12:05 Garage- ’70 Duster build

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Demonx2 said:
Any comments on how you like/dislike those "Mity Mounts" motor mounts? Are they the same thickness as OEM?
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They are good so far. The car is certainly more pleasant to drive. The locking mechanism is only on the left side mount and it is the same thickness as the right side mount, which is a standard rubber mount. They are slightly thinner than the solid mount but it didn't cause any issues anywhere on my car. Having only run a solid mount on this car, I didn't even know the solids were thicker than OEM.
 
racerjoe said:
They are good so far. The car is certainly more pleasant to drive. The locking mechanism is only on the left side mount and it is the same thickness as the right side mount, which is a standard rubber mount. They are slightly thinner than the solid mount but it didn't cause any issues anywhere on my car. Having only run a solid mount on this car, I didn't even know the solids were thicker than OEM.
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Thx for the input. You have an awesome-looking car and your fab skills are second to none!!
 
@DionR here are the brackets I made for the evaporator. The first pic is the one that goes through a factory insulation pin hole in the wheel well. The second one is the bracket that catches the wiper arm pivot bolt. The bracket coming off the evaporator box comes with the unit. The last two pics is one of the brackets that catch the front of the box and bolt to the bottom lip of the dash frame (I made two of these). Two of those relays come with the Vintage Air system, the third I added for input to my efi controller. It will bump the idle RPM up when the compressor is on. I'll likely add another (if I can't figure out how to do it with one) to turn the compressor off above a certain throttle position percentage or RPM. I'll probably do RPM, makes more sense to me.


brackets 2.jpg
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I had a hard time finding a grommet that would work for passing the hoses through the wheel well, so I made one. I didn't want to use another bulkhead fitting since it introduces 8 more fittings and 8 more opportunities for leaks. I usually don't like using hardware store parts on my car (except bolts when needed), but these chase nipples worked perfect for what I needed. I'll seal the holes with duct seal. 3rd pic is the back side of the bulkhead. Last pic is all the hoses connected to the evaporator/heater core inside. I'm getting close. I'm going to try my hands at some light metal shaping for AC control/louver panel. More to come on that.


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Made more progress on my AC. The system held a vacuum for a couple hours so I had to throw some Freon in it, so I hooked up the power and grounds so I could start the system. I also wanted to get that done before I permanently mounted everything. It sucks to everything apart if something doesn't work. The system blows cold! It's going to feel odd driving this thing without the windows down!
I also started fabbing up something to hold the controls and vents. I've never done real sheet metal shaping beyond just bending something small for a patch panel. I made a small anvil to make a radius on the edges and it worked out pretty good. It took much more hammer effort than I thought it would. I had to ditch the body hammer and go straight to a ball peen to get it to move. I need to make another piece that will mate up to this for the far right side vent. The sheet metal I had was only 24" wide, I need around 35". It came out pretty good. Once I get the metal work done, I'll bodywork it to get it perfectly straight and paint it black.
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Quick update. I finished fabbing up the right side of the panel and welded them together. Next was some body filler work to cover the hammer marks, then some black paint. I'll get it mounted and everything wired up here soon. I also need to make a small one for the left of the steering wheel.
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racerjoe said:
I went back and forth on this for a long time. I'll be using a universal evaporator since all my lines will enter the car in the wheel well. I like the idea of having electronic controls because it reduces the amount of knobs from 4 to 3. The vintage air electronic evaporator is huge and I was worried about it taking up too much real estate under the dash. Some smaller electronic options are Classic auto air and Restomod Air. The price starts getting crazy on those brands ($1000), not to mention the $350+ controller. A friend had the Vintage Air Gen II super empty fitment box so I gave it a try. It's small, but needs the 4 knob controller. Once I saw the price (~$500), I figured I could get over having an extra knob and go with the Gen II. I'm going to make something to mount along the bottom side of the dash to house the louvers and controls. I have a few ideas in my head, just need to turn them into sheet metal.
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This is useless info now, but thought I would post some info I found out last week.

Been brainstorming how to replicate some of the features from the Challenger I just sold into my Duster. AC was one of those, but the auto temp feature felt like too big of a task. Asked Vintage Air if they had any options to control their Mark IV evap with a tablet (expecting that said tablet would obscure the OE climate controls). Guy replied that they did not, but that Dakota Digital had partnered with them to create a controller that monitored air temp and adjusted the blend doors to maintain it. Very cool!!

https://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=821/mode=prod/prd821.htm

It sure was nice to get in the car and just start driving without messing with any temp controls regardless of what it was like outside (outside of defrost). Really has me thinking of making a run at a Mark IV evap and DD controller at some point.
 
DionR said:
This is useless info now, but thought I would post some info I found out last week.

Been brainstorming how to replicate some of the features from the Challenger I just sold into my Duster. AC was one of those, but the auto temp feature felt like too big of a task. Asked Vintage Air if they had any options to control their Mark IV evap with a tablet (expecting that said tablet would obscure the OE climate controls). Guy replied that they did not, but that Dakota Digital had partnered with them to create a controller that monitored air temp and adjusted the blend doors to maintain it. Very cool!!

Digital Climate Controller for Vintage Air Gen IV

It sure was nice to get in the car and just start driving without messing with any temp controls regardless of what it was like outside (outside of defrost). Really has me thinking of making a run at a Mark IV evap and DD controller at some point.
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A friend of mine actually told me about the Dakota controllers right after I bought mine. They are pretty nice. It's rare that I use the climate control function in my 19' Ram, so no need for it in the Duster. I live in the South, I'm sure I'll just leave the AC cranked to 11!
 
Spent some time finishing up most of the AC. I didn't care for the shiny black paint on the panel I built, so I sanded it down and painted it matte black so it would match the dash better. I also tied the AC control into the Megasquirt. Above I mentioned I may have to use two relays, but I was able to get the control function working by using a single, two pole relay. When AC is on, the idle bumps up 50 RPM. I started with 150 bump, but that was way too much. It will cut the compressor off above 70% throttle also. While I had the computer hooked up, I spent some time messing with closed loop idle. I have been running it open loop for a while now and it worked pretty good. I figured with the AC load now on the engine, it would be best to have closed loop manage it. The developers of tuner studio also recently updated their firmware to include timing control in the closed loop function. I got it working pretty good and I think it is due to the added timing control to help the engine maintain speed vs. just using the IAC. I'm sure once it gets cooler outside I will have to make more adjustments, but for now it is good. Here are some pics of the finished AC control/vent panel. I still need to make a small one for the driver side by the door. The light shadow on the second pic makes the panel look wavy and crooked. I assure you it isn't. I also included a pic of the drawing of how I connected the AC to the MS3. The I/Os on the MS3 are all ground signals, hence the need for a relay. The output to drop out the compressor is acting as the ground for the relay. Once I hit 70%, that ground is removed and the relay drops out and the compressor shuts down.
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Sneak peak of the next big upgrade. The car currently has F/M/J body discs on the front. I bought these gen 1 Viper rotors years ago to use the Dr Diff kit, but they used a relatively small rotor. I know he has kits with bigger rotors now, but I decided to make my own big brake kit. This is the gen 1 Viper caliper, modern mustang 13.25” rotor, and a F/M/J body rotor with the brake surface turned off. I did some measuring of this caliper to determine what the largest diameter rotor it could accommodate. Turns out 13-13.25 is damn near perfect. The pad surface is the exact same height as the rotor. It’s almost like they were made for each other.


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Hi there, may I ask.... what year mustang rotor are you using, and also what caliper bracket are you using.
Thanks
 
After some initial mock up, I've determined the Viper calipers on these rotors will not work. They stick out too far and contact my wheel. No worries. Time to move to plan B. Mustang GT 500 14" rotors and calipers. Good news is I should be able to use the FMJ rotor/hub for those rotors too. They should be the same, just 3/4" bigger. These calipers will be for sale.

I also ordered Hotckiss shocks and front sway bar back in December and the shocks just came in. The sway bar is still on back order. I can't believe how much better the ride is. I just assumed the sometimes clunky, rought ride was the larger diameter torsion bars. I was wrong, it was the shitty KYB shocks. Worth the wait and the money.
 
racerjoe said:
After some initial mock up, I've determined the Viper calipers on these rotors will not work. They stick out too far and contact my wheel. No worries. Time to move to plan B. Mustang GT 500 14" rotors and calipers. Good news is I should be able to use the FMJ rotor/hub for those rotors too. They should be the same, just 3/4" bigger. These calipers will be for sale.

I also ordered Hotckiss shocks and front sway bar back in December and the shocks just came in. The sway bar is still on back order. I can't believe how much better the ride is. I just assumed the sometimes clunky, rought ride was the larger diameter torsion bars. I was wrong, it was the shitty KYB shocks. Worth the wait and the money.
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You’re running an 18” up front correct? And the caliper hits. I have 17” Foose Knuckle, when your bracket is done would you be selling any additional ones? I already have a set of hubs machined. Just looking for a bracket, hopefully to run the mustang GT 13.2”
 
1968Dart said:
You’re running an 18” up front correct? And the caliper hits. I have 17” Foose Knuckle, when your bracket is done would you be selling any additional ones? I already have a set of hubs machined. Just looking for a bracket, hopefully to run the mustang GT 13.2”
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I am running 18s, but the diameter isn't the problem. THe front face of the caliper extends about 2" past the wheel mounting surface. It contacts the spoke on my wheel. Its' close and could probably be fixed with a 1/4"-3/8" spacer, but I don't want spacers. I'm not going to make a braket for these since I can't use them. By the looks of the GT500 calipers, the front section appears to be much shorter than this viper caliper.
 
I think you need a deeper rotor or different wheels. I doubt the GT500 calipers will be any smaller. I could be wrong, but just betting there isn’t much of a way the calipers will be smaller on the front side.

Someone on FABO used the same GT500 calipers and rotors, found the tread last week. His bracket came off the back of the spindle and had a very deep cut to match everything up. I would use a bracket that comes off the front of the spindle instead and only use a cut on the bracket if the available material is too thick.

I like it though. Keep at it.
 
DionR said:
I think you need a deeper rotor or different wheels. I doubt the GT500 calipers will be any smaller. I could be wrong, but just betting there isn’t much of a way the calipers will be smaller on the front side.

Someone on FABO used the same GT500 calipers and rotors, found the tread last week. His bracket came off the back of the spindle and had a very deep cut to match everything up. I would use a bracket that comes off the front of the spindle instead and only use a cut on the bracket if the available material is too thick.

I like it though. Keep at it.
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A deeper rotor would work perfectly, now just to find one that will work. I'm definetly not changing wheels. It took forever to find the ones I have. I think one from a Lexus may work, I need to more digging. I was going cross eyed looking at everything on rock auto last night. Do you happen to have the link of the GT500 setup?
 
racerjoe said:
A deeper rotor would work perfectly, now just to find one that will work. I'm definetly not changing wheels. It took forever to find the ones I have. I think one from a Lexus may work, I need to more digging. I was going cross eyed looking at everything on rock auto last night.
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RockAuto used to be a gold mine for info like this. But at some point things changed and now it is much more difficult to find the pertinent info. Seems like Raybestos is one that gives some info though.

Looks like the 2012 GT rotor is 1.89" in overall depth. More Information for RAYBESTOS 680811R

Maybe the 2015+ Brembo equipped Mustang rotor? More Information for RAYBESTOS 681954R

That gives you about .6" more clearance, but they are 15" rotors. No idea if you could fit an 18" wheel over that, but kind of doubt it. I know the Mustang guys have threads about mounting 18" winter wheels on cars with the Brembo brakes, but doesn't seem possible to me. I guess you could see how much room you have in your rim though.

Might look at the 4 piston Brembo rotor from a Challenger. More Information for RAYBESTOS 780690R

Those are 14.2" in diameter but only give you about 3/8" more clearance to your wheel spokes.

How about a front rotor off an 2010 MB S550? More Information for RAYBESTOS 980743R

Only 13.8" in diameter, but better than 5/8" more clearance to the front of your wheel. But will probably take a machining step to clear the wheel studs and hub.

Not sure how much clearance you need to get your calipers to clear.

Keep us posted.
 
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