Rapom's Rocket - just another Duster build thread

[rapom65]

Here is an electrical mod I hadn't planned on before I started but decided to do since everything was opened up and accessible. I added two relays to the headlight circuits to take the electrical load off the headlight switch (same reason for the ignition relay - power is taken directly off the starter relay distribution stud rather than through the ignition switch). The relay with the purple wires is for the low beams and the relay with the red wires is for the high beams. I spliced them into the wiring harness directly above the relays. To make this a hidden system you could do this right at the high/low switch on the floor board and hide the relays behind the kick panel. I like to see the mechanics of a car and they're way more accessible mounted here. There is room for one more relay to the right of the high beam if I decide to add electric fan(s) for the radiator in the future.

A lot is going on in this pic but what is missing is the heavy power wire which will connect the battery, thru the master disconnect switch, to the starter relay which now becomes the main power distribution point. When the master disconnect switch is thrown it will kill power to everything in the car:
Red Arrow = fusible link protected lead to ignition relay
Lt Blue Arrow = used to be the red power lead to the starter relay via the ammeter and black lead from the altenator. Just about everything in the dash got it's power from the black lead prior to the ammeter. Essentially I rerouted power so it flows backwards from the stock setup. I deleted the ammeter and the black lead from the altenator to the firewall. The red lead from the starter relay is now directly connected to the remainder of the black lead which still powers everything in the dash area. It is protected by the stock fusible link at the firewall connection block. Got it?
Black Arrow = fusible link protected lead to low & high beam relays

 

[rapom65]

Ok, the last part of the electrical (besides the dash redo) is to set up the system for a trunk mounted battery and master disconnect switch. This diagram is based on one FABO member Crackedback has posted many times to show how a 1 wire alt. system can be wired up. It has been completely aborted by me to show how I'm setting up my system using a stock 2 wire alt. I know he had a diagram up at one time for a 2 wire system but I was unable to locate it this morning. PLEASE NOTE: I am NO electrician, I do pretty well at it but I don't know this will work until the car is up and running. In theory it looks like it should, but.......

• All power is distributed thru the start relay. The start relay gets it's power from the battery thru the master disconnect switch.
• The start circuit is energized by turning the ignition switch to "start" (blue wire), which closes the start relay which energizes the Ford solenoid (green wire) which connects battery voltage to the starter. The starter solenoid has been jumped (purple wire) so no signal is required from the starter relay. When the ignition switch is release back to "run" the Ford solenoid opens cutting battery voltage off from the starter.
• The CDS (constant duty solenoid) is closed by the ignition switch at "run" (lite blue wire) which connects alt. output to the battery for charging and system power.
• Opening the disconnect should cut power to all circuits killing the motor and alt. output.
• The start circuit should only be hot when the ignition switch is at "start". In the event that the disconnect switch is opened the ignition circuit power is cut and the motor and alt. output should die. The alt. charging wire should be dead (no back feed from the battery) as the CDS will open when the "run" circuit looses power.
• Only the cables connected to the battery positive (to the Ford solenoid then to the master disconnect switch and charging wire back to the CDS) should be hot with the disconnect switch opened.

I got all my components off of Ebag with free shipping which was much less than I could source them for locally. The Ford start solenoid (US made) is a standard Ford item off anything 60's - 80's. My master disconnect switch is by Pollak and is a HD unit rated for 150 amps continuous (be careful if your running a high output alt. as there are a lot of disconnect switches out there with very low amp ratings) and my CDS is built for golf cart applications and is also rated for 150 amps continuous duty (way more than my stock alt.)

There you have it kids.... isn't electrical wiring fun????

 

[rapom65]

Crackedback posted this revised trunk mount battery diagram yesterday on another thread. I think I'm going to use his new layout over what I had planned as it will shorten up the wiring runs due to the locations I've selected for my components. See, there are several ways to skin a cat and accomplish the same result.

 

[moparmat2000]

wow, lots of great ideas off your build thread. i love the 2X3 boxed steel front crossmember so much, i am going to build one of these. for mine, i originally bought the dillinger crossmember bar and have not installed it yet. i think going the route you did on yours, looks much cleaner and closer to stock looking which is what i am after.

you have great fab skills, i do lots of metal fab work myself, and i think much the same way you do on stuff like this, as such i copied quite a few of the pix from your build, and will be using these ideas on my 67 cuda build if you dont mind.

keep up the good work on your build. i will be following along

thanks for the good ideas

Matt

 

[rapom65]

Thanks Matt, glad your enjoying the thread. On the front cross member I built be aware that it will be about two inches lower than a stock cross member. This is because it has to go under the radiator rather than in front of the lower tank. It will show quite a bit more. This wont be a problem for me as I have some more mods to do in that area which (I hope) will blend it in.

Everyone feel free to use any idea I post, I've borrowed my fair share. That's what I love about this site and why I started the thread.

 

[moparmat2000]

Thanks Matt, glad your enjoying the thread. On the front cross member I built be aware that it be about two inches lower than a stock cross member. This is because it has to go under the radiator rather than in front of the lower tank. It will show quite a bit more. This wont be a problem for me as I have some more mods to do in that area which (I hope) will blend it in.

Everyone feel free to use any idea I post, I've borrowed my fair share. That's what I love about this site and why I started the thread.

IEEE
I was looking at mine last night. Its on a home made rotisserie i posted here in the tools section. I had some scrap ,2x3, and mocked up my radiator. I may widen the opening for a later dart 26" rad. Its going to be a bit lower yes, but im dropping the car 2" and putting a front lip spoiler from spoilers by randy on it,

I am going sort of a sleeper pro touring. Everything needs somewhat stock appearing. Going to get 17" wheel vintiques steelies, using 67 plymouth dog dish caps, and low profile redlines. Engines going to be a 410" stroker dressed up to look like a 273 commando too. Going to run an OD A 833 in it too.

Figured out the color i am going to use too. 1967 daffodil yellow on the body and on the steel rims, and a stock black bucket seat interior with no console. Only mods on the interior will be a custom made instrument panel with speedhut gages, and shoulder belts from seatbelt planet.

The nice thing about the custom crossmember you made is it appears stock. Since i plan on fogging the front sheetmetal behind the grille black like the factory did, i can hide it pretty well.

Check out the pix of my build under my avatar. Its slow going but its going, and thats a good thing.

 

[rapom65]

This is out of sequence with the electrical mods which I should have been working on instead. But it is progress so I'll let you in on what I got done recently. I've been following 72bluNblu's build thread on his '74 Duster and one of his latest updates was about replacing the '74s rear bumper with an earlier version. I've had a '72 stashed in the rafters for years with this idea in mind but because my stock bumper was in much better shape I never did the swap. I did eliminate the shocks and plastic spacer thing on the '74 which sucked the bumper in 1.5" but was never happy with the way the ends stuck out past the body lines. The wife was working last weekend so with nothing to do I headed out to the shop just to tidy up the mess that was accumulating. Looking at the bumper ends poking out inspired me to dig the '72 bumper out for another look. One thing led to another and before I knew it it was installed. I'm committed to it now as I chopped up my '74 mounts to build new ones for the '72. It's not quite finished yet as I have a little welding and fitting to do. I'll get some picks up this weekend once it's finalized.

 

[rapom65]

So here's the pics of the '72 bumper installed. Didn't get any shots of the mounts because by the time I got them welded, installed and the bumper adjusted I had to pee so bad I couldn't lay back down under the car! That's what I get for 3 big cups of coffee before heading out to the shop. Sorry was that more info than you needed? I'll post up a shot or two, they're nothing special and much stouter/heavier than needed so I may re-due them in the future. Besides a much better overall fit and look the '70-'72 bumper and brackets weigh a fraction of the larger '74 which has the two shock/mount assemblies and a full length inner bumper structure that is stamped out of 3/16" steel (not kidding). Easily 60 lbs off the very *** end of the car if not more.
Pic 1 - what was removed
Pic 2 thru 5 - a before and after grouping from back and side
Pic 6 - no more ends sticking out but there is a gap between the body and bumper that will be delt with latter.

 

[rapom65]

As promised here are some pics of the inner brackets I made for the '72 rear bumper swap.
Pic 1 - I cut off the tubes of the bumper shocks and reused the mount ends to utilize the existing hardware and reinforcements that are built into the rear frame horns. Then salvaged some 1/8" angle to make extensions and some left over tabs from the Tri 4 link with welded on nuts for the inner bumper bolts.
Pic 2 - Bracket set for the '72 bumper. There are small outer brackets from the stock '72 set that I didn't use. The red arrow highlights the outer bolt location that has to be drilled thru the lower tail panel. Blue arrow for the inner bolt to the new frame brackets.
Pic 3 - This is the hole for the outer bolt that has to be drilled. You can see the oblong hole in the inner panel that is/was the location for the stock hole for early 70s rear bumpers. Thankfully the factory didn't change the inner panel stampings used on '73 and latter cars so it makes it very easy to convert.
Pic 4 - New outer bolt hole (red) and inner mount (blue) from the outside. You can see the outline and hole for the old bumper shocks and how the new bracket is situated.

 

[72bluNblu]

As promised here are some pics of the inner brackets I made for the '72 rear bumper swap.
Pic 1 - I cut off the tubes of the bumper shocks and reused the mount ends to utilize the existing hardware and reinforcements that are built into the rear frame horns. Then salvaged some 1/8" angle to make extensions and some left over tabs from the Tri 4 link with welded on nuts for the inner bumper bolts.
Pic 2 - Bracket set for the '72 bumper. There are small outer brackets from the stock '72 set that I didn't use. The red arrow highlights the outer bolt location that has to be drilled thru the lower tail panel. Blue arrow for the inner bolt to the new frame brackets.
Pic 3 - This is the hole for the outer bolt that has to be drilled. You can see the oblong hole in the inner panel that is/was the location for the stock hole for early 70s rear bumpers. Thankfully the factory didn't change the inner panel stampings used on '73 and latter cars so it makes it very easy to convert.
Pic 4 - New outer bolt hole (red) and inner mount (blue) from the outside. You can see the outline and hole for the old bumper shocks and how the new bracket is situated.

I LIKE those mounts! Now why didn't I think of that? I may have to go back and do that with mine, I still have the old shock mount bumper and brackets.

Good work! :thumbup:

 

[rapom65]

You may remember my junk yard seats from page one. I found these sitting loose in the cab of a Toyota truck and bought them for $60 for the pair. These are really nice low back buckets with enough leg and side bolstering to hold you snuggly in place yet not feel like your sitting in a bath tub. The manual knobs on the side of the drivers seat adjust seat bottom height and tilt, the slides have a very good amount of for/aft movement, the back tilt adjustment has a wide range of settings and the seat back releases fold the backs forward and release the slide catches so the whole seat slides forward making back seat access wide open. The drivers seat has a knob for lumbar support adjustment on the interior side which is not visible in the pictures. Last but not least is adjustable head rests. The passenger seat doesn't have all the adjustments but I'm really happy with them overall. The only problem with them was the drivers seat slider handle was missing (black arrow) but over the years of junk yard rummaging I found seats very similar to these and picked the handle which fit and was a perfect color match.

My Sister-In-Law does auto upholstery so I hope to get them in her hands some day for a redo in black leather but she is in NW Montana... not exactly close so I may have to get it done locally.

To install buckets some prep work should be done to the floor. Bucket seat cars had reinforcement plates to buck up the sheet metal at the mounting bolts. Fortunately the flats are stamped in all floor pans (red circles) so it was easy to cut some heavy gauge sheet metal squares and weld them in. The outboard seat risers, stamped into the floor sheet metal, seemed to position my seats low enough and at a good angle so I re-drilled the outboard sliders to match the floor's bolt holes then I fabbed up some inner brackets out of 1/8" angle. I went crazy with the hole saws to cut the weight down as they were unnecessarily heavy.

 

[rapom65]

And installed.

 

[rapom65]

I LIKE those mounts! Now why didn't I think of that? I may have to go back and do that with mine, I still have the old shock mount bumper and brackets.

Good work! :thumbup:

Hey Blu, glad you like 'em. They are pretty damn stout for what is needed but the bumper will never fall off! Credit yourself for inspiring me to do the mod. I love the sexy new rear end.

 

[rapom65]

Logged on this morning groggy eyed from my night shift and happened across a for sale item just posted by member fbcuda69. Thought about it for about 2 seconds and sent him a PM. Thanks Dave I'll put it to good use. Flaming River Power Steering Coupler, FR1506P eliminates the stock steering "pot", even though I just freshened mine up with a rebuild kit. I want to eliminate as much play and deflection in the system as I can. This is one of several steps to be taken to tighten up the steering beginning, of course, with inspecting/replacing any worn bearing/bushed items.
Planned mods: 1. below coupler 2. Firm Feel Stage III PS rebuild 3. Firm Feel Sector Shaft Support Kit (no final decision on this yet) 4. column rebuild (completed) 5. rewelding of K member + added support brackets to steering box mount (completed) 6. replacement of stock tie rod adjuster sleeves with solid aluminum sleeves (previously shown/completed) 7. 73bluNblu's bearing mod in his thread: http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/...d.php?t=228103

That is about the extent of what I know to do to mod a stock steering system for more precision.

 

[rapom65]

Quick note on the front bumper. Like in the rear it also had a inner structural beam of 3/16" steel even though it was mounted with standard type brackets vs the shock system. I guess this was supposed to strengthen the chrome "cover" to survive a 5 mph "collision". Hell it was just heavy and useless weight at the most undesirable place you could put it for handling purposes besides on top of the roof! Didn't weigh it but I'd guess 45ish lbs. Chucked it and the rear's beam in the Boy Scout scrap metal bin down the road and drove away with a smile on my face. So we're looking in the range of 100 - 125 lbs of dead weight removed for very little effort and a much better looking car. I'm still not happy with the width of the front bumper which needs at least an inch removed from each end. I'm just having a hard time taking a grinder to that nice chrome. Well... not really. It's the $$$ of getting it re-chromed that's stopping me.

Look at that ugliness!

 

[rapom65]

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I had rebuilt my steering column. Kinda sort of. The car was a column shifted auto and I'm going floor shift manual trans. Rather than modifying my original column to delete the shift stuff I went through the effort of purchasing an as advertised, and verified with the East Coast seller, a very nice floor shift power steering column. It was packed away as soon as it arrived as I was dealing with a house sale/move/house search & purchase/new shop build. After starting work on the car it came time to pull the old column out and fit the new. @#$% manual column! After cooling off I sat down and asked some questions, got some responses, and learned something new from my FABO brothers. Seems that the steering column shafts are largely interchangeable so I had everything I needed on hand I just had to put it together. For those of you who don't know, the difference between manual and power columns is a couple of inches length in the steering shaft. The power is shorter due to the larger power steering box.

After my customary research and downloading some illustrations from the FSMs (Factory Service Manuals) I blew the two columns apart and selected the parts to reassemble. Those were cleaned, painted and greased where applicable. Unfortunately the only pic I took is of the lower column parts laid out prior to reassembly. What's missing is the floor shift's upper collar and head assy. Everything went together without a hitch. I also rebuilt the steering coupler with new internals and packed it full of high temp grease. I am awaiting the arrival of my Flaming River coupler and now that I have a few days off I'm going to search for a flanged bearing, ala 72bluNblu, for increased lower column support of the steering shaft.

 

[rapom65]

Update - my Flaming River steering coupler, purchased from fbcuda69, arrived in the mail yesterday and it is a very nice piece. It will take a bit of slop out of the steering and eliminates the rubber seal and grease of the factory coupler, which due to the close proximity to the header tubes, can suffer heat damage and then the melted grease makes a really nice mess of things. It doesn't provide any "plunge" to the column but with the chassis stiffening I've done I don't anticipate any issues in this area.

I didn't get the chance to go support bearing hunting but it is still on my to do list.

It's been raining heavily all morning so I spent a few hours ordering some stuff on the web. Detroit Muscle Technologies got $46 for a heater refurb kit + shipping, and I ordered an AMD hood scoop. I know, I know... Your thinking "AMD doesn't make any Mopar hood scoops" and you may be right. This is bound to provoke a reaction from the peanut gallery but that's all the info I'm willing to share at the moment. Wait and see, wait and see.

 

[THEWHITEZOMBIE]

Great build! Going to look killer on the ground

 

[rapom65]

Thanks WZ. That Dart looks like it's got some potential. What's the plan?

 

[rapom65]

Here is something I started working on last fall, continued on through the winter, and have still not completed but close. This is a pic of the dash the day I brought the car home. Remember this as the "before" pic. Not much there to work with but that was OK cuz I had a plan, long ago formulated in my mind, what I'd do if I ever built a "stick car". That was a custom Rally based dash. My opportunity to pick one up came before my move south when a friend of a friend, who had a field full of cars, was forced by the county to clean up his property. We got the word a couple of days before the crusher showed up to come get what we wanted from the 5 or 6 A bodies he had before they were remade into kitchen appliances. We made hurried preparations and hauled azz from the west side of WA state (Seattle) to the east side (Spokane). Arriving in the early afternoon we did a quick inventory. Man what a treasure trove of parts. I would of taken all of them off his hands had I some means of transport and a place to store them. Sadly we had less than a day to grab what we could and go. An orange '72 Duster gave up the trunk lid and rear bumper that now adorn my car. A green and white '69 Dart donated its Rally Dash frame with unmolested wiring harness, less the instrument bezel, and some drip rail trim before it got too dark to see. My two friends were hurriedly yanking disk brakes and K frames from a couple of Dusters along with some of the sheet metal off the green Dart. I know of a couple of floor shift columns that were available and a truck load of other desirable parts that were left for the crusher but we went out and celebrated a little too much after an awesome dinner. The next morning (afternoon), feeling like total s--t, we decided to limp our asses home and called it a day.

 

[rapom65]

The first order of business on the dash redo was to get a bezel and the pot metal frame the gauges are attached to. I didn't need the gauge assemblies just the frame itself. The bezel needed to be rough so I wouldn't have to pay a premium price and there fore wouldn't feel bad about hacking up a good part. A call was sent out to the FABO community and Redfish came to the rescue with just what I wanted, an otherwise serviceable '68 Cuda bezel with the thumb wheel radio area hacked out for a stereo. The ignition and headlight switches came off my Dart dash harness and the blue button installed in the flasher hole is for a little something I'm not ready to disclose yet. The flasher switch was not needed as it is incorporated in my redone steering column.

 

[rapom65]

I have no need for an ashtray so the tray's skin was separated from it's innards and welded into the dash frame's hole. A skim coat of filler, primer and semi gloss black paint refreshed the look of the frame. The Rally's glove box door was missing and somewhere along the line a latter model locking Rally door was picked up, I just don't remember from where. It was disassembled, cleaned, painted and screwed into place. The only issue with this was the catch off the '74's dash had to be used as the latch wouldn't grab the '69 version. The only interior part that came with the car was a pristine black dash pad and that was cleaned then bolted onto the Rally frame. A like new pair of defroster vents and a column cover were dug out of the parts bin and installed. The basic refurb of the dash was complete. Now it was time to get jiggy with the gauge cluster.

 

[Valleyant]

Rapom65,
Thankyou for sharing the rear bumper brackets you made. I am in the same boat! switching rear bumpers on my '74 Duster to the earlier style like you showed. Now it's just doing it. Thanks again!
Nice project by the way! Seats look great!:thumbup:

 

[rapom65]

Thanks and glad I could help out with a few ideas. Now "Get-er-Done!"

 

[rapom65]

Don't remember if I have mentioned before that my interior color theme is basic black with silver and carbon fiber accents. Seeing that I'm basing my dash on the Rally cluster it's pretty obvious that I'm planning on utilizing some sort of large round gauges to fill those big round holes. To that end I selected a complete suite of Autometer Carbon Fiber Ultra-Lites and bid my time to make the purchase. I knew that Autometer usually has some promotions leading up to Christmas and last year was no exception. If purchasing a tach they offered a free matching voltmeter + a money back offer based on amount spent. Since I bought at one time I qualified for the max $100 rebate and ordering thru Summit I got free shipping. Roughly a $200 savings. Got to pinch those pennies!

Here's the list:
PN 4898 5" in-dash tach
PN 4889 5" in-dash electronic speedo
PN 5291 sender (converts mechnical drive to electronic signal for speedo, mounts at trans in place of speedo cable)
PN 4827 2 5/8" oil pressure (electrical)
PN 4891 2 5/8" voltmeter
PN 4837 2 5/8" water temp (electrical)
PN 4814 2 5/8" fuel level (0-90 ohms matches fuel cell sender)
PN 3244 2 5/8" angled gauge rings

The layout I selected, from left to right, is Tach - Oil Press - Speedo - Water Temp - Voltmeter - Fuel Level. I'm placing the Oil Press between the Tach and Speedo in the Rally clusters old tach position. This is so I can, with a quick glance down, check the two most important vitals of the motor when at speed.