12:05 Garage- ’70 Duster build

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Knocked out some small items but otherwise didn't work on the car much this past weekend. I painted the Cerakote on the radiator overflow tank and power steering reservoir and got each of them back installed. Power steering lines are done except 1 fitting at the pump. I did receive the Turn1 flow reducer and I also installed the pressure reducer from Sublime. I'm hoping the combination of those two items work with the steering rack. I received all the parts for the air intake tube and filter. I need to weld a 1/2" pipe coupling in it for the IAT sensor and I'll also make a small bracket to help support it. Once the welding done, I'll paint the tube with Cerakote.
I also made another throttle body adapter. In my first version, I had the center of the intake opening matching the center of the 90mm t-body opening with a bevel all around to taper it down to the smaller hole. This made some things very close on the throttle lever. On my second version, I lined up the bottom and simply beveled the top gradually going to no taper on the bottom. I didn't take any pics but I'll snap some if I ever take it off.
I'm about 50% done with my throttle cable bracket. I'll post up some pics when it's done.
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Since I switched to a dual pass radiator to keep the inlet/outlet on the right side, that means the cap will be on the opposite side. This means I had to make a new steel overflow line.
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racerjoe said:
Knocked out some small items but otherwise didn't work on the car much this past weekend. I painted the Cerakote on the radiator overflow tank and power steering reservoir and got each of them back installed. Power steering lines are done except 1 fitting at the pump. I did receive the Turn1 flow reducer and I also installed the pressure reducer from Sublime. I'm hoping the combination of those two items work with the steering rack. I received all the parts for the air intake tube and filter. I need to weld a 1/2" pipe coupling in it for the IAT sensor and I'll also make a small bracket to help support it. Once the welding done, I'll paint the tube with Cerakote.
I also made another throttle body adapter. In my first version, I had the center of the intake opening matching the center of the 90mm t-body opening with a bevel all around to taper it down to the smaller hole. This made some things very close on the throttle lever. On my second version, I lined up the bottom and simply beveled the top gradually going to no taper on the bottom. I didn't take any pics but I'll snap some if I ever take it off.
I'm about 50% done with my throttle cable bracket. I'll post up some pics when it's done.
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Since I switched to a dual pass radiator to keep the inlet/outlet on the right side, that means the cap will be on the opposite side. This means I had to make a new steel overflow line.
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Getting close to start up!
 
Here's the new throttle body adapter I made that is raised over the last one. I lined up the bottom of the hole and rounded the top. The picture makes the bottom look like it isn't aligned but it is.
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These gates shrink clamps are badass! So much better looking than a screw clamp.
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Got the IAT bung welded in. just need to cerakote the tube.
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For those not following my summarized thread in the swap section, I got the engine fired up. Lots of tuning to do, but the wife had enough of the open headers. I'll get the exhaust done before I continue tuning. It sounds pretty good. It really wants to rev quick above 3000RPM.
 
Intake tube painted to match, and HEMI badging on the coil covers painted body color. This thing looks awesome in there. I don't think I could be any happier than the way it looks. A friend came to check it out and he said it looks like the car came with it. Mission accomplished!
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Side note and back to the improved handing topic. After some preliminary measuring, I think I'm going to change the lower ball joints to a 1/2" longer design. This will put my LCAs on a slight upward angle toward the center of the car, further raising the roll center.
 
racerjoe said:
Here's the new throttle body adapter I made that is raised over the last one. I lined up the bottom of the hole and rounded the top. The picture makes the bottom look like it isn't aligned but it is.
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These gates shrink clamps are badass! So much better looking than a screw clamp.
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Got the IAT bung welded in. just need to cerakote the tube.
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For those not following my summarized thread in the swap section, I got the engine fired up. Lots of tuning to do, but the wife had enough of the open headers. I'll get the exhaust done before I continue tuning. It sounds pretty good. It really wants to rev quick above 3000RPM.
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How do the Gates ends attach? "These gates shrink clamps are badass! So much better looking than a screw clamp." I just did all the pfte stuff and I have no leaks but was a bit worried. I also cant seem to find the nice fasteners to hang these lines attached to firewall or to say the AC compressor holes for fuel line. Been meaning to look at your thread as I know you made this very clean and it sure makes a huge difference all that rubber crap gone. I ran an 6 from tank to carb and AN 8 for my ZF swap to cooler up front, what a huge difference! Also curious on master cylinder part number I am going to get rid of my power brakes and go with the 7/8 I believe it is unit.
 
4.7Light said:
How do the Gates ends attach? "These gates shrink clamps are badass! So much better looking than a screw clamp." I just did all the pfte stuff and I have no leaks but was a bit worried. I also cant seem to find the nice fasteners to hang these lines attached to firewall or to say the AC compressor holes for fuel line. Been meaning to look at your thread as I know you made this very clean and it sure makes a huge difference all that rubber crap gone. I ran an 6 from tank to carb and AN 8 for my ZF swap to cooler up front, what a huge difference! Also curious on master cylinder part number I am going to get rid of my power brakes and go with the 7/8 I believe it is unit.
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Those aren't Gates ends on the heater hoses. It's just an AN to hose barb adapter. The Gates clamp is pretty much plastic heat shrink. Just slide it on and heat it with a heat gun. All of the fuel line and AN fittings are Evil Energy brand found on Amazon. It may be hard to see, but I have some aluminum separators on the heater hoses. I'm sure I got those on Amazon as well. You can use a rubber lined P-clamp to secure lines to something. I normally paint them black before installing.
I think my master cylinder is 15/16", maybe? I know Dr. Diff sells them. Many of the 80s era Mopars used this type of master cylinder. If I remember right, the caravan may have had the 15/16" or something very close. Look around on rockauto.com. That site is a great resource for parts information.
 
Last week was a mad thrash to button up a couple small items and get the AC charged so I could get to autocross over the weekend. I was able to get everything done, then my O2 sensor failed. Fortunately, I was able to find one at a local auto parts, but of course the connector was wrong. Since the wires were the same color, I decided to just try to cut the wrong connector off and splice the correct one on. Luckily, it worked. My local SCCA is currently trying new venues and the one they are trying this month is 90 miles from my house. I figured 20-30 miles of test driving would be good break in for a 180 mile trip with some autocross in between, right? The car ran flawlessly on the way to the track. Coolant temp held steady at 190 degrees the whole way with the AC on. I was super excited to try out this course since it was a combination of normal parking lot autocross and the second half was on a section of road course with some long sweeping turns. My first run started great, until I hit the slalom. The combination of pressure and flow regulators I put in the pump did not work. I pretty much lost all steering assist with fast sawing of the wheel. I was very disappointed and frustrated. All the hustling to make it to that day and I couldn't even run. I packed my **** and drove home defeated. The good news (or not good news) is the heat index was 110 when I was driving home and coolant temp never got over 190 with the AC on. I took a different route home which was all interstate and cruised at 72-75MPH with no problem.
So here's what I put in the pump and maybe some gurus can offer some advice. I used the 800-850psi pressure reducer in the pump, the one Sublime sells. and I also used the Turn one 2.5gpm flow regulator. I realize this is the combo of parts he recommends for a steering box, but I used the same pump from the steering box on the rack and it worked fine. I figured matching that would be good. Obviously I was wrong. Once I got home and the car cooled off, I took the pressure regulator out and it had 2 shims totaling .060'. I took those out and tried it. sitting still sawing the wheel feels better. This was with the engine idling. Perhaps I just didn't have enough pressure? I'll find an empty parking lot and pretend I'm doing a slalom to see if it fixed it. I sure hope it will be this easy. I've found some mixed information online regarding what pressure a T-bird/M2 rack needs. I've seen 800 and I've seen 1200. Sublime's video on the pressure regulator mentions a Corrolla pump is around 1000. Maybe I need to get one of those to try it.
Oh well, I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. Since everyone likes pictures, here' you go.

One more thing. The regulars at auto cross that know my car stopped in there tracks when they saw the hood open and were like, "That's new!"
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Tim, for gosh sakes, look what you've accomplished over the past three months!

You broke the LA, but likely did destroyed it
You assembled the GEN III
Rewired, installed, it looks super clean!
You got it up and running and have driven it 200+ miles in the Louisiana summer with working A/C again!
You can cruise in the 70MPH range without any heat issues!
AND, you know the car is already sorted out with possibly a few differences in weight distribution and tire pressures

You'll get the P/S issue sorted before MoParty.

I'm autocrossing June 30, July 14, 21 & 28. I'm so fortunate my venue is 5 miles from my house, and I know how lucky I am to have a car that I can go out and bang on without fear. I can't wait to get these Black GEN III Hemi Dusters back together in September. Hang in there buddy, you got this!


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JBrian said:
Tim, for gosh sakes, look what you've accomplished over the past three months!

You broke the LA, but likely did destroyed it
You assembled the GEN III
Rewired, installed, it looks super clean!
You got it up and running and have driven it 200+ miles in the Louisiana summer with working A/C again!
You can cruise in the 70MPH range without any heat issues!
AND, you know the car is already sorted out with possibly a few differences in weight distribution and tire pressures

You'll get the P/S issue sorted before MoParty.

I'm autocrossing June 30, July 14, 21 & 28. I'm so fortunate my venue is 5 miles from my house, and I know how lucky I am to have a car that I can go out and bang on without fear. I can't wait to get these Black GEN III Hemi Dusters back together in September. Hang in there buddy, you got this!


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Thanks for the encouragement Brian.
Dang I'm jealous you have all those events in the next month! You're going to wear out some tires! We take off July and August because of the heat. I won't be able to autocross again until Moparty. I guess that gives me time to put some miles on it and fix anything that comes up.
Oh, one more thing that is an underrated benefit to the G3. No oil leaks, not even a seep! It's so nice to be able to keep the engine compartment clean.
 
It's been hot here for STL, low to middle 90 with no "real" humidity, even though the locals think it's really humid. Living in the Houston area for almost 29 years, and you living down in Louisiana, we know a thing or two about heat and humidity! And yes, with my Holley pan and my fixed GFI 855, ZERO leaks. It's almost like it's a new car, at least in that regard! I'll have two or three more additional autocross events before MoParty in August and early September. One thing about STL, with two autocross organizations, STL SCCA, and BSCC (Boeing Sports Car Club) both running at the same venue 5 miles from me, and an NHRA track 30 miles from me, the car culture is crazy here with 3 Cars & Coffee a month, and multiple car shows every weekend. I go to the C&C events as they are laid back and you don't see the "Look, but don't touch" signs. I think you know how I feel about that! We're going to have a time on the track in Bowling Green, I can't wait!
 
You said you changed connectors on your new O2 sensor. Is it WB or NB? WB sensors have a calibration resistor in the connector. Changing the connector changes the calibration of the sensor. Just FYI.
 
mpgmike said:
You said you changed connectors on your new O2 sensor. Is it WB or NB? WB sensors have a calibration resistor in the connector. Changing the connector changes the calibration of the sensor. Just FYI.
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It's a wide band. Good info. I didn't know that. The sensor is reading the same as as the other one before it died.
 
I'm fairly confident I have my power steering issues resolved. Ultimately, I think there were 3 problems, 2 of which were caused by my ignorance/neglect. While this is frustrating, it was a learning experience I didn't know I needed. @Dantra was kind enough to ship me his power steering analyzer to determine my pressure and flow. This was a huge help and now I owe him some beers!
Problem #1: The pressure valve is advertised to be 800-850psi and the turn 1 flow valve was supposed to be 2.5gpm. After using the analyzer, I found I was at 800psi and only 2gpm. Note that I had already drilled the flow valve out slightly. No telling what it was prior to that. I was able to find some data on the steering rack I have, which states it will operate with pumps that output 1200psi and 3gpm. Now I had a target, I just had to get there. I removed the two small shims on the pressure valve and that got me to 1000psi. Instead of buying pumps and robbing valves, I came up with an idea to increase the spring tension on the valve that would result in higher pressure. This is what I came up with. A 6-32 screw fit inside the spring and regulator body perfectly. I just ground the head flat so it would sit right. This resulted in around 1200-1300psi. Good enough for me. Next up was the flow, which was easy. I just chose my next size up drill bit. This resulted in 2.5gpm at idle and 3gpm at high RPM. Nailed it!
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Problem #2: I was confident my new pressure and flow had fixed the problem, but it didn't. I went for a drive and it almost seemed worse. The problem also showed up with doing some high RPM pulls, which made me think the pump was cavitating. I get home to see the suction hose has a section that looks collapsed. This is where my neglect shows up. In my haste to get this thing done, I didn't put much thought into what type of hose I needed, nor did I inspect the type of hose the parts store supplied to me. It was heater hose. No Bueno! I found the proper hose locally and replaced it. Again, I was confident it was fixed. Wrong!!!

Problem #3: When I pulled the cap off the reservoir, it was under a vacuum. (not a vented cap) I started doing some research and found an article about PS reservoir venting. Turns out all the symptoms of a non-vented cap are exactly what I was seeing. I really didn't want to purchase another reservoir just for the sake of having vented cap. I also searched to see if the brand tank I had offered a vented cap, which they do not. After thinking about how to accomplish a vented cap, this is what I came up with.
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This is just a 1/8npt coupling that I drilled the threads out on one side. I then "turned" a nut down to fit in there (nut on all thread in a drill while sanding on a belt sander), and soldered it in. Next was a small hole through a bolt and some o-rings to seal it up. I'm planning to get one of those sintered brass pneumatic vents to put on top of the coupling. All the cavitation I was having wreaked havoc on the oil. I decided to take the pump apart to make sure nothing was damaged. All looked good, so back together it went. With some fresh fluid in the tank, I went for a ride. All seems good now. However, the fluid is still getting to 200 degrees. I'm going to install a cooler to try to lower this temperature.

I traded some emails with someone at Turn 1 steering. He was the one that told me not to fear having too much pressure. The rack will only demand what's needed. It's not like I'm going to ever hold it at full lock. He also mentioned the vented cap. They do offer a drop in pump for the G3 hemi, and its very expensive. While I'm sure there are some advantages to using their pump, I don't see why a properly dialed stock pump won't work. However, this could be my ignorance speaking again. I'm sure they install ball bearing in place of the bushings and likely have some tighter tolerances on things. Do I really need that? I don't know. Perhaps if I were road racing, but these pumps were designed to last hundreds of thousands of miles on a street car. I don't see any reason why it won't last on my weekend cruiser. I'm hoping my ignorance doesn't come stab me in the back for that statement!
 
Real pain in the *** stuff to troubleshoot. I've certainly had my share of teething problems, but it's all coming together now. Looking forward to round two of the Black HemiDuster showdown at MoParty 2024!

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JBrian said:
Real pain in the *** stuff to troubleshoot. I've certainly had my share of teething problems, but it's all coming together now. Looking forward to round two of the Black HemiDuster showdown at MoParty 2024!

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We need to make an effort to line them up on the drag strip too! Would make for some good photos.
 
@racerjoe, did you put subframe connectors on your car? Torque boxes?

I read the start of the thread up to when you painted it and didn't see anything, nor did a search turn up anything. Sorry if I missed it.
 
DionR said:
@racerjoe, did you put subframe connectors on your car? Torque boxes?

I read the start of the thread up to when you painted it and didn't see anything, nor did a search turn up anything. Sorry if I missed it.
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Yes it has them. It's the old school Mopar Performance ones that are designed to be bolted in. I welded them in. This was done a long time ago before I even painted the car yellow.
 
racerjoe said:
Yes it has them. It's the old school Mopar Performance ones that are designed to be bolted in. I welded them in. This was done a long time ago before I even painted the car yellow.
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I was guessing you would have done it way back when it was a drag car. So no torque boxes?

I'm planning both on my '73 and was just curious what you had done. Thanks!
 
DionR said:
I was guessing you would have done it way back when it was a drag car. So no torque boxes?

I'm planning both on my '73 and was just curious what you had done. Thanks!
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USCarTools and lizard skin during construction in Conroe, TX more than a few years back!

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DionR said:
I was guessing you would have done it way back when it was a drag car. So no torque boxes?

I'm planning both on my '73 and was just curious what you had done. Thanks!
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No, none of that fancy stuff. I will say it was amazing how much stiffer the car was when it had the 8 point roll bar in it. When I was drag racing, it wouldn't pull the wheels off the ground. First time off the trailer with the roll bar in it, 8-10" wheelie! Crazy how much flex it has.

I've considered doing some type of X brace under the car to connect the frame rails together. That would require a decent amount of fab work and lots of laying on my back figuring it out. I have the X pipe fairly tight to the floor pan, so it may not even be feasible. I'm just not sure it's worth all that work.
 
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