1970 Duster AlterKtion, 4 Link, LS/T56/Turbo and Minitub
Updates and story time! Story time first.
There was a local parade this last Saturday in town so I took the Model T and my dad took the Duster. I live on the edge of town so in a normal car to down town is about 15 20 minutes, but in the Model T doing 20-30 it took us a bit longer, but drove awesome all the way there!
As the parade started, the T started right up and as I pulled out in the line I look back and see my dad get out of the car. He ran up to me and said there was electrical smoke coming up from under the dash, so I ran back, hit the disconnect and we pushed the car off the road into a parking lot. He hopped in the back of the Model T (it was his dads originally) and we made it 50 feet and the T died.... we got it running again quickly but only for about a minute and died again. So then we pushed THAT off the road into the highschool parking lot. It acted like it was running out of fuel, so I shut the tank off and pulled the bowl off the carb. There was some crud up in the main jet! Put it back together and fired right up! But at this time the parade was over. Drove the T back to the Duster and found that my dad pushed the clutch switch I had put in hard enough that it bent down and the screw on the lug on the switch was touching the firewall and creating smoke. I bent it back up and we were on the way home.
Well, we only made it about 4 miles when the T died again. Back apart it came to clean it all out and then got about another 2 miles. Then 1 mile, then half a mile lol. Then out of nowhere it started downpouring on us. So at this point I'm all done trying to get it running to get it home, it needs an inline filter added and some other little stuff. My mom had come to watch the parade in my parents YJ so now we played musical cars. My dad took the jeep with a ratchet strap since the T weighs nothing and pulled me the rest of the way to where I store it, while my mom drove the Duster back all in the pouring rain. About a mile from home we drove right out of the rain as it never even touched that part of town, just where we were broke down lol. Anything with old cars surely is always an adventure!! My fiancé was like "That's it! Never doing a parade again!" Since we ran out of gas in the T on the fourth of July parade lmao.
Noww update time, yesterday I got to tackle a few more things on the to do list. I had been driving the car around trying to use up all the gas so I could drop the tank easily to fix that grommet. Got it all apart and it was definitely wrecked. Got the new one in which was a pain by myself and a floor jack with blocks of wood holding the tank at certain angles, going back and forth between the trunk and under the car. BUT for the first time since I got the car in 2007 the tank doesn't leak a single drop!! Pretty STOKED about that!
I also took the clutch switch all back out, cut down the screw that holds the connector on and added a piece of heat shrink over it all so there's no exposed metal to touch the firewall if that ever bends again. Changed the mount setup a little bit so it shouldn't be able to bend either. Fixed the boost gauge too, as the hose was bent and crimped under the dash and saw that even with my new air filter setup, it still builds the 13psi we setup on the dyno. So that means the filter isnt restricting too much! I might have lost a little power, but nothing like before causing the boost to be all wonky! I added about a quarter inch to the clutch pushrod too, which makes it work much better and engages in a much more comfortable spot.
Went to the gas station after getting it all back together and I had definitely cut it close! Put 15 gallons in a 16 gallon tank! haha
Raised the front about 5/16" and lowered the rear 1/4" as well and it looks much better now! But still a little high in the back. I dont think I'll go up anymore in the front, but I'll keep dropping the rear down 1/4 at a time until it rubs with normal driving and entering/exiting driveways and then go back up that last 1/4.
The last couple things I want to do tonight is extend my charge wire from the alternator to the kill switch in the back so it actually shuts the car down when its running. I got a big spool of 4 gauge wire as I figured that should be more than enough just for the charge wire. Anyone disagree?
Lastly I need to fix the reverse light wiring since they don't work. Then after the alignment this Friday, she should be ready for the 3 hour road trip this weekend! Todays the only day I could drive the car to work until Friday as it looks like rain all week.
Updates and story time! Story time first.
There was a local parade this last Saturday in town so I took the Model T and my dad took the Duster. I live on the edge of town so in a normal car to down town is about 15 20 minutes, but in the Model T doing 20-30 it took us a bit longer, but drove awesome all the way there!
As the parade started, the T started right up and as I pulled out in the line I look back and see my dad get out of the car. He ran up to me and said there was electrical smoke coming up from under the dash, so I ran back, hit the disconnect and we pushed the car off the road into a parking lot. He hopped in the back of the Model T (it was his dads originally) and we made it 50 feet and the T died.... we got it running again quickly but only for about a minute and died again. So then we pushed THAT off the road into the highschool parking lot. It acted like it was running out of fuel, so I shut the tank off and pulled the bowl off the carb. There was some crud up in the main jet! Put it back together and fired right up! But at this time the parade was over. Drove the T back to the Duster and found that my dad pushed the clutch switch I had put in hard enough that it bent down and the screw on the lug on the switch was touching the firewall and creating smoke. I bent it back up and we were on the way home.
Well, we only made it about 4 miles when the T died again. Back apart it came to clean it all out and then got about another 2 miles. Then 1 mile, then half a mile lol. Then out of nowhere it started downpouring on us. So at this point I'm all done trying to get it running to get it home, it needs an inline filter added and some other little stuff. My mom had come to watch the parade in my parents YJ so now we played musical cars. My dad took the jeep with a ratchet strap since the T weighs nothing and pulled me the rest of the way to where I store it, while my mom drove the Duster back all in the pouring rain. About a mile from home we drove right out of the rain as it never even touched that part of town, just where we were broke down lol. Anything with old cars surely is always an adventure!! My fiancé was like "That's it! Never doing a parade again!" Since we ran out of gas in the T on the fourth of July parade lmao.
Noww update time, yesterday I got to tackle a few more things on the to do list. I had been driving the car around trying to use up all the gas so I could drop the tank easily to fix that grommet. Got it all apart and it was definitely wrecked. Got the new one in which was a pain by myself and a floor jack with blocks of wood holding the tank at certain angles, going back and forth between the trunk and under the car. BUT for the first time since I got the car in 2007 the tank doesn't leak a single drop!! Pretty STOKED about that!
I also took the clutch switch all back out, cut down the screw that holds the connector on and added a piece of heat shrink over it all so there's no exposed metal to touch the firewall if that ever bends again. Changed the mount setup a little bit so it shouldn't be able to bend either. Fixed the boost gauge too, as the hose was bent and crimped under the dash and saw that even with my new air filter setup, it still builds the 13psi we setup on the dyno. So that means the filter isnt restricting too much! I might have lost a little power, but nothing like before causing the boost to be all wonky! I added about a quarter inch to the clutch pushrod too, which makes it work much better and engages in a much more comfortable spot.
Went to the gas station after getting it all back together and I had definitely cut it close! Put 15 gallons in a 16 gallon tank! haha
Raised the front about 5/16" and lowered the rear 1/4" as well and it looks much better now! But still a little high in the back. I dont think I'll go up anymore in the front, but I'll keep dropping the rear down 1/4 at a time until it rubs with normal driving and entering/exiting driveways and then go back up that last 1/4.
The last couple things I want to do tonight is extend my charge wire from the alternator to the kill switch in the back so it actually shuts the car down when its running. I got a big spool of 4 gauge wire as I figured that should be more than enough just for the charge wire. Anyone disagree?
Lastly I need to fix the reverse light wiring since they don't work. Then after the alignment this Friday, she should be ready for the 3 hour road trip this weekend! Todays the only day I could drive the car to work until Friday as it looks like rain all week.