Yes sir, that 66 Dart wagon sure does earn it's keep.
The rig is a little under-powered when towing up those long interstate grades so I just floor the gas a mile or so before the hill, to get a running start at it.
Keep the gas floored for miles on end and if you stay above 60 mph, it will carry the hill in drive. The big grade on Hwy 15, out of Baker, CA is a 3000 ft climb in 23 miles, floored and working hard, it takes the Dart a good 30 minutes at full throttle to get up that hill. It drops down into 2nd for the last 3 miles or so... you just sit there listening to the engine rev, watching the oil pressure and temp gauge, wondering if it's going to make it... and it does.

This time, we were running that hill at high noon, right at the top of the temp gauge, about 220 degrees. I think the extra heat got to the gasket.
Another thing I saw when we broke-down the engine is that the chambers and exhaust ports were white as snow so we may have been running too lean of a A/F mixture, resulting in high RPM detonation.
DD

Doc, you may be (just a little) past the rated towing capacity of that Dart Wagon!

How much does the car you are pulling weigh?

(Didn't the older Darts (pre-67) rate at 1500 lbs towing?)

-Mac

I used to flat tow a 1963 Ford Galaxie, with a 65 Dart 170 CID three on the tree.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

The Dart wagon weighs-in at 3500, unloaded.
The Lancer is 2650 but we also pile a bunch of gear into it.
Yes... this is not the best towing set-up but it's what we have.
DD

Dougs Baker pass climb (and many others) is in some ways the ultimate engine/power train test.

I tow passes all the time . What breaks down to is incredible 40 min maximum torque dyno pulls in the highest gear you can manage.

The heat loading can be unbelievable.

I think the gasket actually saved the day by failing the way it did. Nothing like reducing cylinder pressure to take the load off.

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

Mebbe this is a silly question....

but first a short story . Last May my son and went to Ithaca NY to do a job. We had the truck and trailer and... car and foldup trailer. Dead heading home we put the car and its tailer on the big trailer and steamed west..(oh yeah,,,,with a cooked valve and broken ring) . When we got to Broadus Montana we off loaded the car ....gained a whole lotta speed till we were in Wallace Idaho where the big mountains end ,We loaded the car up again.

How hard to make the Toad legal enough to climb passes on its own?

(Allan can shoot video from the wagon....)

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