70 duster: updating, and a no-dough pro-touring makeover
so my new update...
i mostly "fixed" my clearance problems with the UCA's and the rim. took my trusty old 4 inch grinder out and ground the snot out of the lip around the UCA. no more lockup problems. the wheels DO still hit the UCA's, but only in reverse. i have no idea why that is....
Friday after work, i surprised my wife by having our daughter at her grandmas house, the car cleaned up and packed, and reservations at a hotel. we both have VERY stressful jobs, and very limited downtime. it was a pretty weekend, so we went away and took the duster.
Friday we left from albemarle, NC, and stopped for dinner at canyons in blowing rock NC. good eats, beautiful sunset, good view. pretty good bluegrass on the jukebox as well...
we laded back in after dinner and headed over to mountain city Tenn. for the night. stayed at the americourt, which was a nice place at a great price.
got up late Saturday morning, filled up the car, checked the fluids, etc. found i lost 1 quart of oil in 200 miles from my leaking oil pan gasket. that's quite irritating, and only more motivation for me to yank the motor this winter.
drove from mountain city over to Boone were we picked up the blue ridge parkway and headed north.
somewhere in the middle of VA, is became very, very foggy. to the point that i could not see the end of my hood. try looking through a gallon of milk in a dimly lit room, and you get the idea. we pulled over for a bit at an overlook (of what, i have no idea). we decided to find something to eat.
this is where we made our most fun mistake of the trip.
we used the button on my new-to-me GPS that said food. selected a shoney's, and followed the voice that sounded like the librarian from when i was in4th grade.
it first took us down a rather poorly maintained 2 lane back road, but it got us mostly out of the fog. we then turned on a state road, which was loose paved. after it had narrowed to the point that it was hopeless to turn around, the road turned to gravel. beautiful area and countryside, though.
a little later, we turned off the state road to a place that was simply labeled "road". that was a less nice road, and i was starting to get nervous, as well as have the fear of needing a 4 wheel drive wrecker to get me out.
the GPS got us back on some two track
that stopped here
shoney's was about 1/2 mile across the interstate. we finally got over there just about the time it started raining.
we had a blast with that part of the trip, though. even though i heard rocks hitting body, bell housing hitting dirt road crown, and had no idea where we were or where we were going, we were both laughing and enjoying ourselves. just what we needed.
(my wife had to take a picture of me driving the duster on a dirt road, and smiling just to prove I'm not always uptight and anal-retentive)
we came home after shoney's due to torrential downpour and hail.
all told, we covered just shy of 550 miles in 2 days in a car that hasn't been thoroughly tested, and did not have a real problem.
best fuel economy seen was 16.25
the new suspension did not exhibit any worse bump steer than the previous, but was much more stable and predictable. felt more sure footed, tracked better, and was easier to drive than it has been since before the total resto
there were some small problems.
no armrest, but we temporarily fixed that with my cooler
the exhaust gets louder the hotter it gets. i think it may be contacting the body when the metal expands, or when the motor torques under constant load
an exhaust leak has started
the wind noise drove us nuts
there's an odd vibration in the steering wheel when under throttle with the wheels turned. i think my steering coupler may be contacting my header
the car is very comfortable for the two of us, not tiring to drive, and reasonably practical for weekend getaways. so right now, we have more "touring" and less "pro-"
up next is more "pro-" in the form of a tarheel autocross down at maxton next weekend.
Michael
so my new update...
i mostly "fixed" my clearance problems with the UCA's and the rim. took my trusty old 4 inch grinder out and ground the snot out of the lip around the UCA. no more lockup problems. the wheels DO still hit the UCA's, but only in reverse. i have no idea why that is....
Friday after work, i surprised my wife by having our daughter at her grandmas house, the car cleaned up and packed, and reservations at a hotel. we both have VERY stressful jobs, and very limited downtime. it was a pretty weekend, so we went away and took the duster.
Friday we left from albemarle, NC, and stopped for dinner at canyons in blowing rock NC. good eats, beautiful sunset, good view. pretty good bluegrass on the jukebox as well...
we laded back in after dinner and headed over to mountain city Tenn. for the night. stayed at the americourt, which was a nice place at a great price.
got up late Saturday morning, filled up the car, checked the fluids, etc. found i lost 1 quart of oil in 200 miles from my leaking oil pan gasket. that's quite irritating, and only more motivation for me to yank the motor this winter.
drove from mountain city over to Boone were we picked up the blue ridge parkway and headed north.
somewhere in the middle of VA, is became very, very foggy. to the point that i could not see the end of my hood. try looking through a gallon of milk in a dimly lit room, and you get the idea. we pulled over for a bit at an overlook (of what, i have no idea). we decided to find something to eat.
this is where we made our most fun mistake of the trip.
we used the button on my new-to-me GPS that said food. selected a shoney's, and followed the voice that sounded like the librarian from when i was in4th grade.
it first took us down a rather poorly maintained 2 lane back road, but it got us mostly out of the fog. we then turned on a state road, which was loose paved. after it had narrowed to the point that it was hopeless to turn around, the road turned to gravel. beautiful area and countryside, though.
a little later, we turned off the state road to a place that was simply labeled "road". that was a less nice road, and i was starting to get nervous, as well as have the fear of needing a 4 wheel drive wrecker to get me out.
the GPS got us back on some two track
that stopped here
shoney's was about 1/2 mile across the interstate. we finally got over there just about the time it started raining.
we had a blast with that part of the trip, though. even though i heard rocks hitting body, bell housing hitting dirt road crown, and had no idea where we were or where we were going, we were both laughing and enjoying ourselves. just what we needed.
(my wife had to take a picture of me driving the duster on a dirt road, and smiling just to prove I'm not always uptight and anal-retentive)
we came home after shoney's due to torrential downpour and hail.
all told, we covered just shy of 550 miles in 2 days in a car that hasn't been thoroughly tested, and did not have a real problem.
best fuel economy seen was 16.25
the new suspension did not exhibit any worse bump steer than the previous, but was much more stable and predictable. felt more sure footed, tracked better, and was easier to drive than it has been since before the total resto
there were some small problems.
no armrest, but we temporarily fixed that with my cooler
the exhaust gets louder the hotter it gets. i think it may be contacting the body when the metal expands, or when the motor torques under constant load
an exhaust leak has started
the wind noise drove us nuts
there's an odd vibration in the steering wheel when under throttle with the wheels turned. i think my steering coupler may be contacting my header
the car is very comfortable for the two of us, not tiring to drive, and reasonably practical for weekend getaways. so right now, we have more "touring" and less "pro-"
up next is more "pro-" in the form of a tarheel autocross down at maxton next weekend.
Michael