70 duster: updating, and a no-dough pro-touring makeover
if y'all cant tell, Friday nights are my nights in the shop. that's why i gibe an update at the end of the week most weeks. its my time to decompress and relax, as i have a pretty stressful job.
Tuesday night i went out to dinner for Mexican with a couple of buddies of mine form out of town. got to talking cars, marriage, religion, politics, etc. before this, we were helping Dallas clean some of his stuff out of his parents barn. while we were cleaning, we turned up a partial nitrous kit. solenoids and plate. Dustin, my other buddy, said that he had an MSD timing retard, bottle, and some other nitrous stuff that he had yanked off an old mustang coupe. so i paid for both their dinners in exchange for the nitrous stuff that they had. Mexican came up to a total of 40 bucks.
all I've managed to pick up so far is the plate and solenoids. Dustin's going in for hernia surgery next week, so when I'm over helping him out around the house ill grab the other stuff.
Last night i pulled the hood off the duster, and put the front end up on stands so i could pull the wheels. Took a picture of the front end, just for reference later when i finish tweaking it.
i then pulled the carb off for a little tweaking. installed an electric choke kit, and went a little richer with the metering rods. well see how it works when its back on the ground.
on the edelbrock parts, you'd think that for 106 bucks they'd send you a copy of there tuning guide. on the choke, you'd think that they'd use decent hardware and tap the holes for you. they don't. took me an hour just to do the choke.
i then moved on to the brake booster install. its funny, i started the process of upgrading the brakes months ago, and only managed to buy, clean, and paint parts. never got them on. i did buy a reman master, as the one that came with my booster assembly was for drums, and the manual cylinder was running out of fluid on full brake pedal depression. the reman unit came out at 24.67 with my commercial discount at autozone.
here's the parts shortly before install. you'll see in the picture a carter AFB that i just finished rebuilding. its going on Dustin's 331 powered 280Z project. really neat carb once i got inside of it. i have 20 bucks in it, and that's including a bigger accelerator pump, high flow needle and seats, blending in the venturis, etc. came out of Dallas's' barn as well. rebuilt it in exchange for my rear disc setup, which ill get pictures of when i pick it up.
spent a while getting it all in. when i backed the car into he shop, i didn't pull far enough away from the workbench to open the drivers door fully. made it VERY difficult to get the brake push rod bolt out. after about an hour, though, the old manual setup was laying on the bench. put the new booster on, and decided that it is stable enough not to need any of the support brackets. (honestly, i cant figure out where they're supposed to go to, either. been way too long since I've pulled the unit.)
put my classic tube stainless lines in the prop valve after re bending them to make them clear the firewall, and installed the master. only got it bench bled last night, as my bleeder setup wont work on his type of master. have to get help from Jenn this week.
then, i decided to play with the nitrous a little bit. i want a really clean install, and one that is almost unnoticeable. mounted the solenoids to the back of the carb, and plate underneath. using the same wiring lead that i had hooked up for my line lock to activate the solenoids. this will be operated by the old cuda flasher witch in the dash.
and one with the air cleaner on, just to prove that its hidden.
ill be blacking out all the lines, probably by placing them inside of rubber hoses. that ought to finish the deception.
also worked on the hood hinges. now have the hood springs pre-loaded one full turn. well see if its too stiff or not for the glass hood.
grand total as of this weekend:
1568.06
finished out last night by working on getting the truck detailed so i can finally sell it.
thanks for looking, and feedback, both positive and negative, is always appreciated. (helps to keep me motivated.)
if y'all cant tell, Friday nights are my nights in the shop. that's why i gibe an update at the end of the week most weeks. its my time to decompress and relax, as i have a pretty stressful job.
Tuesday night i went out to dinner for Mexican with a couple of buddies of mine form out of town. got to talking cars, marriage, religion, politics, etc. before this, we were helping Dallas clean some of his stuff out of his parents barn. while we were cleaning, we turned up a partial nitrous kit. solenoids and plate. Dustin, my other buddy, said that he had an MSD timing retard, bottle, and some other nitrous stuff that he had yanked off an old mustang coupe. so i paid for both their dinners in exchange for the nitrous stuff that they had. Mexican came up to a total of 40 bucks.
all I've managed to pick up so far is the plate and solenoids. Dustin's going in for hernia surgery next week, so when I'm over helping him out around the house ill grab the other stuff.
Last night i pulled the hood off the duster, and put the front end up on stands so i could pull the wheels. Took a picture of the front end, just for reference later when i finish tweaking it.
i then pulled the carb off for a little tweaking. installed an electric choke kit, and went a little richer with the metering rods. well see how it works when its back on the ground.
on the edelbrock parts, you'd think that for 106 bucks they'd send you a copy of there tuning guide. on the choke, you'd think that they'd use decent hardware and tap the holes for you. they don't. took me an hour just to do the choke.
i then moved on to the brake booster install. its funny, i started the process of upgrading the brakes months ago, and only managed to buy, clean, and paint parts. never got them on. i did buy a reman master, as the one that came with my booster assembly was for drums, and the manual cylinder was running out of fluid on full brake pedal depression. the reman unit came out at 24.67 with my commercial discount at autozone.
here's the parts shortly before install. you'll see in the picture a carter AFB that i just finished rebuilding. its going on Dustin's 331 powered 280Z project. really neat carb once i got inside of it. i have 20 bucks in it, and that's including a bigger accelerator pump, high flow needle and seats, blending in the venturis, etc. came out of Dallas's' barn as well. rebuilt it in exchange for my rear disc setup, which ill get pictures of when i pick it up.
spent a while getting it all in. when i backed the car into he shop, i didn't pull far enough away from the workbench to open the drivers door fully. made it VERY difficult to get the brake push rod bolt out. after about an hour, though, the old manual setup was laying on the bench. put the new booster on, and decided that it is stable enough not to need any of the support brackets. (honestly, i cant figure out where they're supposed to go to, either. been way too long since I've pulled the unit.)
put my classic tube stainless lines in the prop valve after re bending them to make them clear the firewall, and installed the master. only got it bench bled last night, as my bleeder setup wont work on his type of master. have to get help from Jenn this week.
then, i decided to play with the nitrous a little bit. i want a really clean install, and one that is almost unnoticeable. mounted the solenoids to the back of the carb, and plate underneath. using the same wiring lead that i had hooked up for my line lock to activate the solenoids. this will be operated by the old cuda flasher witch in the dash.
and one with the air cleaner on, just to prove that its hidden.
ill be blacking out all the lines, probably by placing them inside of rubber hoses. that ought to finish the deception.
also worked on the hood hinges. now have the hood springs pre-loaded one full turn. well see if its too stiff or not for the glass hood.
grand total as of this weekend:
1568.06
finished out last night by working on getting the truck detailed so i can finally sell it.
thanks for looking, and feedback, both positive and negative, is always appreciated. (helps to keep me motivated.)