02-16-2017, 10:59 AM
Jeff Wrote:Holy shit dude we need to hang out. How come no one hit me in the PM and said "there is a new Mopar person in MM" where were you homies!? I'm balls deep in my own smallblock build I didn't plan on so I can totally relate. Picked up a 68 D100 down in GA turned out to have a 318 out of an 83 Van with a burned valve. Original plan was to pull 318, clean and paint, install 4bbl and roll on 18 wheeler. Once I found burned valve, off came heads, inside less than great. Long story short I got a 78 318 of CL for $200 and I'm freshening the bottom end, I have a set of Indy SS valve cylinder heads on the bench and a comp cam in the mail...how did paint the motor turn into a build? WTF right? Sweet Dart, only think I don't like is the ford 88. I'm a purest, I would have done a Dana 44 out of a grand Cherokee or just got an 8.75 and an Eldorado brake kit like I did for my 57 Chrysler... but admittedly I have more in my brakes than you have in your whole rear. We need to get together and drink beers sometime.
Yeah the A body 8.75's are pretty rare and pricy. In hindsight I could have gone with a B-body 8.75 and made it work but even those were double the price and that's not even factoring in shipping. I figured with the car being like 90% aftermarket parts there's no real harm in it. A 73 Dart Sport with manual drums and no A/C isn't exactly a desirable factory restoration but some people still get really upset about it. It's not like I LS swapped a 340 Demon haha. There's some lines even I wouldn't cross.