I thought some of you out there may be interested in the TSB from 1976 about the Feather Duster and Dart Lite cars....

Interesting stuff indeed. That intake manifold was/is a nice quality casting. The muffler is a 318 V8 A-body item. This was Chrysler's first use of an AIS system. And, this bulletin should finally put to rest the persistent myth that these cars had special larger-bore exhaust manifolds!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Gee, Dan, the longer I hang here, the more I learn. 'course, that little bit of learning is seldom enough for me. I had heard of the "Feather Duster", but not of the Dart version. "Dart Lite" is kinda lame, though. Surprising that their use of the spelling "Lite" predates Lite beer; though I could never figure out why drink lite beer. Just needed more of it!

I hadn't heard of a special exhaust manifold, but it seems like the exhaust side would benefit the economy more. Obviously, the manifold the TSB refers to, then is for the intake. What was special about it? Aluminum???

All of which leaves me wondering about the "3000 pound weight class". The bulletin cautions the readers about legal penalties for using wrong parts on these cars, but there weren't very many of the cars ever built, were there???

So, once again, I've learned a little and been left with more questions. What I had found on the Feather Duster was via the Allpar Valiant pages, but obviously there is more to the story than I had thought. One question that leapt to my mind was: were those cars really all about economy, or was it a weight thing for racing uses under misleading terminology. What's "The Rest of The Story", Dan???

Inquiring Minds, and all of that,ya know...

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'64 Dart GT convertible, 64 Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust (the Az Dart) & a sixty THREE Dart 170 2-door post sedan in faded blue and rust. (future project)
Early Dart Disorder (EDD) is real, and I've got it!

As you say, sounds like some kind of weak-ass beer.
Exactly right.
For US EPA emissions certification.
No, they were really for economy. Really and truly. Super-tall gearing, econo spark curves, super-lean carburetion, all aimed at getting max MPGs out of these cars. It was kind of a 3-years-late response to the oil shock of '73.

And they did very well for the time and for their size, in terms of mileage.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.