1971 Demon Driver

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Demon Skinner

Demon Skinner

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Joined
Dec 19, 2008
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Hi Everyone,

I am new to FABO. I just bought a 1971 Demon from the rust belt and have lots of work to do to it. It is a running 318, 727, 8 3/4 Demon that had the /6 in it originally. I started on the 4 drums just to make sure I can stop. It has the small bolt pattern.

I want to just get it reliable enough to get it registered, insured, and road worthy before I start on the body.

Years ago I restored my 1971 Impala convertible. A friend and I just got done restoring a 1971 Demon for a buddy in October. After that Demon, that restoring friend of mine bought a 75 Duster that he is almost finished restoring. Now I bought my Demon and I need to get it presentable by spring. I have another friend that might buy a Dart Sport and we will have all three A body fastbacks.

Check out the my friend's Demon we restored and the 75 Duster on *cuda-challenger.com* in the *forum* section under *member's restorations* and the heading *75 Duster /6 driver*
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=52004.0

Here is pictures of my rusty Demon. At least it has a solid frame. What are your cheap suggestions on the small bolt pattern and 4 drum brakes that I could maybe switch to big bolt pattern and front disks?

This site has been really helpful. Thanks for all the information. I never had this much info for the Impala I restored a half a decade ago. Now I'm turning into a Mopar freak.

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Nice looking project..... Welcome.... Are those 340 exhaust manifolds ?????
 
Welcome!! For sure looks like a nice starter for a project!! Enjoy the site and keep us posted!
 
Find your self a 73 duster and take the kframe and the steering column and proportining valve and the master cylinder,,, then swap them out as well as the rear end,,,this is a gyneric post,,, research it a bit more but thats what I did to my 71 duster
 
Welcome aboard Demon Skinner! We're glad to have ya here. There's tons of info on here already about a big bolt pattern swap; the "search" tab at the top of the page will help you find everything you need.
 
Welcome to Fabo! This is a great site with lots of good guys and info!

Nice looking project, it looks like a good start for a nice driver.

I agree with Jims71 Duster, find a donor car such as any 73-76 A-Body with a V8. This will give you the big bolt pattern disc brakes, the stronger spool mount k-frame, power steering and power brakes. The cheapest way to get BBP axles for your 8.75 rear is to cut down a set of C-Body axles which were the Mopar boats such as the new yorkers, newports and polaras as well as others from 65-74.

The BBP rear drums (10"X1.75")can be found on 73-76 A-Body 8.25 rearends and I think you can make the other (10"X2.5" brakes from B and E-Bodys work as well with a different offset on your wheels.

Good luck with you project and Happy Holidays!

Joe
 
I have been reading the archives a lot lately. Since I've been digging into the brakes, I naturally think 'better brakes, big bolt pattern, cooler rims.' This is a generic question, but I'm just starting on it. There might be more stupid questions because I don't want to screw it up. Excuse me while I think aloud.

The rear brakes are already drums at 10 inch inside diameter, and 1 3/4 inch wide brake shoes. The old drums have the flange that I guess might be the original and rare these days. One of the old drums is beyond turning. Will these brakes work with a big bolt pattern axle?

I have a friend that frequents the junkyard like it was church. Axles from a mopar boat will be added to the list. How much of a 73 cuda front disc/rear drums would work on this demon?

The exhaust manifolds from what I've been told are hipo aar/ta. Can someone comfirm this? This 318 was tenuously advertized as having 340 heads. I might want some good headers for this car, so these manifolds might come off and be put up for sale. The dual snorkel air cleaner was also noted as worth something and might be taken off for a cool bump in the hood with a new air cleaner.

I broke a rusty rear brake line so after I get the rear lines from year one I'll have her back on the road. The brakes will be working and the big bolt pattern will just have to wait until the body and rust are done and gone.

If I'm messing with the K-frame, I'll start dreaming too much of a new engine. hmm... 408 rings in my ears.... or 5.7L hemi demon ....hmm....
Oh, that's a long way off. A friend has some slots(big back rims/smaller front rims) that might just fit this small bolt pattern and I will be fine for a little while. I'll just start collecting parts for the big build up.
 
Demon Skinner said:
I have been reading the archives a lot lately. Since I've been digging into the brakes, I naturally think 'better brakes, big bolt pattern, cooler rims.' This is a generic question, but I'm just starting on it. There might be more stupid questions because I don't want to screw it up. Excuse me while I think aloud.

The rear brakes are already drums at 10 inch inside diameter, and 1 3/4 inch wide brake shoes. The old drums have the flange that I guess might be the original and rare these days. One of the old drums is beyond turning. Will these brakes work with a big bolt pattern axle?

I have a friend that frequents the junkyard like it was church. Axles from a mopar boat will be added to the list. How much of a 73 cuda front disc/rear drums would work on this demon?

The exhaust manifolds from what I've been told are hipo aar/ta. Can someone comfirm this? This 318 was tenuously advertized as having 340 heads. I might want some good headers for this car, so these manifolds might come off and be put up for sale. The dual snorkel air cleaner was also noted as worth something and might be taken off for a cool bump in the hood with a new air cleaner.

I broke a rusty rear brake line so after I get the rear lines from year one I'll have her back on the road. The brakes will be working and the big bolt pattern will just have to wait until the body and rust are done and gone.

If I'm messing with the K-frame, I'll start dreaming too much of a new engine. hmm... 408 rings in my ears.... or 5.7L hemi demon ....hmm....
Oh, that's a long way off. A friend has some slots(big back rims/smaller front rims) that might just fit this small bolt pattern and I will be fine for a little while. I'll just start collecting parts for the big build up.
Click to expand...

lol, let me know if you want to sell that dual snorkel air cleaner, i think it would look good on my duster
 
Well, it's been a little while since I've posted.

I got the skins in from year one and brake lines for the rear. The Demon had a vinyl top and there is a bit of rust from the years of being in St. Louis. I'm not too sure exactly how I'm going to take care of that rust, but that problem will work out sometime down the road.

The rear brakes have been completely redone. The drums will do just fine. I've been in the process of collecting b body front disk brakes from the junkyard. I need upper A arms to complete the front disk conversion. I have managed to find '75 coronet front disks and '75 charger front disks. I'm sure I'll find more. My friend's Demon I restored this summer needs disks and I have a friend who owns a 1970 Charger with drums all around. He expressed interest in the '75 chargers disks. I'll probably give them to him.

I've gone through the car twice blowing out all the rust. Rusty body panels have been cut out and the skins are ready to be welded on. Other problem areas with rust are the rear side tips of the Demon. This will only be a driver car so I'll just start welding little pieces together to get this part looking as good as I can.

I have to get it through the emissions test very soon. I think it will pass. I have another cleaner rebuilt carb from the junkyard that will be put on if the emissions doesn't pass. If there are more problems with the emissions, I might end up getting a whole new exhaust system. Then headers will go on and those funky exhaust manifolds will come off. The dual snorkel air cleaner might end up staying on the car. I'm starting to like it more and more.

I ripped a 360 engine out of that 1975 Charger in the junkyard. I have no idea if it works but it does turn. I have the intake manifold off it for a 4 barrel carb. I'm not too sure where these things are going to end up. My friends duster has a /6 in it and it is a 1975 duster. He might want the matching year 360 for it. He expresses the need to make it into a 408 often. I think it might be good for him. He would probably spend the money on a nicer intake manifold so the manifold might go on my car. We'll see.

If you have any suggestions feel free to speak up. My 318 runs well and I dream more about a hemi than a 360 or 408. The rear section of the roof is so rusted that if anyone has a good 6 inch rear strip of the roof in front of the rear window, I might be tempted to buy it. I get down to the junkyard so often, I guessing I'll find a duster sometime this year.

Thanks again for the website and all the info!

Tim
 
Yea, it's been a while... I got a little discouraged because it was seeming like this car was becoming more and more like a big POS.

The car sat around for a while because the tranny was slipping so bad. It's actually a 904 even though it was advertized as a 727. I found a used tranny out of craigslist and installed it. It works well.

I found the disk brake system out of a 73 Valient and bought new cailipers, pads, brake hoses, master cylinder, and new bushings and ball joints throughout the front (Upper and lower control arms). One of the torsion bars snapped while in storage and I used the Valient torsion bars. Whoever put in the torsion bars put them in on the wrong side. I'm assuming this is why the one snapped. Geez... whoever put this thing together obviously didn't have FABO as a reference.

The body is in its first stage of primer. Many minor body issues are still visible but from 20 feet you can't see anything. The whole body is now metal. We found a $50 body of a 75 Duster that helped with the some of the body parts that were so rusted that I just replaced sections from the donor car. The whole front clip is from a 71 Dart that got a fiberglass front clip for drag racing. I traded work on an interior of a 52 Chev Pickup for the clip. Now I have two grills. One is really nice. The other one I painted mostly black and is on the car right now.

I found some cheap Hedman headers for $40 that aren't banged up at all. They are used but I was so surprised to see that they weren't dragged on the ground. The 318 in my car is so rusty I'm scared to try to get the exhaust manifold bolts out. There's a ticking with the lifters on this engine so instead of messing with it and getting too deep into more problems, I've decided to just look for a nice 360 to install and using the headers on it. I bought a 4 barrel manifold off craigslist for $80 and took the Carter carb from my buddy's 73 cuda and saw just how nasty the lifters, rods, cam were in this 318. I need a different engine.

The front is big bolt pattern. The rears are still small bp (741 - 8 3/4 no sure grip). I got adapters and put my Cragars off my old impala on this demon. The impala has the original hubcaps back on it. It looks weak. haha.

So now I get to drive my Demon through the summer. Yeaaa! The disk brakes are sweet. The tranny is a smooth shifter. There's no rust showing. It has just enough power to squeek the wheels. I'll have a little fun until winter and maybe bring it up to the next stage.

Here is a picture of it today. (75 Duster in the back in primer) I have some pictures of the work done if anyone is interested. The brakes were a little tricky but because of FABO I had all the references I needed. Oh yeah, if you noticed it, I replace the seats front and back with a 99 Concorde leather interior with six way power front seats and a fold down middle armrest in the rear with a port hole to the trunk.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. This car is more slow going and an average build than I thought it was going to be. Maybe I just don't have huge amounts of cash to throw at it.

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Dude, it looks great! You are doing a fantastic job man and thats a nice demon. Hey, we're all broke to some extent, but dont feel bad because your project isnt movin fast dude, if you take your time and do it right, itll come out so awesome in the end, You'll never regret having gonna slow again:thumbup:
 
Looking good so far. Keep up the nice work. It can get frustrating some times but in the end it is worth it.
 
Check out Scarebird mechanical, they have a disc brake converson for the rear, not sure if it keeps it small bolt pattern, or switches to big bolt pattern.
 
Welcome . Very nice project and progress.
I wouldn't sell those original parts even if I did install aftermarket but that's just me.
Good luck
Happy moparing
 
I really appreciate this restoration, not everyone has your determination, you have a lot to show for your work. Glad you're getting to drive it this summer.
 
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