Sorry for the lost of his son. I too lost my 36 years old son to cancer in 2007 and the most pleasant souvenirs are both of us playing with cars, pick-up, etc.

Good luck with their project and have a happy time doing it.

chips wrote:

---

With all that they need, they'd be best off finding a parts car that's a lot more complete than what they bought.

---

         I think they need to walk away and buy something almost done   Thats a money sucking project  

that was a great save Pierre, nice job to you and your daughter!

The difference (as I see it) is that 20 years ago these cars (Scamps, Valiants, Dusters, Darts, Demons etc) were a LOT easier to find if one was looking for a parts car.

The same can definitely not be said for today.

I agree with 427carl, with it needing an engine, trans, wiring harness, interior, some body parts .... they would most likely be MILES ahead (financially) if they looked for something a LOT more complete. The days of finding a usable and mostly complete parts car from the 60's or 70's is pretty much gone, unless a person gets REALLY lucky.

-- Edited by chips on Sunday 14th of February 2016 07:40:11 PM

Since it has been tubbed with a 9", its obviously not going to be stock. You can save a lot of money by building a modified car. I have built a lot of mopar A-bodies.

I think the original ad poster needs to figure out what he wants to do with the car. Summer cruiser? Drag car? Fast street car? It kind of looks like it was being built as a drag car or fast street car.

To go that route, I would buy a parts car and haunt the you pick wrecking yards. I still see A-bodies coming into the yards every now and then, but not like they used to - only like one or two a year now and they are always slant 6 cars. You can still get the later four door parts cars pretty cheap when the frame or torsion bar crossmembers are rotted. Especially the 75-76's. And that is a good thing because you want a 73-76 V8 powered A-body as your parts car. I see them for well under $1000 quite often, and the 318's that came in them are pretty anemic but with a little work can run pretty good.

The wiring harness should be a direct swap. I would swap the entire engine/trans/K-member/front suspension as a unit. It should be a 318/904 combo Not exciting in stock form but easily buildable and reliable. Don't forget the upper A-arms, and trans mount. It should all be a direct swap.The bench seat will bolt in, but will not flip forward, the rear seat will not fit from a 4 door. You may have to change the steering column - manual and power steering columns are different lengths if you are changing over. With the 9" ford, measure the driveshaft length needed because the fords can have many different depth yokes. I bet a valiant or duster driveshaft would work with the longer 9" snout (they are 3" shorter wheelbase) as long as its for the same transmissions. Exhaust should be a bolt in affair from the 4 door if its any good.

Then all he would need is a fender, which is a swap meet find. A used fiberglass one would be dirt cheap and I see them regularly at swap meets in the summer.

This would give him V8 power, a better front suspension, much better front brakes that should match the ford rear pattern, and basically make the car a driver for little money.

Rick obviously has the right idea ...... the best thing to do would be to find a V8 powered A-body and swap in the (hopefully reasonably decent running) engine, trans, wiring harness, seats etc. If his car already has a V8 K-frame he could also search out a V8 powered Volare, Diplomat, Aspen as well for the engine trans, steering col, wiring harness although there was a time when Volare based cars were sought for their front ends for street rods so I doubt there are too many of those sitting around now too.

Now, actually FINDING a V8 powered donor car is going to be tough (in my opinion), especially with the recent (over the last several years) massive increase in scrap prices, finding anything old and usable (and at an acceptable price) just doesn't seem to happen too often.

Based on the pic in the ad, it appears he needs a bit more than just a drivers fender (it almost looks like there's a good chunk of the rear quarter missing).

Wonder what they mean by "tubbed" as it sure doesn't look like anyone shortened the housing on that 9 inch.

It's also hard to tell but I can't see anything in the pic that suggests the car has a cage in it (which most well done "tubbed" cars will have).

Hopefully the owner will join and give more details on the condition and completeness of the Dart.

 

 Just spotted this on Kijiji, if it's not the owner of the Dart mentioned in this original post, then there's someone else out there looking for exactly the same thing.  This ad appears to be based out of Hamilton area though 

WANTED, 1970-1975 DART,VALIANT,DUSTER OR SCAMP FOR PARTS, 2 OR 4 DOORS, BODY AND INTERIOR NOT IMPORTANT BUT MUST BE COMPLETE MECHANICALY AND MUST BE V8 WITH AUTOMATIC PREFERABLY RUNNING, WILL PAY UP TO $1000 FOR THE RIGHT CAR, CALL JOHN @905 399

As I suspected, V8 donor cars appear to be hard to come by, here are two more ads taken from Kijiji .... one from the Kingston area and one from Thunder Bay:

Looking for a donor car, preferably 1976, but will consider down to 1973.  "A" body's, Dart, Demon, Duster, Valiant, Scamp, Swinger.  Mainly interested in rear end, steering, front disc brakes, K frame.

   

looking for a project of a car (1970 Plymouth Duster) like I had years ago as long as it is  movable I can fix it 1970 to 1973

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-- Edited by chips on Wednesday 17th of February 2016 11:23:41 AM