The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster
So a month since the last update. Getting closer!
The transmission is back in the car. Getting a trans into a car while laying on your back on the floor sucks. Currently working on the cooler lines but I am hesitant to make any final cuts before the exhaust is back in. Don't want to go through the trouble of making the lines and find that they are right on top of the header collector or something. New polyurethane biscuit mount is in, the old rubber one was shot which I think was causing a vibration prior to disassembly last year. The cross member is bolted in but the front of the unit is being held up by a milk crate and blocks of wood until the motor is in.
Trans back in place.
So after years of debating whether I wanted one, I finally caved in and ordered a fancy aluminum fuel tank from Hot Rod City Garage out in CA. The tank is on it's way and will be here this week. I ordered it with a sump so the pickup is no longer needed. Being made of 5052 aluminum it's an almost 10lb weight savings over the OE galvanized steel. It fits in the stock location with the OE tank straps so no cutting of sheet metal. I considered a fuel cell but decided on the tank. On a street car, a cell seems like a real P.I.T.A.
With the new tank, I have to reconfigure the fuel lines somewhat so the old parts store coated steel line was pulled out. I was never quite happy with the way the lines came out the first time I did 'em a few years ago, looking forward to redoing them. A body fuel line routing is always a tricky deal, there is no easy way to route it away from moving parts and exhaust. I will use some bulkhead tubing fittings this time instead of trying to finagle the lines around obstacles, will make for a more sanitary install. Additionally, it will be easier to take apart if it's got threaded connections at various points.
The motor is still siting on he dolly. I am having a hard time making a decision on whether to put it back on the stand to re-do the oil pan gasket. As I mentioned in my previous post, there were some small oil leaks when the engine was on the dyno. I tested it by applying some air pressure to the oil pan through the dipstick and spraying water around the pan rails. I was not able to pinpoint where they came from so I am hesitant to do anything. I might try again from another point like the pressure tap to see if I can get the oil pressurized some more. I have a new gasket so it's just a question of whether I want to deal with it or not. I definitely don't want to have to take it back out if it is in fact leaking so that will probably sway my decision. Only other option is to seal it from the outside. Other than that small/l/big issue it's ready to go back in.
I started on the Wilwood brakes last week. The particular kit is for the 10" drum spindle and utilizes a bracket that bolts to the spindle to mount the caliper. Mounting the bracket involves drilling out the original threaded ball joint hole on the spindle to 1/2" to accept a 1/2"-20 x 3" bolt provided in the kit which goes through the bracket and ball joint. So that's where a fitment issue arose; the disc brake specific ball joint uses a 9/16" bolt to mount it to the spindle. To use that ball joint, I would have had to drill out both ball joint holes on the drum spindle and bracket to 9/16" and then find a 9/16" x 3" bolt with counter sunk head to fit the bracket. Screw that. So I had to break down and buy a set of 'drum brake' specific lower ball joints because stupid Chrysler had to spec different bolts for mounting drum and disc brake to the spindle for the '65-'72 cars. The drum brake ball joints are ridiculously expensive, like double what the disc brake joints are. Confusing and annoying. Note to self - don't go from factory KH disc brakes to Wilwood brakes based on the factory 10" drum spindle.
Here's the drum spindle being drilled out on my drill press. I bolted a block of wood to the the drill base and bolted the spindle to the block of wood. I had to steady the spindle from spinning with my hand but it worked out fine.
Going to keep pushing along to finish this chapter.
More to come.
So a month since the last update. Getting closer!
The transmission is back in the car. Getting a trans into a car while laying on your back on the floor sucks. Currently working on the cooler lines but I am hesitant to make any final cuts before the exhaust is back in. Don't want to go through the trouble of making the lines and find that they are right on top of the header collector or something. New polyurethane biscuit mount is in, the old rubber one was shot which I think was causing a vibration prior to disassembly last year. The cross member is bolted in but the front of the unit is being held up by a milk crate and blocks of wood until the motor is in.
Trans back in place.
So after years of debating whether I wanted one, I finally caved in and ordered a fancy aluminum fuel tank from Hot Rod City Garage out in CA. The tank is on it's way and will be here this week. I ordered it with a sump so the pickup is no longer needed. Being made of 5052 aluminum it's an almost 10lb weight savings over the OE galvanized steel. It fits in the stock location with the OE tank straps so no cutting of sheet metal. I considered a fuel cell but decided on the tank. On a street car, a cell seems like a real P.I.T.A.
With the new tank, I have to reconfigure the fuel lines somewhat so the old parts store coated steel line was pulled out. I was never quite happy with the way the lines came out the first time I did 'em a few years ago, looking forward to redoing them. A body fuel line routing is always a tricky deal, there is no easy way to route it away from moving parts and exhaust. I will use some bulkhead tubing fittings this time instead of trying to finagle the lines around obstacles, will make for a more sanitary install. Additionally, it will be easier to take apart if it's got threaded connections at various points.
The motor is still siting on he dolly. I am having a hard time making a decision on whether to put it back on the stand to re-do the oil pan gasket. As I mentioned in my previous post, there were some small oil leaks when the engine was on the dyno. I tested it by applying some air pressure to the oil pan through the dipstick and spraying water around the pan rails. I was not able to pinpoint where they came from so I am hesitant to do anything. I might try again from another point like the pressure tap to see if I can get the oil pressurized some more. I have a new gasket so it's just a question of whether I want to deal with it or not. I definitely don't want to have to take it back out if it is in fact leaking so that will probably sway my decision. Only other option is to seal it from the outside. Other than that small/l/big issue it's ready to go back in.
I started on the Wilwood brakes last week. The particular kit is for the 10" drum spindle and utilizes a bracket that bolts to the spindle to mount the caliper. Mounting the bracket involves drilling out the original threaded ball joint hole on the spindle to 1/2" to accept a 1/2"-20 x 3" bolt provided in the kit which goes through the bracket and ball joint. So that's where a fitment issue arose; the disc brake specific ball joint uses a 9/16" bolt to mount it to the spindle. To use that ball joint, I would have had to drill out both ball joint holes on the drum spindle and bracket to 9/16" and then find a 9/16" x 3" bolt with counter sunk head to fit the bracket. Screw that. So I had to break down and buy a set of 'drum brake' specific lower ball joints because stupid Chrysler had to spec different bolts for mounting drum and disc brake to the spindle for the '65-'72 cars. The drum brake ball joints are ridiculously expensive, like double what the disc brake joints are. Confusing and annoying. Note to self - don't go from factory KH disc brakes to Wilwood brakes based on the factory 10" drum spindle.
Here's the drum spindle being drilled out on my drill press. I bolted a block of wood to the the drill base and bolted the spindle to the block of wood. I had to steady the spindle from spinning with my hand but it worked out fine.
Going to keep pushing along to finish this chapter.
More to come.