1970 Duster, Trans-Am-inspired "Pro Touring" build
Thanks for the kind words guys...
You are right, I actually wore out my old bone-stock 904 shifting it manually all the time under full throttle to where it would take SECONDS to shift gears. I bought another 904 that was already rebuilt with a shift kit, stronger internals, etc. as well as a 2800-stall TCI converter (I know, not the greatest but we'll see).
I also landed an 8 3/4" rear (742 case) out of a '67 Coronet with factory Sure-Grip and 2.94:1 gears, exactly the setup I was looking to run. The stock leaf springs are saggier than... (nevermind LOL) and I'm going to get new ones of those too.
I'm setting this car up more for road-racing and spirited cruising through the heaven-like mountain highways of Colorado. I already bought 1" torsion bars from Just Suspension as well as a full '73-up BBP front disc brake setup and front suspension parts. The car came with factory Kelsey-Hayes manual front disc brakes and I'm keeping them manual, I LOVE the extra feel and modulation of manual brakes.
I also bought and installed a Firm Feel Stage 2 power steering box back when I took the 318 out the first time since the old one was super sloppy. I also rebuilt the front end once already but cut a few corners that became noticeable later one, main one being too-thick strut rod bushings pushing the lower control arm back out of position and allowing only 2* or so of caster (nominal is 5*+ for modern PS car). Now as it's going back together I'm going to make sure it's all done the RIGHT way.
Hopefully this Sunday I'm going to be putting the engine back in and during that time I'll use my cousin's much-better camera phone to take lots of picks of the car and parts I'm going to use.
A pic of me with the car when it was still a driver:
Thanks for the kind words guys...
You are right, I actually wore out my old bone-stock 904 shifting it manually all the time under full throttle to where it would take SECONDS to shift gears. I bought another 904 that was already rebuilt with a shift kit, stronger internals, etc. as well as a 2800-stall TCI converter (I know, not the greatest but we'll see).
I also landed an 8 3/4" rear (742 case) out of a '67 Coronet with factory Sure-Grip and 2.94:1 gears, exactly the setup I was looking to run. The stock leaf springs are saggier than... (nevermind LOL) and I'm going to get new ones of those too.
I'm setting this car up more for road-racing and spirited cruising through the heaven-like mountain highways of Colorado. I already bought 1" torsion bars from Just Suspension as well as a full '73-up BBP front disc brake setup and front suspension parts. The car came with factory Kelsey-Hayes manual front disc brakes and I'm keeping them manual, I LOVE the extra feel and modulation of manual brakes.
I also bought and installed a Firm Feel Stage 2 power steering box back when I took the 318 out the first time since the old one was super sloppy. I also rebuilt the front end once already but cut a few corners that became noticeable later one, main one being too-thick strut rod bushings pushing the lower control arm back out of position and allowing only 2* or so of caster (nominal is 5*+ for modern PS car). Now as it's going back together I'm going to make sure it's all done the RIGHT way.
Hopefully this Sunday I'm going to be putting the engine back in and during that time I'll use my cousin's much-better camera phone to take lots of picks of the car and parts I'm going to use.
A pic of me with the car when it was still a driver:
