the same". Okay, my opinion's going down rapidly at this point. So I talk to him a bit about the low oil pressure and list off some of the work it needs, then get up to pulling the engine to make it easier to do it all. He says pulling it would be the last thing he'd do (keep in mind, never worked on a slant). I say that it's a simple engine to pull and would make those jobs easier to do all in one fell swoop and get "Yeah whatever". I then mention talking to several people that pull slants quite often to make engine work easier (in reference to some of you guys), and he crosses the line and says "Feh, obviously didn't get it done right the first time".

What an idiotic, condescending @sshole. At only 22 years old, I've already forgotten more about slants than that jerk probably will ever even know, and he's got the nerve to talk trash about people who know then better than most people know any kind of engine. I can not believe the girl's dad wants to trust someone like that. "They're all the same" my @ss. Were it not for the Dart being the only car she's able to drive, I'm ready to just tell 'em all to go screw themselves and let the thing end up in a junk heap like it's already come close to twice.

This is too aggravating for me and I'd much rather just go buy my own Dart or Valiant and build it up.

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

Yikes. We are a small little niche but we run strong, us / folk. If they were going to dump it in a jy that would be prime opertunity for you to step in and offer them something for it.

I would jump at the opportunity, but at this point I can barely afford to keep gas in my truck. I'm sure soon enough I'll get my own car with a slant, but for now, I think I'd be wise to stick with just my truck until I'm settled at my first duty station (for those of you guys who don't already know, I'm enlisting in the USAF as a crew chief for heavy aircraft).

I feel much more relaxed now. Amazing what a good rant can do for you

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

If you want to sound fairly intelligent you can can say having a regular 'catharsis' is a good thing (catharsis is a violent outleting of emotions, feelings, and words...like what you want to do to her dad, before you want to get physical)....

I know how you feel (I think we all do). He probably has no real clue or experience, and rather than facing the fact you bring a healthy amount of support, knowledge, and education to the table...he in his manly kind of way would prefer to 'sound' or 'look' good wrather than be 'good'...

Stand your ground, take occasional breaks, see if you can get the girl to help (I've pulled big blocks by myself with my cherry-picker...). You can do the 'manuevering' while she jacks the arm up and you both can work as a team...without the loud mouth who probably thinks that changing a big block starter will take 10 minutes and you don't have to jack up the car....

Boy, I wish you were 30 minutes away, we'd have that thing yanked, cleaned, and ready to recondition in no-time...and the lip-service from me would be FREE!

gotta go bloodpressure starting to get kinda on the passenger side of the gauge....

-D.Idiot

LOL, this is true. Though I try to avoid physical confrontations whenever possible. I almost got into big trouble after my last one (I came out fine, but almost got arrested).

I guess the biggest thing is that her dad is so stubborn, and ready to believe someone else just because he's another Vietnam vet (he keeps bringing this up as if it holds any bearing on the guy's mechanical knowledge), that it aggravates me to no end. Were it not for the girl's sake, I would've ditched the car long ago, only to vulture it like crazy (back when I had money) the second it ended up in a junk yard.

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

Slants are so easy to pull out of a car....
How easy??
I put "swap engine in racecar" on the kid's Saturday chores list and they get out there and do the swap for me!

Truth is that we do the job together because I have to break-loose the really tight bolts for them and help get the new engine onto the tranny, they can do just about everything else.
Hay, you got to raise them right and knowing which way the bolts turn is a good thing for a kid to know!
DD

Oh her dad will love that. He's so afraid of doing something that a couple (I'm guessing from the pic) 15 year old kids can do

I gotta give you credit starting your kids out young. I hope to do the same if I'm ever a dad

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me

My kids are 14 & 12....
It won't be long before they are driving so they better know how to fix a car.
DD

Way to start them out young, Doc! Get them an air gun/ratchet to bust open the tight bolts and teach them not to be careless with it...

Your lucky you got a flat driveway, unfortunately mine is, ahem, slanted. When I use a hoist, I lift up the arm, push it all the way forward so it hits the front bumper, then lift the engine, then pull the hoist back so the engine clears the front of the car.

Am I looking at that right, the car frame is sitting right on the ground, no suspension or anything? And for some reason I swear that looks like a shopping cart without the basket underneath the motor.

Hey, Pierre........I agree with you.....that IS a shopping cart without the basket, just the lower shelf. As for the frame on the ground bit, I'd guess he's got a one-piece fiberglass front clip, and that's what you're seeing

Doc?....is that cart really strong enough for a slant long block?

Roger

Yes, the Dragcar has a one piece fiberglass front clip, this makes the car easy to work-on when you lift the front nose off the car.

And for engine storage, those special "carts" work just fine, slants are a littly tricky because they want to lean off one side. A little banging and welding along with some wood blocks makes these into pretty good motor carts, I have set V8 on them with-out problems.
DD

Doc, I guess now you told everybody about the shopping carts the cops are going to get a strange increase in shopping mall carts theft reports!

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Moving to the U.S??? no thank you! I'm livin' in the land of free healthcare!

Please, the golden rule applies here, never take anything that does not belong to you, don't be a thief.
I can honestly say that all the carts I have were given to me "free and clear".
In fact, around my area, there are a number of business that service shopping carts!
They recover them, wash, repair and even supply new carts to stores. If you call one of these places, they often have "scrapped carts" available for cheap.
Ask your local store manager for their phone number.
DD

Who, but Doc would have thought of that, now I have a reason to go grocery shopping.

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Troops on the battlefield have a far better view of the battle then the generals who lead them

Safe to say, Doug's the man

Perhaps while I'm in the military I'll have to stop by Sunnyvale for a day and see the cars

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'74 Duster w/ HEI ignition, beat to snot suspension, A904, 8.25" 3.55 SG rear, still being tuned up and gets 17 MPG

Know how they always build a better idiot? That's me