72 duster Build progress
Well guys, I got a pretty cool update here!.
SO today I got my father to give me a hand on bleeding the brakes off. We then jacked the car up and loosened the u bolts to make sure everything was seated where it should be and then we tightened them back down...so not the rear end is all good. also raised the front and I changed the oil on it.
ever since I put my fuel regulator on I have been smelling gas after I shut the car down and it has been hard to start. well today me and my father got to looking and after the car has ran and then been shut down my fuel gauge is still reading operating pressure. so what we think is happening is the regulator is holding pressure at the car and is allowing fuel to spit down into the intake for the first few minutes the car is off until the pressure in the line bleeds off....which is affectivly flooding it and giving me the hard starting issue. so I think what I am going to do is tap into the other "out" side of the fuel regulator and run a return line back to the tank ( I already have all new line for it....just a matter of doing the work) and then that issue should be taken care of.
ANYWAYS.....as for the "big update". I have crossed enough things off the to do list finally that I felt it was worthy of taking for a cruise and find out what bugs might need to be worked out.
so I prepaired for the worste and hoped for the best and I tossed a gas can in the trunk, screw drivers,wrenches,pliers and other tools in there. Grabbed up my wife and both the kids and we went for a DRIVE!!!!! finally!. took about a 30 mile cruise around some local back roads and just watched the gauges and felt things out and listened to everything. it was a blast to drive,road excellent. can let go of the wheel at 45 mph and it tracks straight down the road. ran great.
I did make a little list of some things that need attention though.....on the trip my brake lights stayed on....the flimsy little brake light switch bracket tweaks to easy so I am going to fab up a new one out of some thicker steel and that should fix that issue.
my oil pressure readings seemed really low and seemed to fluctuate ( I noticed I lost about 15 psi in pressure after I did my oil change even )....but what it looks like is I need to bleed off my oil pressure gauge ( I can look at my oil pressure line and it is tiger striped (oil,air,oil,air,oil,air etc....etc....) so I think there is a pocket of air in the line giving me a false reading.
I got one rear wheel bearing that makes some noise and has some pay so I am going to toss in new rear wheel bearings eventually (likely due to the previous owner driving the car who knows how long without the axle bearing adjuster installed!).
I need to readjust my kick down I believe. all my gears are there and engage at the shifter without a bit of hesitation.....all my down shifts work correctly. But my upshift is a little screwy at the moment. my 1-2 shift works as it should. but my 2-3 shift at part throttle will rev my rpms out in second until I let off the gas and THEN it will shift to 3rd. AND if I mash the pedal I get all 1-2 and 3 shifts as i should. so I think its just a matter of tweaking my kick down cable a bit.
I need to get a fan shroud or convert to electric fan....it stays cool while driving but at an idle it will slowly climb in temp ( I was already assuming I would have to eventually get a shroud or something for it so its not like I was blind sided by the issue).
other than those issues really.....it ran and drove awesome. we all had fun, my wife was happy that we finally got to go for a cruise. The kids had the rear windows popped open, in front we had the heater box vents opened for a blast of cool air (it was near 90 degrees out today). and cruising down the road at 40mph I got blasted in the face by leaves and sanding dust and what not from the vent boxs lol.
it was a good little trip though and I learned of some bugs that need worked out and it was good to finally get a chance to enjoy it a bit.
I hope you guys like the update and ill be working on it some more so keep checking in and ill keep trying to bring you guys more updates!.
Here are some pics my wife took of the first family outing in the duster!.
My kids staring me down while I was probably grinning lol
Well guys, I got a pretty cool update here!.
SO today I got my father to give me a hand on bleeding the brakes off. We then jacked the car up and loosened the u bolts to make sure everything was seated where it should be and then we tightened them back down...so not the rear end is all good. also raised the front and I changed the oil on it.
ever since I put my fuel regulator on I have been smelling gas after I shut the car down and it has been hard to start. well today me and my father got to looking and after the car has ran and then been shut down my fuel gauge is still reading operating pressure. so what we think is happening is the regulator is holding pressure at the car and is allowing fuel to spit down into the intake for the first few minutes the car is off until the pressure in the line bleeds off....which is affectivly flooding it and giving me the hard starting issue. so I think what I am going to do is tap into the other "out" side of the fuel regulator and run a return line back to the tank ( I already have all new line for it....just a matter of doing the work) and then that issue should be taken care of.
ANYWAYS.....as for the "big update". I have crossed enough things off the to do list finally that I felt it was worthy of taking for a cruise and find out what bugs might need to be worked out.
so I prepaired for the worste and hoped for the best and I tossed a gas can in the trunk, screw drivers,wrenches,pliers and other tools in there. Grabbed up my wife and both the kids and we went for a DRIVE!!!!! finally!. took about a 30 mile cruise around some local back roads and just watched the gauges and felt things out and listened to everything. it was a blast to drive,road excellent. can let go of the wheel at 45 mph and it tracks straight down the road. ran great.
I did make a little list of some things that need attention though.....on the trip my brake lights stayed on....the flimsy little brake light switch bracket tweaks to easy so I am going to fab up a new one out of some thicker steel and that should fix that issue.
my oil pressure readings seemed really low and seemed to fluctuate ( I noticed I lost about 15 psi in pressure after I did my oil change even )....but what it looks like is I need to bleed off my oil pressure gauge ( I can look at my oil pressure line and it is tiger striped (oil,air,oil,air,oil,air etc....etc....) so I think there is a pocket of air in the line giving me a false reading.
I got one rear wheel bearing that makes some noise and has some pay so I am going to toss in new rear wheel bearings eventually (likely due to the previous owner driving the car who knows how long without the axle bearing adjuster installed!).
I need to readjust my kick down I believe. all my gears are there and engage at the shifter without a bit of hesitation.....all my down shifts work correctly. But my upshift is a little screwy at the moment. my 1-2 shift works as it should. but my 2-3 shift at part throttle will rev my rpms out in second until I let off the gas and THEN it will shift to 3rd. AND if I mash the pedal I get all 1-2 and 3 shifts as i should. so I think its just a matter of tweaking my kick down cable a bit.
I need to get a fan shroud or convert to electric fan....it stays cool while driving but at an idle it will slowly climb in temp ( I was already assuming I would have to eventually get a shroud or something for it so its not like I was blind sided by the issue).
other than those issues really.....it ran and drove awesome. we all had fun, my wife was happy that we finally got to go for a cruise. The kids had the rear windows popped open, in front we had the heater box vents opened for a blast of cool air (it was near 90 degrees out today). and cruising down the road at 40mph I got blasted in the face by leaves and sanding dust and what not from the vent boxs lol.
it was a good little trip though and I learned of some bugs that need worked out and it was good to finally get a chance to enjoy it a bit.
I hope you guys like the update and ill be working on it some more so keep checking in and ill keep trying to bring you guys more updates!.
Here are some pics my wife took of the first family outing in the duster!.
My kids staring me down while I was probably grinning lol
