Rapom's Rocket - just another Duster build thread

-
Just read the entire thread up to now, great work on the Duster!

Are you bribable with homebrew beers to help improve my welding skills? I've got similar things to do to my Duster and right now my welds are pretty terrible.

I'm just down south in eastern PDX and have a nice barley wine sitting in bottles. :)
 
1st, to answer Motoblag's question: "Are you bribable with homebrew beers to help improve my welding skills? I've got similar things to do to my Duster and right now my welds are pretty terrible."
I am easily bribed with beer. Just so you know what meager welding skills I might posses are all self taught so I'm far from an expert. That said I'm more than willing to help out a fledgling fabricator. Send me a PM and we can set something up.
2nd, Sorry for the long silence lately. Have had my hands full getting my house and yard shipshape for my son's wedding and reception which we held here a couple of weeks ago. Now that the whirl winds have died down to their normal tornadic levels I have been able to spend some time on the car. Which means it's time for an update: Not only was the trunk floor rotted away but the tail panel lip under the trunk gasket was well on its way in several spots too, ref pic 1. A little cutoff wheel surgery removed the cancer and I used some trunk lid scraps to bend up some replacement patches. Pic 2 all welded in and pic 3 ground smooth. A skim coat of filler and it's sanded smooth and ready for primmer.

20160404_143048.jpg


20160404_142912.jpg


20160404_155817.jpg
 
Last edited:
Had some fun connecting the rear brake line to the axle hose in such a way that it wouldn't bind or rub/catch on the upper four link bar. Should of spent the $ on a longer hose but already had a new one sitting on the shelf so I made it work.

20160428_170931.jpg
 
Last edited:
Pic 1 Messing around with laying out the profile of the rear scoop cut.
Pic 2 Tried many different profiles but this is the one I settled on.
Pic 3 It's all over but the crying now if this isn't right.
Pic 4 Yeah baby!

20160430_174245.jpg


20160502_173732.jpg


20160507_102225.jpg


20160507_132830.jpg
 
Spent about a half day fiddling with the 4 link to get the axle sitting straight and setting an initial pinion angle. Put together an order to Summit for fittings and hose to install a return line to the fuel cell from the command center, redoing the filler hose from the cap to fuel cell for the third attempt at getting it right and all the bits and pieces needed for hooking up the engine and trans once they're back between the fenders. Your up to date.
 
Looking good! :thumbsup:

Oh, and for future reference on the brake hose a Dorman #H10304 is 17" long, which is about 3" longer than a stock hose.
 
My last entry was "Slow methodical progress" and that theme continues. Since my job is full time June thru Oct, part time the rest of the year, progress had slowed way down since my last post in May. I've spent Nov so far putting a floor in the attic of my shop and getting 3 cars worth of parts organized up there. Next on the "to do list" is to get the ceiling at least insulated so I can keep some heat in the shop this winter.
But all that doesn't mean I haven't "done nuthin" to the car! I installed a vent line for the Command Center back to the fuel cell (1/4" rubber fuel hose). Redid the filler hose from the quarter panel to the fuel cell for the 3rd time (now I'm finally happy with it). Got the passenger front fender lip rolled to match the driver's side. 98% of the body work is done on the front clip and the driver's side rocker panel. I rethought the exhaust system layout and then built some hangers for the mufflers to position them in their new location. Bought a 3" X pipe kit from Summit but still need to get the engine/trans installed to finish putting it together.
Made a template for an aluminum panel to separate the interior from the trunk and another to cover the electrics where the rear seat was removed. Need to get those over to the metal shop so they can bend them up. Pretty much figured out the rear rim specs needed to get 295s centered in the rear wheel wells. Really want a least a 315 as I have plenty of room but the tire selection sucks in a wide 18. Could go 19 in the back I guess.... I bought a new sway bar link and remade the one I welded together backwards which put the grease fittings in inaccessible positions. Bought some new straight plug ends for the MSD plug wires I picked up at the Portland swap meet 2 years ago but haven't finished cutting the wires and crimping on the ends yet. The new layout should really clean up the look of the engine. Picked up a dome light off ebay and made a new wiring harness for it. I've got some other mods going but I'll hold off on those until I make more progress and get some pictures taken.
 
Last edited:
THREAD IS NOT DEAD!!! I am ashamed to say I never got the ceiling of the shop insulated and some source of heat installed so very little is going on with the car lately. We have a foot of snow on the ground and it was 10 degrees yesterday morning according to the wife's car. Nothing going to happen anytime soon. When it does I will be back with an update, promise.
 
I have an update in the works but having an issue with transferring the pics off my phone to the computer which is telling me no photos exist? Will post once I get this bug exterminated.
 
Well now you can stop your wunder'in cause all is not lost. In the most roundabout way possible I got the pics transferred so I can show you all that progress is underway once again. Video of my friend's painted and now running Hemi Dart prompted me to get back out in that cold a.s shop and get back to work. Welded the oil filter relocation bracket to the cowl. Made some "gaskets" out of 3/32nds sheet rubber to go between the inner fender sheet metal and the Command Center mounting brackets as a precaution to dampen any vibration which might be transferred from the electric pump in the tank. Finalized the hose routing, mounting and hook ups going to and from the Command Center. Next big step is to mate the engine and trans and get them installed so I can move on to the next round of issues to resolve. Templates for the interior panels are getting dropped off at the metal benders tomorrow for fab. Feels good to get back at it again.

20170228_174526.jpg
 
Last edited:
Progress report:
Made a little filler plate to close off the gap between the top of the radiator and core support. A bit of help for air flow. Had an aluminum panel bent up for a block off panel between the interior and trunk. Needs a bit more massaging to get it to fit. Slow tedious work. No pics till it's done. Here's some pics of the MOTORVADER with the FiTech installed. Still haven't finished the plug wires.

20170324_130104.jpg


20170307_172223.jpg


20170310_152300.jpg
 
Is your Front bumper Tucked in a bit? I was thinking on notching my Bumper brackets to slide the bumper back towards the grille a bit. I think that should help with the looks A lot.
 
Yes in fact I pulled both ends in 1.5 inches. I posted a how to in a thread called "Bumper Brackets" (do a search as I can't seem to link it). My front bumper had standard bracket mounts and the rear had shock mounts The front is pretty easy to do, the rear takes some bracket fab and drilling a few holes. Because the stock rear bumper ends up sticking out past the quarters so far I ended up replacing it with a 72 bumper. I showed how I did this on page 5 of this thread starting at post 108.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top