1971 Demon Driver
Yea, it's been a while... I got a little discouraged because it was seeming like this car was becoming more and more like a big POS.
The car sat around for a while because the tranny was slipping so bad. It's actually a 904 even though it was advertized as a 727. I found a used tranny out of craigslist and installed it. It works well.
I found the disk brake system out of a 73 Valient and bought new cailipers, pads, brake hoses, master cylinder, and new bushings and ball joints throughout the front (Upper and lower control arms). One of the torsion bars snapped while in storage and I used the Valient torsion bars. Whoever put in the torsion bars put them in on the wrong side. I'm assuming this is why the one snapped. Geez... whoever put this thing together obviously didn't have FABO as a reference.
The body is in its first stage of primer. Many minor body issues are still visible but from 20 feet you can't see anything. The whole body is now metal. We found a $50 body of a 75 Duster that helped with the some of the body parts that were so rusted that I just replaced sections from the donor car. The whole front clip is from a 71 Dart that got a fiberglass front clip for drag racing. I traded work on an interior of a 52 Chev Pickup for the clip. Now I have two grills. One is really nice. The other one I painted mostly black and is on the car right now.
I found some cheap Hedman headers for $40 that aren't banged up at all. They are used but I was so surprised to see that they weren't dragged on the ground. The 318 in my car is so rusty I'm scared to try to get the exhaust manifold bolts out. There's a ticking with the lifters on this engine so instead of messing with it and getting too deep into more problems, I've decided to just look for a nice 360 to install and using the headers on it. I bought a 4 barrel manifold off craigslist for $80 and took the Carter carb from my buddy's 73 cuda and saw just how nasty the lifters, rods, cam were in this 318. I need a different engine.
The front is big bolt pattern. The rears are still small bp (741 - 8 3/4 no sure grip). I got adapters and put my Cragars off my old impala on this demon. The impala has the original hubcaps back on it. It looks weak. haha.
So now I get to drive my Demon through the summer. Yeaaa! The disk brakes are sweet. The tranny is a smooth shifter. There's no rust showing. It has just enough power to squeek the wheels. I'll have a little fun until winter and maybe bring it up to the next stage.
Here is a picture of it today. (75 Duster in the back in primer) I have some pictures of the work done if anyone is interested. The brakes were a little tricky but because of FABO I had all the references I needed. Oh yeah, if you noticed it, I replace the seats front and back with a 99 Concorde leather interior with six way power front seats and a fold down middle armrest in the rear with a port hole to the trunk.
Thanks for reading my ramblings. This car is more slow going and an average build than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I just don't have huge amounts of cash to throw at it.
Yea, it's been a while... I got a little discouraged because it was seeming like this car was becoming more and more like a big POS.
The car sat around for a while because the tranny was slipping so bad. It's actually a 904 even though it was advertized as a 727. I found a used tranny out of craigslist and installed it. It works well.
I found the disk brake system out of a 73 Valient and bought new cailipers, pads, brake hoses, master cylinder, and new bushings and ball joints throughout the front (Upper and lower control arms). One of the torsion bars snapped while in storage and I used the Valient torsion bars. Whoever put in the torsion bars put them in on the wrong side. I'm assuming this is why the one snapped. Geez... whoever put this thing together obviously didn't have FABO as a reference.
The body is in its first stage of primer. Many minor body issues are still visible but from 20 feet you can't see anything. The whole body is now metal. We found a $50 body of a 75 Duster that helped with the some of the body parts that were so rusted that I just replaced sections from the donor car. The whole front clip is from a 71 Dart that got a fiberglass front clip for drag racing. I traded work on an interior of a 52 Chev Pickup for the clip. Now I have two grills. One is really nice. The other one I painted mostly black and is on the car right now.
I found some cheap Hedman headers for $40 that aren't banged up at all. They are used but I was so surprised to see that they weren't dragged on the ground. The 318 in my car is so rusty I'm scared to try to get the exhaust manifold bolts out. There's a ticking with the lifters on this engine so instead of messing with it and getting too deep into more problems, I've decided to just look for a nice 360 to install and using the headers on it. I bought a 4 barrel manifold off craigslist for $80 and took the Carter carb from my buddy's 73 cuda and saw just how nasty the lifters, rods, cam were in this 318. I need a different engine.
The front is big bolt pattern. The rears are still small bp (741 - 8 3/4 no sure grip). I got adapters and put my Cragars off my old impala on this demon. The impala has the original hubcaps back on it. It looks weak. haha.
So now I get to drive my Demon through the summer. Yeaaa! The disk brakes are sweet. The tranny is a smooth shifter. There's no rust showing. It has just enough power to squeek the wheels. I'll have a little fun until winter and maybe bring it up to the next stage.
Here is a picture of it today. (75 Duster in the back in primer) I have some pictures of the work done if anyone is interested. The brakes were a little tricky but because of FABO I had all the references I needed. Oh yeah, if you noticed it, I replace the seats front and back with a 99 Concorde leather interior with six way power front seats and a fold down middle armrest in the rear with a port hole to the trunk.
Thanks for reading my ramblings. This car is more slow going and an average build than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I just don't have huge amounts of cash to throw at it.