Dirty D - 73 Duster Street/Strip Build

[DionR]

FYI, calipers should be on the front of the spindles for correct hose routing and for an OEM install. Looks like yours are to the rear.

Maybe you have a reason for it. Just pointing it out in case.

Looks great!

 

[inZane240]

FYI, calipers should be on the front of the spindles for correct hose routing and for an OEM install. Looks like yours are to the rear.

Maybe you have a reason for it. Just pointing it out in case.

Looks great!

Yup, I realized that after I installed the spindles No reason, just a major brain fart.

Too lazy to take it all apart, so I'll make it work. Car is far from OEM so not too worried about it.

It so hard for me to remember where and how everything was installed when trying to put it back together. Seems to get worse as I get older....

 

[DionR]

Too lazy to take it all apart, so I'll make it work. Car is far from OEM so not too worried about it.

My brother ran his '72 Roadrunner like that for the same reason. He put the spindles on backwards and then didn't want to take it apart again. He never had problems. But it does make the hose a bit of a pain and puts it into a kind of "S" curve with the potential to rub on things, kink or get jerked.

At the same time, most aftermarket BBK's seem to run them to the rear of the spindle. And my homebrewed C5 caliper setup and Scat Pack setup I am working on run them to the rear.

That said, the best location is definitely to the front for a stock setup. This puts the hoses across the spindle turning axis and means the hose sees much less flex and no risk for kinking or rubbing.

Nice thing about it is, if you ever step up to a Dr Diff kit or similar, you won't have swap the spindles.

It so hard for me to remember where and how everything was installed when trying to put it back together. Seems to get worse as I get older....

Completely understand that! Right there with you.

 

[inZane240]

Picked up a late 70s 360 and 727 from a D250 for a steal. Took a peek inside the block to possibly do a light refresh and turn it in to a runner while I saved up for something better. It was too far gone. Crank bearings were bad, and the bearings were oversized. Took the heads off for the hell of it and the cylinder walls are badly tapered. Looks its been through a half-assed rebuild once already. Back to the powerplant drawing board...at least it came with some decent parts and will make a good base for a future build.

I have no idea what's going on with the 727. Considering what the PO told me about the engine vs actual engine condition, I plan to take the 727 to a shop to get checked/sorted out.

The infamous copper coated rod

 

[inZane240]

Decided to re-wire the car. The factory wiring had been pretty butchered already and with my plans for the car the majority of factory wiring is not needed. So I ripped everything out except for the rear taillight harness, ignition switch, turn signal switch, and lighting switch.

I decided to go with the Leash Electronics street/strip board and the associated Precision Fabrication harness. You get $5 off if you purchase them as a combo from Precision Fabrication. Whoopee. Money well spent however as it takes a lot of the headache/time out of re-wiring a car. I spent a ton of time planning and it paid off. Created an entirely new front lighting harness, with new sockets, using deutsch connectors throughout. Also created a new interior harness and integrated the rear lighting harness. As of today all the lighting and the ignition switch works as it should. The real test will be the integration of the Holley Stealth/Hyperspark system.

I'm leaving out a lot of the details, but feel free to reach out with any questions.

Factory Harness:

Battery box made out of a toolbox lid I found on the side of the road & a cheap eBay battery mount:

The basics wired up:

Integration of the kill switch:

The Leash Electronics Street/Strip Board: (Ignore the foot)

Wires, wires, wires

Board/TerminatorX/Hyperspark/Start relay mounted on fold down access panel:

Mid-wiring mess

More wiring mess:

All cleaned up:

 

[mopowers]

Decided to re-wire the car. The factory wiring had been pretty butchered already and with my plans for the car the majority of factory wiring is not needed. So I ripped everything out except for the rear taillight harness, ignition switch, turn signal switch, and lighting switch.

I decided to go with the Leash Electronics street/strip board and the associated Precision Fabrication harness. You get $5 off if you purchase them as a combo from Precision Fabrication. Whoopee. Money well spent however as it takes a lot of the headache/time out of re-wiring a car. I spent a ton of time planning and it paid off. Created an entirely new front lighting harness, with new sockets, using deutsch connectors throughout. Also created a new interior harness and integrated the rear lighting harness. As of today all the lighting and the ignition switch works as it should. The real test will be the integration of the Holley Stealth/Hyperspark system.

I'm leaving out a lot of the details, but feel free to reach out with any questions.

Factory Harness:
View attachment 1716096186

Battery box made out of a toolbox lid I found on the side of the road & a cheap eBay battery mount:
View attachment 1716096187

The basics wired up:
View attachment 1716096188

Integration of the kill switch:
View attachment 1716096190

The Leash Electronics Street/Strip Board: (Ignore the foot)
View attachment 1716096191

Wires, wires, wires
View attachment 1716096197

Board/TerminatorX/Hyperspark/Start relay mounted on fold down access panel:
View attachment 1716096192

Mid-wiring mess
View attachment 1716096195

More wiring mess:
View attachment 1716096199

All cleaned up:
View attachment 1716096200

Nice clean install! I've been looking into one of those Leash boxes for my '66. Did you draw out any formal wiring diagrams, or just go one circuit at a time?

 

[mopowers]

Do you have any close up photos of the fold down panel and how it secures?

 

[inZane240]

I've got a crude map for the solenoids and kill switch I'll post below. When you hit the kill switch it kills power to the board which in turn kills the solenoids. Everything else was done based off of factory wiring diagrams mostly focused on the factory switches I kept....ignition, turn signal, and lighting. The Leash board is awesome in that you just use the switches to trigger inputs and you wire the outputs separately. That's where the Precision Fabrication harness comes in. EVERYTING is pre-grouped and labeled in that it takes a lot of the prep work out of it. If I were to try and re-create the same thing I would end up spending WAY more money and time so while the price seems steep up-front, by the time you do the math in materials alone, I'd wager you end up saving money.

For the front lighting harness it just mimicked the factory harness, but with updated connectors and custom wire lengths to route things where I wanted. I also used collapsible wire sheathing and heatshrink to keep things nice and neat. I did this on a car a built in 2010 and its held up very nicely.

 

[inZane240]

Do you have any close up photos of the fold down panel and how it secures?

That's still a work in progress. I used these hinges mounted to the lip on the underside of the dash.

I've got a custom bracket I need to get CNC'd that'll use a hoodpin to keep the panel up and secured. I'll post pics when I get it all figured out.

 

[mopowers]

I've got a crude map for the solenoids and kill switch I'll post below. When you hit the kill switch it kills power to the board which in turn kills the solenoids. Everything else was done based off of factory wiring diagrams mostly focused on the factory switches I kept....ignition, turn signal, and lighting. The Leash board is awesome in that you just use the switches to trigger inputs and you wire the outputs separately. That's where the Precision Fabrication harness comes in. EVERYTING is pre-grouped and labeled in that it takes a lot of the prep work out of it. If I were to try and re-create the same thing I would end up spending WAY more money and time so while the price seems steep up-front, by the time you do the math in materials alone, I'd wager you end up saving money.

For the front lighting harness it just mimicked the factory harness, but with updated connectors and custom wire lengths to route things where I wanted. I also used collapsible wire sheathing and heatshrink to keep things nice and neat. I did this on a car a built in 2010 and its held up very nicely.

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Thank you! I've been looking into that Precision Fab harness too. Seems like it would be a huge time saver. Did you have any of the relays ground triggered?

 

[inZane240]

I setup two ground triggered relays as the TerminatorX uses a ground trigger for the radiator fans. I don't plan on using radiator fans, but just in case. The other one is a spare.
Honestly not a lot of use for the extra relays at this time other than the fuel pump. I'm sure I'll find uses for them is time goes on.

Customer service from Precision was great and the owner called after I placed the order to talk to my about my setup to make sure the board was everything I needed it to be. He also kept me informed of the order status, as just like everything else these days, the items were on backorder for a few weeks.

 

[mopowers]

I setup two ground triggered relays as the TerminatorX uses a ground trigger for the radiator fans. I don't plan on using radiator fans, but just in case. The other one is a spare.
Honestly not a lot of use for the extra relays at this time other than the fuel pump. I'm sure I'll find uses for them is time goes on.

Customer service from Precision was great and the owner called after I placed the order to talk to my about my setup to make sure the board was everything I needed it to be. He also kept me informed of the order status, as just like everything else these days, the items were on backorder for a few weeks.

Thank again! This is all useful information. I was planning on using most of the factory switches too, so this helps a lot. Glad it worked out for you!

 

[inZane240]

The turn signal witch, specifically the hazards, was the hardest part. Everything else is super simple once you isolate everything and is essentially plug and play. For the factory switches I made "adapters" from the leads of the factory harness. Kinda defeats the purpose of the Deutsch connectors, but I didn't want to butcher the leads on the switches in case the switches ever needed to be replaced.

 

[mopowers]

The turn signal witch, specifically the hazards, was the hardest part. Everything else is super simple once you isolate everything and is essentially plug and play. For the factory switches I made "adapters" from the leads of the factory harness. Kinda defeats the purpose of the Deutsch connectors, but I didn't want to butcher the leads on the switches in case the switches ever needed to be replaced.

View attachment 1716096248

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Nice! Were the Deutsch connectors in some sort of kit you bought? That's one thing I've been trying to decide on - which connectors to use.

 

[inZane240]

Nice! Were the Deutsch connectors in some sort of kit you bought? That's one thing I've been trying to decide on - which connectors to use.

I bought a generic knock-off kit from Amazon. Some are better than others. "IWISS" was the best quality of all the ones I bought and comes with the easier to use barrel type connectors. 1000x easier than the traditional crimp method. You could probably do a 2 pin connector in under a minute. I used a ton of 2-pin connectors so I made sure to order extra of those.

Here are the links:

amazon.com/gp/product/B098SZZX8Z
amazon.com/gp/product/B09GXLGZNY
amazon.com/gp/product/B07V1C6N2V


Also here are the correct stock style bulb sockets. All of mine were worn out:

Running lights: amazon.com/dp/B000C5CCPE
Front Turn Signals: amazon.com/dp/B000C81SX8

You can find them at your local auto parts store too.

 

[mopowers]

I bought a generic knock-off kit from Amazon. Some are better than others. "IWISS" was the best quality of all the ones I bought and comes with the easier to use barrel type connectors. 1000x easier than the traditional crimp method. You could probably do a 2 pin connector in under a minute. I used a ton of 2-pin connectors so I made sure to order extra of those.

Here are the links:

amazon.com/gp/product/B098SZZX8Z
amazon.com/gp/product/B09GXLGZNY
amazon.com/gp/product/B07V1C6N2V


Also here are the correct stock style bulb sockets. All of mine were worn out:

Running lights: amazon.com/dp/B000C5CCPE
Front Turn Signals: amazon.com/dp/B000C81SX8

You can find them at your local auto parts store too.

This is great info. Thank you! I was laughing at some of the reviews for those connectors. One guy was mad they didn't come with instructions. Haha!! Some folks just shouldn't have tools in their hands.

 

[inZane240]

With wiring mostly complete, and other major components on backorder, I've started putting the interior back together.
I ordered ACC mold carpet from rockauto a while back. Fit and finish is not great. ALOT of trimming is needed. If I had to do it over again I would order the loop pile for a more original look.
Also ordered and installed new sill plates and speaker kick panels.
Legendary seat covers are on 9 month back order, so it's getting the Mexican blanket treatment for now, which doesn't really look that great. I also "restored" the seat frames. A lot of surface rust needed to be removed as well as a few false black widows hiding amongst the springs. Cleaned, painted, and lubed the bench seat sliders. 1000% better. I did manage to overstretch the adjustment lever spring because of bad re-installation, so that needed to be replaced. The rear bench is in practically mint condition, so no work needed there.
Most other interior panels are in excellent condition. The drivers door panel has a rip which will eventually need to be replaced, but at ~$400 a pair, I'll make due for now. I also need a new dash pad, but again way too expensive, so I may just go with a plastic cover.

Also found a second build sheet under the rear bench. The first sheet was behind the glovebox. I framed it....need to post a pic of that later. The sheet under the bench was too delicate to remove so it'll stay.

 

[inZane240]

Got a "quote" from a local engine builder to turn my boat anchor 360 into a 408 and they wanted $11k "plus or minus $1000 depending on stuff." Hard pass.

Ordered a blueprint crate engine. The delivery date keeps getting pushed out, but that's OK as I've got other stuff to do.
Also dropped off my 727 at "ATO performance." Guy got his start in mopars in the 60s. Seems to know his ****. Going to keep it column shift automatic.

Best mod so far:

Braking system is next. Got the MC from Doctor Diff installed while I wait on other parts.

Also got a new hood release installed! No more crawling under the car to pop the hood!

 

[inZane240]

Blueprint 408 showed up. Also started modifying my Dougs headers for V-bands so I can send them off for ceramic coat.

 

[Mtrhead]

Dude you are going great on this car...really lots of attention to detail...anybody can build a nice car..but those little details your adding separate the men from the boys...your a master fabricator and really make me wanna step my game up.....keep it coming ...

 

[mopowers]

Blueprint 408 showed up. Also started modifying my Dougs headers for V-bands so I can send them off for ceramic coat.

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Great progress! Who do you plan on using to coat the headers?

 

[inZane240]

Dude you are going great on this car...really lots of attention to detail...anybody can build a nice car..but those little details your adding separate the men from the boys...your a master fabricator and really make me wanna step my game up.....keep it coming ...

That's a hell of a compliment and I really appreciate it! I'm self taught, so none of it is perfect, but it'll get the job done!

 

[inZane240]

Great progress! Who do you plan on using to coat the headers?

Thanks! I use Applied Coatings out of Lodi. I've used them for various things over the years. They started offering Cerakote thermal coatings a couple years back and I had some of my turbo datsun manifolds done. They turned out great! I will probably go with white for the headers.

 

[mopowers]

Thanks! I use Applied Coatings out of Lodi. I've used them for various things over the years. They started offering Cerakote thermal coatings a couple years back and I had some of my turbo datsun manifolds done. They turned out great! I will probably go with white for the headers.

View attachment 1716111567

Those turned out great. I'm anxious to see how the new ones turn out. Be sure to post some 'after' photos.

 

[inZane240]

So believe it or not this has been the funnest part of the project so far....fabricating brake lines. Call me crazy, but it was pretty satisfying, I just hope they work!
A friend of mine inherited some old tools he didn't want or need so being the hoarder I am, I took them all. Included was an old brake flare tool and handheld tubing bender. I just had to buy some dies for the flare and I was in business. After all the screw ups, I had gone through exactly 25' of brake line, but everything came out grate for never having done any serious hard line work.

Went with the wilwood universal prop valve and also plumbed a line lock while I was at it.