12:05 Garage- ’70 Duster build

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I got it sitting right!

I also messed with the megasquirt tune enough to where I was comfortable to drive it around the neighborhood. I was quite surprised at how well it ran with the default settings in the fuel table. The idle air control motor setup did challenge me a little, but I finally figured it out. The problem is it has to be tested with no heat in the motor, so you can only test a few times before there's too much heat in it. I think I got it now. The IAC has 4 wires and can be wired 4 different ways. The third time was a charm!


My daughter's school has a car show coming up in a few weeks. My goal has been to drive the car there. I'm thinking I'll be able to make it.



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what a sweet ride!!! You guys here on FABO really know how to build Mopars. You show some of "pros" (small p) how we like it done. Not cookie cutters either, all different to some degree. I appreciate how you stayed faithful to original while adding your own personal slice of hot rodding.

enjoy the ride!
 
HemiDenny said:
what a sweet ride!!! You guys here on FABO really know how to build Mopars. You show some of "pros" (small p) how we like it done. Not cookie cutters either, all different to some degree. I appreciate how you stayed faithful to original while adding your own personal slice of hot rodding.

enjoy the ride!
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Thanks Denny. That means a lot coming from you. You have some awesome cars. I have one last custom, personalized feature I’ll probably share later today. Stay tuned!
 
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So here's the last of the custom touches for a while, considering the car is practically done.

I bought a cheap tuff wheel on ebay with a junk grip and tor off the remaining grip to expose a perfectly round 3/8" diameter rod as the structure under the foam. Since I had other walnut wood details in the car, I thought it would be fun to make the steering wheel rim out of walnut also. While probably not a direct correlation to an A-body, I know the rim blow steering wheels were "wood". I took this opportunity to make the rim the size I wanted. I used the wheel in my 2019 Ram as a guide because that wheel is really comfortable. You can also see the groove is offset making the overall diameter slightly smaller. It may have only saved me 1/2" but any extra leg room will help. Especially with the fat bolsters on my seats. I realize this look isn't for everyone, but I think it came out pretty good and it really feels good in the hand.
This wood started out as an 8' long, 8" wide 5/4 piece of walnut. I planed it down to 3/4", cut to length and joined two pieces together. The first picture is the wood on a friends CNC router table. He help with cutting the circles and putting the grooves in the pieces. I did some chisel work to fit the spokes of the wheel and also did the roundover routing.

Forgot to mention I painted the spokes of the wheel the same grey as found on the console and other places throughout the car. There is no chrome anywhere and all the stainless and aluminum trim is brushed.


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Spent most of my weekend cleaning the car. I ran the buffer and polisher over it one last time. This is the shiniest it will get. I finally took some pictures with a camera, not my phone. Too bad t was a dreary day, but man tho thing looks good outside.

Last pic is full TMI interior. Super comfortable seats. I had a local upholstery shop install the rear cover.



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Took the car out yesterday for a 15 mile drive. This is first time the car has been on the road in years and with this new combo. I have to say, I'm quite pleased with how it went. No leaks or squeaks, and more importantly, it didn't leave me on the side of the road. I'm super surprised how close the AFR is on the default fuel table. It does get a little lean when I get into the throttle, so I do have some work ahead of me. I'll get the cruising tune dead on, then worry about the 50% and up throttle tune later. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I get into the high load/RPM portion of the VE table.
The Borgenson steering box is awesome. It almost makes me forget I'm driving a 49 year old car. Considering I'm still using /6 torsion bars since my 1.08 bars are back ordered, I have to say ride quality is pretty damn good. I'm anxious to see what the 1.08s will do along with some decent shocks.
The last thing that really stood out to me was how much cooler the engine ran. Previously with the carb and big nasty cam, it would easily get to 200 degrees when driving. Of course that was with a Mezierre electric pump. I have a 160 t-stat now and it actually dropped below 160 when I was cruising. Most people would love this, but EFI needs temperature in the motor. I'm going to try and raise the temperature when the fans come on (currently 165) to see if that helps, but I"m sure it will still drop down once I'm cruising. I do have to consider the ambient here was around 65 last night when I was driving and come summertime, it will be 95. Thinking out loud here, maybe I'll wait until summer to see how it does and just try the fan temp thing first. I also think once I have an AC condenser in front the radiator, it may reduce flow through it.
Anyway, it looks like I'll make the car show this weekend. Now I just hope the weather holds out.
 
Very nice work! I love the wheel choice also. What part of Louisiana are you in?
 
racerjoe said:
Took the car out yesterday for a 15 mile drive. This is first time the car has been on the road in years and with this new combo. I have to say, I'm quite pleased with how it went. No leaks or squeaks, and more importantly, it didn't leave me on the side of the road. I'm super surprised how close the AFR is on the default fuel table. It does get a little lean when I get into the throttle, so I do have some work ahead of me. I'll get the cruising tune dead on, then worry about the 50% and up throttle tune later. I want to make sure I know what I'm doing before I get into the high load/RPM portion of the VE table.
The Borgenson steering box is awesome. It almost makes me forget I'm driving a 49 year old car. Considering I'm still using /6 torsion bars since my 1.08 bars are back ordered, I have to say ride quality is pretty damn good. I'm anxious to see what the 1.08s will do along with some decent shocks.
The last thing that really stood out to me was how much cooler the engine ran. Previously with the carb and big nasty cam, it would easily get to 200 degrees when driving. Of course that was with a Mezierre electric pump. I have a 160 t-stat now and it actually dropped below 160 when I was cruising. Most people would love this, but EFI needs temperature in the motor. I'm going to try and raise the temperature when the fans come on (currently 165) to see if that helps, but I"m sure it will still drop down once I'm cruising. I do have to consider the ambient here was around 65 last night when I was driving and come summertime, it will be 95. Thinking out loud here, maybe I'll wait until summer to see how it does and just try the fan temp thing first. I also think once I have an AC condenser in front the radiator, it may reduce flow through it.
Anyway, it looks like I'll make the car show this weekend. Now I just hope the weather holds out.
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165 is too cool for the best everything !
 
nice selection on the seats, sporty but begs comfort..... IF Mopar would have made the "sport-brougham" edition in the day, you would have been the pick to head the design staff.
 
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HemiDenny said:
nice selection on the seats, sporty but begs comfort..... IF Mopar would have made the "sport-brougham" edition in the day, you would have been the pick to head the design staff.
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:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: Best comment ever!


No woodgrain on the outside of this one though.
 
Hardware from the first show. 2 sponsor awards and a top 25. The true Mopar dudes liked finding all the little details that I’ve hidden. Non Mopar dudes don’t know any different.



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Nice ride. Hope to run into you at a local show. I'd love to see it. I'm in Slidell.
 
I've been putting a few miles on the car and have been chasing a pinion angle vibration like crazy. After my last ride, I get home and notice this. I've become victim to the crappy Mopar circle track springs deforming. Essentially the spring has an upward curve in it ahead of the axle. This forces the wheel backwards. These springs do push the axle back 1/2', which was great because it centered the wheel in the opening. Not so great now. Hotchkis springs are on the way. I've read good and bad things about the Hotchkis springs, so I hope I get lucky and they aren't too low.

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interesting, you sure there isn't sumpin else going on? I have no idea, but never seen this before (which BTW, don't mean chit).
 
Here’s the circle track spring compared to the Hotchkis spring. I’m sure you can imagine what it looked like with weight on it.



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I saw your post in another thread regarding the oval track leaf springs......new one for me. Thanks for the education.

when we put the California Flash back to original removing the coil overs and re-installing the leaves, we did the opposite and moved the pin forward 1".
 
HemiDenny said:
I saw your post in another thread regarding the oval track leaf springs......new one for me. Thanks for the education.

when we put the California Flash back to original removing the coil overs and re-installing the leaves, we did the opposite and moved the pin forward 1".
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I hope you have better luck with them than I did. I was worried about the Hotchkis springs being too low since that seems to be the biggest complaint. I think they sit perfect. I hope they don’t sag too much.
 
I did not use them (oval track springs). I used a set of 23K miles OEM 5 leaf springs, dis-assembled and redrilled the centering pin on the top / longest leaf 1" further forward, the second 1/2" further forward....and left the other three as is. Re-assembled and installed. It put the tire in the opening right where it needed to be. On the Flash, the springs only hold it up and keep the rear centered, the ladder bars do all the work.
 
I got the Hotchkis springs in over the weekend and realized the pinion angle was really bad, so much so I wouldn't be able to correct it with shims. So out the rear end came to cut off the perches, then back in, then out, then in again....what fun. I can tell a slight difference from the circle track springs, but not much. Took bro in law for a ride on Easter. He commented on how it didn't ride like most Mopars, rather it felt more like a modern car. I can't agree with him more. I can't wait to get my bigger t-bars, sway bar and good shocks on it if it feels this nice now.
I"m taking it over to the Mopars at the Battleship show in Mobile, AL this weekend. I've got another busy week of detailing ahead of me. Who decided to paint this thing black?!?
 
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