"This was perfect; take a...
"This was perfect; take a day off of work and play with the car all day long! We drove this car out to the Nationals, and my wife was feeling really bad the whole trip. I thought she was sick and it turned out she was pregnant. What a trooper; I thank her for letting me do this. I felt like the track was slick; I couldn't get my car to hook up. I've got a '72 340 'Cuda I want to finish up one of these days as well."
Getting the most out of his street car is what Garden State native Joe Luis has in mind, and to that end, he decided to forgo finding and building a used engine and bought a 360/300 horse crate motor from Mopar Performance. His '68 Dart GT is really set up for street cruising; he and his wife drove with us to the Mopar Nats on the Keystone Caravan last year. The Dart, a deal he says he could not pass up, is a followup to a Pro Street Demon project that got out of hand.
Joe and his brother came to spend the day finding out small things about the car. The package is well balanced, and Joe uses a Holley carb instead of the OE-type fuel injection on the car. The numbers he ran, considering the fact that this A-Bomb is all throttle, no bottle, may help us understand why the Magnum engine has been so well-received.
'68 Dodge Dart GT
Weight w/driver: 3,480 (11/44 tank fuel, tools in trunk)
Engine: '99 360 Magnum crate/300 horse.
Bottom End: As built from the factory, 9.0:1 compression flat-top pistons.
Heads: As built Magnum, stock factory porting.
Valvetrain: Factory roller (.401 lift duration 250 @ .050), 1.925/1.625 stainless valves, 1.6 stamped rockers
Induction: Factory MP Magnum single-plane casting, 750 Holley vacuum-secondary, .73/.73 jets, 1-inch 4-hole Moroso carb spacer, MP electronic ignition, Sunoco 94 gas, Carter Street/Strip electronic fuel pump.
Exhaust: 1 5⁄8-inch pri. to 2 1⁄4-inch coll. Hedman , Flowmaster two-chamber mufflers, full 2 1⁄4 exhaust.
Trans/Driveline: 904 Torqueflite w/ B&M Shift Kit, 11-inch TCI breakaway, factory column shift, 8 3⁄4 3.55 Sure Grip rear.
Wheels/Tires: Factory steel 14x4.5/BFGoodrich 195-70R14 front/steel 14x5.5/BFGoodrich Drag Radial 215-60R14 rear.
Suspension: Stock, pinion snubber.
| Run | Launch | Shift
Point | 60-ft | 1⁄8 et/mph | 1⁄4 et/mph | Notes |
| 1 | 30 | 1500 | 5500 | 2.27 | 10.63 | 13.79 | 95.36 | Installed K&N X-treme filter |
| 2 | 30 | 1500 | 5500 | 1.94 | 8.36 | 13.03 | 104.24 | Removed air cleaner |
| 3 | 34 | 1500 | 5500 | 1.90 | 8.25 | 12.87 | 105.64 | As #2, good run |
| 4 | 34 | 1500 | 6000 | 1.85 | 8.18 | 12.82 | 104.78 | |
| 5 | 34 | 1500 | 6000 | 1.80 | 8.0 | 12.66 | 106.41 | Removed trunk stuff, used lighter spring in carb secondary |