Hemi Swapping a perfectly good 70 Duster
My gates hose clamps came in Saturday so I was able to get the heater hoses and power steering suction line completed and get fluids topped off. I ran the car on and off for about an hour until my wife had enough of the open headers. Apparently it was rattling the walls in the house. Hmmm, I didn't notice... I'll get the exhaust back on before I run it again for any length of time. Ultimately the exhaust is the last big thing to get done.
I welded the IAT bung in the intake tube along and a piece of flat bar that I will use to attach a bracket to hold it up. Still need to Cerakote the tube, the rain has been ridiculous here so I couldn't get that done. I'll get some final pics once I get everything tidied up.
One thing that I noticed while running the engine was how much better the engine cooled. Once the radiator fans kicked on, the temperature almost immediately dropped low enough for them to turn off. I don't know if its the more efficient cooling system of the engine, or the double pass radiator. Perhaps its a combination of both. My 408 would just hold temp when idling and not moving, not drop temp! Looks like I'll be good for the 100 degree days in traffic with the AC on.
As I mentioned above, the IAC is a Pain in the *** to get set right. I don't know if its a megasquirt thing or not, but it just sucks. The big part is, there's not feedback on them, so the computer doesn't know what position it is in. There's lots of moving it in and out and unplugging and reinstalling... I did some fiddling with it yesterday without the engine running and I think it should be good now. When I was finally able to get the idle down to 800-900 RPM the cam sounds like it will have a decent lope. If its too much, I'll tone it down with some idle advance settings. All that's required to tone it down is to retard timing when the RPM increases, and advance it when it drops. You can also make a cam sound more aggressive doing the this. None of those advanced settings are active right now.
( sorry, I once again got very wordy :) )
I'm excited for ya, man! I think once you drive it, there will be no looking back. As for the oil pressure, I've heard that the rear main is really the only area that people have concern about.. But nobody has been like "oh my god, my rear main is leaking because I have too much oil pressure". I'm running a Hellcat pump in Hoopty 5.7 and it buries the gauge (80) on a cold start.. Around 60 at hot idle. The Darts 6.4 isn't like that tho.. cold start 60 and 25 at hot idle. Had me a nervous wreck for a few days but I've talked to alot of 6.4 guys and they say that's totally normal for a 6.4.
I've always been a bit intimidated by the megasquirt/terminator setups. Sticking with Mopar/Sublime Harness and OEM ECUs just keeps it really simple for me...but mine aren't track cars either. Just need the basics and the OEM stuff performs well. On the downside, if I want a choppy cam, I have to pay for it to be tuned.. outta my league, plus I would probably drive myself crazy.
I've been driving the Dart, every chance I get.. Just a different car with a Hemi and such a nice highway driver now. They definitely run cooler. Hoop and the Dart both run under 200 on the hottest of Days.. And Hoop has a tiny radiator, all crammed in a confined non breathing space! These Hemis just wanna run.. Hot, Cold, Wet or dry, they just run and run smooth. I'm planning to blo it apart next winter and do a cam/lifter upgrade and probably a 46RH.. I don't want to give up my column shift and bench seat haha
Gonna jump in on the Hot Rod Power Tour next week. Not doing the whole week tho. Plan to drop in with the tour, Thursday morning, as they come outta Louisville to Hebron. Spend the day in Hebron and then on to Indy the next day. Then it's a short drive home from there. My wife didn't want any part of it haha. Even tho we did our share of cruises and racing back when we both had our Magnums.. Hebron is where she ran her first 1/4 mile. So, my daughters boyfriend is going to go with me. Pretty excited for him because he's never been to any kind of event or ever been a part of a caravan.
I'll try some thinner on the gates clamps.. I think what I tried brake cleaner and it didn't work