Daily driving?

[68rrdream]

Hello everyone! Just curious if anyone daily drives there ride?
I'm still on my hunt but have found some mid 60s b body candidates (belvedere and a couple of coronets).
Anyway I was considering possibly just using one and selling my current ride as I would have more money to put into it if I didn't have car payments and full coverage.
I'm in Miami so I already know without an OD I'll be spinning pretty high on the expressway as our norm is about 80 mph.

 

[Kern Dog]

Almost any Mopar with a 318 or bigger V8 can still do well with 2.76 gears. It won't be a rocket off the line but it will be easier to live with in day to day driving.

 

[68rrdream]

Almost any Mopar with a 318 or bigger V8 can still do well with 2.76 gears. It won't be a rocket off the line but it will be easier to live with in day to day driving.

Well with my budget all I'm actually seeing is 318s and an slant 6. 2.76 won't be an absolute dog with a 318?
What rpm would that likely put it at on the highway?
I was thinking 3.23.

 

[Kern Dog]

My first Charger was a 318-904 with a 2.71 gear axle.

Sorry for the crappy picture. If I knew how much time, love and money I was going to put into the car, I would have taken a lot more pictures of the "before".
Anyway....The car performed great with this combination. The car was mostly original but had a rebuilt transmission.

Even a 383 C body will get around okay with a 2.76. It won't peel out like it would with a 3.55 or 3.91 but it will be easier to drive on the freeway.
RPMs? Not sure but for reference, with 3.55s and the 727 automatic, I was turning the following:

2800 rpms at 60.
3000 rpms at 65.
3200 rpms at 70.

Once I switched to the 5 speed with the .64 overdrive, the numbers dropped to:
1650 rpms @60.
1800 rpms @65.
1975-2000 rpms @ 70.
The .64 overdrive results in a 2.27 final drive. A 2.76 axle, you will be in between those numbers for rpms.
There are online calculators for figure rpms. Sorry, I don't have a link for them.

 

[68rrdream]

My first Charger was a 318-904 with a 2.71 gear axle.

View attachment 1414185

Sorry for the crappy picture. If I knew how much time, love and money I was going to put into the car, I would have taken a lot more pictures of the "before".
Anyway....The car performed great with this combination. The car was mostly original but had a rebuilt transmission.
View attachment 1414189
Even a 383 C body will get around okay with a 2.76. It won't peel out like it would with a 3.55 or 3.91 but it will be easier to drive on the freeway.
RPMs? Not sure but for reference, with 3.55s and the 727 automatic, I was turning the following:

2800 rpms at 60.
3000 rpms at 65.
3200 rpms at 70.

Once I switched to the 5 speed with the .64 overdrive, the numbers dropped to:
1650 rpms @60.
1800 rpms @65.
1975-2000 rpms @ 70.
The .64 overdrive results in a 2.27 final drive. A 2.76 axle, you will be in between those numbers for rpms.
There are online calculators for figure rpms. Sorry, I don't have a link for them.

Wow! With the OD it really came down. I'll check out some online calculators. Does hp not come into play in this equation? I thought it would.

 

[Kern Dog]

The RPMs are simple math. The engine turns the same no matter the HP. Torque converter slippage can be a factor though.
I didn't change my axle ratio and the 4th gear of the manual transmission was 1 to 1 like the 727 was in drive. I retested the rpms in 4th to see if the engine speed was lower. It was so close, it wasn't an issue.
In short, I turned similar RPMs with the 727 as I did with the manual when in 4th gear. MY converter didn't slip much at freeway speeds.
The next step up is a 2.94 gear.
I was running a 28" tire when I took these numbers. I have a shorter tire now.

 

[Sam69sat]

I like your thinking but i think i'd buy an old $2000 dollar Toyota Camry or something old and reliable then ditch the full coverage and monthly payments. Then get the b body up to speed and daily drive it if you want but have something else as a backup.

 

[68rrdream]

I like your thinking but i think i'd buy an old $2000 dollar Toyota Camry or something old and reliable then ditch the full coverage and monthly payments. Then get the b body up to speed and daily drive it if you want but have something else as a backup.

I dunno elsewhere but in miami our used car market isn't good. 2k probably won't be reliable. I can fix whatever breaks either way.
That being said wife just told me keep my car. Still plan to drive it to work occasionally as I don't live far from my job.

 

[Kern Dog]

You are lucky that a classic can be driven year round down there. A/C would be nice though, right?
Maintenance will be a snap. I'd suggest electronic ignition though. Radial tires, a good alignment, front disc brakes and an AM/FM CD player too. What else does a man need?

 

[68rrdream]

You are lucky that a classic can be driven year round down there. A/C would be nice though, right?
Maintenance will be a snap. I'd suggest electronic ignition though. Radial tires, a good alignment, front disc brakes and an AM/FM CD player too. What else does a man need?

Basically everything you listed is the plan more or less. Vintage air is a bit pricey though lol

 

[Kern Dog]

It is. It works though. I have their competitior, Classic Auto Air.
I went with theirs for the compact size and simplicity. The original stuff worked great but looked like a Harley V twin engine sitting in front of the 440!

 

[68rrdream]

It is. It works though. I have their competitior, Classic Auto Air.
I went with theirs for the compact size and simplicity. The original stuff worked great but looked like a Harley V twin engine sitting in front of the 440!

Lmao! It really does. That compressor must've taken 30 horses to spin! I've installed both systems. Both are good but the unit is ugly imo. I really like their b body kit for cars that had factory air.

 

[Runcharger]

To be honest a perfect daily for that use would be a 318, auto Dart or Scamp. They sold tons of them for a reason. In todays world the smaller size of the Darts fit better in parking spaces etc. Plenty zippy with a 318 with their factory supplied (tall) gear ratios too. The thing is though they were such good cars that pretty much every one of them was driven into the ground until it yelled uncle. If you do find one with miles left on the powertrain the body is beat to death.

 

[YY1]

I frequently "Friday and weekend" drive my 73 Satellite.

318/904/2.76/255-60-15.

NO ISSUES whatsoever in traffic, merging, passing at 70+ MPH.

Consider though, that my car has factory PS, PDB and even working AC (gotta be a plus in Miami), and an early to mid 60's car is much less likely to have those, excepting PS.
All those things affect drive-ability, serviceability, and comfort.

 

[68rrdream]

To be honest a perfect daily for that use would be a 318, auto Dart or Scamp. They sold tons of them for a reason. In todays world the smaller size of the Darts fit better in parking spaces etc. Plenty zippy with a 318 with their factory supplied (tall) gear ratios too. The thing is though they were such good cars that pretty much every one of them was driven into the ground until it yelled uncle. If you do find one with miles left on the powertrain the body is beat to death.

Yeah, that last few lines sums it up lol. Every dart duster or scamp I see at a decent price is pretty much done. Always wanted Al Bundy's duster.

 

[68rrdream]

I frequently "Friday and weekend" drive my 73 Satellite.

318/904/2.76/255-60-15.

NO ISSUES whatsoever in traffic, merging, passing at 70+ MPH.

Consider though, that my car has factory PS, PDB and even working AC (gotta be a plus in Miami), and an early to mid 60's car is much less likely to have those, excepting PS.
All those things affect drive-ability, serviceability, and comfort.

AC is definitely a plus in miami. Not a deal breaker though. The majority of cars I've looked at have PS and PB. Drums of course. Not really liking anything prior to around 65 anyway.

 

[Triplegreen500]

I daily-drove a Volare for years. /6, auto, factory a/c. It wasn't much off the line but passing was fine (I want to say it had 2.76s) and it would practically idle along at 80 mph. Fuel was mid-20s per gallon, even with the a/c going. LOVE that R12 - idling on a 90 degree day it would blow low 40s out the vents! Never should have sold that car....

My Charger is similar - 318/904/2.76/factory air. One day I'll get the a/c working again, but for now...it idles along at highway speeds, drives and passes well, not a lot of grunt off the line but it's a cruiser, not a racer. Definitely don't feel "unsafe" driving it in traffic, or merging. It's no slower than my '06 Wrangler 4.0...perfectly functional and viable in today's world. And if you want... you can always wake up a 318 with a 4bbl, a 340 cam, and a freer-flowing exhaust system. I did that in college with my Satellite - it was originally a 318/904/3.23 SG 8.75 car. Wiped the cam, put in a 340 cam and dropped on a dual plane 4bbl with an Edelbrock 650. Did well. Then, the trans went tits-up so I swapped in a 727 (with shorter driveshaft, etc). Then...I dropped in a 360/380 crate motor and put a reverse-manual valve body in the trans....and it was all downhill from there lol. Nothing quite like a low 13 second street station wagon, on pump gas and street tires! But, we still drove it to Florida for vacation and it did great! Those 3.23 gears are a great all-around setup!! A little more rowdy on the highway than the 2.76...but quite a bit snappier off the line, too. It's all a tradeoff for what you want, versus what you need. And the 2.76s are perfectly viable for today's roads, if you don't "have to go fast" with it.

 

[YY1]

Yeah, that last few lines sums it up lol. Every dart duster or scamp I see at a decent price is pretty much done. Always wanted Al Bundy's duster.

Someone over on FABO just bought a twin to that car.

Clean, solid, unmolested, and a great deal at IIRC $4500.

 

[68rrdream]

Someone over on FABO just bought a twin to that car.

Clean, solid, unmolested, and a great deal at IIRC $4500.

Nice! I tried to get on that forum as well but they never approved me.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Yeah, that last few lines sums it up lol. Every dart duster or scamp I see at a decent price is pretty much done. Always wanted Al Bundy's duster.

I drove slant six Valiants from 1969 until 1987 as daily drivers, and they were hard to beat. Agree that they are in a different universe today as far as pricing. With the money I saved by driving the Valiants, I kept a nice GTX in my garage for weekend use, a practice I've kept in place over five decades. When the Valiant era passed, I switched to used Toyota sedans, bought cheap, with low upkeep and fuel consumption.