Meet The Players

I have been working on this 1968 Dodge Dart for three or four years now. It is a Hemi Dart clone, and it is powered by one of the nastiest naturally aspirated motors I have ever experienced. It makes 600 plus horsepower and 700 plus foot pounds of torque, but unlike a turbo motor it is all right there, right now. This thing will set you back in your seat like nothing else I've ever driven. You better have it pointed in the right direction when you nail it because it will be over there, right now.

Besides being insanely quick it is also very clean. the car has been on the Hot Rod Power Tour and is capable of running 9 second quarter miles on pump gas, through the mufflers.

I have done lots of jobs on this car over the years, and this time I worked off site at the client's shop to rewire the entire car, front to back.  That's kind of not a sexy job to photograph, but the car sure is so enjoy!

Here's the car, ready for me to begin my job. I liked working in the client's shop, it was huge and clean. Nice epoxied floors and it was cool as well, while it was 105 degrees outside. Almost like being on vacation!

The car is very, very clean inside and out. It was painted on a rotissiere so it's just as nice underneath as it is on top. The Dart is a pretty accurate clone with plexiglass side windows, no regulators, A100 Dodge Van seats, heater and radio delete, back seat delete, etc. He has added electric cutouts and a Gear Vendors overdrive which lets the car leg it down the freeway.

The motor is solid mounted with motor plates front and mid and it's a tight fit. The headers come out in sections and the master cylinder has to be removed to do valve adjustments. Note in this picture the stock wiring running down the inner apron all wrapped up with electrical tape after years of repairs and more repairs. There's only so much you can do with 42 year old wires. Mopars of this era used a junction block on the firewall with gang connectors and they are notorious for crapping out. These were so bad that the owner had to remove the hood and play with the connectors to get the car started.

Here's an "after" shot. I've run the wiring in oilcloth loom in the stock location, and replaced the firewall connector with an aluminum plate that clips in with the stock clips. Much nicer, and it all works.