Cinnamon 75 Duster \

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Here's my rig for the upper bushings. 1/2" threaded rod, washers, a bushing driver (from my set) and an exhaust adapter. I did kill the pipe by the time I had the last one together...

Just a note on washers. If you are doing rigs like this - take the time to go through the washer bin and look for thick ones. I went to Home Depot for these. The ones I got were as much as 3 times normal thickness.

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Awesome Job .I just got mine last week and it is in similar shape as when you started , floor pans , trunk floor , rear quarters ,etc I Have a 1998 Dakota for a drive train and I hope to do a restomod idea to it stock appearance with the updated drive train. Anyway good luck. Bob
 
zkx14 said:
Just starting the thread, but have had the car for a little over 4 years. So will be a few posts to bring up to date.

End of August 2008
We were looking for a first car for my son. He saw the Duster for sale and wanted to check it out. So we did. Slant 6 with 73,578 miles. It ran good, but had a broken torsion bar, so we could not drive it. After looking it over, I knew it would take a good bit work. The obvious was replace the T-bar (seller already had a replacement, just hadn’t changed it), lower rear quarters, patch the floor pans. Anyway, I bought it. I forget the exact amount I ended up paying – so I’ll just say ‘too much’ .
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Thanks for the post you are doing a great job on your car, How do you like the Hobart welder what model is it I need to get one to . I will not be doing much for a while we spend winters in Texas so the next few weeks I will be saving cash for that ,anyway thanks Bob J
 
BJs Duster said:
Thanks for the post you are doing a great job on your car, How do you like the Hobart welder what model is it I need to get one to . I will not be doing much for a while we spend winters in Texas so the next few weeks I will be saving cash for that ,anyway thanks Bob J
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The welder has been perfect for what I'm doing. I highly recomend it. Based on my experience and what I've seen posted from others, you won't do much better without going to a 220V. I had very little experience welding before getting this and had no problem making decent welds. I still avoid 'butt' welding thin stuff, but even that is doable. If you run a search for welders on FABO you will see a LOT of discussion on the matter. Good luck!
 
Got the engine back together. Again, my goal for now was just to freshen it up a little and stop any leaks. In this process I consulted a lot of posts and articles on here and slantsix.org.. Particularly the info from slantsixdan and Doug Dutra were very valuable.

Apparently it was rebuilt previously. Bearings looked good and were in spec except for the cam. Even those probably would have been OK for a while if I had not disturbed them. But, when I pulled the cam I saw hairline cracks in the babbit and found that it was separating, so needed to replace them. I wonder if they hot tanked this thing and did not change them? I made a tool from a socket and a cork to install new ones (pic). Dimension was perfect except that it was too big to go through the narrowest hole for the back bearing. I had to knock that one out with a brass punch.

I don't have any way to measure the cylinders, but the walls showed no problems and still had a trace of crosshatch all the way around. The rings were still well within 'service' range on end gap, but were pretty grungy, plus since I decided to run a hone through it I was afraid I'd lose too much ring when they 'reset', so I replaced the rings.

The cam and lifters were OK, but definitly original and showing it. I may rework this thing for more power at some point, so chose not to change them. I did add an oil hole above the fuel pump lobe (Dutra) cause it was starting to gouge. It wasn't having a problem getting fuel as it was. So, between that and a new pump with slightly wider footprint I think it will be fine.

Head/valves looked good. I just lapped them enough to clean the seats. Put it back together with new oil seals on the stems.

Other than that it was cleanup and re-assemble... and a little paint.

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what a great thread .....im secretly in love with this car .....and your doing some awesome work on it.
 
Thanks Rani, but, um.. I guess its not really a secret now?....
Hey, just thought you should know - I had dreams about bolts the last couple nights, since you started your guessing game (no I can't remember the details). Of course I probably cleaned up over a hundred bolts in the last month, so maybe I can't blame it all on you. LOL

RaniDart70 said:
what a great thread .....im secretly in love with this car .....and your doing some awesome work on it.
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Got a couple more major pieces of the puzzle ready to go back together. Carburator and transmission are rebuilt and purdied up. :blob:
I've worked on these items before, but first time for me rebuilding them :glasses7:. Carb was pretty simple once I understood the instructions. only problem was they make the kits for multiple applications, so some parts/adjustments were a little confusing. :shock: On the trans, I knew I had leaks, so had gotten an external gasket kit. Did not really know what was involved to change them.. Well once I got the oil pump out and realized there was not much more involved to check the clutches it was game on for a full rebuild.:bball: I ended up checking in with a local shop as to what needed to be done. First place I went was pretty useless, but Jim at A1 treated me like I was his best customer and was a huge help. :prayer: The top disc in the direct clutch was just starting to flake and the other ones looked slightly burnt, so all got changed. Also showed me that there were rubber seals in the clutch assembly, and turned out one of those was shot. He changed those, since I did not have a good way to compress the spring. Also took my radiator down so they could flush the cooler. Other than that I cleaned everything and reassembled. I was hoping to just clean the trans case and maybe clearcoat, but even after wire brushing and steel wooling, it just was not looking very nice. So, I used Rustoleum aluminum primer and aluminum color coat, followed by clear engine enamel. :D

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Great thread...gets right down to the roots of Hot Rodding, Good work i really like the color too.
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

Got the alternator ready. Like most everything else, it was working, but was dirty and I know corrosion is never a good thing on electrical stuff. I considered ordering all the parts to rebuild it, but I don't have a press to put the pulley back on. Plus, you can buy a rebuilt for a little more than the parts. So I pulled it apart, cleaned and re-assembled. I did get new brushes, cause one of the plastic carriers cracked.

I also installed new fuel and vent lines .

And been getting a few things assembled...

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I had cleaned up the radiator and set it to the side of the house to dry. When I went to grab it I almost grabbed this guy... I put a glove on and picked t him up , and was on my way to toss hm in the woods when my daughter yelled to me that there was another one in the garage. He was a bit more fiesty and did not want to be picked up, but was able to scoot him into a coffee can and got them both out.

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Got the steering column done. Rebuilt the coupler. Cleaned up and painted. Not a very good pic actually looks better...

Also got my Aussie stainless/graphite manifold gaskets today :blob:

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Got as much as I could assembled outside of the car, so now it is time to re-install. Since last update - manifolds, carb, fuel line, linkage, new hoses, cooler lines, miscellanious do-dads ...

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I ended up replacing the exhaust manifold. The original had some deep pits in it, so had gotten one from a yard. After breaking several bolts/studs and trying to drill and tap, I decided not to use it either. Got a new one from SilverSeal. Not bad, but yes it is Chinese. Did a bit of grinding to the casting ridges (oops, where did the word 'China' go? LOL) The top left ear was too big and interfered with the water neck, also the exhaust pipe studs were only 3/8, so upsized them to 7/16 as original. I replaced all the manifold studs. installed with brass nuts. The mani came with new triangle washers, but not as thick as original, so I cleaned up and used old ones, they did include the correct nuts for the 2 end studs. Painted with VHT 'Flame Proof'
 
Had another critter come visiting in the garage today... a 'walking stick'

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Took advantage of some great weather today and got the engine in and front suspension together. Just roughly set the T-bars since the fenders and front glass are still off it's a bit light. It looks a little high now, so should be close. Got a bunch more to do yet before I run it.

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This is a totally cool build thread! Love the attention to detail and the fact you are saving one from the crusher...not to mention you are keeping it original. Great job!
 
Got new U-joints in and put the drive shaft back in. Brake cable back on and tightened. Also got the instrument cluster and steering column in and adjusted shift linkage.

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Amazing build....

When you did your Magnum headlights where they 'spiderwebbing'? That's what it kind of looks like. I have some spiderwebbing on my Lincoln lights and didn't know if this would sand out or not. I've done a lot of headlights with oxidation...
 
I just love this build.
Nothing but a Holbert 140 and alot of determination to make a nice car out of what you have to work with.

Keep up the good work.
If you need front fenders I have two extra sets, pm me.
 
I think most of it was scratches from an ice scraper. I've buffed some out before, but these I sanded the coating completely off first. I'm not sure what you call spiderwebbing, but if its in the surface coating it would sand off.


TexasDart said:
Amazing build....

When you did your Magnum headlights where they 'spiderwebbing'? That's what it kind of looks like. I have some spiderwebbing on my Lincoln lights and didn't know if this would sand out or not. I've done a lot of headlights with oxidation...
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