12:05 Garage- ’70 Duster build

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Not much going on with the car other than driving it. I've got another project in the garage now, so I moved the Duster outside to keep the dust off of it. It's always awesome to see this car in sunset lighting. I guess the reflection off the black is what makes it so cool. Enjoy!

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racerjoe said:
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A little spare time for another update. I pulled the rear end out of the car to clean and paint it. I replaced the Caltracs with the Mopar circle track springs. I also changed the axles and upgraded to disc brakes. Threw the old KYBs on there for now, but they will eventually get replaced with QA1, Bilstiens, or Hotchkis.
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Hi. Where did you get your rear disc set up? What does your bracket look like? Thanks.
 
1968Dart said:
Hi. Where did you get your rear disc set up? What does your bracket look like? Thanks.
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I bought off a guy that was advertising them on Facebook. It's a piece of 3/8" plate cut to fit on back side of the axle flange and is extended on one side to catch the caliper. I had to do some adjustments to his spacers to make it work. If you're in the market, just buy the Dr. Diff kit. I should have.
 
racerjoe said:
I bought off a guy that was advertising them on Facebook. It's a piece of 3/8" plate cut to fit on back side of the axle flange and is extended on one side to catch the caliper. I had to do some adjustments to his spacers to make it work. If you're in the market, just buy the Dr. Diff kit. I should have.
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Perfect. I appreciate it.
Thanks.
 
Just finished reading the whole build thread. Somewhat of a spiritual experience. Awesome ideas, and incredible execution! Tell us about your new project in the garage.
 
DionR said:
Curious what the other project is. Can you share?
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mpgmike said:
Just finished reading the whole build thread. Somewhat of a spiritual experience. Awesome ideas, and incredible execution! Tell us about your new project in the garage.
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Thanks guys. The new project isn't a Mopar product or even a muscle car for that matter. It is, however, a car I've always really liked. Unfortunately, it isn't mine either. It's a 1985 Porsche 911. I'm painting it for a friend. The funny thing is I've said numerous times that I'm done painting cars for anyone else besides myself and here I am doing this car. This car had a about 7 paint jobs on it. I bet the paint was 1/8" thick. When my friend first started talking about getting the car painted, I told him there was no way he was going to find someone to strip all the paint off without paying for a total restoration and therefore exceeding the value of the car. I pretty much agreed to do the body and paint for him, but I wasn't stripping it and I was doing it on my own terms, meaning, all the body panels were coming off along with all glass coming out. I'm also only using higher end materials since my name was going to be on the end product. He agreed and promptly got to taking apart what he felt comfortable doing and sanding all the paint off. My friend decided he wanted to make a "hot rod" Porsche, which I'm all about pissing off purists. So here's what I'm doing. A popular thing for people to do to these 80s 911s is to "backdate" them. This means make them look like an older model. This requires the removal of rocker panels (welding up holes in rockers), removing tail panel sheet metal (drilling spot welds out), installing new fiberglass hood and front and rear bumpers (and all the typical things associated with making fiberglass parts fit), removing giant whale tale (welding up decklid holes), and lastly adding extensions to the front fenders for parking lights. The body was actually in pretty good shape, but due to him wanting to back date it, the sheet metal work has been more than a typical body and paint job.

Here are some pictures. These are the only 2 real rust holes on the whole car. I also had to do some significant door gap repair on the passenger side which I ended up building up the door edge with about 1/16-1/8" of weld to close the gap. As of today, the doors, roof, quarters, rear decklid are done and have been blocked and primed twice. I'm starting to work on the front fender extensions which is starting to look like it will take some time and patience...

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rear panel.jpg


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Joe, that was one hell of a history you depicted here. After owning 13 Dusters, 4 Roadrunners , and too many other classics to mention I can relate to the passion. Your Duster has a very unique look, less can be more. Well thought out, tastefully done. The hard work, and attention to detail really comes shining through. A true enthusiast . You should be very proud.
 
I've put about 600 miles on the car since I got it back together. I really enjoy driving it and it has been a nice escape during these Coronavirus times. I've complied a list of relatively small items I need to either fix or things to make the car a better driver. I could probably knock out the list in a weekend short of installing the AC. I have started purchasing the parts and plan to start making lines up as soon as I'm done painting the Porsche. I'll post some pics up of the process since all of the line routing will be custom and hidden as much as possible. I'm also going to make a custom vent housing for under the dash- I'm still designing that in my head...

I've only run solid motor mounts in this car, so I don't know what it is like with a flexible mount. This is definitely on my list, It's surprising how much vibration and noise transmit through those mounts.
 
Quick update, I started the process of installing the AC. I want to keep the engine compartment and firewall as clean as possible, so that means running the lines through the wheel well. This also means all the lines will have to be custom made. Here's the start of it. I hated the way 45 degree fittings looked coming off the compressor. They wouldn't' allow the lines to lay in an attractive manner. I found these AC line elbows that allowed me to line up the 90 degree hose ends so the hoses lay on top of one another. Bonus points because they have service ports in them, although I had to cut off and weld up the #8 fitting since the service port hit the valve cover.
AC.jpg
 
Finished up the mounting of the condenser and dryer. Borrowed a friends AC line crimper and got them all done. I just need to get the evaporator mounted up and make something to hold the louvers. I'll try to share some pics of that buy I'm hoping most of it is hidden under the dash.
I also replaced the solid motor mounts with "Mitty Mounts" from DynaTech Engineering. I'm not a huge fan of the look of a hold down chain or turnbuckle so I figure I'd give them a try. I haven't driven the car since I installed them since it's been raining everyday. This car has always had solid motor mounts so I'm curious to see what it is like with a rubber mount. I guess I'm slowly turning it into an old man car...first quiet exhaust, then power steering, then AC, then rubber mounts....geez this thing is going to be a creme puff...

hoses.jpg
 
What under dash unit are you going to use? Maybe I missed it (or forgot).
 
DionR said:
What under dash unit are you going to use? Maybe I missed it (or forgot).
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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.
 
I got the vintage air evaporator mounted. This certainly would have been easier when the car was in pieces so I would have to be a contortionist to get under the dash. I obviously didn't want to drill any holes in the firewall so I made a bracket to come off the wiper arm stud. I also have it captured on a hole that was previously a hole used for firewall insulation that lands in the wheel well. I apparently missed that one when I was welding all the others up. Happy mistake! I'll make a couple brackets on the front that connect to the bottom of the dash next.
I also started fabbing up some new clutch linkage with heim joints. I may have over estimated the size of materials needed for this. That's 1/2' tubing with a 3/8" heim. Oh well, it will be sturdy and way better than the crappy factory linkage connections.
Evaporator.jpg
Clutch linkage.jpg
 
racerjoe said:
I got the vintage air evaporator mounted. This certainly would have been easier when the car was in pieces so I would have to be a contortionist to get under the dash. I obviously didn't want to drill any holes in the firewall so I made a bracket to come off the wiper arm stud. I also have it captured on a hole that was previously a hole used for firewall insulation that lands in the wheel well. I apparently missed that one when I was welding all the others up. Happy mistake! I'll make a couple brackets on the front that connect to the bottom of the dash next.
I also started fabbing up some new clutch linkage with heim joints. I may have over estimated the size of materials needed for this. That's 1/2' tubing with a 3/8" heim. Oh well, it will be sturdy and way better than the crappy factory linkage connections.
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Any chance you snapped pictures of the brackets you made and how they bolted to the underdash unit?

Keep up the great work!
 
DionR said:
Any chance you snapped pictures of the brackets you made and how they bolted to the underdash unit?

Keep up the great work!
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I didn't, but it will come out again before it's all finalized. I'll snap some pics for you. It certainly helped having the empty box for fabbing things up.
 
racerjoe said:
I didn't, but it will come out again before it's all finalized. I'll snap some pics for you. It certainly helped having the empty box for fabbing things up.
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Thanks! Like to do something similar someday and always helps to see works.
 
Finished fabbing up my new clutch linkage rods. You can see the melted rubber on the top fork rod. This is claimed to be "OEM" design by many big restoration suppliers. It didn't last long and it isn't even that close to the header. With some help from guys on this page, I learned of the steel "half ball" design. Go figure, the sellers of the steel ball design also claim this is the OEM design. I always wanted to get rid of the crappy factory clips on the linkage and since I had to take it apart to replace the pushrod, I figured this was a good time to make the new linkage.
I run a Centerforce clutch and it seems like the release requires a really low pedal off idle, but once driving, the release is higher. Perhaps this is due to the weights on the pressure plate? I did some math and determined if I lower the rod by an inch on the z-bar off on the pedal side, I should get about a 1/2" more travel at the clutch fork. We'll see how that goes. I hope this allows me to adjust the pedal to my liking.

clutch linkage 1.jpg


clutch linkage 2.jpg
 
racerjoe said:
Finished fabbing up my new clutch linkage rods. You can see the melted rubber on the top fork rod. This is claimed to be "OEM" design by many big restoration suppliers. It didn't last long and it isn't even that close to the header. With some help from guys on this page, I learned of the steel "half ball" design. Go figure, the sellers of the steel ball design also claim this is the OEM design. I always wanted to get rid of the crappy factory clips on the linkage and since I had to take it apart to replace the pushrod, I figured this was a good time to make the new linkage.
I run a Centerforce clutch and it seems like the release requires a really low pedal off idle, but once driving, the release is higher. Perhaps this is due to the weights on the pressure plate? I did some math and determined if I lower the rod by an inch on the z-bar off on the pedal side, I should get about a 1/2" more travel at the clutch fork. We'll see how that goes. I hope this allows me to adjust the pedal to my liking.

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My understanding was that the steel piece was used on trucks and was a great upgrade for a car. If so, that would make them both OEM, I guess.

Been using one on my Duster for as long as I can remember.
 
Got the new clutch linkage installed. Wow! What a difference. Would have never realized how much extra friction the factory setup had until making this change. It feels like I have a hydraulic clutch now!
 
racerjoe said:
Finished up the mounting of the condenser and dryer. Borrowed a friends AC line crimper and got them all done. I just need to get the evaporator mounted up and make something to hold the louvers. I'll try to share some pics of that buy I'm hoping most of it is hidden under the dash.
I also replaced the solid motor mounts with "Mitty Mounts" from DynaTech Engineering. I'm not a huge fan of the look of a hold down chain or turnbuckle so I figure I'd give them a try. I haven't driven the car since I installed them since it's been raining everyday. This car has always had solid motor mounts so I'm curious to see what it is like with a rubber mount. I guess I'm slowly turning it into an old man car...first quiet exhaust, then power steering, then AC, then rubber mounts....geez this thing is going to be a creme puff...

View attachment 1715562592
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Any comments on how you like/dislike those "Mity Mounts" motor mounts? Are they the same thickness as OEM?
 
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