just got home tonite with a new toy, a 78 Volare !

Its a ugly duckling at the moment but I couldnt pass it up, It has a perfect body and interior, only has 80,xxx on it, and has the bullet proof slant 6 (ha ha) Seriously though, this thing is nice, It rides and drives better than my newer cars. And best yet it only cost me (dont hate me) 100 dollars! If it makes you all feel better though it did sit for a few years and there was no good rubber on it, so by the time I drove it home with new belts, hoses, gaskets, and tires Im pushing 500 into it.

This is my first mopar and I havent decided were Im gonna go with it, other than Im definately ditching the slant 6, Im thinking a mild 318 but only time will tell.

Nice score!  I am a complete sucker for low-mileage cars like this.  I've had three great finds like that.

The one I still have; a 73 Impala Station wagon, 454, and A/C with 58,000 original miles.  When I bought it, it still had Polyester bias-ply tires on it.

Another one was a 73 AMC Hornet Sportabout wagon that had exactly 7400 miles on it.  A guy had bought it to leave at his vacation home in NC and then never used it.  I scored it for $1500, drove it one winter and sold it for $1525.

One of my favorites was an 87 Olds Cutlass Salon, 307 with the 442 appearance package.  It had about 60k and I found it at a new car dealership.  They were getting ready to auction it off because it was too old and had bad shocks.  I scored it for cheap.  It had mile-deep flawless blue metallic paint and the Ralleye guages.  I miss that car like you wouldn't believe.  I put it on Ebay and some guy flew in from St Louis to Pittsburgh to pick it up and drive it home.

Welcome to the club!  Do what you want with it, make it your own.  Learn and make wise decisions from others' experience, but don't let them sway you with their opinion.  Its your car, and if you want a 318, put in a 318.

CC did an article... last year?... about a relatively cheap 318 pushing 400 HP.  If someone else can remember the article it might help GP out.  

Yes, I remember the article.  They used stock heads, with a do-it-yourself pocket port job and stock steel rockers.

I have that issue laying around somewhere.  Anyhow, I would suggest running a 360 if you go the V8 route.  The have the standard 4" bore as opposed to the 318's 3.91" bore.  With a slightly longer crank at 3.58 as opposed to the 318's 3.31".

My very first car was a '78 Plymouth Roadrunner (your volare with some stripes on the side)  I drove it until one of the leaf springs started coming through the trunk!

Cool car and have some fun.

Thanks guys, and I am definatly having fun already.

Last nite we got down and dirty with it using all the spare parts in mine and my buddies garages. It already has some autometers, a grant wheel, new rims, and a bolt on cowl scoop (Yes, we were drinking why do you ask?) Also striped of the blue half vinyl roof. Im still contemplating seats, Ive got a set from a 96 camaro but the bench is so comfy I dont know it I want to switch it.

As far as the engine goes we tinkered with it then took it out and actually got it to 120, but it took a long, looooooong time to get there! Im talkin minutes.

If you check out some of the other posts you will find one on Barney Navarro's indy Rambler engines. Why not turbo the slant six and make it a true sleeper. Then go blow off some of those rice rockets!  

Wow, that's an awesome score. I think Davracr is right, slap on a turbo, maybe from an old Powerstroke with a Powerstroke intercooler. That would be fast. Now, that story inspires me. I wish I could find a nice old Cadillac and it would be cool to make a blown 500 ci Caddy, while keeping everything inside stock, even the column shifter. Of course that would never happen. But it would be niicee. Imagine that, a white 18 yr old guy wanting a old Caddy with a blown 500 ci. Perfect, I would just leave everything outside stock, even the tires so the Caddy can smoke them by simply depressing the gas pedal. Sweet!  

I agree with davracr...a turbo set up for the six would be awesome. I knew a guy that put a 4 bbl and a t3/t4 turbo on a 225 in his '68 dart. No one believed it was a slant six. haha.  

I've always wanted to turbocharge something but I don't think the six is gonna be it, the motors not in the best shape and I doubt it would hold up without a rebuild that I dont want to do at this point.

 Right now I'm trying to talk a friend out of a 440 thats been in his garage for a while. If anyone knows how hard this swaps gonna be I,d like to hear. Also, does Chrystler make a good O/D tranny that would bolt to this thing?

"I've always wanted to turbocharge something . . . . I'm trying to talk a friend out of a 440 thats been in his garage for a while."

HMMM?  Turbo . . . 440 . . . Turbo . . . 440. TURBO 440!

http://members.aol.com/lqdnthusim/newpage.htm

See also the thread "So we aren't rich but we aren't stupid"

Man I will never get used to the backwards header deal on turbo setups

That picture makes my head turn sideways...sweet

The exhaust gasses don't know they are flowing backwards. They just want to get through the turbine and out of there.