Dodge dealer performance parts from the 80's

[75wagon]

Thanx JasonC off JNC for posting this info, hope you don't mind me copying it?

I found this on JNC, though some members here would be interested. Suits Colt Arrow (Lancer Hatch) but thought this could suit multiple models so I thought I'd put it here.

Here is a scan of a Jan 1980 Direct Connection catalog.

[Sigmaproject]

Great find and time consuming post

But honestly, with over 1200 post's in a couple of months, you really have to get a life

[75wagon]

Great find and time consuming post

But honestly, with over 1200 post's in a couple of months, you really have to get a life

Um, yeah, that's pretty tragic isn't it? But it has been longer that a couple of months, I've been on here for over 6 months. It's only 4.66 post a day, doesn't seem that bad when you look at it that way. But, I'm pretty confident that I'll get over it soon. It's the way I do things, flat out at the start and then I back off pretty dramatically.

Oh well, at least I'm not spending all my time on Facebook playing Farmville or Cafeworld. I'm glad you found the above interesting to read. That's why I put it here. I just joined Japanese Nostalgic Car forum last night, hoping to gain some more members for this site, to make it a more interesting site to be on. I've also spent hours on Cardomain inviting people to join the site.

I suppose I look at it like this, It's not what the site can do for you, but what you can do for the site.

I'm not too scared to drive my car. I built my car to drive, not hide away in my garage, I want to cruise with other like minded people. If I give a bit of my time now it will pay off later. I'm doing it for myself, because I get a kick out of seeing what other people have done with their cars.

and I see my wife isn't the only one telling me to get a life

[81GL]

It's the way I do things, flat out at the start and then I back off pretty dramatically.

Back on topic! holy smokes! race preped boxes, LSD all off the shelf

If ever there was a use for a time machine, this would be it! go back and load it up with toys

[A57C]

i took the liberty of ordering every part # you see up there, and the only thing that was available was the sew on patch
lmk if you want one, 75wagon

[Torana68]

..ll have one ! (where can you get one? USA?)... but I could have told you nothing is available, wasnt available in the 80's either, in the 70's you had to know "someone" and have a large cheque book.... (thats in Australia , probably a lot more relaxed in the US and Europe) same parts with Mits numbers also unavailable should anyone have an urge to search)
Roger

[84GSR]

Some very groovy stuff there. Now only if we could convince HKS to actually make available the 2.6 liter DOHC head they developed!

[A57C]

[EDIT] not sure what the story was here in the states

[leoca]

An interesting read .
Unfortunately back then I was into Monaro's

[mbrallying]

How good is that. Factory performance involvement was awesome back then. Almost non existent now.

Just wish I lived in the previous generation.

[75wagon]

I've got some old American books from the 70's and all the Jap brands had this sort of stuff available then. I suppose that's what you had to do in the 70's in the US to compete with larger engined cars. After all, wasn't petrol really cheap over there? Isn't that why most drive ridiculously huge engined cars?

[mbrallying]

Plus the cars were run largely standard back then, not much of the super special engineering they go through these days. And because manufacturers had a vested interest in their cars winning (because then they sold more), thats why they had all the special bits.

Just think what it could be like if production racing and rallying was still the big category in australia now, they may still be making all this cool stuff!

[Torana68]

How good is that. Factory performance involvement was awesome back then. Almost non existent now.Just wish I lived in the previous generation.

obviously you havent had a rallyart Lancer catalogue in your hands factory parts are SO much easier to get now, aftermarket support is massively better for the cars you can buy now, it SUCKED in the '70/80's (Nissan and Ford wernt too bad), upside was you didnt have to mortgage your house to build a good clubman rally car 'cause only the top 10% had all the good stuff. Production racing is awesome you should support it , but wont take on whilst the bogan V8 series (aka OZ NASCAR) is king

[Torana68]

... one good thing was a complete 1600 GS or 1600 GSR engine was only a phone call away, as were 5 speeds ($125 , it was a lot then) via importers

[boyracer]

.
'
The truth is you can now build a better rally car than they did in the 70's
sure the bits in it wont come from the factory catalogue but progress means
better. Having said that I do like the original (old) shit.
.
.

[A57C]

in the usa, early mitsu's were badged as dodge or plymouth. the performance parts were sold through "direct-connection"
there is at least one street car (non-racer) who was able to purchase a lsd, and it's still in the car today
so the parts definitely were available here in the u.s.


link to his ride:
http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/v ... ight=#9574

[A57C]

well looky what showed on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/71-77-DO ... 0246495968





proof i guess that some d-c colt bits were sold ...

[Torana68]

.. and at that price he'll own it for a lot longer, if thats the going price anywhere let me know where and Ill start seling complete sets for um, I dunno, $1K maybe?

[Nath76LA]

I have heard that a #4 or #5 cam cost some where in the versinity of $500-$1000 back in the '70s. Ouch!!!

[A112H]

I think $400 for that manifold is a bargain if it is something you are looking for. Same price as any other twin carby manifold but a hell of a lot rarer

[75wagon]

That manifold is pretty much useless without the carbs and linkages to go with it. Trust me I had to buy a second incomplete set, just to have a complete set up. Without all the bits they it is useless.
Of course if you retro fitted some aftermarket carbs (such as webers) with mechanical secondaries, you could probably sort something out, but for vacuum secondaries and original carbs it's useless.

Dave...

[Torana68]

ok so who wants one for A$400 postage paid in australia??? (Thats Oz dubloons too so cheaper! same as photos and useless).... silence is all Ill hear.

[A112H]

I am not aware of how it would or wouldn't be, my point was it is NOS rare factory parts. This is the sort of thing people will be killing for in 10 more years.
18 years ago I sold my XA GS Fairmont Coupe for $1500 because no one wanted them, if I had it now it would be worth $30,000 as it was. Now I understand that these sorts of parts for these sorts cars will never see the same sort of rise we have seen in some older Fords and Holdens but I still think US$400 or AU$443 is a pretty good price for rare NOS

[Torana68]

ar... its not rare ,thats the thing, at least half the people on here have one, more than one or have had one. Manifolds dont wear out any old manifold can look the same with a bead blast.

[pistorf]

Nice to see the specs for a #5 cam listed. Might be able to get one ground to replace my stolen one

[shuggy]

I am not aware of how it would or wouldn't be, my point was it is NOS rare factory parts. This is the sort of thing people will be killing for in 10 more years.
18 years ago I sold my XA GS Fairmont Coupe for $1500 because no one wanted them, if I had it now it would be worth $30,000 as it was. Now I understand that these sorts of parts for these sorts cars will never see the same sort of rise we have seen in some older Fords and Holdens but I still think US$400 or AU$443 is a pretty good price for rare NOS

yeah in 07 i sold my XC GS Sedan for 6k, they dont even list sedan GS's on redbook, id hate to think what that would be worth, i was stupid back then and had to pay off my mums write off :/

[pistorf]

I am not aware of how it would or wouldn't be, my point was it is NOS rare factory parts. This is the sort of thing people will be killing for in 10 more years.
18 years ago I sold my XA GS Fairmont Coupe for $1500 because no one wanted them, if I had it now it would be worth $30,000 as it was. Now I understand that these sorts of parts for these sorts cars will never see the same sort of rise we have seen in some older Fords and Holdens but I still think US$400 or AU$443 is a pretty good price for rare NOS

I sold my XD ESP in 1997 for $3500 to finance the bits to repair a write off that I had bought. It was not a Ghia,but was a 5.8L 4speed,with manual steering and NO air con. I found out some time later that it was 1 of 2 built to that spec.
I was just too lazy to repair the rust and re register it. Don't want to know what it would be worth now