My Duster Adventures

[75slant6]

I was able to get the template made for the final piece of the transmission mount. Need to swing by the metal shop tomorrow and get another piece of metal to cut it out of. Be tempting to take the template along and have them laser or plasma cut the piece out for me. While I’m ready to have all this fab work/welding done, I’m also enjoying the experience. I know it’s kind of became a tacky statement on social media but I‘ll definitely be able to say majority of this car was “built, not bought”.

Parker the fat cat had to jump up and lend a paw as well. Lol

 

[75slant6]

Made a little progress yesterday. Got The passenger side spindle and caliper brackets installed. My steering rack had been touching the Oil pan with the 1” aluminum spacers, so I had them cut down 1/4” and reinstalled that yesterday, along with the tierod ends and the steering shaft and u-joints.

The angles at the top u-joint were a little extreme in this pic so I cut a longer section of shaft and got it at a better angle. Just gotta finish up the transmission mount, then I’ll be able to set the car back down, roll it out of the garage and do some much needed cleaning!

 

[HemiDenny]

Looking good....so easy a neanderthal can do it.

 

[75slant6]

Looking good....so easy a neanderthal can do it.

Took me three attempts to get the steering shaft decent and I’m still not 100% happy with it, so I guess I’m on the stupid end of the Neanderthal spectrum!

 

[75slant6]

FINALLY got the transmission mount “done” (need to get it sand blasted and paint it) and got it installed.

I then hung the exhaust onto the headers with one bolt, just to hold them up so I could lower the car. I then set the front end down on the ground and was blown away at how low the front end is! It’s hard to tell in this pic just how low it is, but the fender lip is at 23 3/4”!!

I’m hoping to roll the car outside tomorrow or Saturday, to clean up the garage, as well as get a good all around look of the car and take some better pics. I took a few measurements at different points of the car, here they are.
23 3/4” to fender lip
5 3/4” to torsion bar crossmember
3 7/8“ to header flange
5” to trans mount
4 1/2” to bellhousing
25 1/2” to rear quarter lip

 

[75slant6]

Small update. I rolled the car outside yesterday to get a look at the ride height and to get the garage organized a bit and give the floor a MUCH needed sweeping. As stated in the photo, if I actually get the suspension set as low as it’s mocked up here, I’m going to be in need of new rear springs to get the backend down at least 2, maybe 3 inches.

Then this evening, I started building a set of wooden wheel cribs. I used went off of the design on restocar.com but I modified it a little bit. The guy on restocar made his wheel cribs as “one piece” units that were 10”w x 14”L x 12”H. I made mine 12”w x 18”L x 12”H but I also made them as a “two piece” design. The reason for this: in order to get the car up on the “one piece” wheel cribs, here are the steps needed to get the car up high enough. 1. Jack up the rear and place jack stands under rear axle. 2. Jack up front and place on jack stands. 3. Add a block/spacer to your jack to extend the reach. 4. Jack front end up with the block and place front wheel cribs under wheels. 5. Jack up rear with jack and block and place rear wheel cribs under wheels. Now, my “two piece” design will essentially follow the same steps, just without the jack stands.
Here’s how they look at full height.

here’s the set broke down

here’s a shot showing how the two halves fit together. The bottom half is on the right.

And here’s the two halves stacked.

I only had time to get two of them built tonight but so hopefully I can get the others built soon, so I can get the car back in the garage and get it up on the cribs in order to get the subframe connectors installed and get the front suspension buttoned up for good.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Very cool, Caleb! I love how the cross member turned out. It looks very strong! Good job!

 

[75slant6]

Very cool, Caleb! I love how the cross member turned out. It looks very strong! Good job!

Thanks! I’m definitely a lot happier with it than the one I had in it. That crazy thing was almost 12 pounds!! And ugly too! Lol

 

[4.7Light]

Did we make the date you were talking about before the big upgrades came. Curious how much farther have you gotten? Love the fact you don't care about the paint!

 

[75slant6]

Did we make the date you were talking about before the big upgrades came. Curious how much farther have you gotten? Love the fact you don't care about the paint!

No, I ended up having a few crucial parts that weren’t in on time. I actually haven’t gotten hardly anything done since then. I NEED to get back on it. My truck broke down so it’d be really nice to have it on the road again.

 

[MonkeyMadness]

Hey Man that Trans mount turned out Awesome!
Good Job

 

[75slant6]

Well, the end of June I told my wife “wife! July is Duster month!” So last night I FINALLY worked on my Duster for the first time since March! I got the caster and camber roughed in, not sure yet what I’m gonna work on tonight yet. Maybe subframe connectors? Idk. We’ll see.

 

[Clelan]

Duster month is my favorite month!

Cley

 

[75slant6]

Well, I got one subframe connector mostly welded in, then ran out of wire…. Thinking about getting the other side tacked in after I get more wire, then maybe take it to a shop and have them put it on a lift to finish welding them in.

 

[75slant6]

Long time, little progress. Haven’t been working on the car near as much as I should have been but I did get some more work done on the front suspension. Installed the coilovers last week, then this evening, I set the car down off the wheel cribs and got the ride height mostly set. I wasn’t expecting I was gonna be able to get the car quite this low but as long as the fender and tire don’t try to occupy the same space at the same time, I’m THRILLED to get it this low! Heck, I’m gonna get me a fender lip roller and roll the fender lips as much as I can and maybe see about dropping the front lower yet! Currently I have the center of the front wheel openings set at 23 7/8”. If clearance allows, I might see if I can’t get it down to 23 1/4-23 1/2”!

I did take a bunch of measurements for ground clearance at different points, here’s that list.
Header tube 3”
Header flange 3.5”
Bellhousing 4.5”
Oil drain plug 5 1/4”
Front Frame rail by angle brace 5 3/8”
Front rocker pinch 7 1/4”
Fender corner behind tire 8 3/16”
Rocker under front corner of door 8 3/8”
Frame by spring hanger 7 3/4”
Rear of rocker pinch 8 3/4”
Rear rocker 9 3/4”
Front wheel opening 23 7/8”
Rear wheel opening 26 3/4”

And now here are pictures.

As can be seen in list of measurements and in this picture ^ the backend needs to come down about 1-1 1/4” and hopefully this next picture will help with that… MP circle track springs, new bushings and new u-bolts. Just waiting on my new two position hangers to come in from Mancini racing. If that doesn’t get it down quite low enough, I’ll add a small drop block as needed, I know I’m going to need to add a few pinion shims anyway as my pinion angle is going the wrong direction.

One issue I did discover this evening is that the machined area on the back side of my rotors is a smaller diameter than the outer diameter of my hubs, so the rotors aren’t filling seating on the hubs like they should. I’ll either need to take the hubs off and take them to a machine shop (best fix but most work now) or take the rotors and have them clearanced a little bit (easiest fix for now, but would probably have to do it to all future rotors).

 

[RustyRatRod]

Are those US Cartool frame connectors? ......and I hope you told Parker what a big help he was!

 

[75slant6]

Are those US Cartool frame connectors? ......and I hope you told Parker what a big help he was!

No sir, these are home made 2x3 units. If you look in post #297 you can see Trailbeast’s pattern that I went off of to build them. Can’t wait to drive the car and see how much it’s stiffened up!
Yeah, Parker gets love and admiration heaped upon him any time he wants it and often times even when he doesn’t!

 

[moparmat2000]

Well... you would THINK I’d learned my lesson last time I got sick from lack of ventilation but NOPE!! Saturday, when I worked on that header all evening, cutting and welding, I didn’t have any type of forced air movement. Well, Saturday night I didn’t feel real great and when I woke up Sunday morning at 7:30 I felt like absolute crap! Crazy sinus pressure, sore throat and coughing. I slept off and on until 11:30 and felt like crap the rest of the day. Yesterday morning, same story, just not as bad. Now today it basically just feels like I have a head cold. But dammit, I learned my lesson!! Had my wife pick up a box fan for me at Walmart Sunday afternoon.

Last evening I got new bearing races and longer wheel studs put in my 66-70 mustang drum hubs (required to run the 03-04 Cobra brake kit on the mustang ii spindle) I got the one side brakes mocked up and put the wheel on to checkout the look and check the different simulated ride heights. I might have to run the car on the highest setting to start with, which should be 3/4-1” lower than I had it with the torsion bars. If I can run it in the middle setting, I will. That would probably be about 1-1.5” lower than it was and it looks SWEET! Eventually, if possible, I’ll roll the fender lip and do pretty well whatever it takes to run it on the lowest setting. I forgot to take pics of what the different settings look like, so y’all will just have to stay in suspense at least until tomorrow night. Lol sorry.

Now for tonight’s progress. I intended on cutting out the transmission crossmember but I broke my only sawzall blade before I got the second side cut through. So I moved on to other things. First, I cut out the passenger rear floor finally.
View attachment 1715686979

I cleaned up that lip in the right side of the pic and painted it with some of that appliance epoxy paint but forgot to take a pic.
Next, I decided to FINALLY build the subframe connectors that I’ve had materials for for at least 3-4 years! I used @TrailBeast design but ended up making them 45” long and bending a 3” flap down at an angle at 35.5” vs a 2” at 34 3/4”.
View attachment 1715686977 View attachment 1715686980

Another thing I did differently, is I did some shaping of the rear section, at cut the rear floor pan in order to get the subframe connectors pushed hard up against the rear frame rails.
View attachment 1715686981 View attachment 1715686978

Here’s a few close ups of the welds just for the heck of it, or for y’all to bust my balls over.


View attachment 1715686982
This one was my best looking weld.
View attachment 1715686983
And these, down in the channel we’re my ugliest.
View attachment 1715686984
I going a hole in the ends (I started to, battery died) and dump a bunch of rustoleum paint in it, plug the hole, slosh it around, then dump it out. I’ll spray the outside with the appliance paint. I’m really starting to like that stuff!
View attachment 1715686985

Oh yeah, tonight, I had the box fan set in the window and turned on high! Much better! Garage wasn’t as smoke show at any time like it was other days.

Yup, looking good. Very similar to the homemade 2x3 box subframe connectors I installed in both cars. Clean, and inexpensive. I slotted the rear foot wells for them as well.

 

[racerjoe]

Long time, little progress. Haven’t been working on the car near as much as I should have been but I did get some more work done on the front suspension. Installed the coilovers last week, then this evening, I set the car down off the wheel cribs and got the ride height mostly set. I wasn’t expecting I was gonna be able to get the car quite this low but as long as the fender and tire don’t try to occupy the same space at the same time, I’m THRILLED to get it this low! Heck, I’m gonna get me a fender lip roller and roll the fender lips as much as I can and maybe see about dropping the front lower yet! Currently I have the center of the front wheel openings set at 23 7/8”. If clearance allows, I might see if I can’t get it down to 23 1/4-23 1/2”!

I did take a bunch of measurements for ground clearance at different points, here’s that list.
Header tube 3”
Header flange 3.5”
Bellhousing 4.5”
Oil drain plug 5 1/4”
Front Frame rail by angle brace 5 3/8”
Front rocker pinch 7 1/4”
Fender corner behind tire 8 3/16”
Rocker under front corner of door 8 3/8”
Frame by spring hanger 7 3/4”
Rear of rocker pinch 8 3/4”
Rear rocker 9 3/4”
Front wheel opening 23 7/8”
Rear wheel opening 26 3/4”

And now here are pictures.
View attachment 1715782488 View attachment 1715782489 View attachment 1715782490
As can be seen in list of measurements and in this picture ^ the backend needs to come down about 1-1 1/4” and hopefully this next picture will help with that… MP circle track springs, new bushings and new u-bolts. Just waiting on my new two position hangers to come in from Mancini racing. If that doesn’t get it down quite low enough, I’ll add a small drop block as needed, I know I’m going to need to add a few pinion shims anyway as my pinion angle is going the wrong direction.
View attachment 1715782491
One issue I did discover this evening is that the machined area on the back side of my rotors is a smaller diameter than the outer diameter of my hubs, so the rotors aren’t filling seating on the hubs like they should. I’ll either need to take the hubs off and take them to a machine shop (best fix but most work now) or take the rotors and have them clearanced a little bit (easiest fix for now, but would probably have to do it to all future rotors).

View attachment 1715782460

View attachment 1715782461

View attachment 1715782462

Good luck with those leaf springs. Mine didn’t last 10 miles before they flattened out and bent. I detail it in my build thread. You will also want to redrill the center pin forward. The location they come with will push the rear end back and it puts the shocks at an incorrect angle. I ended up trashing mine and went with hotchkis springs.

 

[75slant6]

Good luck with those leaf springs. Mine didn’t last 10 miles before they flattened out and bent. I detail it in my build thread. You will also want to redrill the center pin forward. The location they come with will push the rear end back and it puts the shocks at an incorrect angle. I ended up trashing mine and went with hotchkis springs.

How long ago was this? I’d heard about metal quality issues a few years ago but hadn’t seen anything recently. Hopefully they got it figured out.

 

[DionR]

Good luck with those leaf springs. Mine didn’t last 10 miles before they flattened out and bent. I detail it in my build thread. You will also want to redrill the center pin forward. The location they come with will push the rear end back and it puts the shocks at an incorrect angle. I ended up trashing mine and went with hotchkis springs.

I had a similar issue and was able to return them. Been 2.5 years at least now so maybe they have fixed the issue?

 

[75slant6]

I had a similar issue and was able to return them. Been 2.5 years at least now so maybe they have fixed the issue?

I sure hope they have. I’ll get em in next week and see how they turn out. Did you paint yours before you put them in? Half ways debating now about not painting them in case I have to send them back.

 

[DionR]

I sure hope they have. I’ll get em in next week and see how they turn out. Did you paint yours before you put them in? Half ways debating now about not painting them in case I have to send them back.

I did fog some black on them, but I think I kept the sticker clean?

Should be able to tell even before you get the shocks on. The front section of the leave spring was deformed in an S shape right from the start and I spend several hours trying to get the bottom shock mount on. I though it was an issue with the Bilstein's I was swapping on at the same time. Later on I figured out that the shock pin was like 20 degrees different from the upper mount. It was horrible.

Edit - I should add that I put the car on jack stands under the axle as soon as I had the springs and u-bolts on. With the axle hanging, I doubt I would have had the issues I did with the shock mount.

 

[75slant6]

I did fog some black on them, but I think I kept the sticker clean?

Should be able to tell even before you get the shocks on. The front section of the leave spring was deformed in an S shape right from the start and I spend several hours trying to get the bottom shock mount on. I though it was an issue with the Bilstein's I was swapping on at the same time. Later on I figured out that the shock pin was like 20 degrees different from the upper mount. It was horrible.

I’ll have to put em in as-is and see if it all bolts up good, then if all looks good, I’ll pull em and paint em. Still need to pull my transmission mount back out and have it blasted and paint that too. Goal is just to get it running/driving for MoParty in September.

 

[racerjoe]

How long ago was this? I’d heard about metal quality issues a few years ago but hadn’t seen anything recently. Hopefully they got it figured out.

I believe it was mid-2019. I sure hope they fixed the problem. They were terrible and a waste of $$ for me.