I started by installing a used windshield and trying to find good brake drums so it would stop in a straight line. All of the parts came from a retired gentleman in Galt, California, who was fond of and dealt in 1963 and 1964 Darts. He even had a NOS windshield gasket in its original box.
The Dart treated me well for 4 months and allowed me to travel from my current home of Sacramento, CA, to Lake Tahoe and north of the San Francisco Bay area where I grew up. Unfortunately, before I was able to take it to Oregon on a camping trip the teenager within decided that on one beautiful sunny day I should back out of a parking spot quickly, push the drive button to my left and leave a black mark or two. The 225 slant six was up to the challenge, the push button transmission was happy to perform the task and gave a solid directional change, but the poor rear axle with innumerable miles apologized with a loud bang. Myself having just started a new job out of college and short on funds, my brother arrived within the hour to tow my car less spider gears to the foothills where it found a resting place amid a 1942 Hudson, a bevy of Corvairs in all incarnations, a boat or two, and a few truck projects.
The car was semi-forgotten while the job improved, I purchased a new truck and then bought a house. Everything was going great except that I now had a garage that needed a project. On one rainy February afternoon, I towed the Dart back home. It looked as good as ever (poor). It sat in the side yard temporarily until I realized that the carpet was soaked and found some large rubbery-feeling mushrooms growing under the passenger seat. It was time to take action, and with some nudging from my youngest brother who suggested putting a coat of black primer on it to make it look better and get motivated on the project, I moved the car into its place of prominence in the garage. We removed the wet carpet to find rust holes through the floor in the rear passenger footwell, but none ahead of the front seats. We followed by removing some rounded spider gears out of the rear end and tried to replace them with junk yard spider gears. After about 10 hours we went for a drive that broke my heart. I still don’t know what we did but after a mile the rear wheels locked and I thought I had lost a large section of undercarriage due to the dance that followed. I was able to drive back home at 10 mph with only minor grabbing and jolting. The car again sat.
For Sale 1974 Plymouth Duster, runs great
needs work, 340 4 speed. 530-XXX-XXXX
My dreams were answered. I traveled to Tahoe City near Lake Tahoe to find the prize, and I am still thankful that it made it home to Sacramento. Within 2 days the Duster took its last breaths and what was later determined to be a 318 was pulled from the rusty hulk.
Note: I am aware that in the very near future dismembering a ’74 Duster with a factory V8-4speed will be considered a crime, and the car was not that bad. It did hurt, but I am not rich.
My brother and I both decided that during the 3-day 1998 Labor Day weekend, we would swap K-members, engines, transmissions, rear ends, driveshafts, suspension, and braking systems between the two cars, and oh yeah, cut out the floor pan of the Duster and weld it into the Dart with the welder we had yet to obtain. I am happy to say that as of April 1999 the Dart runs with a 318 V8, 4 speed transmission, 8 ¾ rear end and front disk brakes. Many parts bolted directly across, however below this text I will detail a few difficulties we had including the fact that 1963 did not come with a V8, and would not take one without a little firewall modification. I had some very knowledgeable people tell me that I could not do a few of the things that I did, but I have done them!!!
The car is far from pretty. It is primer black and has slot mags in back with steel wheels up front (from the Duster). There is bondo in numerous places, and the interior and top are not what I would even consider serviceable, but I have heard rumors of a retired upholstery fellow in Sacramento who used to do show cars and now works out of his garage for fun and a reasonable price. I have his number but still have yet to call. After the big milestone of running after 9 months of work and about 200 road test miles with the new undercarriage, the car is again on the back burner while I become established in a new job. Wish me luck.
P.S.: Disk brakes in front and large drums in the rear make the car stop really well.
Note: Stripping the chrome and letting the body lines speak for themselves gives the car a whole new attitude. I am going to take my bent headlight rings and straighten then paint them body color just to see what I get. I also removed the front bumper, it creates a whole new appearance. I will continue to play with the car, I am in no hurry, and am having fun.
The K member did not swap across--1 inch difference. I used the 1963 K stripped, I bolted on the whole suspension assembly from the ’74, and used the center link from the ’63. Voila, disc brakes. Engine mounts had to be found from a 1963 to 66 Dart that had a V8, I found some with my source, or junkyard searches might turn something up. One person told me the 1963 K would never accept the V8; I'm glad I didn’t listen to him.
The pedals bolted directly across from the Duster, a few dimensions did not change in the 11 years. The bell crank had to be shortened, and one of the levers cut loose and re-welded. I shortened the rod from the pedal to the bell crank.
The V8 does not leave much room for exhaust. I will probably go with a set of Hedmann fenderwell headers sometime in the future; I have seen references to them and seen them in two applications. Although they are slick and can be found for this specific application, I don’t want to put the money down at this time. I ended up having a local shop do the exhaust, and the guy did beautiful work but lost his shirt--again, not much room. Exhaust manifolds were a problem. I got one for the driver side from my source, it curves in near the block and dumps out near the bell crank. Another good reason to go with the headers.
I used the original automatic transmission mount and had to have the driveshaft extended.
I cut the transmission tunnel out of the ’74 and cut a hole in the '63 to fit the new larger linkage.
I did weld much of the floor pans from the Duster into the Dart to replace the rust holes.
Oh yeah, the distributor would not go in after the engine was installed because of the way the firewall was built to accept the wiper motor from the inside. I cut around the base of the motor area and pushed it back, then cut slits in the sheet metal below, trimmed a little, pushed it together, welded, then ground, filled, sanded and painted. I added an inch of clearance which was all I needed to get the distributor to go in and out.
With time, patience, and a little money, the project can be done. I hope some of this is helpful.