Being able to keep your very first project car is hard to do. You usually encounter a scenario in your life that involves you parting ways with it and it's something you talk about and regret to this day. We all recall our first project because it was special to us and got the ball rolling. For 30-year-old Livernois Motorsports lead mechanic, Tim Skardoutos, he doesn't have to remember what his first project was like because he can turn the key and drive it anytime he pleases.
When Tim graduated high school, he, like many others, celebrated with a graduation party. While most people would save that money to put toward their absurd tuition and book fees, Tim had a better idea. He started to look for a project car he could build and enjoy. "At the time I had a friend with a Dart and I fell in love with it," he says. With $700 in hand, he exchanged the cash for a '71 Dart. It wasn't in the best condition but that didn't discourage him.
He enlisted the help of his father, a skilled paint and body man, to complete the esthetic transformation. "There wasn't a straight panel on the entire car and everything was a different color," he recalls. He and his father replaced the passenger side floorboard and repaired the rusted roof from the decaying vinyl top. With new quarters on the car and the body smoothed out, it was drenched in DuPont Chrome Yellow. "Some people call it 'Stinger' because it looks like a bee and rhymes with Swinger," he says.
With the body in line, he began working on the original, naturally aspirated engine setup. He had the 340 block sent out to Roush Racing for machine work where it was bored .030-inch over. Once it was home, Tim began to assemble the small-block. It received domed TRW pistons, Eagle rods, and the original crankshaft. The domed pistons bump the compression to 11.7:1 when combined with the ported and polished aluminum Edelbrock heads with 65cc chambers. Tim still gets away with 93-octane pump gas, too. A flat tappet Mopar Performance camshaft was selected with 304-degrees duration and .571-inch lift. The small-block is backed by a TorqueFlite transmission that he rebuilt himself. It boasts a TCI 3250-rpm stall and shifted by a B&M Pro Ratchet shifter, and the 8 3/4-inch rearend uses 4.10 gears.
Inside the Dart wasn't nearly as bad as the exterior condition. "We reused the door panels and back seat," he says. Everything else was replaced with NOS or mint condition stock parts. The dash was sourced from a '68 Barracuda and adds a commonly overlooked variation from stock. He added an AutoMeter Phantom tachometer with an integrated shift light just behind the steering wheel. Below the Pioneer head unit sits a water temperature and oil pressure gauge.
Underneath the suspension was mostly unmolested and was rebuilt with factory parts. The brakes have been upgraded to '73 Dart discs to help the A-Body slow down and use the factory spindles. For wheels, Tim went with a safe choice, Weld Pro Stars. They measure 15x5 up front, 15x10 out back, and wear Mastercraft radials and Mickey Thompson drag radials, respectively.
With the car completed, Tim enjoyed the Dart for many years. Many other muscle cars have come and gone, but the Dart still remains in the driveway, to which he thanks his wife. He recently decided to go turbo. His cousin, Nick Frania, fabricated the custom turbo setup that uses a Precision GT47-88 turbo and upgraded the fuel system to accommodate the influx of power. "I built the car to cruise and enjoy and never cared about winning trophies," he concedes. Though it hasn't stopped him from taking home a few. We're sure he has a blast driving this blown-340 A-Body around the streets of Michigan.
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