The A-Body With A Job
- Thread starter YoungBlood
- Start date
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YoungBlood
Jolt the Squares
A lot has happened in a weeks time, and my bank account is hating me for it.
Its all for the greater good:
Previously, I had my entire front suspension, minus torsion bars and shocks, priced out to be Moog items through RockAuto, and all was well Until I ran across a study done by the company Just Suspension in a link slantsixdan posted in the suspension/steering forum under a thread regarding the suggested use of Moog Ball Joints.
Sure, one company is going to smear another, but this was pure fact and I was admittedly heartbroken. They tore down their own Ball Joint and Moogs Ball Joint for a side-by-side comparison. At first glance, the Moog joint looks like the way to go: beefier, thicker, shinier (if that matters to anyone)--but once it was tore down the Moog joint clearly has inferior seals and grease passages (which is huge to me when it comes to a ball joint, as I want the grease reacting and shifting instantly with the road reaction the ball joint is surprised with) and to top it off the Just Suspension Ball Joint has a forged shank! Is the Moog Ball Joint an option now? Not even close.
Immediately I went to Just Suspensions site and began pricing out ball joints for my 73 upper control arms and spindles. These ran $170, F*** it, buy em I told myself. Now, what about the rest of the suspension components? For the next ten minutes I was hunting through Just Suspensions site seeing things like exuberantly priced performance tie rod ends and high-dollar adjusting sleeves that werent even solid steel. Pitman Arms for $160? I cant do it...
Well, I soon learned you have to draw a line in the sand with what youre comfortable with. I went ahead and bought everything else Moog brand, including 11/16 Tie Rods, through RockAuto for $350 to my door.
You get what you pay for in this world; I guess I will take a gamble on my remaining suspension parts being Moog and their several decade-long track-record. Ive always been a fan of Moog, dont get me wrong, its just for this I am doing my best to pull out all stops to the best that I can afford.
Next to those parts I got a screaming deal on Performance Suspension Technology 1.03 Torsion bars, Poly Seals, and Clips for $250 to my door, which will round out nicely with a set of Hotchkis RCD Bilstein shocks for another $400 when I can afford it.
I also got bit by the bug for some new wheels. When going down the performance suspension route for my car, I completely ignored an integral part of the driving experience: what f***ing rims am I going to use?
This came after a conversation with a vendor who politely let me know that I was wasting my money going this far with my suspension to slap on some shi*tty, chipped, rusted-out 15 Cragars. This left me in a quandary as I hadnt budgeted for this, but since I was going to save $800 on my motor, why not get this ***** some dancing shoes?!
The problem was I hated anything over 15 rims on a Duster, until 2 days later when a member here suggest I take a look at a certain fellows thread And sweet Aunt Jamima did I find the wheels I liked! They were 2005 Mustang Bullitt Edition 17x8s. There was one little problem though, the backspacing. This option suggested the use of wheel spacers, which I will never be comfortable doing any hard-cornering with. So I set out on the hunt for what I needed and succeeded. These rims were affordable, the perfect fit, and holy hell were they handsome!
These rims are Summit Racing 17x8 Legend 5s in Gunmetal Finish. I buy them for $613 with shipping included. The next day I find out they are the generic version of a Foose wheel appropriately named Legends that are supposedly very popular and retail at $249/each.
Moving on to other integral car upgrades, I recently visited a companys website named XV Motorsports and came across their chassis stiffening systems. I watched their little 2 minute video showing how much flex this little red Cuda received under rigid conditions. Shocking.
Do I want all these chassis stiffening parts now? Yes. Can I afford them? No. Am I a good fabricator and can whip all of this up myself? Why absolutely!
I already have tubing and 10 steel pipe (cut for me by B569RR over at bigblockdart, thanks Tom!) for the subframe connectors and driveshaft loops, so I previously committed to doing those myself.
The lower radiator support brace, inner fender braces, and engine compartment brace I will tackle myself.
I suggest if you dont have the resources to do these yourself, I highly recommend buying these through XV and have them installed on your A-Body. Suddenly your car wont Drive like a Dodge Dart my made-up Grandpa* would always say.
*I may or may not have had a Grandfather who actually said that.
Also, I wanted a chin spoiler for looks/aerodynamics (and to tastefully install fog lights in), but the re-pop Duster ones weren't tall enough for my liking. So I took a gamble and bought this one for $25.00. I'm not proud of what it's from, so I will let you guys figure it out...
Its all for the greater good:
Previously, I had my entire front suspension, minus torsion bars and shocks, priced out to be Moog items through RockAuto, and all was well Until I ran across a study done by the company Just Suspension in a link slantsixdan posted in the suspension/steering forum under a thread regarding the suggested use of Moog Ball Joints.
Sure, one company is going to smear another, but this was pure fact and I was admittedly heartbroken. They tore down their own Ball Joint and Moogs Ball Joint for a side-by-side comparison. At first glance, the Moog joint looks like the way to go: beefier, thicker, shinier (if that matters to anyone)--but once it was tore down the Moog joint clearly has inferior seals and grease passages (which is huge to me when it comes to a ball joint, as I want the grease reacting and shifting instantly with the road reaction the ball joint is surprised with) and to top it off the Just Suspension Ball Joint has a forged shank! Is the Moog Ball Joint an option now? Not even close.
Immediately I went to Just Suspensions site and began pricing out ball joints for my 73 upper control arms and spindles. These ran $170, F*** it, buy em I told myself. Now, what about the rest of the suspension components? For the next ten minutes I was hunting through Just Suspensions site seeing things like exuberantly priced performance tie rod ends and high-dollar adjusting sleeves that werent even solid steel. Pitman Arms for $160? I cant do it...
Well, I soon learned you have to draw a line in the sand with what youre comfortable with. I went ahead and bought everything else Moog brand, including 11/16 Tie Rods, through RockAuto for $350 to my door.
You get what you pay for in this world; I guess I will take a gamble on my remaining suspension parts being Moog and their several decade-long track-record. Ive always been a fan of Moog, dont get me wrong, its just for this I am doing my best to pull out all stops to the best that I can afford.
Next to those parts I got a screaming deal on Performance Suspension Technology 1.03 Torsion bars, Poly Seals, and Clips for $250 to my door, which will round out nicely with a set of Hotchkis RCD Bilstein shocks for another $400 when I can afford it.
I also got bit by the bug for some new wheels. When going down the performance suspension route for my car, I completely ignored an integral part of the driving experience: what f***ing rims am I going to use?
This came after a conversation with a vendor who politely let me know that I was wasting my money going this far with my suspension to slap on some shi*tty, chipped, rusted-out 15 Cragars. This left me in a quandary as I hadnt budgeted for this, but since I was going to save $800 on my motor, why not get this ***** some dancing shoes?!
The problem was I hated anything over 15 rims on a Duster, until 2 days later when a member here suggest I take a look at a certain fellows thread And sweet Aunt Jamima did I find the wheels I liked! They were 2005 Mustang Bullitt Edition 17x8s. There was one little problem though, the backspacing. This option suggested the use of wheel spacers, which I will never be comfortable doing any hard-cornering with. So I set out on the hunt for what I needed and succeeded. These rims were affordable, the perfect fit, and holy hell were they handsome!
These rims are Summit Racing 17x8 Legend 5s in Gunmetal Finish. I buy them for $613 with shipping included. The next day I find out they are the generic version of a Foose wheel appropriately named Legends that are supposedly very popular and retail at $249/each.
Moving on to other integral car upgrades, I recently visited a companys website named XV Motorsports and came across their chassis stiffening systems. I watched their little 2 minute video showing how much flex this little red Cuda received under rigid conditions. Shocking.
Do I want all these chassis stiffening parts now? Yes. Can I afford them? No. Am I a good fabricator and can whip all of this up myself? Why absolutely!
I already have tubing and 10 steel pipe (cut for me by B569RR over at bigblockdart, thanks Tom!) for the subframe connectors and driveshaft loops, so I previously committed to doing those myself.
The lower radiator support brace, inner fender braces, and engine compartment brace I will tackle myself.
I suggest if you dont have the resources to do these yourself, I highly recommend buying these through XV and have them installed on your A-Body. Suddenly your car wont Drive like a Dodge Dart my made-up Grandpa* would always say.
*I may or may not have had a Grandfather who actually said that.
Also, I wanted a chin spoiler for looks/aerodynamics (and to tastefully install fog lights in), but the re-pop Duster ones weren't tall enough for my liking. So I took a gamble and bought this one for $25.00. I'm not proud of what it's from, so I will let you guys figure it out...
dusterbd13
Well-Known Member
camaro spoiler?
im actually working on widening an s10 spoiler for mine. needs about 3 inches more width to be perfect.
im waiting to see how yours looks when its bolted on.
Michael
im actually working on widening an s10 spoiler for mine. needs about 3 inches more width to be perfect.
im waiting to see how yours looks when its bolted on.
Michael
cuda65vpt
cuda65vpt
Man, if you build that car like you write it's gonna be something. I can't seem to type more than a few sentences before I lose it.
YoungBlood
Jolt the Squares
You're good my friend. 69 Camaro. Z28 style I think?
The width was near dead on to what I wanted. The outer edges should leave about the outer 1/3 of the front tires visible when looking straight on. I couldn't pass it up for the price. I didn't buy the mounting brckets and hardware as it's very unlikely it will bolt on in any way similar to a 69 Camaro, but if it looks like it could be close I'm going back for those for $20.
Also, this choice of chin spoiler has changed my choice of hood scoop to the Challenger T/A style. A fully functional fresh air scoop is important to my build and the 4-5 hour trip plans I have.
I did some comparisons with them on the computer and Camaro spoiler and T/A scoop's lines will flow nicely together, and multiply the aggressiveness of the car greatly!
I will have a Trans Am Duster fellas haha. Should look good.
YoungBlood
Jolt the Squares
Thank you. I hope the car does turn out nice.
I have a blog I try to get to daily, have written half a novel, a fully finished fiction novel, and a full 90 minute original screenplay for a film one of my best friend's and I are trying to make. I'm not going to say his name. All I will say is he is an actor living in Studio City, CA who actually gets work in film & television though, which is very hard. You, or your children, have seen his face and heard his voice... I promise you that.
I haven't gone out of my way to try and publish anything. I write something, think it's good, and then don't like it 6 months later. Hopefully this will change with age as it would be neat to get my work out for the world to enjoy. My unexpected injuries have slowed a lot of things down though. Typing one-handed and all, etc.
My buddy, the actor, dropped what he was doing when I came-to, flew up that morning, stayed by my bedside that day talking to me when I couldn't return the conversation, and flew back that night to get back to whatever he was doing.
That's a f***ing friend right there.
YoungBlood
Jolt the Squares
I check my e-mail this morning to see how all my newly purchased friends were doing and where they were in their travels of the American Shipping System. All appeared to be well, except one thing, my set of Torsion Bars from PST.
Note, these were the first of the suspension products ordered on Jan. 26th. Every other suspension piece was ordered on the 28th and I had shipping confirmations for each of those vendors as of this morning. No biggie. I think to myself.
But a gut feeling told me I better check, and boy am I glad I did.
I call. For some reason instead of them needing my order number, they ask for my zip code, then year and make of my car to look everything up (I pray they do this for some kind of social study of what classic cars are in what areas of the United States because thats a helluva scary record keeping system).
So, Dude checks, I wait in silence for 2 minutes (quite a frickin while). Dude comes back and says: Yep, shipping today. Should be 7-10 days to California.
Im in Washington.
What? Oh. Jeez. Okay Long story short, the Torsion Bars are shipping out today, to the correct address.
Sure glad I called.
Note, these were the first of the suspension products ordered on Jan. 26th. Every other suspension piece was ordered on the 28th and I had shipping confirmations for each of those vendors as of this morning. No biggie. I think to myself.
But a gut feeling told me I better check, and boy am I glad I did.
I call. For some reason instead of them needing my order number, they ask for my zip code, then year and make of my car to look everything up (I pray they do this for some kind of social study of what classic cars are in what areas of the United States because thats a helluva scary record keeping system).
So, Dude checks, I wait in silence for 2 minutes (quite a frickin while). Dude comes back and says: Yep, shipping today. Should be 7-10 days to California.
Im in Washington.
What? Oh. Jeez. Okay Long story short, the Torsion Bars are shipping out today, to the correct address.
Sure glad I called.
DUSTERDOWNS
Well-Known Member
save your time and sweat, I'll sell you my 70 340 4 spd Duster and you can drive it home smiling all the way. Just send $30.000.00 cash and it is all yours and I can start on my next dream.
YoungBlood
Jolt the Squares
$29,900, not a dime more :iconbigg:
340demon
old man
YoungBlood Might be able to help with your project I have a 318 short block that I had in my Demon Rebuilt it many years Back (Has about 15000 mileon it) to get back and forth to work stock with the stock cam from the 340. got 21 mpg with 2.76 gears and a 4 speed it would go about 130 top speed in 3rd slow down when went to 4th if you are interested could make you VERY GOOD deal we are only abuot 2 hr max from each other pm me if you think this might help
YoungBlood
Jolt the Squares
They're here! The Summit 'Legend 5' 17x8's with 4.5 backspacing.
Wow, these are awesome. These will aid in performance handling, yes, they will...
Wow, these are awesome. These will aid in performance handling, yes, they will...
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