1964 Dodge dart 4 speed

[sixty4dartgt]

I got all the new parts together and wanted to check it out. I never ran a 1/4 mile, so it was a learning experience. I am fortunate to live 20 minutes from Sacramento raceway, so I went to "grudge fest" last night.
Here's the low down on the car:
stock 225 block - mileage unknown
'73 head, mild port, new stock size valves with new springs, guides and hardened seats, shaved .060
Comp 252s cam and timing chain
Offy intake with Edelbrock 500 and K&N filter
Clifford "shorty" headers with 2" dual exhaust and Walker superturbos
Pertronix ingnitor II & 45k flame thrower coil
factory A-833 4 speed with McLeod 10" clutch set up
185 70/13 tires on 7 1/4 rear w/ 3.23 gears

Best time was 17.021 @ 82.821 mph

As you could imagine, I had a hard time launching. Without a suregrip, and the skinny tires, plus I am a rookie, I was spinnin' my wheels.
My best reaction was .512, so I can improve that I think. I didn't bother to try to "tweak" anything, I just wanted to get runs in to get my feet wet. It was a great night to go, not that crowded as I got in 6 runs in 50 min.

With a new sure grip rear (with 3.55 gears I hope), new rubber, engine tweaks and some more runs under my belt, I'm hoping for low 15's. Any comments?

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"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

[70valiant]

Hate to burst your bubble but 3.55's a sure grip and tires arent going to cut a second and half off your ET. I would think mid 16's are do able.
17.0 is a good run for any /6 though.
do you have any idea what your car weighs? mine is just under 3100 w/me in it. I cant wait until I can get a cam in mine.

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[sixty4dartgt]

I was told the car is 2650, but I haven't weighed it.

_________________
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

[72swing]

I'd say it also depends on how MUCH tire spin you are having. If you are churning for a few revs that's one thing, but if you are spinning for longer then you could definitely see some improvement with better tires and those gears. I think I'd get my tires and suspension sorted before I went with the gears... *shrugs* Of course my dart would just spit the 7.25 right out the back if I buried it on a strip right now

Just my 2c/w

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'72 Dart Swinger /6 - My Yard Dart!
'01 Ranger P/U 4x4 X-cab

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[Dart270]

With good traction, you should shave at least a 1/2-1 sec off. 3.55s might get you a tenth. Your MPH shows you could get into the low 16s with good launch/traction.

Other than that, I'll bet you can pick up 0.5-1 sec with just engine tuning, if you haven't done much work on that. You'd be surprised how much you can get out of getting the spark advance and jetting right.

Low 15s with that combo might be optimistic, but not out of the question. If you can lighten the car, that helps a lot too.

Lou

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Balancing out the driver's weight for more than 50 yrs

[sandy in BC]

It would not take much to add some tire to the mix. Mebbe a set of those 13" import slicks would fit with the theme.

Nice times!

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[Guest]

Well you are on the right track, but I think you could lower your times even more with a good season under your belt. I and a couple other guys up here run on the 1/4mi in the low 14's. I run consistent 14.34 and I know another one that turns flat 14's in a 67 dart 4dr. all of us are street machines. drive regularly.

[hemi-man]

We are also building a 1970 Dart with slant 6. We are planning on going to the April 8-9-10 races at Redding, Calif. You might want to think about attending and getting some more "seat time". We have our own separate lane so you will be able to get as many runs as you want. Drop me a email when you get time and we can talk about our mutual slant6 interest. Wayne in Chico

[sixty4dartgt]

I can't find an e-mail for you. I broke my differential last sat. I also am doing a disc conversion. If I get it together in time, I would like to meet up with you.
Jack

_________________
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

[Russell Cable]

Aim high,shoot low. I got my 67 dart into low 15's and this year
I am shooting for low 14,s or less,and it is still a daily driver..

[slantsixduster]

instead of changing my gear i got a set of micket thompson 20/6-14 slicks off ebay i hope that will help me going from a 26" tire Down to a 20" i hope will help ........ i drove it down the road and i could feel a difference and suprisingly hooked but the track is different than my driveway
they are UGLY on my car but if it helps it is worth it

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[sixty4dartgt]

Well ............

I got a 3.73 trac-loc now, with 225/70 14 tires. I also tuned it a bit.
I could not get to the track, but, I used my G-Tech. I don't know how accurate these are. I came out with 16.55 @ 89 mph.

I now have the motor apart again, and I'm installing a MP268 cam. I have also rotated my carb 90* so that the primaries are parallel to the cylinders.
I hope to get to the track June 6th.

What do ya think? 15's ????

_________________
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

[sixty4dartgt]

I just got back from the track. My time was lower, but I think I can get better.
I ran a best of 16.359 @ 82.7 MPH.

The thing is, last time I ran a 17.083 @ 82.5 MPH with a .879 reaction.
This 16.359 had a .117 reaction.
That makes the first run faster.

I have a bigger cam, taller gears, Trac-loc, and wider tires.

I was getting a good launch, but then it went flat @ 4000 RPM.
I'm sure there's a lot to find in the timing curve. And I know my cam is 1* retarded. I am going to advance it. Maybe that would help it to pull up to 5000 RPM ?
I guess besides having a bad curve, my 1964 distributor could be worn. I think bad spark hurts the most in the higher RPM's.

I have the carb calibrated @ 1 stage leaner (rod change) with the heaviest spring. I launched @ 3000RPM and it just spun and spun till I got off of the gas. Then I launched @ 2000 RPM. Much better. When I changed it back to the base calibration, I got a bog off the line. I launched @ a higher RPM, but the E.T. got slower (16.858). I went back to the first rod with the second heaviest spring. I guess I should go 2 stages leaner (jet change). I had the timing around 8* initial.

One good thing is the drivetrain. The clutch grabbed well with the power shifts and chirped 4 gears. I hardly got any hop with the rear.
I also got more experience.

Any suggestions would be appriciated.

Thanks

_________________
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."

[gearhead]

The reaction time has nothing to do with the ET. The timer doesn't start until your tire leaves the stage beam, which is also when the timer turns off for the reaction time.

So if you ran 16.00 against a car that also ran 16.00, but your reaction time was quicker, you would get there first by the exact difference in your reaction times.

The timing system is set up so that when the last yellow turns on, the reaction time starts, when your tire leaves the second beam(stagebeam) then the reaction time stops and your ET begins.

This is why a perfect light is a .500, because there is .5 seconds between the lights on a full tree. So a redlight would be .4999 or less, your reaction time is the difference between the time on your slip and .5 seconds.

Many tracks these days have the computer do the math and tell you the true reaction time...with .0000 being perfect...but this wasn't they way it was done for the last 15 years or so at most tracks with Chrondex timing systems.

In other words...your ET (elapsed time) is what is on your time slip, and your 16.35 was quicker than you 17.08

Tuning can play a huge roll, as well as driving style. I have been a bracket racer for over twenty years. Sometimes, I can just climb in my friends cars and run .25 seconds or more quicker than they do simply by driving technique, which I adjust for each car based on what feels right to me.

So keep at it...I have picked up over a half second before from tuning, but it took going to the track every week, and six months of minor changes that added to the half second a little here and there.

Sometimes, even the things I tried that didn't work, showed me a way to get power elsewhere.

Karl aka Gearhead

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64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet carb, stock ign, 2200 stall

64 Valiant...17.40's@78 so far
350k old 225, 4spd, 3.23 8.75, Carter 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"...My daily driver

[sixty4dartgt]

I ran a 16.25 at 83 mph after converting to HEI ignition and leaning out the carb 12%. Last time I ran, I noticed that I saved about .3 seconds by powershifting. I did not do any powershifting this time, so I guess I could have broken into the 15s.

I am swapping the head right now - full port and polish with oversized valves and .100 shaved. Hope to get to test this new combo soon.

By the way, I got the head with big block Chevy springs (the guy used 318 valves). Has anyone used/heard of this setup?

Thanks.

_________________
"Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account."