1974 Duster

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Still doing some carb tinkering and the ring and pinion just came in.

Going to setup a page showing the tools needed to swap ring and pinion (some of which we are making from scratch) along with a trans mod page.

The Dodge Garage database is going to start expanding into RWD territory.
 
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Still doing some carb tinkering and the ring and pinion just came in.

Going to setup a page showing the tools needed to swap ring and pinion (some of which we are making from scratch) along with a trans mod page.

The Dodge Garage database is going to start expanding into RWD territory.

Cool and thanks. What ever happens to your 10 second k car?
 
The Reliant has been waiting its turn, I hope to get it track ready in 2017 now that I'm cycling through all the other cars.
 
Finished the ring and pinion last weekend and it looks like we got a bad one. Install went fine, great pattern, car was silent running on the lift. Went for a road test and inside 5 miles was starting to make noise and by the time I made it back to the garage it was howling. Pulled the cover and found the backlash had gone from .008 to .012. Looks like the surface of the gear is actually coming apart like improper heat treat. Vendor states going to cover under warranty, will keep you posted with how that goes.
 
Vendor as promised has replaced gearset. Replaced and setup, did a gear pattern which was ok'd by vendor before the unit was sealed up.

This set of Motive Power gears whine at 50-65 mph like a drill in the trunk at light throttle. This will not do.

Getting real tired of this.
 
Last weekend for ha-ha's changed the shim pack on the pinion from .026 to .023. Rear end is better but noise still there. Just moved up slightly in the speed range and slightly quieter. My advice is to avoid Motive Gear at all costs, lots of guys on other forums reporting results not much different than mine. If the gears had gone in nice on the first shot I'd been racing 2-3 weeks ago.

Last day of racing this weekend looks to be a wash out, I'm done for the year and time to start on winter projects.

Gary
 
I swear the car is trying to make me angry: Looked under the car last night and leaks, leaks, leaks!

Trans leak from bellhousing and remote filter. Coolant leak from... somewhere. Maybe slightly loose hose clamp. Oil on the front of motor. Front seal? WTH
 
Yep... It hates you.. lol
Really hate when that happens.... Takes all the fun out of it.
 
I have a few weeks off, going to back up and take another go at it.

New set of 3.90 gears, pull trans back out to fix leak and change out the front crank seal. Have a new Carter 750 AFB on the way. The current one has modified boosters which work great at WOT but cause a slight tip in lean spot with light throttle I have been unable to tune out without replacing the boosters.

Was this close to ordering an EFI unit to play with. Got the AFB for $120 shipped.
 
I have a few weeks off, going to back up and take another go at it.

New set of 3.90 gears, pull trans back out to fix leak and change out the front crank seal. Have a new Carter 750 AFB on the way. The current one has modified boosters which work great at WOT but cause a slight tip in lean spot with light throttle I have been unable to tune out without replacing the boosters.

Was this close to ordering an EFI unit to play with. Got the AFB for $120 shipped.
120 for the AFB beats the heck out of EFI pricing!
 
It does but how much time to you waste with constant tuning? I have a bunch of carb stuff I could sell off and it would pretty much pay for an EFITech unit, fuel pump and sump.
 
Yesterday I was stalking a set of 3.90 gears for my Duster with 8.25" and the excellent tech Stan from Jegs did some calling around for me.

Turns out the reason that the part number I was looking for is hard to find is Richmond Gear has been purchased by Motive Gear and they are discontinuing a number of lines and part numbers made by Richmond.

So if you want genuine Richmond gears... I'd move fast.

I tried two sets of Motive Gear hardware in the last 2 months and it was NOT a good experience.

Stan was able to lay hands on the gearset I needed and it is being drop shipped at no additional cost, big thumbs up to Jegs for their outstanding service!

Gary
 
Being pressed for time I reinstalled the 3.55's in the rear axle this morning. I need my lift for several projects so had to get the car off pronto. Also swapped out the carb for an 750 AFB that I picked up off Ebay.

On road test it was lean at cruise, WOT looks spot on though. Very nice, easy fixing.
 
Just read whole build. Very nice. I like the black air cleaner you ran back in 2010. What is that off of ?
 
If you are interested, $175 plus shipping. They are no longer available.

Fixed a trans leak up front and block off plate leak.. Changed out the metering rods.
 
Just read this whole thread - Love it! Some great info here - some of which I may be able to apply to my 74 Dart Sport. Thanks!
 
Just read this whole thread - Love it! Some great info here - some of which I may be able to apply to my 74 Dart Sport. Thanks!

Thanks!

I have slowly been clearing out my backlog of un-car related projects if that makes sense so I can work on Dart, Reliant and GTX. Just drained the tank of the Duster last weekend and replaced with new fuel and cleaned out the carb. I hate E10. Car is track ready aside from changing out the rear gears from 3.55's to 3.90's.

Gary
 
Thanks!

I have slowly been clearing out my backlog of un-car related projects if that makes sense so I can work on Dart, Reliant and GTX. Just drained the tank of the Duster last weekend and replaced with new fuel and cleaned out the carb. I hate E10. Car is track ready aside from changing out the rear gears from 3.55's to 3.90's.

Gary

Great! Can’t wait to see it in action again (video? hint-hint ;-) )
 
Great! Can’t wait to see it in action again (video? hint-hint ;-) )

Nothing for awhile- Just finishing off some parts lots sales to make space, our VF750C Honda Magna just rebuilt the carbs for the first time so we can go riding again (HATE E10 fuel) going to an autocross event with the CSX later this month (might have footage of that) and GTX is slated to be in the work bay soon.

Engine and trans coming out, re-seal for both of them, new oil pan, new 8" converter, new and larger ceramic coated headers and a late model "deep" trans pan from a 46RE with plastic/o-ring gasket. I will have to make filter extension but that should be no great shakes.

GTX ran a best of 11.0 last year at 121, should be in the 10's now. Running a stock 340 converter and it is a touch slow on the 60 foot (1.62), with the 8" from CRT it should be rather interesting..

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