Figured out why my Duster was so slow

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Well if your work is better than mine you are in good shape. When my son and test fit the barracuda it was Barracuda 15 is 0. I’m not sure how big your work area is but mine was a 1 1/2 car garage with 7ft clearance. Have fun with tunnel it’s not that bad.
 
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Finally got the transmission in and everything lined up. Everything that could be difficult was and even easy things were tough.
 
Finally got the transmission in and everything lined up. Everything that could be difficult was and even easy things were tough.
Keep on keepin on. It's worth it! You'll be extremely happy when it's moving!
 
It won't start....where do you start looking for issues? Man thats alot of BPC on those hemis... (Black Plastic Crap to audiophiles)....Good luck, probably kick right over!
 
I saw a Slant y run a 12 second quarter once.

OP, it's a poor man that blame his tools. ;-)
 
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This thing has been laughing at me for months but I have made some progress. It’s difficult to go out to a cold garage and roll around on the floor. Just have to keep on it.
 
View attachment 1715685566 This thing has been laughing at me for months but I have made some progress. It’s difficult to go out to a cold garage and roll around on the floor. Just have to keep on it.
M193 I just fired mine up this weekend. 6.1 into a 72 Demon. It only took me right at 4 years! You get bored I did a thread on here of my build, highlighting many a weekend death match. Thing whipped the crap out of me over and over! Absolute best advice I can give is research research and then research some more. Had I spent a bit more effort on research I could have saved some coin. Second bit is to simply assign yourself one task per weekend and simply get that task done. I found myself continually becoming distracted by the zillion things I knew I needed to do, this method ended up with me having a bunch of stuff 1/2 done. Then one of the seasoned guys on here told me to narrow my focus and just finish something that weekend, anything! I don’t even remember who it was but I assure it was sage advice and literally turned my head around. The task you are starting on is arduous at best. Send me a PM if you want and I will spill my guts! Literally just gave mine the breath of life yesterday!

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Keep pushing it took me 4 years also. It was the summer months here that killed it for me. No fun in 100+ weather. Cold floors aren’t much better. And the wrenches hurt more when they slip.
 
It’s alive! Went for a couple of test drives. I can’t say enough good things about Megasquirt and the auto tune function. Still have a ton of things to do before I can really drive it.

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I had a lot more time than money so I did a lot of things myself instead of buying them. I converted the throttle body to cable operation.
I made my own coil driver box.
I converted the old school alternator to work with the serpentine belt.
I made my own power distribution box.
I made a central ground buss.
I put the fuel pump in a homemade surge tank. I use a low pressure pump to feed the surge tank.
I made my own exhaust manifolds because I couldn’t see spending $700 on headers that were going to require modifications.
Still needs lots of TLC.

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Really cool with the DIY stuff. What is the pulley for the alternator from, was it a direct fit? Any pictures of the exhaust manifolds?
 
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I didn’t take any pictures of my manifolds before I installed them. These are the best I could get. I will get better pictures at some point. The alternator pulley is something I made from scratch. It’s easy if you have access to a lathe! I have to add that I’m a butcher class machinist!
 
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Here’s what my exhaust manifolds look like. I had a leak on the driver’s side because I hadn’t got a flange on quite flat. So I buzzed in a little 6011 and milled it flat.
A trashed connecting rod makes a nice collar for bolting the exhaust to the manifold.
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View attachment 1715719140 Here’s what my exhaust manifolds look like. I had a leak on the driver’s side because I hadn’t got a flange on quite flat. So I buzzed in a little 6011 and milled it flat.
A trashed connecting rod makes a nice collar for bolting the exhaust to the manifold.

I like them, really cool to see that an engine swap can be done without buying everything from the shelf.
 
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