Let me start with I am at the very beginning of planning what I want to do. My goal is to end up with a daily driver that looks good at a car show, and is comfortable on the strip. (I'm looking to set records, but I would like have fun out there.) I have a '66 Dart 270. The engine appears to have been replaced. I know the head is a '75. At this point I'm guessing the block is also a '75, but it's just a guess. It has a Holley 1920 Economaster that is in good shape.

Plan A was to simply do a good thorough tune-up and start driving it. (It has been off the road for about 7 years now. I do start it regularly.) But as I have been going through it, I will be better off to approach this as a complete restore. There is some rust that needs to be taken care of, the wiring is in sad shape, etc. At this point it is best to pull the motor and start at the front of the car and work my way back.

In using the search function here, it looks like I basically want to duplicate Aggressive Ted's current build. I have no problems with the "take this off, and bolt this on" modifications. (I just completed the points to HEI conversion. Thank you SlantSixDan.) It's the changes that require machine work that have me confused. So am I on the right path in thinking the following?

Get to a 9-9.5:1 compression ratio through Decking the block first, and shaving the head and oversized pistons as necessary. Figuring out the specifics here requires getting the head off, and taking measurements.

Do a mild port on the head. I'm not sure what all to do here. For a street build is sound like smoothing out the runners and the bowl, and back cut the valves. The only detailed information I've found here is for all out race engines. So what am I missing? At this point I'll probably pay someone to do this for me I just need to know how to direct them.

While looking at cams it looks like having my stock one reground by Delta Cams to their E254 .435 lift grind is the happy middle ground between performance and MPG's. I can walk to Delta Cams over my lunch break, so if I need to do something with the cam it will be through them.

I have a set of supersix manifolds. Other than the obvious "I can dump fuel into the motor and go faster" what are the trade offs of going to a bigger carburetor. I did find one post here that gave rough estimates for the carburetors needed to produce a certain horsepower. All it did was confuse me. If I should be going to the supersix, any recommendations on which carb to use?

For the exhaust the stock manifold appears to be OK. The pipe and muffler are part of the rust problem that needs to be addressed and 2.25" appears to the the accepted standard.

Other things that will probably influence recommendation:
I will probably stay with the 904 tranny. I have a 3sp with OD in the shed, but I'm looking at this car more as a commuter than a weekend cruiser.

It has a rear end in it. Other than it is a 7.25" I don't know what gears are in it. I don't know if it is the stock one or not. There are grease pen markings on one of the brake drums. So at least that brake drum came from a junk yard.

This is the first car, I am going through and purpose building. I drove a 67 Valiant in high school, but that was a motor swap. I have helped my dad rebuild V-8's, but again we never did anything more radical than an intake and headers. What I am looking for at this point is the get the pieces sorted out. I know there is tweaking/tuning to do after the pieces are back together.

Hi,

Are you considering a Turbo/surper charger setup?

Do you have a reasonable budget?

"I'm looking to set records, but I would like have fun out there." - What kind of records are you looking at setting, as in do you have a 1/4 mile goal time?

Cheers.

Oops, I'm not looking to set records. The last time I ran down the drag strip was in a Neon. While my top end speed exceeded the posted speed limits around it wasn't by much. Low 16's would be nice, but not required.

I have a reasonable budget to work with. If anything I will slowly acquire the parts as the budget allows.

What you suggest makes sense.

block decking for compression will wake up your rig.

I would not spend a lot of money on the head if you plan on keeping stock valve size.

If you chose bigger valves get a bowl hog and good valve grind and leave it at that. If you feel interested a mild port may gain you a little.

The super 6 will serve you well.....most get better mileage than a single barrel.

Stick with the 904....look for a set of 3.23 gears.

Look at a 2.25 exhaust system.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Maybe? Since this is the very early planning stages, I have read a little about turbos. It is very intriguing. The installation seems fairly straightforward, but again that takes me back to what should the rest of the motor look like?
It's stuff like the valve size that has me second guessing myself. This is where I have to admit that I don't know, what I don't know. I know performance gains would come from larger valves, but I don't know what the trade-off is.

The trade off is money for bigger valves... All joking aside, I would spend the extra coin, UNLESS later on you may want even MORE power. But for the intended purpose of your car/build I would spend THAT extra on a decent exhaust system of the Dutra's or something. JMHO.

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MRO....

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