Bizzoo

Hey whats up guys.

Im new to the Mopar scene but not new to working on cars. Everything Ive owned in the past has been 20 year old German cars, and Now i have a 30 year old American car.

So i purchased a 1973 Dodge Dart for $3000. The motor has been highly modified, body work is almost complete and the interior is almost non existent.

So far my plan for the build is this :

stabilize the mechanical aspects of the car so i can actually drive it. Upgrade the brakes and suspension, plasti dip the entire car until i have time to finish body work and funds to actually paint the car, and lastly restore / modernize the interior.

I had some questions on the Engine of the car. The previous owner told me the car pushes 380 - 400 HP and Im trying to find a way to calculate if thats accurate or not, without getting the car dyno'd.

Here is everything i know about the motor, and im just being a parrot at this point, i dont actually understand what most of this is.

its got a 318 small block, the modifications are :

Flat top pistons, forged crank, 9.75 - 1 compression, compe xe285 XL cam, ported heads rated at 270 cfm, edlebrok head, holly 4 barrel carb, 11 degree initial advance with 13 degree overall. and its all set up to take a 150 shot of NOS, its not actually connected at this point but all the hardware is there.

So my questions are, how can i figure out how much torque and horse power the car is pushing? With these mods should i look at working on the motor anymore, or assuming it all functions properly let it be for now? and what are the points of these mods / what do they actually do?

Sorry for the noob questions, and thank you all for help and knowledge. Ill create a build thread in the next few days with a plethora of pictures.

Mr.4spd

You could get a Gtech and it'll give you a fairly good idea (if the car is drivable anyway). Otherwise it's all estimates and bench racing. Your overall advance should be closer to 35. I'm not an expert, but I think 380HP is optimistic. Good luck on the build and congrats on the find, sounds like a great starting point!

TVLynn

DO NOT USE PLASTIC DIP If you want to coat some rust ? USE POR 15
I would shoot for 34-35 total advance 12-15 initial and the rest of the advance in the distributor about 20 with the distributor

Coronet 500

With a good header, intake manifold and proper size carb those estimates are realistic.

Bizzoo

What would be a proper sized carb for this build? Is the size of a carb rated in CFM? Sorry for the noob questions, im trying to learn everything i can about these cars before i start throwing money at her.

Also, what is the initial and advance actually referring to?

Also its kind of an off topic question. But a few months back i remember my friend telling me about a part that basically bolts on to where the carb normally would go, and it turns the car into a fuel injected car rather then carbureted, does this exist, if so other then reliability would it offer any performance gains?

Bizzoo

and @ TVLynn, i planned on plasti dipping the exterior of the car because its about to start drizzling sometime soon here in California and im nervous that the exposed bondo will get all messed up if it doesnt have something on top of it to protect it from the water. I figured plasti dip would be good because its inexpensive and easy to remove once the time comes to actually do body work and paint the car.

Coronet 500

Knowing you have a Holley carb, do you know which one?

Do you know what intake manifold you have?

moe7404

in 1973 the duster had available a 340 or 318. the 340. the is a hi performance engine the 318 is NOT a hi performance in that year from the factory. but you can hot rod it, thats fine. sounds like a lot of fun.

Bizzoo

Yeah the previous owner copied the build thats in a 2007 issue of mopar performance magazine. The magazine built a 318, dynod it and got 450 hp out of it. The only difference between the previous owners build and the magazines build is the previous owner used a smaller 4 barrel carb that he already had, im not sure which specific one, i just know its a Holly. So, he guestamits his motor pushes about 400 hp rather then 450. And he added a 150 shot of NOS to the car. Its not filled up as of rite now, but its in there lol.

Coronet 500

Cam Specs: http://www.compcams.com/Company/CC/c...?csid=632&sb=2

This is a serious cam for a 318. If you read the description, and see RPM range, it points to High Flow Single Plane Intake Manifold.

This and valve spring capabilities will give max RPM and HP achieved with proper sized (big) carb. Before suggesting any carb the manifold must be known. I'll assume the Edelbrock heads valve springs will handle that camshaft no problem.

The 450 hp was likely achieved on the dyno with a too big for good street operation carb to see how much it could make. This is normal for magazine dyno builds to show large published numbers.

My first conciderations would be rear gear, manual trans or high stall converter auto and expected useage of vehicle before buying a carb. This will give a real world RPM for power required, which will come back to intake manifold.

Sounds like a fantastic engine, and I've always wanted to try that cam in my next 318 build.