Rapom's Rocket - just another Duster build thread

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As I understand front rim fitment issues with stock A arms: 15" rims - backspace is limited by tie rod end and, depending on type of upper ball joint, the grease fitting. 17" rims - grease fitting problem solved but tie rod still limits amount of backspacing. 18" rims - tie rod clearance solved which allows much deeper backspacing. Now the width of the stock A arms can become a contact point at full or near full lock of the steering along with tire contact at the fender corners, fender lip and frame rails when trying to fit the max width tire/rim package in front. Fitment of any tire/rim is dependent upon the particular car and what the package of brakes, suspension components, ride height settings, alignment and the tire choice itself. Aftermarket A arms, along with their greater adjustability, are usually narrower than stock A arms due to the way they are constructed so that solves ONE of the problems.
 
Mini update:
Got another project in my shop this week (friends son's car) so progress once again has slowed to a snails pace on the Duster. I did get some things accomplished over the last few days. First was painting my upper A arms and installing the offset bushings and new ball joints (PIC 1). I waited until I got my hands on the correct tools which not only makes the job much easier but also greatly reduces the risk of buggering up your freshly painted pieces and/or new repair parts. If your serious about doing your own suspension work on your beloved Mopar then you should invest in the correct tools to do it right. My two friends and I share parts, tools and time on our projects so you don't have to buy everything yourself. If you don't have any Mopar buddies then its high time to go out and make some. One of the must have tools IMHO is a front end bushing removal/installation kit like this one from Mancini (PIC 2 & 3). Another is a torsion bar removal tool (I actually made my own a few years ago out of necessity). This kit has sockets for both large and small upper ball joints, upper A arm bushing tool and a lower A arm pivot pin/bushing tool. My ball joints were in so tight that I nearly bent a 1/2" breaker bar trying to bust them loose. They just laughed at both of my impact drivers. I resorted to using the handle off my floor jack as an extension on the breaker bar so don't even think your going to use a pipe or crescent wrench to remove them. My tip of the day: get the correct socket and leave the A arms installed on the car until they're broken free. Save yourself a lot of frustration.
I put a thin film of anti seize compound on the ball joint threads and the outer shells of the bushings and they cranked right in without any hysterics.
Today I cleaned up the drivers side front wheel well and welded up about 10 unused screw holes in the inner fender panel. After the passenger side is prepped I will touch up the paint and undercoating then reinstall the upper A arms.
 

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rapom65 said:
DionR - I searched Ebay for wiring suppliers and purchased from two sources. 20' of 1/0 cable through acdcelectricparts for $53 (free shipping) and 25' each of red and black 4awg cable from temco_industrial_power for $53 + 5 for shipping. That was plenty of wire length to do the car front to back. Had an issue with temco's shipping as they coiled the wire up in a tight roll and stuffed it in a shipping bag. The outer coils of wire got quite beat up from the lack of protection. They offered to replace it. If ordering from them I would get assurance that they would box it first.
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Thanks!

Sorry about the delayed replay. I can't seem to fix my root wiring issue, so I haven't even looked for stuff for my battery relocation.
 
Dion what's going on with your wiring, maybe we can help?


So, been doing the nasty with my front wheel wells. Cleaning impregnated road grime off/out of 40 year old undercoating not my idea of fun. An abrasive wheel in a electric drill, a small fine bristle wire brush, an old tooth brush, lots of mineral spirits, rags and butt loads of elbow grease got everything cleaned up. This in prep for the new coat of semigloss black on the frame rails and fresh layer of undercoat over the existing.

Forgot the before pic!~~~ Here is the results:
 

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Cleaning impregnated road grime off/out of 40 year old undercoating not my idea of fun. An abrasive wheel in a electric drill, a small fine bristle brush, an old tooth brush, lots of mineral spirits, rags and butt loads of elbow grease got everything cleaned up.
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A good heat gun and a gasket scraper would have been handy.

Looks good, I remember doing mine when I got it, not a fun task by any stretch.
 
I've completely stripped the undercoating on 3 different A bodies in the past. Swore to myself after the last one that I'd never do it gain. The undercoat on this car was in exceptional shape so I've only been removing it where necessary to do mods like the passenger front floor pan replacement and the 4 link install. Just been cleaning the existing and giving it a refresh coat concentrating on areas that were light/missed by the original application. I admit it's more than anal to work so hard on something that most would blow off as totally unnecessary, but, this is the culmination of years of planning and parts accumulation for my vision of the "ultimate Duster" (budget constrained & 100% done by me) so I'm going the extra mile in every aspect. Anal might not be a strong enough description!!!
 
rapom65 said:
Dion what's going on with your wiring, maybe we can help?
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Charging issues. Started over a year ago when one night the amp gauge showed a hard discharge and then the next morning it showed a huge overcharge (pegs to the right at start and then middle of the charge side at a high idle). I’ve been fighting it ever since, car has been sitting the whole time. Recently replaced the battery which finally got the amp gauge to read right (comes down to center after running awhile), but now I am reading 15.5v or so across the battery posts. Had the alternator tested and replaced the voltage regulator with no change. Used 67Dart273’s process to check for voltage drop and I do in fact have a huge drop at the blue wire on the alternator (1.5-2v). I’ve checked and cleaned connections, replaced the wiring harness under the hood, pulled the harness under the dash and checked it and cleaned the connections at the bulkhead, swapped in a different amp gauge, removed the amp gauge from the circuit entirely and plugged a different ignition switch into the harness. Nothing seems to help. Even went and replaced the ignition box in case it was drawing a bunch of voltage or something.

The weird thing is, I get a voltage drop at just about every connection leading out to the alternator, and each location is worse than the other. For example, I get no voltage drop on the red wire at the amp gauge, .2v drop on the black wire at the amp gauge, .75v drop at the ignition switch, 1v at the bulkhead and 1.2v at the engine wiring harness plug. Why does it just get worse?

The only thing I can think of that is left is the welded splice, but I don’t see why I would get a drop on one side of the amp gauge if that was the issue since the welded splice is after that.

I don’t believe this is an issue with the bulkhead connection, this is a voltage drop on the blue wire when the car is not running, and it happens under the dash as well. Plus, I get zero voltage drop on the red wire at the amp gauge which tells me the connection at the bulkhead is fine on the main power feed. So I don’t believe the MAD conversion is worth doing or will fix my issue.

Nor do I think the amp gauge is the problem since I removed it and it didn't change anything.

Know anybody that wants an original ’74 Duster 360 4 speed car? It runs, but shouldn't be driven. :violent1:

BTW, car looks good!
 
Ahhh, I remember reading your thread on this problem. I'll dig out my wiring schematic and see what my considerable brain power, all .000003 milliwatt of if, can come up with. Electrical problems can be a real beeotch at times.
 
Awesome build rapom65, I just went threw your build and I kinda like your cowl hood, gave me a good idea for an old cheby cowl and spare hood I have, thanks!
 
olddog12 said:
Awesome build rapom65, I just went threw your build and I kinda like your cowl hood, gave me a good idea for an old cheby cowl and spare hood I have, thanks!
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Thanks guys. We don't keep secrets on this here thread so spill the beans. I showed you mine lets see yours!
 
Hmm...thought I was getting somewhere. Cleaned up the wire ends at the amp gauge (again) and bolted them together with a short bolt and nut, removing the amp gauge. Probed that connection, plus the red wire at the ignition switch plug and got zero volt drop. Finally making some progress.

Turned the key on to probe the blue wire and I'm back to .75v drop on the blue wire. And the connection bypassing the amp gauge and the red wire at the ignition switch are showing voltage drop again. Key off, no drop. Key on voltage drop.

Could the ignition switch do that? Don't understand why I would see a drop before the switch.

I did try another switch earlier, but maybe it was bad too? It wasn't new, so I guess it is possible.

Good grief.
 
Looks like we lost a few posts about DionR's electrical problem. I had written a lengthy response on additional things he could check and or try but it disappeared in the server crash. I see he has new replies on his original thread by guys much more knowledgeable than me in auto electrics which covered much of what I was suggesting.

DionR I would definitely borrow or buy a high quality voltmeter if you have been using the Harbor Freight unit you started with when doing these checks. And don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I'm also dealing with mysterious electrical glitch(s) on a friend's car and it's driving me nuts.
 
Looks like my reply's got lost, too.

One of them was related to the last post of mine that didn't get lost in which I stated (in the lost post) that I am an idiot and didn't understand that a circuit won't show a voltage drop when the circuit is dead. Might as well wave one of the test probes from my multi-meter in the air and claim I have no voltage drop. I got a voltage drop after turning the key on because the circuit was completed. Duh.

They are helping in the other thread, but something is still weird. Still think the alternator is the source of my problem, but wont know until I get a different one to try on the car.

I do appreciate the help, though. Hope I didn't come across as not caring.
 
Heck no, I saw your post and wrote a long involved response but, my luck, posted it just before the crash. I'm no electrician so my help is limited. The guys helping you now seem to know their stuff, I would pick there brains until they run out of ideas. If you get too frustrated with it it might be worth the $ to have an auto electrician have a go at it. I've reached the age where I realized it would cost the same as replacing all the tools I'd huck across the garage in rage!
 
rapom65 said:
The guys helping you now seem to know their stuff, I would pick there brains until they run out of ideas.
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I'm afraid I might have made them mad, none of the three seem to have responded.

Or maybe they are just on a hiatus.

rapom65 said:
If you get too frustrated with it it might be worth the $ to have an auto electrician have a go at it.
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That has been my wife's suggestion. Might still do that, but not until I try a different alternator to see if it is related.

rapom65 said:
I've reached the age where I realized it would cost the same as replacing all the tools I'd huck across the garage in rage!
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LOL!
 
"One small step for man...."
Car time is getting very limited in my household but I managed to clean up the cam bolt hardware yesterday and reinstalled the rebuilt A arms today.
 

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Sorry to let this thread sit in limbo for the last 5 weeks but with all that's been happening lately I haven't even given the car a thought, let alone work on it. The holidays, family commitments, fall house and yard maintenance and a couple of unforeseen events have all conspired to take away my beloved car time. A week or two ago, its all starting to blur, Mother Nature gave me a backhanded Christmas gift by doing some significant wind damage to our row of large pine trees on our back property line. Lots of chain saw work and hauling off load after load of limbs and branches. Thanks Mom.

Promise as soon as something of interest occurs with the car I'll be back with an update.

Here's hoping everyone is having a great Christmas, mine has been super so far. Lets make the new year a happy one too.
 
Very cool! I just started a thread on my 73. I just finished my front end rebuild. Quite satisfying to bolt on the rims!
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