1973 B3 Duster

..this all sounds very expensive.....but nice..love the pictures..

grassy said:

..this all sounds very expensive.....but nice..love the pictures..

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Um, yeah. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more than I expected or set up in budget. I have determined the guy doing the car really has no idea how much this actually costs. Oh well. I hope it gets done this summer and I can start enjoying driving it, at least.

Most of the upgrades came out of kits. The hydraulic clutch came from Keisler as part of the conversion kit they sell and the firewall hose feedthroughs are from the vintage air kit for the air conditioning.

Looking great,
It will be a real nice cruiser with the 5-speed and AC.

More pictures. My camera was dead when I last went to look at the engine bay, so I don't have any pictures of that. There is a chance it will be cranked soon.

Car is pretty much done. I should be able to pick it up soon. The shop took it to the Charlotte Auto Fair this last week and it won 2nd place at the show (not sure if that is all of the show, or 2nd in the club, or what, but he got a trophy).

There is just one thing that I am going to get changed before I pick it up. Anyone want to guess what it is? (hint: check the exterior pictures)

NukeBass said:

There is just one thing that I am going to get changed before I pick it up. Anyone want to guess what it is? (hint: check the exterior pictures)

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Rear rubber bumper guards?

Beautiful car.

Like the color combo. Looks really sharp!

Either rear bumper guards or redo the tail stripe slightly higher so not on tail light bezels.
Either one that car is still badass. I really like the twister hood stripes

Actually it was the cowl blackout shouldn't wrap around the entire cowl. I hadn't even noticed the rear stripe. AHHHHHH!!!!!!

The rear bumper guards are fine and I will probably eventually get the front ones refinished and put those on. The shop didn't do it because they were something like $300/each (maybe the pair??) and he thought it was too expensive.

Really nice car, good job!!

Very nice! Good story behind it!

Did you ever get that 340 tuned? I have A Hughes HEH3237 cam in my 68-360 FormulaS clone. Pretty much same spec cam as yours.TTI headers and 10.7C/R with aluminum heads. I will tell you what worked for me. After quite a bit of tuning, I can say this thing is almost too smooth.It idles so you know its in there, but almost like a stock 340. The trick is in the tune. Mine ended up with 12* initial, 22* centrifugal for a total of 34*. Then I put 22* more in the vacuum can for a total of 56* max.This may be a tad much for iron heads or a higher C/Rs or lower octane gas. Adjust the can as fast as the engine will accept without detonating.I started the mechanical advancing at 1200rpm and finished at 3400rpm. I used an O.E.M. distributor. I welded up the stops on the advance cam, and filed them out to what the engine wanted. I put 2 different springs in there.A fast soft one, and a stiffer slower one. This put a kink in the curve at about 2800rpm. I proved my TDC mark on the balancer and verified the rotor phasing. I would not use a "locked out" dizzy on the street.That Vacuum can makes the engine so much smoother in traffic.And better mpg, too. I have been using the same Orange box ECU for 14 years.I use the big Accel coil. These parts easily rev to 7000rpm,if your valvesprings do. I use those Champion copper plugs gapped at .045inch. Same plugs for 100,000 miles/14 years! Make sure your PCV system is working properly and that your engine has no intake leaks. Make sure your hot valve lash is correct.... There, that was the easy part. Next is the carb. Start and warm her up and set the idle speed to 800 rpm. Shut it off and yank the carb off and flip it over. Check how far the transfer slot is exposed.If the opening is between 1.5 and2 times as high as it is wide you are good,put it back on.If it is less than square she may stumble on take-off. If more than 2times, the exhaust tends to stink and burn your eyes.If its not in the ballpark,heres what to do; close all the throttles. Crack the secondaries just enough so they dont stick closed.Open the primaries just enough so that the transfer slots make a little rectangular opening, about twice as high as wide.Set your idle mixture screws as per factory. Holleys about 3/4 turn,Carters about 2.5 turns out. Now,put the carb back on and get it running.Keep it running.If you have to turn the speed screw faster, count the turns because you will eventually return to, or near to the previous setting. Now check/ adjust your float levels.Make sure your nozzles are not dripping. Make sure your power valve is not leaking.Make sure your fuel pressure is correct. Make sure your vacuum advance is not active and is correctly plumbed. OK so its running, warmed up, and nothing is leaking; fuel or air. Now, if you adjusted the idle speed you are going to have to return it to, or near to, the initial setting. This is how I do it. We need to know if the engine wants more air, or more fuel. Its almost always air it wants.Just gently restrict the airhorn with a rag.If it speeds up it wants less air.If it slows down, it wants more air. Simple.They always want air.There are several ways to give it air.I usually just drill a couple of holes in the throttle butterflies.How big? well..Trial and error. For this camshaft, I would start with 1/16 each primary, and work up to no more than 7/64 until it idles at a nice regular lope.Mine idles well at 800ish,with 5/64 holes.Readjust the mixture screws as may be required. If you go too big just solder those holes closed and start over.Heres another trick that I have used. Tee into the PCV hose at the back of the carb and install a jumper hose there. Find a wooden dowel that fits snugly in the hose. Drill a hole in the dowel about 3/32. Insert the dowel in the hose.Verify your initial idle speed adjustment and start her up.Need more idlespeed? Increase the hole size til you hit your target,adjusting the mix as may be reqd.Do not drill past 5/32 as this is about equivalent to 2 of 1/8 holes, and I believe that would be too big.If you cant reach your target at all, you can increase the idle speed screw 1/4 turn at a time, up to about a total of 1 turn.If the exposed transfer slot under the butterfly ends up being twice as high as wide,it is probably too far open and the idle circuit needs to be richened up.I havent seen that camshaft need it done. If your carb has idle circuits on the secondaries you can crack them open a bit too to see what happens.Still not there add 2 degrees of initial timing and start over on the primary side, from the beginning.Do not run more than about 16* initial,as the engine will get jumpy at slow speed in gear. When you reach your target, figure the area of the hole size,divide by 2, back-figure the equivalent area for each butterfly hole, and drill them.Do the math.You must use areas not drill sizes. This will get you started.Sometimes the float level wants to be readjusted; not often if parts are good.A good tuner with a parts stock could probably get you here in 2 to 3 hours. It took me 2 summers.I am tuned for E10/87 octane.120,000miles on it. If, IF you end up with the mixture screws open more than 2 turns on the Holley or 3.5 on a Carter, turn the speed screw in 1/4 turn faster and start over. If absolutely nothing makes her happy, I guess I would do a cylinder leak-down test and/or check the cam timing. I have run mine from 4* retarded to 4* advanced,and this method has always worked. Now the fun starts....Tuning the other circuits. Another time....Mine is a 4spd car too and with 3.55s. I can almost dump the clutch at idle and drive away.I can load it up, slipping the clutch and it will idle down to 600rpm. If I dont slip the clutch it gets a little jumpy like a 1st gen injected Mustang.That cam wont pull itself at idle in gear unless you slip it. It gets a little better if you retard the timing some,or reduce your cylinder pressure,but never goes away.For a time I was running over 200psi cylinder pressure.Very torquey. Very jumpy in gear at slow speeds. I cut it back to 185psi,much better.The jumpyness is also less bothersome with 4.30s in the back. Thats why this cam is about the biggest flat tappet cam in a 4spd car to run for most guys.I ran a 292/509 for a while. Not fun.I pulled it out and sold it to young guy with an automatic and a high stall convertor. I installed a diaphragm clutch. Easy on my left leg. Some Borg&Becks are murder in traffic or parades. I just realized how loong this story is. Ooops. First post. This worked for me, hope it helps you. I think I got it right.This cam doesnt really come alive until past 5000rpm. Mine pulls hard to past 7000.I love this cam.I had a Hughes He2430,which I liked more,until it lost 2 lobes from when they took the ZDDP out of the oil...... All the best to you and yours.........AJ is Going to bed now.I practically wrote a book......Oops,I might have posted here in the wrong thread, and being a newbee I dont have a clue how to move it.

I just started messing with the tuning and everything I read and recommendations here said it needs 18-20 degrees initial, so that's where I have it right now. I bought one of those distributor advance lock plates from FBO and used the 14 crank degrees mark, and my total wound up in the mid 30s and then I have the vacuum on top of that. I'm listening for knock and don't hear anything obvious, but I am a little worried I'm missing something subtle.

My carburetor got replaced by the shop with an Edelbrock Performer 1400 (the street legal version). The way it was originally tuned, there was manifold vacuum on the ported side (the manifold side isn't working correctly and I'm not sure why, but I'm not using it). After advancing the initial to 18 or so, I was able to back the idle screw out enough to get nearly 0 vacuum on the ported side at 750 RPM. The 750 is a little rough, so I may go back up to 800 RPM at some point, but that will put vacuum back at idle.

I asked my shop about changing the distributor advance, and he said you just change the springs (nothing about limiting total). He told me about drilling holes in the butterflies, but that seemed strange to me at the time. I didn't see any reason to drill holes in a "good" carburetor. Maybe I'll need to revisit that at some point in the future. The carb has vacuum secondaries and I'm not sure how adjustable the 1400 is since it is street legal. It doesn't have all of the slots on the top of the carb that Edelbrock shows for replacing the metering rods.

I didn't realize you could run a motor like this on 87 octane.
Thanks!

OK, Im glad you responded and have made some progress. So heres a couple of tips; (1)Theres a second reason for drilling those throttle plates. It allows you to close them down and still get a good idle and this properly locates the advance port so it wont activate at idle. Even my little 223* cam required these holes, so dont be afraid to drill them. (2) On the advance systems; this is very important; WOT timing must be limited. With adequate octane, the iron-headed sbm seems to make best power at 34* to 36*. A cam of 230@.050 intake and a M/T likes initial timing of about 15*. (My motor gets a little jumpy in gear at or near idle at 18* which requires me to ride the clutch). So..35-15 =20* mechanical, is a good start point. I have found factory distributor cams from 15* to 25*.There are probably many others. If you dont have a suitable cam in your dizzy, you will need to modify one. Or some aftermarkets have adjustable stops. After you get the timing and idle-mix sorted that engine will smooth right out. (3)Vacuum secondaries and small rear tires are a good match. I have fit 295s and 325s to the rear so I can use a double-pumper. Still blows the tires away if Im not careful. (4) As to the 87 octane; My sbm has aluminum heads. On the street, I perceive little-to-no power difference with timing from 32* to 36*. So I just set it to 33*ish and let er buck. Its been working for me for over 100,000 miles. At the track I put in the good stuff and crank it to 36* Goes 93mph in the 1/8th. Fast enough for me. (5) Just to reiterate, you MUST limit your WOT timing. Not doing so can be very expensive. -------Hope you can make use of these tips. I had to learn the hard way, as no one around here could help me. After I learned I had many visitors. Im glad to share. Cheers, AJ.