uber cool
Well-Known Member
Like what you did on the instruments, need to do the same on mine
72 Duster Street / Strip Build
- Thread starter tnts72
- Start date
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Quite the difference, old 7.25" is out and sold, had to order some more POR 15 for the undside of the car before the Dana goes back in. May as well clean everything up and give it a good once over while shes apart.
Lot has happened in the last few weeks. Front suspension / brakes / plumbing / underside painting complete, rearend reinstalled will be snugging the rear leafs up and setting it back on the ground so I can give everything a final torqueing. Need to get the driveshaft measurement and get this shaft shipped over to Terre Haute. Should have it back to operational by the end of the month...
rayer:
rayer:Still pluggin away on the Duster, Dana 60 is in, caltracs are built and installed, had a .291" leaf added to the rear springs, front suspension is done, brakes complete just need to bleed them once I get a working master cylinder :violent1:. Need to get some pictures uploaded of the current state. Will be getting the driveshaft in next week and this thing will be back to running / driving condition. Will be going into heated storage for the winter, body work to follow and interior install in the spring... MoParts MoParts MoParts
I had a leaf added to my rear springs by a local shop. .291" material, was told it should raise the car an inch or so over stock height... Thinking she's a bit higher than that! Keep in mind there is no gas in the tank / no bumpers or interior yet, still seems like I need to go back and see if they can take a little arch out of the additional leaf. I have about 4.5" between the top of the tire and the bottom of the wheel well opening. Other than that the car is coming together well, been waiting on a rim from summit for a month. It's back ordered / no longer available / wait a minute we have one in Georgia... Not counting on anything until it shows up!!
1-1/2" steel lowering blocks are on the way. They should also help give me a little negative pinion angle so that's a plus. Not a big fan of lowering blocks but I have long enough u bolts since I ordered the extra long ones from Laura before I built the caltrac setup figuring I would have to cut some off. Now they should be just right, burnouts are in the near future
Time to start looking for paint and body guys... If nothing turns up I will be doing body work and primer in the spring. Trunk turned out pretty well with the black and aqua spatter. Had to build a battery hold down due to the AMD tray having offset holes, little 5/16 and some 1/2" angle. Painted it up and installed it after the pictures were taken.
First alignment shop attempt=fail. Kinda figured they would not be able to make "heads or tails" out of it with the lifetime alignment deal. Pretty nice to take it in every 6k mikes for a check, for free... Called another shop and talked to their tech, he has been doing alignments since the 70's and assured me he could get it squared up... Guess we will find out, then off to some paint and body shops. Had a couple guys quote me 10-12k on a paint job! Will not be putting that kind of money into paint and body! Looking at about 12-13k total investment, if I find someone to do a reasonably priced 3-4k job... Other option is to do all the body and primer work myself and then shop around for someone to base / clear it. Fun stuff :violent1:
Sweet " back to basics" build, this is hot rodding at its best.. Subscribed, sir..
Power steering box just a little too sloppy for my liking. Man those things are a mother F'er to get out. Got it loose from the pitman arm and the bolts out, need to unbolt the column and probably pull the manifold to get it out of there tomorrow. Now time to find a replacement, don't really want to spend an arm and a leg on a firm feel box... I tried tightening up the lash with the Allen bolt / lock nut, but it really didn't make much of a difference at all. Imagine it has been f'd with before.
Manual steering is so much nicer feeling! Had this thing 6 months and finally got a real road test completed and the wife got to spend some time behind the wheel. Should be the perfect starter car for her to bracket race. Should be in the 8's in the 8th mile, judging by the seat of my pants. Just about time to haul this thing off for paint and body work. $3500 seems like a bargain for bodywork / door - hood - trunk jambs / underside of the hood and decklid / base - clear and wetsand / buffing... Not painting the entire doghouse (just the cowl seam and the tops of the fenders) or inside the trunk body color. All work I don't really have the space or the skills to complete...
That could be a problem! Noticed the old flat piece of plate that runs along the bottom side of the frame right at the front of the leaf spring mount wasn't sitting down quite as flat as the drivers side. Started poking and banging around on it... Glad I did, drivers side is solid, but may plate it and tie it to the subframe connectors anyway. Drilled the holes in the patch so I can also tie it to the factory plug welds and inner brace within the rear subframe. Also plan to put a small plate on the inside of the frame so I can also tie into the vertical side of the subframe connector.
Thought about adding a piece of 3/4" mild tube from the center of the leaf spring mount (face the studs stick through) to the side of the subframe connectors... Overkill I imagine, but possibly a future upgrade...
Don't want to end up like that 69 Dart on the internet with the rearend falling out of it!:wack:
Don't want to end up like that 69 Dart on the internet with the rearend falling out of it!:wack:
Both sides now plated / patched as shown. Drivers side was better than the passenger side, but will still benefit from the additional plate being tied to the subframe connector. Made up a template for my chassis guy to bend a couple 3/4" dom tubes to tie the spring mount to the subframe connectors as well. Overkill?
Headlight harness before and after... Removed the marker wiring, redid the ground circuit and ran new feeds which will go from the relays to the lights. Went from 18 gauge to 14 gauge. Waiting on relays and ceramic sockets to finish up the installation.
Relay and sockets should be here this week... Wiring harness is back in the car and I pulled the battery tray to mount up the inline fuse holders, should be able to keep the system clean and out of sight for the most part.
Relays and wiring complete, just waiting on an auxiliary + terminal so I can clean up the wiring going to the starter relay. System works well and the lights are nice and bright. Will post a couple pics once I get it all buttoned up. One relay for hi beams one for lows triggered by the factory harness red / violet leads. :thumleft:
Took some pictures of the Duster on the lift at the exhaust shop. Homemade caltrac setup / dana 60. Picked up some flowmasters from a member on here. Time to clean up the previous owners junk exhaust job. Lot of the original undercoating is still in pretty good shape on this thing. Just need to give it a good pressure washing. Good shot of the subframe connectors as well. Paint and body coming soon...
Dropped the Duster off at the body shop Tuesday night after the Flowmasters got installed. Should have taken a few pictures of it after the install. Looks / sounds much better
B5 blue is the plan - no stripes or call outs. Here are a couple samples I gave the body guy in terms of paint color. This is not a Barrett Jackson build, just a clean street strip car for my wife to get in and drive / race anywhere... Mind you it's a non ac manual brake / manual steer car
B5 blue is the plan - no stripes or call outs. Here are a couple samples I gave the body guy in terms of paint color. This is not a Barrett Jackson build, just a clean street strip car for my wife to get in and drive / race anywhere... Mind you it's a non ac manual brake / manual steer car
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