Space Duster
Well-Known Member
Watching this one.
My Duster Adventures
- Thread starter 75slant6
- Start date
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Well, she's gettin closer!! I dropped the front suspension back out today and get the engine and trans bolted up to the K-member!
The 143t flywheel and bellhousing moved the starter out a little causing me to need to dent/bend the one header tube but I got it done and got about 1/8" clearance.
Was gonna roll it back under the car but the little wheels on the cheap harbor freight moving dolly aren't wanting to roll on the rough concrete. It's sorta strange tho seeing how this is how I pull the 318/904.....
The 143t flywheel and bellhousing moved the starter out a little causing me to need to dent/bend the one header tube but I got it done and got about 1/8" clearance.
Was gonna roll it back under the car but the little wheels on the cheap harbor freight moving dolly aren't wanting to roll on the rough concrete. It's sorta strange tho seeing how this is how I pull the 318/904.....
So this morning I got to the shop early, around 6-6:30 and I made a fair amount of progress! I got the engine, trans, suspension all back in!!! Next I need to come up with/make a transmission mount and then hopefully get it running next week sometime!
Alex5280
74' Duster
Very Cool!!! Congrats!
So Wednesday I went and worked on the car some, got a whole lot of nothing done....
I put the distributor in and plugged all the wires into the spark plugs it the other end will need to be cut to length and have ends crimped on... I never did custom length plug wires before and don't have the tool so that burned me out a little....
THEN I went to hook the steering column back up to the gear box and the tube around the steering shaft hit the header tube and that ticked me off and burned me out so I walked out and went home, aggravated that it seems like I've boughten nearly every part twice for this car cause the first one was the wrong one. And there's always a little part or tool that I need and don't have and I just got kinda overwhelmed and only slightly seriously threatened to sell all my car stuff and "grow up and find a different hobby". My wife, who 5 years ago would tell you that any car older than 2000 (at the time) was junk, quickly advised against that; she's come a long way. Lol
So after a few days to mull over what I'm gonna do about the issues, today I was excited to go work on the old girl again.
I didn't get a whole lot done and didn't mess with the plug wires (don't have a crimper yet) and didn't mess with the header/steering shaft issue; I did buy some washers though to cut notches out and shim the motor. I did discover right before I left the shop tonight that there's one bolt on the transmission that is hitting what's left of the upper crossmember and holding the rear of the transmission and inch or 2 farther toward the drivers side than it should be, so if I make it down there tomorrow, I'll take the sawzall along and cut the crossmember a little more. That MIGHT solve my header issue but if not I'll shim the motor mount a little or rebuild the column and cut the outer tube back a few inches.
As far as progress, I did put the new shocks on the back, installed the gas tank, filler tube and hooked the fuel line up from the tank up to the pump. I also put the carb on. If I had the plug wire crimper I think I'd be about a long afternoon away from start up!! I didn't get any pics tonight but there wasn't really anything worth taking pics of... Maybe next time.
I put the distributor in and plugged all the wires into the spark plugs it the other end will need to be cut to length and have ends crimped on... I never did custom length plug wires before and don't have the tool so that burned me out a little....
THEN I went to hook the steering column back up to the gear box and the tube around the steering shaft hit the header tube and that ticked me off and burned me out so I walked out and went home, aggravated that it seems like I've boughten nearly every part twice for this car cause the first one was the wrong one. And there's always a little part or tool that I need and don't have and I just got kinda overwhelmed and only slightly seriously threatened to sell all my car stuff and "grow up and find a different hobby". My wife, who 5 years ago would tell you that any car older than 2000 (at the time) was junk, quickly advised against that; she's come a long way. Lol
So after a few days to mull over what I'm gonna do about the issues, today I was excited to go work on the old girl again.
I didn't get a whole lot done and didn't mess with the plug wires (don't have a crimper yet) and didn't mess with the header/steering shaft issue; I did buy some washers though to cut notches out and shim the motor. I did discover right before I left the shop tonight that there's one bolt on the transmission that is hitting what's left of the upper crossmember and holding the rear of the transmission and inch or 2 farther toward the drivers side than it should be, so if I make it down there tomorrow, I'll take the sawzall along and cut the crossmember a little more. That MIGHT solve my header issue but if not I'll shim the motor mount a little or rebuild the column and cut the outer tube back a few inches.
As far as progress, I did put the new shocks on the back, installed the gas tank, filler tube and hooked the fuel line up from the tank up to the pump. I also put the carb on. If I had the plug wire crimper I think I'd be about a long afternoon away from start up!! I didn't get any pics tonight but there wasn't really anything worth taking pics of... Maybe next time.
Success!!! I got the 73+ strut rod bushing swapped out for the proper 67-72 ones... That nearly kicked my ***!! Ran down to the truck stop down the road to grab some jerky and a drink and cool off a bit. Fixin to head back, maybe piddle a little more then head to the house and take a shower!!
This sounds like very good progress to me!! Sounds like you are close, real close to start up!! Don't give up yet Caleb, you have many pleasant nights ahead of you with the Duster!!!keep up the good work!! See Ya in a couple days!
Yup it's getting closer!! And I'm definitely not giving up! Just had an off night that night I guess.
As for tonight, after I cooled down a bit I went back and decided to put the front shocks on but didn't like how gaudy the yellow shocks looked so I painted em black Humidity was high so the paint turned out kinda flat andsince I didn't sand em first some of the paint scraped off when I installed em.
After the shocks I laid under the car for an hour or so, measuring and brainfarting about how I'm gonna make the transmission mount... I came up with an idea that I think will work good, crawled out from under the car and scribbled some drawings on the white box my distributor came in.
FYI, I haven't lost my mind... The drawings make sense to me it's just kinda hard for me to get all the details on "paper" Lol.
As you can see in this pic I literally scribbled ideas into the grime on the bottom of the floor pan until I came up with something I liked.
The "end view" would be looking at the mount from the passenger side. The end view probably makes the least sense to you guys... Lol
Even tried my hand at drawing it in 3D, turned out much better than I figured!! Still didn't catch all the details but it'll all make sense once it's done. Hopefully the final product doesn't look like crap! Lol
As for tonight, after I cooled down a bit I went back and decided to put the front shocks on but didn't like how gaudy the yellow shocks looked so I painted em black Humidity was high so the paint turned out kinda flat andsince I didn't sand em first some of the paint scraped off when I installed em.
After the shocks I laid under the car for an hour or so, measuring and brainfarting about how I'm gonna make the transmission mount... I came up with an idea that I think will work good, crawled out from under the car and scribbled some drawings on the white box my distributor came in.
FYI, I haven't lost my mind... The drawings make sense to me it's just kinda hard for me to get all the details on "paper" Lol.
As you can see in this pic I literally scribbled ideas into the grime on the bottom of the floor pan until I came up with something I liked.
The "end view" would be looking at the mount from the passenger side. The end view probably makes the least sense to you guys... Lol
Even tried my hand at drawing it in 3D, turned out much better than I figured!! Still didn't catch all the details but it'll all make sense once it's done. Hopefully the final product doesn't look like crap! Lol
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I also cut the torsion bar crossmember back a little where the bolt on the transmission was hitting and it definitely helped the header clearance issue. I was able to get the column hooked up to the steering box but the outer tube is still touching the header. I've got a section of collapsible DD steering shaft, a vibration dampening u-joint and ball bearing to do all the steering column upgrades that @72bluNblu (thanks for the help and ideas Brian) did in the threads below so I may just pull the column back out and do all that and cut the outer tube back some.
Replace your lower column bearing: Better and Cheaper!!!
Steering shaft upgrade
Replace your lower column bearing: Better and Cheaper!!!
Steering shaft upgrade
Well, my plug wire crimpers came today so I went to the shop, cut my wires to length, crimped the ends on and got all the wires in place!! First time I did it and it wasn't half bad!!
I then messed around trying to figure out where I want to mount the e-coil. I thought about putting it on the firewall between the wiper motor and the heater hoses but with the heat sink/mounting bracket around it its just too big to mount there. Then I figured I'd put it on the passenger inner fender where people normally mount a fuel regulator but the supplied wiring harness might not be long enough to reach that far. So here in the pic I just set it on the drivers inner fender where I might mount it. What do y'all think?
Lastly, I brought dads little 110 welder over to my shop and practiced some welding. Here was a practice bead on 3/16 or 1/4 stuff.
After being content with the penetration I was getting on the practice pieces I decided to try my luck at redoing the AX15 gear shift. With the original full length shifter, the knob was way too high and was like shifting a semi so I cut 6-8" out of the shifter to shorten it up. Here's a pic I got online to show what the shifter looked like. I cut it at the red arrows and took the center section out.
Here's it is, shortened and welded
Not too bad for the first time I've successfully welded something together.
After grinding the welds
Here's the shifter in the car. I bought the shift knob off eBay. When I fold down the center arm rest, the shifter is in the perfect location!! Easy to reach in all gears!!
Next on the list is the transmission mount. I'll either need to buy me an abrasive saw next week or see if I can borrow my landlords for a day or 2
I then messed around trying to figure out where I want to mount the e-coil. I thought about putting it on the firewall between the wiper motor and the heater hoses but with the heat sink/mounting bracket around it its just too big to mount there. Then I figured I'd put it on the passenger inner fender where people normally mount a fuel regulator but the supplied wiring harness might not be long enough to reach that far. So here in the pic I just set it on the drivers inner fender where I might mount it. What do y'all think?
Lastly, I brought dads little 110 welder over to my shop and practiced some welding. Here was a practice bead on 3/16 or 1/4 stuff.
After being content with the penetration I was getting on the practice pieces I decided to try my luck at redoing the AX15 gear shift. With the original full length shifter, the knob was way too high and was like shifting a semi so I cut 6-8" out of the shifter to shorten it up. Here's a pic I got online to show what the shifter looked like. I cut it at the red arrows and took the center section out.
Here's it is, shortened and welded
Not too bad for the first time I've successfully welded something together.
After grinding the welds
Here's the shifter in the car. I bought the shift knob off eBay. When I fold down the center arm rest, the shifter is in the perfect location!! Easy to reach in all gears!!
Next on the list is the transmission mount. I'll either need to buy me an abrasive saw next week or see if I can borrow my landlords for a day or 2
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Well, landlord isn't back from Florida yet and I don't have the money to go buy a cutoff saw so I've been working on other stuff.
Last night I got the seat bolted in, tightened the shifter ball and got the steering column bolted in place. Doesn't sound like much but now I can sit in the car, row gears, and turn the wheel without everything flopping around! Lol
I also got the engine shimmed up and all the way to the passenger side and now the header JUST clears the steering column but now the steering center link rubs the header near full lock when turning right, may have to dent a tube.
Last night I also started fiddling with the hei swap and had some questions so I didn't start cutting any wires, good thing I didn't too cause I woulda cut the wrong stuff off!! Thanks to TrailBeast and Bill Grissom I got everything figured out and I worked on wiring all night tonight. First time I ever really messed with wiring but it wasn't too bad. I did learn a few things though... 1. Crimping is easier than soldering and 2. A soldering iron will burn the piss outta your finger if you touch it!!! I did solder 2 joints then crimped the rest, I pulled pretty hard on all the connections and non of them budged so I feel pretty good about em.
At some point in this cars life the main big wires that go through the bulkhead got hot and the red one melted the connector so a previous owner cut the wire and punch a hole in the firewall and reconnected the red wire using 14 or 16 gauge wire and just twisted them together... No wire nuts, not electrical tape, nothing. So I figured will I was doing wiring I'll drill holes in the bulkhead connectors and run 10 gauge through and do it right. You can see the Orange splice wire going through the big hole to the left of the mc.
I have a few wires over at the alternator to replace/clean up, looks like they might've gotten hot at one point.
I did patch a few wires here and there where the insulation was cracked, broken or completely gone. Once I was done splicing everything I rewrapped most of the harness with electrical tape.
Small crap like this is hardly picture worthy but we all know threads without pics are worthless so I try my best. Lol. Here's just sorta showing the finished product. The coil isn't bolted down yet and the harness isn't all in place but heres where I'm at. Hopefully fire her up this week! We'll see!
Last night I got the seat bolted in, tightened the shifter ball and got the steering column bolted in place. Doesn't sound like much but now I can sit in the car, row gears, and turn the wheel without everything flopping around! Lol
I also got the engine shimmed up and all the way to the passenger side and now the header JUST clears the steering column but now the steering center link rubs the header near full lock when turning right, may have to dent a tube.
Last night I also started fiddling with the hei swap and had some questions so I didn't start cutting any wires, good thing I didn't too cause I woulda cut the wrong stuff off!! Thanks to TrailBeast and Bill Grissom I got everything figured out and I worked on wiring all night tonight. First time I ever really messed with wiring but it wasn't too bad. I did learn a few things though... 1. Crimping is easier than soldering and 2. A soldering iron will burn the piss outta your finger if you touch it!!! I did solder 2 joints then crimped the rest, I pulled pretty hard on all the connections and non of them budged so I feel pretty good about em.
At some point in this cars life the main big wires that go through the bulkhead got hot and the red one melted the connector so a previous owner cut the wire and punch a hole in the firewall and reconnected the red wire using 14 or 16 gauge wire and just twisted them together... No wire nuts, not electrical tape, nothing. So I figured will I was doing wiring I'll drill holes in the bulkhead connectors and run 10 gauge through and do it right. You can see the Orange splice wire going through the big hole to the left of the mc.
I have a few wires over at the alternator to replace/clean up, looks like they might've gotten hot at one point.
I did patch a few wires here and there where the insulation was cracked, broken or completely gone. Once I was done splicing everything I rewrapped most of the harness with electrical tape.
Small crap like this is hardly picture worthy but we all know threads without pics are worthless so I try my best. Lol. Here's just sorta showing the finished product. The coil isn't bolted down yet and the harness isn't all in place but heres where I'm at. Hopefully fire her up this week! We'll see!
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Well, tonight was pretty productive! I got the crossmember all cut and welded together!!! I went WAY overkill on metal thickness!! I could've probably done it with 1/8" channel but I used all 1/4" channel. The new crossmember only weighs about 13 pounds more than the original!! LOL!! But I shouldn't have to worry about any lack of strength even with the upper loop of the torsion bar crossmember being gone. Beings I was using 1/4" stuff I turned the power way up on the welder and turned the wire speed down but for the first I had it too slow and the welds didn't turn out the nicest but a few passes with the welder and grinder and it all turned out pretty decent for a noob!!
I'm gonna cut the 2x5" channel down some yet, drill a few holes and clean up the slots where the bolts for the trans mount go. I used a common GM
700r4 transmission mount. I saw an energy suspension one at autozone that looked like it'd work so I went on eBay and bought a rubber one for like $12 shipped, had to elongate the one hole in the transmission a little and it bolted right up. Should have it all bolted in Monday night and have the car off the ramps and jack stands and back on her wheels!!!
I'm gonna cut the 2x5" channel down some yet, drill a few holes and clean up the slots where the bolts for the trans mount go. I used a common GM
700r4 transmission mount. I saw an energy suspension one at autozone that looked like it'd work so I went on eBay and bought a rubber one for like $12 shipped, had to elongate the one hole in the transmission a little and it bolted right up. Should have it all bolted in Monday night and have the car off the ramps and jack stands and back on her wheels!!!
Remember when you were a kid and you were gonna go on vacation the next day and you just. couldn't. wait!!!?? Well, that's how I felt last night and today!! Except my car is my vacation!! Lol
Well tonight I got the rest of the holes drilled, took longer than it should've because all three of my cheap harbor freight step bits (bought yesterday) would drill great until the 3/8" step then they wouldn't drill, reem the holes with the 5/16 step till the 3/8 slipped through and it drilled great again!! Anyway.... I got the holes all drilled and got the crossmember put in, the 5.9 and 5 speed are officially in place!!
I haven't painted the crossmember yet so it'll be coming back out for some clean up and paint. When I take it out I'll replace the stacks of washers with some something else like 2 1/4" plates or something. Also, when I lowered the transmission in place the mount sagged just a bit, I'm thinking about welding a piece of 3/4x1" channel to the bottom of the crossmember to take the flex out of it. What do y'all think? Sorta like a back brace on a rearend.
I also got my hood pins put in and got the e-coil bolted down and put my alternator on. Got a few wiring splices to make under the dash, a few wires to clean up by the alternator and the plug wires and battery to put back in. Could all probably be done in an afternoon. Might fire it up this year yet!! Lol
Well tonight I got the rest of the holes drilled, took longer than it should've because all three of my cheap harbor freight step bits (bought yesterday) would drill great until the 3/8" step then they wouldn't drill, reem the holes with the 5/16 step till the 3/8 slipped through and it drilled great again!! Anyway.... I got the holes all drilled and got the crossmember put in, the 5.9 and 5 speed are officially in place!!
I haven't painted the crossmember yet so it'll be coming back out for some clean up and paint. When I take it out I'll replace the stacks of washers with some something else like 2 1/4" plates or something. Also, when I lowered the transmission in place the mount sagged just a bit, I'm thinking about welding a piece of 3/4x1" channel to the bottom of the crossmember to take the flex out of it. What do y'all think? Sorta like a back brace on a rearend.
I also got my hood pins put in and got the e-coil bolted down and put my alternator on. Got a few wiring splices to make under the dash, a few wires to clean up by the alternator and the plug wires and battery to put back in. Could all probably be done in an afternoon. Might fire it up this year yet!! Lol
Tonight when I got home my wife suggested I call the car "Take 2" since nearly everything I buy for this car I buy the wrong one the first time and have to buy it again. Here's a list of things I can think of.
Second engine.
Geof (cosgig) gave me a 904 that I had behind the 318 but when I popped a freeze plug I decided to swap in the 5.9 magnum and "ax-15" 5 speed I had. Bought a new 143t flywheel for the 5.9, went to bolt up the "ax-15" and discovered it wasn't an ax-15 but an older 5 speed that used the 130t flywheel so I bought a Dakota parts truck with an ax-15 and put that in.
Bought multiple frontend parts twice.
Rebuilt the drums and small bj control arms then decided to go BBP disc so bought all new again.
Bought the wrong year Dakota clutch, older one for a 130t flywheel instead of my 143t, so I bought the right one.
Just the other day I bought a 3 gauge setup to use in the factory cluster but bought the 2" instead of 1.5" so those came today and the 1.5s are on their way.
That's all I can think of but I'm sure there's more. Lol
Second engine.
Geof (cosgig) gave me a 904 that I had behind the 318 but when I popped a freeze plug I decided to swap in the 5.9 magnum and "ax-15" 5 speed I had. Bought a new 143t flywheel for the 5.9, went to bolt up the "ax-15" and discovered it wasn't an ax-15 but an older 5 speed that used the 130t flywheel so I bought a Dakota parts truck with an ax-15 and put that in.
Bought multiple frontend parts twice.
Rebuilt the drums and small bj control arms then decided to go BBP disc so bought all new again.
Bought the wrong year Dakota clutch, older one for a 130t flywheel instead of my 143t, so I bought the right one.
Just the other day I bought a 3 gauge setup to use in the factory cluster but bought the 2" instead of 1.5" so those came today and the 1.5s are on their way.
That's all I can think of but I'm sure there's more. Lol
76orangewagon
Well-Known Member
One area of concern I have is your cross member clearance for your exhaust. This was an oversight when I built my car and didn't know if you had a plan yet cause it's really going to hang low......
The exhaust pipe on the right side of the pic there is bolted to the header and I did have the drivers side bolted up as well, all clears with plenty of room.
Eventually tho I think I'm gonna run TTI shorties, oval tubing exhaust and either an AAR-T/A style dynomax muffler or a spin tech muffler and side exhaust, all tucked up tight so I can slam the car and the exhaust/headers won't be the first thing to hit
76orangewagon
Well-Known Member
Sounds good...just making sure you thought it all out...I really think I would spray a matte clear over the body and call it a day, I like the patina.
I probably would've forgotten about the exhaust but I knew I wanted to keep the crossmember as high as possible and the exhaust was all bolted up when I was taking measurements and doing mock up so I knew it'd fit.
As for the body, I'm not gonna be doing any exterior body/paint work till I have another classic running/driving so it'll stay as is for a few years at least
As for the body, I'm not gonna be doing any exterior body/paint work till I have another classic running/driving so it'll stay as is for a few years at least
Well... Much to my disdain, I had to leave the shop at 11:50 tonight... Could've stayed and kept working till 2am at least but life and chores will carry on same time in the morning...
Tonight I dropped the crossmember back out to clean it up and paint it. I then bolted my scoops down and worked on wiring the rest of the night! I got the bulkhead connector bypass done, gonna do the ammeter bypass when I swap out clusters. I also did a wiring mod that slantsixdan recommended, ran 2 10 gauge wires with 50 amp fuses at each end from the alternator to the + post on the starter relay. Don't worry, the yellow yip ties are temporary. Lol
I'm also gonna clean up some of that too small and broken wiring around the starter relay.
I set the radiator down on the lower radiator support and put a clump of playdo on the cap and shut the hood, I have about 3/4-1" clearance to play with but my lower radiator support is bent up in the middle some so I should be able to beat it down and get a little more clearance. First time I put the radiator in I thought it was gonna hit the battery tray so I cut the corner out of the tray, put everything in and it wouldve cleared after all. Oh well, the tray was rusted through in 2 spots anyway. It'll work until I move the battery to the trunk.
I then finished out the night by repairing all the wiring that hooks to the alternator.
Got a busy day at the farm tomorrow but hopefully I'll be able to get the crossmember cleaned, painted and put back in. A few more small electrical stuff and then install the radiator and put in coolant and I should be ready for fire up.
Tonight I dropped the crossmember back out to clean it up and paint it. I then bolted my scoops down and worked on wiring the rest of the night! I got the bulkhead connector bypass done, gonna do the ammeter bypass when I swap out clusters. I also did a wiring mod that slantsixdan recommended, ran 2 10 gauge wires with 50 amp fuses at each end from the alternator to the + post on the starter relay. Don't worry, the yellow yip ties are temporary. Lol
I'm also gonna clean up some of that too small and broken wiring around the starter relay.
I set the radiator down on the lower radiator support and put a clump of playdo on the cap and shut the hood, I have about 3/4-1" clearance to play with but my lower radiator support is bent up in the middle some so I should be able to beat it down and get a little more clearance. First time I put the radiator in I thought it was gonna hit the battery tray so I cut the corner out of the tray, put everything in and it wouldve cleared after all. Oh well, the tray was rusted through in 2 spots anyway. It'll work until I move the battery to the trunk.
I then finished out the night by repairing all the wiring that hooks to the alternator.
Got a busy day at the farm tomorrow but hopefully I'll be able to get the crossmember cleaned, painted and put back in. A few more small electrical stuff and then install the radiator and put in coolant and I should be ready for fire up.
76orangewagon
Well-Known Member
I'm not familiar with the advantage of doing this Modification.
You can run a bigger alternator and it bypasses all the smaller factory wiring. Also goes straight to the battery instead of going through the bulkhead connector, ammeter and other splices/connections under the dash.
Here's a screenshot of what he said
@slantsixdan the only thing I'm not 100% sure on, and I know either I or someone else in that thread had asked you (can't find the thread) do you hook the factory black wire back up to the alternator as well or just the 2 10 gauge wires? Also, will it hurt to just run the wires to the starter relay like I did or should it hook them directly to the battery + terminal?
slantsixdan
=..=
It's best to run 'em to the battery + terminal. You can put the factory wire back on or not; it won't make any practical difference.
Thanks Dan. I'll probably hook it back up since it's there and I'll move the 2 wires to the + terminal if they reach
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