Rapom's Rocket - just another Duster build thread

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Hi Anders, yep that's the tread. Just started looking at your project. Looks like I'very got a lot of reading to do.
 
Oh, there's not much to see there, really. Progress has been slow. Starting back up now after a winter hiatus, though!
 
Same here. My laziness in getting the ceiling of the shop closed up pretty much put a halt to winter progress on the car. I'm hard at it again now though and will have some updates soon. Been doing a lot of research on tires trying to find an alternative to the tires I really want (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) which must have belts wound out of gold wire instead of steel. I keep changing my mind on rims, just can't seem to find something I can commit to. So much left to do. It is pretty daunting if you spend too much time thinking about it. Got to eat this elephant one bite at a time.
 
rapom65 said:
Same here. My laziness in getting the ceiling of the shop closed up pretty much put a halt to winter progress on the car. I'm hard at it again now though and will have some updates soon. Been doing a lot of research on tires trying to find an alternative to the tires I really want (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) which must have belts wound out of gold wire instead of steel. I keep changing my mind on rims, just can't seem to find something I can commit to. So much left to do. It is pretty daunting if you spend too much time thinking about it. Got to eat this elephant one bite at a time.
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He he. Gold Radial. That could be a thing. :)

I saw a dude who had some Yokohama tires on an old 'vette (I believe) race car. He had painted Good Year on the sides to make them look period correct. Looked into them?
 
I've looked at just about everything believe me. Got to be a realist and balance cost vs actual usage (mostly street), tread life and wet/dry performance. I'm reading mostly good reports on the Mickey Thompson Street Comps for an affordable (1/2 the price) to the Pilot SS. Pilot's are the top of the heap at the moment but you pay to play that game. I live in the Pacific NW. It rains a lot. Like it or not I have to deal with that reality. On the highway you (should) never operate at the speeds to utilize what a premium tire can provide so why spend the extra coin? If I get into more road course type usage, as I hope to, I'll put together a dedicated race tire/rim package.
 
Been getting some body work done on the drivers front fender and both rear quarters, where I filled in the marker light openings, which are nice and shapely now. The passenger side of the car has parking lot rash but no dents to deal with. That leaves the tail light panel which has a few spots of cancer around several of the bolt holes for the lights and some trim holes to fill. This car has suffered from a long term moisture problem in the trunk area which has resulted in wide spread rust damage everywhere. Annoying and time consuming to fix but has to be done.
Pic 1: This is the aluminum panel I had made to block off the trunk from the interior. Pic 2: I used 1/8" x 1" aluminum angle to make some brackets and constructed a frame around the opening to attach the panel to. Pic 3: Frame is riveted to the inner wheel wells and the trunk hinge brackets.
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Pic 1: About 17 pages ago I built and installed a radiator cross member. Pic 2: Back then I had an idea on how to deal with the way it hung below the bumper and now I'm turning that vision into reality. Pics 3 & 4: The plan is to build an air dam with a center cut out to channel air up into the radiator along with brake cooling ducts incorporated on each side. I had a dam bent up and have been working on the shape and how to mount it for a while now. I'm close to final trimming, welding and drilling holes to put it all together. Pic 5: Side view with card stock templates for the side panels. Pic 6: Brake duct mock up on Passenger's side. I have spindle mount ducts and 3" hose, which I have to make some mounting tabs for, that I'll post a picture of tomorrow.
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I like it! :thumbsup:

Except at the corners. I would take them out to the end of the bumper, like so...

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Darkened up a little
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I really like what you did there. But... stretching the dam out to the bumper ends would really complicate the side panels as they would be a couple inches proud of the fender bottoms where I have to attach them to. With my current mounts I was going to trim the ends of the dam approximately where you see the green tape so it would sort of have your shape only narrower. I'll play with it and see what I can finagle.
 
Here is a better pic of the air dam from a different perspective. As promised I played with and then finagled the ends of the dam but didn't accomplish a dang thing. Because it is not attached to the bumper, only to the radiator cross member and fender bottoms, I couldn't come up with anything better than what was already there. Sure like Blu's frontal treatment a lot better although I like the way the side panels keep the shape of the fender bottom uncluttered.
And these are the pics of the spindle mount ducts I said I would post. I didn't think you guys really needed a pic of 3" tubing, do you??? Going to have to fab up some tabs that will utilize the dust shield bolt holes in the spindle to mount these. The plan is to have all the ducts permanently mounted without the tubing installed for street use and then when I'm at the track I can easily slip on the tubes and go racing. On the street the ducts would be counter productive as they would actually keep the semi metallic pads too cool which would decrease the brakes efficiency.
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Looking forward to an update! Is it going to make it to the show at Mariner HS June 3rd?
 
Yeah, 3 June 2022 at the rate I'm going! Wifey has been visiting family for the last two weeks and I had high hopes of getting a bunch done in her absence. Nope...well at least on the car. I am working on that update but my phone and computer are not playing well together so getting photos downloaded continues to be an issue.
 
rapom65 said:
Same here. My laziness in getting the ceiling of the shop closed up pretty much put a halt to winter progress on the car. I'm hard at it again now though and will have some updates soon. Been doing a lot of research on tires trying to find an alternative to the tires I really want (Michelin Pilot Super Sports) which must have belts wound out of gold wire instead of steel. I keep changing my mind on rims, just can't seem to find something I can commit to. So much left to do. It is pretty daunting if you spend too much time thinking about it. Got to eat this elephant one bite at a time.
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TV set is what i say when i cant figure out what i want. Years ago i wanted a 55" flat screen TV . I'd do all my research, then go into Best Buy, and see all the bewildering amounts of flat screen TVs , i'd get frustrated, and walk out. I am getting closer to buying that big flat screen TV but not quite there yet. So when i cant decide on something, and get frustrated, i say "TV set".
 
Going to the show anyway? Haven't made it there in a couple of years, but planning to go this year.
 
We usually do but have not talked to my friends about going this year. I really need to spend every free moment working on this pig if it's ever going to get done.

TV SET!!!
 
Oh no, no, no I have not been slacken! You don't see a lot of progress gazing around my shop because all the progress has been small but "gotta get done" items.

1st, took a week off and went to Mopars, er, now "Muscle Cars at the Strip". Gotta vent: Hey guys if we don't support our Mopar shows the promoters can't get the vendors to support it and the thing dies a slow death, or it gets "included" in an all makes show like what happened to MATS. I was quite happy with the increased turn out of the Mopar folks this year but the show was down to one vendor aisle. My 1st year at MATS had 4 IIRC. Just a warning.

I did my part to keep the vendors coming back by dropping a few $ on some needed stuff.
Pic 1: Door windlace
Trunk lock set
Door lock set
Hinge pin repair kit
Firewall gasket set
Windshield squirters, hose, clamps and screws
Wiper pivot rebuild kit which includes zirks for greasing the shafts

My bud W2 Stroker thru me a bone by way of a new set of door handles and (Pic 2) a pre-bent set of front brake lines. THANXS MARTY!!

Classic Industries also got a call to order one of these (Pic3), (back ordered of course - showed up yesterday), thanks to a show discount. I need
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a shiny bumper right now like another hole in my head but the savings was irresistible.
 
I found a smaller reservoir to fit the clutch m/cyl that fits within the bracketry of the brake booster. This allowed me to delete the firewall mounted set up. Yeah! What's two more holes to weld up, and grind down, and refinish.
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Repaired a broken off ear on my grill and wire wheeled, de-greased and painted several hand fulls of grungy old factory hardware cuz I like using factory hardware. Time consuming.

I picked up this steering wheel for $20 at the swap meet in Vegas. Really liked the size and feel of the thick grip.
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I know I've been kabitzing about getting a Tuff Wheel for quite some time but haven't pulled the trigger. Thought I would see if maybe it could be made to mate up to the Tuff Wheel adapter I have on the column. Naa, didn't work.
 
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So I searched for a 9 bolt adapter for the new wheel and found this nice aluminum hub and horn button on line.
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Only problem was the wheel didn't fit it either. Crap! After a bit of online research found out this 4 spoke wheel has whats called a Formuling bolt pattern. For boats... So after much online searching I purchased this Lecarra wheel thru Summit which kind of melds the Tuff Wheel and the 4 spoke together...
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It just doesn't toot my horn for some reason.
 
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I ordered up another fuel filter to match up with the one supplied with the FiTech set up. Plumbed this one in as a pre filter between the mechanical fuel pump and the Command Center. Fuel system done and ready for a motor to feed.
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Spent a ridiculous amount of time and energy building these brackets to mount the brake ducts to the spindles. It was a fitment nightmare and then I had to make a mirror image duplicate for the other side. Still a lot of work left to do finishing up the ducts and building out the rest of the system.
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I've got more but got to go eat and clean up the kitchen. Y'all have a good Memorial Day and thank those who serve us if you get the opportunity.
 
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