My Duster Adventures

The last few month have been VERY unproductive... A few days after I got the trans put in I went out to the shop only to find that I had a trans fluid leak that puked quite a bit of the fluid on the floor. I suspected the gear selector shaft seal so I pulled the valve body and replaced the seal and decided to get my buddy to weld a drain plug in my pan while it was off. Well the car sat for a few weeks without a pan till Tuesday night. I put the pan on and put in the fluid that I had on hand (will need more then) and put some antifreeze in the radiator and started the car a few times and was trying to get the timing dialed in.

Well tonight I went out and there was no trans fluid on the floor!!! :cheers: but then I found something a really didn't like... Apparently I didn't put near enough antifreeze in cause the engine was frozen!! Not frozen solid but still slushy enough that I had to run the space heater awhile to get it to drain!! I doubt it hurt the block but it did put a hole (or several) in the radiator and popped out a freeze plug on the passenger side behind the header!!:banghead:

So now the engine is coming out!! I'm planning on doing a MPFI 5.9 magnum eventually but I want to wait till I get a truck to use as a donor so I have everything I'll need. I do have a 5.9 with all the accessories main harness and pcm but for now I think I'm either gonna pull the 318 and go through it and put in new bearings, gaskets, freeze plugs and degree the cam and try to figure out the specs or im thinkin bout just getting the crosswind intake and putting in my 5.9 with a carb and running that till I get a donor truck. I'm open to opinions on which way to go but I'm sorta leaning toward the 5.9.

Anyway, that's where I'm at currently...