The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster

[rmchrgr]

Great update! It's come a long way. If it makes you feel any better, my '66 is going on 18 years since it last ran. I just keep reminding myself that it's the journey, not the destination.

18 years? Damn! You're a trooper.

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel actually. It's faint but it's there. Right now I'm waiting on a new oil pump to arrive which should allow me to finish the engine. That will be a huge step. If I can get the wiring done that will also be a huge weight off my chest and I can really start putting stuff back together.

Patience, Grasshopper. Rome was not built in a day blah blah blah...

 

[mopowers]

18 years? Damn! You're a trooper.

I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel actually. It's faint but it's there. Right now I'm waiting on a new oil pump to arrive which should allow me to finish the engine. That will be a huge step. If I can get the wiring done that will also be a huge weight off my chest and I can really start putting stuff back together.

Patience, Grasshopper. Rome was not built in a day blah blah blah...

Luckily I've had various other running A-bodies to have fun with while the 18-yr build has been going on. I'm looking forward to wiring my '66. That'll be the last hurdle in my build and I'm definitely taking notes from following this thread. Keep it up!! I can't wait to see yours hit the road.

 

[abdywgn]

Thank-you for the explanation about your hip...gonna have to look that up and see what is all involved.

 

[rmchrgr]

Thank-you for the explanation about your hip...gonna have to look that up and see what is all involved.

To better put this in perspective, here are two images illustrating the two hip surgeries I've had.

To be clear, I completely shattered the hip. The way it happened was like when Charlie Brown goes to kick the football and Lucy pulls it away from him - he goes flying through the air horizontally and lands flat on his back. In my case, I lost concentration for a second when I saw some leaves in front of me coming down off a bowl wall. I stepped off the board awkwardly but my foot slipped on the leaves and the board shot out from under me. I was completely airborne sideways and when I came down I landed on my side with all my weight on concrete. Snap!

This pic is of the first repair from Nov. 2018. The idea behind this repair was to avoid replacement because the Dr. thought I was too young for it. (I was 48 at the time) It was actually an experimental procedure and I was one of only a handful of people in the world that had it done.

It was fine for a while but after a couple years it felt like I had pulled a muscle in the joint that wouldn't stretch out. Over time it became really uncomfortable and I was constantly aware of it - I knew there was something wrong. After limping around for almost a year, I went back to my Dr. and he confirmed the necrosis condition. The only way to fix it was replacement.

At one point I considered skipping the replacement but after watching my dad deteriorate into a limping, hunched over mess because of decades-old untreated injuries, I knew I had to get it taken care of.

This is the replacement joint. It's basically a ball joint. The ball is ceramic, the rest of it is Cobalt. That whole inner section of the hip bone is gone now. Kinda gives me the willies to think about that.

In any event, it's pretty much a non-issue now and I can do whatever I want physically. Frankly, I haven't had much drive to skate in the last few years but that's more due to the fact I'm out of shape than anything else.

 

[rmchrgr]

Late last week, my new 'blueprinted' HV oil pump arrived. Part of the blueprinting process is to enlarge and smooth the outlet port.

Pump outlet port.

Once I had the pump in hand, it was time to open up the port on the #5 main cap. I hemmed and hawed about this because I had already torqued it down and glued the rear main tabs in place. Unfortunately, it makes no sense to have an enlarged outlet port on the pump that meets a restriction at the main cap so I swallowed my fear of introducing metal debris into the engine and went for it. Opening up the port should ensure that whatever volume the pump can provide is actually what is in the system.

This is the stock #5 main cap. The black outline is the gasket opening. Note the step right below the surface.

I tried not to go nuts and make the opening too big. I mostly worked at smoothing the entry and any steps or rough parts of the passage. There was definitely some material removed from the step area as it was all bleneded smooth.

Here's the finished product. The opening does not match the gasket exactly but it's a far cry from the stock opening and should improve flow. I had to fight every fiber of my being not to take the cap back off and shave down that little area on the bottom right - it's good enough! Don't worry, I cleaned the crap out of it and it's spotless.

The bottom end can now go together for the final time. The pump, pickup and timing cover are on. Next I have to finish cleaning the oil pan out and set the pan gaskets in place. Oil pan gaskets are always nerve wracking for me and I strive to get them as perfect as possible to avoid leaks. I'm obviously using studs this time as well.

Note the marks on the front of the pan rail and bottom of the timing cover ears. The timing cover gasket sits a bit proud of the mating surfaces and it won't allow the pan rail gasket to sit flat. These little pieces of gasket will have to be carefully trimmed before the pan goes on.

Hope to have the motor buttoned up soon. After the oil pan, the damper goes on and the top end goes together. The valvetrain has to be set up but it's mostly just aligning the rocker rollers to the valve tips. Then it gets timed, primed and most likely dynoed.

More to come.

 

[rmchrgr]

This morning a glass guy came to my house and took out the windshield and backlight. I'm glad I didn't attempt this job myself. It would have taken hours and likely resulted in destroyed trim and broken windows. The guy had the front and rear glass out (both in one piece) within about 30 minutes. Sometimes it's best to pay a pro and get the job done right. Cool guy too as he is a long-time, winning roundy round racer.

Thankfully, the window channel and surrounding areas are in really nice shape. The outer parts of the gaskets were faded and shrunk but they were still flexible inside, it was almost a shame to cut them out. Happy to report though there was no rust, rot or any suspect repairs found underneath. It will take a bit of effort to get all the old sealant and dum dum out but it seems to come off fairly easily. Having the rear glass out will make securing and finishing the package tray panel doable rather than nearly impossible.

The windshield came out just as easily as the rear glass. It appears that it had been out once before since one of the dash screws is missing. I was surprised to see that as I thought all the glass was 1971 factory installed.

I've stated previously the main reason to get the glass out was to help facilitate the dash wiring. The dash will come out easily now and the wiring can be done on the bench.

Once the glass was out, I ended up removing the headliner. Back in 2016 I put it in without taking the front and rear glass out and it wasn't right. It didn't sag but it had a lot of wrinkles, some spots were tight, some were loose and overall it was a sub par job. After the glass came out I tried to pull it tight but the existing holes would have ended up in different spots. Plus, the places I cut it to stuff it under the gaskets were tearing and would have eventually gotten worse. It was basically a lost cause. IMO this job really can't be done right without pulling the glass out. So I get to do it again now but the result will be better this time. The shag carpeting stuff is sound/heat insulation from H.D.

One thing to note is that the sail panels really took a beating doing the headliner since they have to come out. They also can't be fully secured in this car because the main hoop is now in the way of the front screw. Not sure how to solve that yet.

This type of interior resto stuff is tedious and adds more work/time to the project but that's what happens when you cut corners and try to fudge the install the first time. Truth be told, this car has never been this far apart. It is a bit intimidating to be at this point but there's nowhere to go but forward now.

More to come.

 

[rumblefish360]

My son in law has a hip replacement like yours. His Doc told him he’ll need it replaced when his great grand kid finishes up his Doctor degree and residency.

 

[bjkadron]

Lots of rain here this weekend so I made some progress on rebuilding the 416" yesterday. After looking at the box for almost a year, I finally hung my new set of higher compression pistons on to the rods. This was a big step that I was actually kind of dreading.

Like anyone who has dealt with them, I detest Spriolox. It took me about five pistons (two locks per piston) before I was able to get them in efficiently without gouging up the inside of the wrist pin bore with the screwdriver tip. There always seems to be a point around the circumference where the lock just kind of hangs. You have to position it so it will flex and then you can work it down into the slot but it's not easy to get it there consistently, it's like a 'feel' type thing. There is nothing I could physically recognize about the process that was helpful to decrease the effort and do-overs until I realized the outside tangent of the lock had to be at a very specific angle at the same point every time. If I did this all the time I'd be better at it but once a year does not provide the muscle memory needed. It went painfully slow and I hate marring new parts but I had a method that I stuck to and eventually got it done with a minimum of destruction.

So the new slugs (Diamond 51008) are almost the same as the previous ones (Diamond 51410) but the new ones are flat tops while the previous ones were -21.5cc dish. Same compression height of 1.457". I think the flat tops might weigh a few grams more but it's probably negligible. I've spoken to several knowledgeable people and they all said there was no need to rebalance the rotating assembly which saves me a lot of hassle and money. Theoretically they should be the same zero deck as the previous ones.

I am going to transfer the existing rings from the old pistons to the flat tops. I spoke to Total Seal about it directly and they said it was fine to do that since the engine was only broken in and ran a few times on the dyno. I am very happy not to have to file new rings. This piston swap worked out pretty well!

View attachment 1716145684

I'm not quite ready to put the pistons in yet though. The block will need to be thoroughly cleaned before the crank goes back in. I may have mentioned a few posts back about needing to change the rod bearings as they were fairly scuffed up when I took it apart. Thankfully the mains seemed OK.

Not sure where all the dirt came from between building it and putting it on the dyno eight years ago but let's just say I didn't have a clean room at my old house and then it sat for a long time without being perfectly sealed up. I am using a 5 gallon bucket of real-deal parts washing solvent to clean stuff this time around. I need to be careful with it and not splash on any painted surfaces, it is nasty. When each piston and rod assembly was done they went back in the plastic shipping bags until I am ready to install them.

To be clear, the reason for swapping pistons is because I have a fancy new set of aluminum heads. Not sure if I've mentioned that here yet. I started the process of acquiring these particular parts almost exactly a year ago. Due to a lack of availability of certain parts because of supply chain issues and then waiting to get them machined properly, it took the better part of eight months for them to be finished and delivered. Honestly, they are things of beauty though and it was worth the wait. I don't know the flow numbers off hand but let's just say it's enough to make the kind of power that could push the stock block to it's limit.

Once the choice was made to go that route, it no longer made sense to stay with the dished pistons since the aluminum will tolerate a higher compression ratio. That obviously created a snowball effect - more squeeze changes the combustion dynamics so I've upgraded the cam to a 263/268 @ .050" solid roller. It never ends.

The hope is that the new combination of almost one point higher compression, the solid roller cam, larger headers and a somewhat "better" intake (Victor vs. Holley Strip Dominator, the Victor has a bigger plenum) should easily net a significant power increase over the previous combo of parts. It remains to be seen what the changes will do exactly but I'm betting there should be at least a 50-60hp gain over the previous 500hp number, maybe even more. The guy that did the heads thinks the car should be in the 10.20-10.30 1/4 mile range when all is said and done. I think I've created a bit of a monster.

More to come.

Did I miss it somewhere or did you say what the new heads are? Also is it the W heads you are taking off or was there another iteration at some point?

 

[rmchrgr]

Did I miss it somewhere or did you say what the new heads are?

BPE.

Also is it the W heads you are taking off or was there another iteration at some point?

The BPE's are replacing my IMM CNC ported RHS/Indy-X heads.

When I bought the RHS heads back in 2013, I was against aluminum heads. It was similar to how people like to prove a point by building up a Slant 6 or 318 - sure it can be done but just doesn't make a whole lot of sense when looking at it from a cost/performance standpoint. In the end, you end up with something that's no better than an average build with a better foundation.

I have no reasonable explanation for why I held on to that idea and I've since come to believe that aluminum heads are superior. That choice did cost me time and money though since save for a few dyno runs in 2014, the heads just sat unused.

The IMM/RHS are awesome heads though. They flow just about 300cfm on the intake side and made 500hp/500lbft of torque in my 416" with a 251 @ .050" solid F.T. cam. Problem is they are HEAVY. Like, REALLY heavy. They will get used eventually so I'm going to hang onto them but that's a project for another day.

The W2s came off a long time ago, it’s been about ten years at this point. After I bought the RHS, I sold all my W2 stuff at Carlisle - heads (#810), valves, pushrods, two intakes, Harland Sharp rockers, shafts and hold downs… all of it. I made decent money but part of me regrets doing that since it would cost a small fortune to buy it all back now.

The W2s needed work though. They weren’t cracked or anything but they were old and worn. The bowls had been touched up a little but they were nowhere near their ultimate potential. I never flowed them but I have no doubt the RHS were much better. Sure, they could have been monsters had I chosen to get them worked on but at the time I just didn’t want to sink a bunch of money into them so down the road they went.

The aluminum heads I have now flow a LOT of air. The ports are works of art. Plus, they have to be 50lbs lighter than iron heads and allow for almost a point more compression. They also don't require offset rockers so I saved money transferring the rocker gear from the RHS heads. As they say, it was a win-win deal.

 

[bjkadron]

BPE.
View attachment 1716201382

The BPE's are replacing my IMM CNC ported RHS/Indy-X heads.

When I bought the RHS heads back in 2013, I was against aluminum heads. It was similar to how people like to prove a point by building up a Slant 6 or 318 - sure it can be done but just doesn't make a whole lot of sense when looking at it from a cost/performance standpoint. In the end, you end up with something that's no better than an average build with a better foundation.

I have no reasonable explanation for why I held on to that idea and I've since come to believe that aluminum heads are superior. That choice did cost me time and money though since save for a few dyno runs in 2014, the heads just sat unused.

The IMM/RHS are awesome heads though. They flow just about 300cfm on the intake side and made 500hp/500lbft of torque in my 416" with a 251 @ .050" solid F.T. cam. Problem is they are HEAVY. Like, REALLY heavy. They will get used eventually so I'm going to hang onto them but that's a project for another day.

The W2s came off a long time ago, it’s been about ten years at this point. After I bought the RHS, I sold all my W2 stuff at Carlisle - heads (#810), valves, pushrods, two intakes, Harland Sharp rockers, shafts and hold downs… all of it. I made decent money but part of me regrets doing that since it would cost a small fortune to buy it all back now.

The W2s needed work though. They weren’t cracked or anything but they were old and worn. The bowls had been touched up a little but they were nowhere near their ultimate potential. I never flowed them but I have no doubt the RHS were much better. Sure, they could have been monsters had I chosen to get them worked on but at the time I just didn’t want to sink a bunch of money into them so down the road they went.

The aluminum heads I have now flow a LOT of air. The ports are works of art. Plus, they have to be 50lbs lighter than iron heads and allow for almost a point more compression. They also don't require offset rockers so I saved money transferring the rocker gear from the RHS heads. As they say, it was a win-win deal.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I'm trying to figure out what I am going to do with my build. I have a 318 in the can, not sure it is worth rebuilding it or jumping right to a new hemi for cheaper for the same power output. There is a lot of extras you need to run the new hemi in an a-body but I'm basically starting over with my build currently. It would be fun to have an all iron stock painted engine that is actually a monster but there is a lot of concessions you have to make.

Those intake ports are pieces of art. Looks like it will be a lot of fun when you get it going.

 

[rmchrgr]

Wow, 4+ months since the last update, didn't realize it had been that long. I will admit there are times when I don't want to deal with taking pictures and write ups. By nature I am thorough and documenting all these details while making them into coherent posts can get tedious.

In any event, I have been making some decent progress on a few fronts. I will say that the wiring is 95% complete and almost ready to go back in the car. There are a few more connections to make which involve putting things in to the car to figure out the wire lengths and taking them back out to terminate them. Just have to git 'er done. The dash part is all wrapped though and ready though so I am glad to have cleared that hurdle.

Just want to mention that the EFI wiring is mostly separate from the 'regular' car wiring. On another car I went through a lot of trouble trying to integrate both into one harness and it was a mistake. It became unwieldy and made it hard to get at stuff. There's a few things that cross over but I feel like it's just as clean with two smaller harnesses. All unnecessary or excess wires have been removed from both branches. There's probably enough left over to never have to buy wire again.

Since the car has been sitting for a while, I started cleaning things up a bit. This project does dip into the restoration department so I've been dealing with trying to make things look presentable. The decklid was really dirty and I was tired of looking at it so I washed it off and buffed the paint. Original paint is awesome when it cleans up, there's just something about it that is hard to duplicate with modern paint.

I'm calling the package tray block off panel done. Spent some time trimming it down so it fits really nicely. I also decided to fasten it down with 3M double sided tape instead of drilling a bunch of holes for rivets. I may use a few in the corners of each panel but tape should be much easier to deal with overall. The rear firewall/package tray rule says it needs seal off the passenger compartment from the trunk but does not specify how the panel is to be fastened.

Several years ago after the roll bar was put in I ordered a new package tray from Legendary. Trying to modify and install it with the rear window in place proved to be the wrong move. I mis-measured everything and the rear bar cutouts were all messed up. I kept it though and I'm glad I did because I used it as a template to make one myself.

This one fits much better. It needs a second coat of flat black paint and I need to figure out how to trim it but I'm pretty happy with it. Sharp-eyed readers will notice the new window trim clips. The old window gasket glue residue was also cleaned off the flange to reveal more nice original paint underneath.

Same with the front. Check out how clean, like brand new!

And oh yeah, I put the headliner in. I was dreading it since it was a complete disaster last time but since the windows are out it went 1,000 times better this time. Couple not-so-perfect spots but they won't be too noticeable with the windows and trim installed. I'll always see it because I know where the flaws are but whatever, I'm not redoing it. Really glad to have this checked off the list.

Not bad if I don't say so myself.

It looks like there are wrinkles but they are really minimal and will be covered by trim.

Thanks for reading. More to come.

 

[mygasser]

re the rear firewall, don't forget to block off the rear roof pillars and behind the rear door cards too. a fire/blast can blow over the wheel wells up the rear pillars and forward to the 'b' posts.
neil.

 

[mopowers]

Great progress!

 

[rmchrgr]

Thanks all.

 

[rmchrgr]

Got something done yesterday that has been bugging me for a couple years - figuring out and executing an instrument cluster arrangement. This story is a perfect example of all the unnecessary and overwrought drama I put myself through on every last detail of this car. It's no wonder why it's taking me so long to finish it. But I digress.

I've never been a fan of OE gauges. They are somewhat accurate at best and the lighting is dim. In recent years 'digital' stepper motor gauges have risen in popularity. I've used them on other cars and liked them for their crisp action and bright LED lighting so I bought a complete set of Holley EFI digital "analog-style" gauges for the Duster.

Since this was going to be a 'custom' install, I bought a generic plastic bezel a few years ago to house the gauges. It was lightweight for sure but frankly that's because it was crappy. Whatever mold or model that was used to make them lost all the outer trim detail which makes them look super chintzy. After looking at it for several months and realizing there was nothing easy I could do to improve it, I sold it and started looking for alternatives.

No offense to the guy that bought it from me but this thing was a P.O.S. It's flimsy at best and retains none of the details from an original bezel whatsoever. I got mine cheaper a few years ago but these panels by themselves are generally over $250 now and IMO not even remotely worth the price.

Having seen them around for a couple years, I found and bought an aluminum panel that fits inside the OE bezel. I like it because it retains the outer part of the bezel which keeps the factory look. However, to install the panel the face of the OE bezel has to be completely removed.

Below is the aluminum panel I got from Speedway though it is available through a few random vendors. This part also had to be modified around the edges since it was slightly too big to fit the OE bezel opening. It made the upper left hand corner very narrow leaving very little room for the gauge collar.

Funny because after all these years of owning a '70's A Body I never realized the top of the bezel was slightly angled up to the right. It's subtle but it's there, probably about 3/8"-1/2" rise overall. Who knew?

Once the aluminum panel arrived though, I got cold feet about cutting out the face out of my nice, original bezel. I hemmed and hawed about it for weeks. Eventually I went and bought an extra bezel from a member relatively close to me in case I screwed something up. Turned out to be the right call because I ended up completely destroying it. Thankfully it was an extra so in a way it was worth the expense and time since I learned what not to do.

What I learned on the extra one is you need a small cutoff wheel (like a Dremel or air grinder) for this job. It can be tricky to tell where to cut from the backside so on the first one, I decided to drill holes around the perimeter of the face from the front side to locate the edges and then 'connect the dots' so to speak. Problem was the extra bezel was a little warped and the plastic on that particular one seemed really brittle. Drilling all those holes probably weakened it because once some dots were connected the outer edges just snapped. I tried to save it but it was a lost cause as it ended up breaking in two more spots. That was a couple months ago.

Connect the dots.

No, that's not buffing out.

That whole experience soured me on the aluminum panel for the time being and I started looking at other alternatives. Trust me when I say this, there really isn't much else out there for off-the-shelf gauge bezels besides the two things I described earlier in this post. I looked into getting one 3D printed and/or having one made from carbon fiber but neither of those methods are easy or quick.

I often make punch lists for project cars to make it easier to see what needs to be completed. After cleaning up my garage the other day, I made a new one for the Duster. The first thing I wrote was 'figure out dash bezel'. That got the wheels turning and put this whole silly saga into focus. I've been wasting valuable time agonizing over the 'perfect' solution but came to realize there isn't one. It finally became clear to me that the only way to do what I wanted was going to have to be cutting my original bezel.

I did some searching on the best way to approach cutting the bezel and found that member @dodge73dart did it and it turned out fine. Looking at his pictures made me realize I did the first one wrong by completely overthinking it. Live and learn. Again, it pains me to think how much time I've wasted on this car and in my life in general overthinking things and searching for perfection. Sounds corny but keeping it simple is always the best approach.

Actually turned out OK.

So the 'hard part' of the job is done but I do want to try and get the bezel looking a little better. I found some hobby chrome paint that got good reviews to try and replicate the vacuum plating. I also need to fasten the panel to the bezel somehow and make a few more holes for indicator lamps but that's operational stuff that does not require gut-wrenching, emotional decisions. I will post the finished product when it's done.

Getting the gauges done will clear a path to putting the entire dash back in the car since it ws my preference to not have to do it while it's in the car. That will also allow me to finalize the column and seat position and eventually get the glass re-installed. Progress!

Thanks for reading through my internal drama about the cluster bezel. More to come.

 

[rmchrgr]

Did some intake port matching on the Victor 340.

This was how the intake started. Someone before me gasket matched it to a regular-size Fel Pro intake gasket.

The ports on the BPE heads are huge - 2.5" tall x 1.8" wide. The intake gasket had to be cut larger to match the opening as it hung over by almost 3/16" on the top and bottom. Too much to leave alone.

To match the opening from the head surface to the intake surface, the gasket was sprayed with sealant and glued/bolted to the head and then cut out with an Exacto knife. Made a mess.

It's really not easy to cut these gaskets.

Once the gasket was cut, the intake was bolted on and a line was scribed around the outside of it to indicate the position of it against the head. (The scribe line can be seen across the top) The intake was then taken off and the gasket was carefully removed from the head. Then it gets glued back on to the intake using the scribed line to reference the position from one surface to another. Honestly, the whole thing is a PITA. All in the name of horsepower.

I never know if I'm doing more harm than good when I start grinding on stuff. There's definitely no obstruction any longer. I just hope opening it up like this doesn't kill too much air speed.

The intake port opening now matches up to the head port. Mostly.

One side of the intake is done. Not sure how much I will do on the plenum. At the least, the runner dividers will get profiled down and the short turn under the carb pad will get smoothed out.

Pretty much finished the cluster bezel as well. Not my best finsihing job but I can't futz wih it any more so in it goes.

Bit by bit getting closer to the finish line.

More to come.