1970 Duster AlterKtion, 4 Link, LS/T56/Turbo and Minitub

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Isn't the “best” cam a few degrees smaller than the SS2? Makes a little more vacuum and has a less rowdy idle. I think it makes more average power under the curve but the SS2 is more up top.
 
From my understanding, Matt designed "The Best Cam" to replace the sloppy stage 2. Has about the same LSA of 110.5 vs the 112. The lift is a little bigger being .595 vs .585. The duration is a little smaller being 219/225 vs 228/230. From what I've heard on youtube, it still has a rowdy idle. I was going to get the truck norris cam just for the idle lol.

These are the words right from Matt

"I loved the SS2 but its been getting harder to get ahold of, and there is room for improvement on it, Also the price, I worked with some of the best people in the business to create this and bring a cheap effective cam to the slops, without having to roll the dice with "china cams" etc. This cam is modeled to be the sloppy stage 2 without the shortcomings and better power upstairs"
 
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I’ll have to look through holdeners videos. I remember him saying the ss2 outran the best cam up top. Maybe my head is screwing with me.
 
TT5.9mag said:
I’ll have to look through holdeners videos. I remember him saying the ss2 outran the best cam up top. Maybe my head is screwing with me.
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You're right, which is interesting that he says that in the description. In this video he said the new cam will be better all around except way up top.



Hmmmmm
 
Welp, finally got the YJ/CJ build together to the point I'm waiting to be able to paint the tub this winter, so the jeep got swapped out for the duster! Time to yank the engine back out and see what's going on!

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Getting the duster on the trailer with slippery snow tires was fun! lol but I got it. We got rain the last few days so there was no salt on the roads at all. Thats why I was really trying to play musical vehicles and get them swapped out this weekend.
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Finally got to work on the car Sunday for a bit! I'm curious to pull the engine apart and see what I find! I think I'm gone this weekend though, so not sure when I'll get to crack it open!

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Got to pull the bottom end apart Sunday! Drained the oil and ran it through a paint strainer. Nothing. Cut the filter open and nothing until I really spread the element open and deep in the V I found some material. I also checked the oil pump release to make sure that wasnt stuck open.

First I started measuring cam bearings with the bore gauge and they were all checking out. So then I started yanking the rods out. Everything single rod bearing looked beautiful. As I was like oh boy, I noticed one of the rods itself had bearing material on the rod, so I figured it has to be a main bearing! Pulled the first one off... looked great. Pulled the second, third and fourth caps off annddd

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They were all smoked. Definitely detonation. So I found the limit with timing and 93 running 11:1 compression.

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The crank actually looked okay, but it was already turned .010 under on the mains and rods. I had 2 spare cranks, so I decided to go with a good used standard crank. When I called the machine shop about having it balanced, he offered to do the short block while he had all the other parts, so if he has the time to do it, I said absolutely! Saves me the time of having to do it and measuring all the bearing tolerances etc.

I also signed up for Summit Midwest Drag Week yesterday! Its actually mostly east coast this year! So I have a lot to do and a TON to learn before July! haha. Super excited though!
 
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More to report. I thought it was detonation originally that killed this thing. However, the rod bearings looked perfect, and the piston and rings had 0 signs of detonation. After talking with a very knowledgeable friend (@TT5.9mag) and the machine shop who did the new work we decided that the main bearing failure was actually because the bearing tolerances were set too tight following the stock callouts of .0018 to .0020. This time around the mains are all set to .0025-.0026 so I should be good to go now! I also found out my compression ratio is actually around 10.5:1 vs the 11:1 so that helps a bit with the pump gas as well! I have the engine back now and hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to start putting the car back together again!

Also, I ordered this center console for the car.

GT sport console, gbody 1978-1986, g bodies, Cutlass, el camino, Monte Carlo, Buick Regal

I'm hoping to set it up kind of like this
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But it will be upholstered like this just in black
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Heres one in an actual duster.
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I also got a universal AC system that will go under that dash that I'm hoping I'll have the console come up and meet that will make it all look better.
. A/C KIT UNIVERSAL UNDER DASH EVAPORATOR AIR CONDITIONER 432-1 - NO COMPRESSOR | eBay

Drag week will be starting in Virginia in July so I'd love to have some AC in the car haha.
 
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Finally got the car back together and out of the garage Sunday! She runs!! And it has great oil pressure! The tolerances are opened up to the .0025 that they should be and still have about 50psi at hot idle with 10-30. Drove the car to work today as its first test drive after bleeding the clutch last night! Driving the car around the oil pressure is up into the 70s as well! Haven't done any WOT pulls or even got into the boost yet, just letting the rear end break in with the new gears. She runs good though! I'll also say, while the car was down, I threw the manual master in the trash and put on a hydroboost system from Hydratech and its AMAZING. The car finally stops SO WELL! I couldn't be happier with that! Here are some pictures!

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Excellent. When does it go back to the chassis dyno?
 
Not sure! I had put out good numbers before. The last time the goal really was to fix some drivability issues which we did. So I may not! I'm a little scared too honestly since it killed the engine last time lmao.
 
Lol don’t be scared. When you baby them is when they break. At least go put some load on it to seat the rings.
 
Little update! Got to race the car in the Midwest Drag Week last week!! What a great time and a fun week!! I started a youtube channel for anyone who wants to watch the week of adventures! They're all pretty short videos so they're fun to watch! It was my first drag and drive event and only my 3rd time to a drag strip when I started the week so I had a TON to learn! I ended up taking 4th place out of 17 in the stick shift class though! With my best time being a 10.2 at 132mph. Lots still on the table as well so hopefully as I keep learning I'll get the car into the 9s. I'm not even leaving on boost yet!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh2KO7LWoe0dywc7t_S43pA

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70DusterDev said:
Little update! Got to race the car in the Midwest Drag Week last week!! What a great time and a fun week!! I started a youtube channel for anyone who wants to watch the week of adventures! They're all pretty short videos so they're fun to watch! It was my first drag and drive event and only my 3rd time to a drag strip when I started the week so I had a TON to learn! I ended up taking 4th place out of 17 in the stick shift class though! With my best time being a 10.2 at 132mph. Lots still on the table as well so hopefully as I keep learning I'll get the car into the 9s. I'm not even leaving on boost yet!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh2KO7LWoe0dywc7t_S43pA

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Lawdy! running DEEP into the 10s your 3rd time out is impressive! Running a stick into the 10s is nothing short of nomination for "Man card" status. Curious what the 1/2/3 spots were running as far as time and transmission brand.
 
Thanks!! Definitely learned a TON and gained so much experience being thrown in the fire. Here's a pic of the list with the average 1/4 times and 1/4 speeds. I never asked them what their trans were. The 66 mustang had a Dart block with twin turbos. I know that much. I THINK he told me it was a TKO trans.

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I think you did great. And it was cool following along through the week with your you tube updates. Nice work.
 
Thanks!! I'm glad the videos were a success! I hope they help inspire someone else to do a drag week someday too. Watching other people's videos is what made me want to try it!
 
70DusterDev said:
Thanks!! I'm glad the videos were a success! I hope they help inspire someone else to do a drag week someday too. Watching other people's videos is what made me want to try it!
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I was just happy to get a shout out in one.
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Thanks!! Where you there? I made videos all week as well to follow along but this one's the winning day! It was a pretty wild day!

 
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