Brought home the bone stock 225/auto 65 Valiant this weekend. It's future use is various "cruises" in the local area...no drag strips in the near future either. But...other than a good tuneup, etc., what upgrades to the engine would you suggest for a little more performance (the chrome valve cover looks good though!)?

(1) electronic ignition

(2) larger exhaust system

(3) larger carb (you will be limited by your throttle linkage--you may want to convert to a cable style)

Reed: Already have upgrade to ignition system installed. Guess the next step is exhaust or intake. I don't really know which to begin with. Ideas?

those are the only upgrades I have on my dart. The difference in the way it runs is amazing. Runs great,starts great, sounds good too with Dutra duals and turbo mufflers.

Your typical carb upgrade options are a Super Six (junkyard two barrel that makes a decent improvement) or a 390 cfm four barrel Holley on an Offenhauser or Clifford manifold. Other options include two stock carbs on a special Offenhauser manifold; Mopar's M1 two barrel kit; Pro Line Fuel's one, two, or three Weber conversions (the single one uses your existing manifold); or certain oddities from Australia that occasionally pop up on Ebay. Three Webers would be a bit wild for street use, and there's some debate about whether a four barrel is too big for a stock slant.

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"Mad Scientist" Matt Cramer
'66 Dart - turbocharged 225
My blog - Mad Scientist Matt's Lair