The Great Pumpkin - '71 Duster

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A good friend of mine lives in Bethel now, I will give you shout next time I am up there.

Was kind of an ordeal getting a non-running car on and off a trailer by myself without a winch but I managed to do it. Dented my month-old truck tailgate (don't ask) but other than that, it went OK.

Was also a real task to get all my junk moved out of my garage but I managed to complete that task too. I really need to get rid of some of my stuff.

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Sounds good, In the spring Ill have to come up and give you a hand wrenching. Better to work on someone else than not wrench at all lol
 
Hopefully the garage will be done by spring, kinda just a frozen hole right now. :BangHead:

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Almost time for that ground to freeze again. Hope that garage is finished and heated !
 
You again!

Garage is 99.9% finished. Has a heater unit hung, (you can see it to the right of the window) just waiting to get a propane tank installed and plumbed to feed it which is no small potatoes. As usual, there are various complications involved with that process but I hope to have working heat before winter.
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Note the B body addition, got that in May of this year. Amateur resto, one of 934 big block '68 Coronet 440s. Started tinkering with that and ran into some snags, have some big plans for it. Big brown truck could start rumbling up the driveway soon delivering trinkets to lavish on it.

Incidentally, I broke my hip (!) last Saturday, 11/3 skateboarding. Was at a skatepark in my town (see below) and have been learning how to ride the bowls. There were never any places like this when I was younger, they everywhere now and I have been inspired to skate more. This pic is a still from a video I took of myself before my injury.
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Anyway, was about to call it a day when I ran into some debris at the bottom at speed, stepped off awkwardly and launched myself horizontally. I landed with all my weight on my left femur, I knew I broke it right away, I couldn't get up. I had some kid grab my cell phone and I called 911. EMS came to scrape me off the bottom of the bowl and took me to the ER down the street. Got transferred up to Yale, had it surgically repaired that Monday with a plate and a couple pins. I'll be laid up for a while so not much going on in the next few weeks for me!

Sadly, The Great Pumpkin still sits idle in storage. I was so close to finishing, I am mad at myself for not getting it done. Lot of stuff happened in our lives over the last couple years that could qualify as reasonable excuses for not getting it done but it still blows to have it just sitting. I go look at it sometimes just to remind myself I still have it.
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Thanks for checking in!
 
You're to old to skate ! LoL. My brother was a big skater. Always hurt himself. I'll have to find some pics of the.memorial bench my uncle made out of skateboards for him.
 
You're to old to skate!

Never!

Funny, almost every person I tell the story to says the same thing. But let's say I replaced the word 'skateboarding' with 'skiing', maybe they would have an easier time accepting it? Frankly, I wouldn't be me without skating. I still suck at it but that's besides the point...

Seems like I get hurt more after not doing it for long periods of time, I just need to do it more often.
 
Well holy crap, it's been almost three years since my last post but I got some news - after 3 1/2 years, I finally brought my Duster out of storage and got it home. Just woke up today and decided to do it, no more wasting time or making excuses for not getting it here.

Have a lot of stuff to sort through, not going to explain everything in excruciating detail. Just glad it's finally home and not continuing to deteriorate in an unheated, non-insulated garage.

Sorta feels like I just bought a new car which is an odd since I've had it for almost 10 years. It's been so long sine I worked on it though, it's like catching up with an old friend

Will try to post updates as I get to them.

- Greg



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Holy cow! What’s up Greg!!!!!!!
Congrats! It has made the triumphant return!!!!!

Where is & what is on the cardboard list?
 
Holy cow! What’s up Greg!!!!!!!
Congrats! It has made the triumphant return!!!!!

Where is & what is on the cardboard list?

Not sure I'd call it a triumphant return, more like waking up from a long hibernation and being a little worse for the wear.

But OK let's see;

#1 is a major clean up and addressing any surface oxidation on exposed parts. Thankfully it's never had any gas in it so I don't have to be concerned with any varnish in the fuel lines or tank.

When I stopped working on it before we moved, I was in the middle of rewiring the entire car. Not sure exactly where I left off! Got the peripheral stuff with the trunk battery worked out and IIRC was moving forward but don't remember how far I got. Need to finish putting the dash together which is mostly electrical stuff.

Car has no brakes but I think the system just needs to be filled with fluid and bled. Maybe?

Motor was dynoed then put in the car but has been sitting for almost 5 years at this point. I have not tried to turn it over yet. I think it's probably OK but I'm a little concerned about the valves and springs and some of the seals. I may take it out and take it apart to look it over. Pretty sure the heads and oil pan should come off at a minimum.

I believe the trans is good to go. I had it "dynoed" at Freddy Browns to make sure it shifted and then like the engine, it sat. Guess the one concern would be the seals. Not sure what, if anything I will do with that. Probably just roll the dice and hope it doesn't leak.

Have to install the shifter and make it work - never an easy task with that stupid cable.

After the roll bar was put in I reinstalled the back seat but it was a huge hassle and I regretted it. It's all dry rotted and pretty much a pain to get to for anyone to ride in it anyway with the roll bar and fixed seats. Also need to put the package tray in which is a little bit tricky with the rear down bars.

I have a goal of getting it down to Carlisle for the Friday program at Quarter Aces but I'm not going to hold myself to that. Three months is a while but there is a lot of work to get through.

Looking forward to getting back into it.
 
Cleaned out all the junk that was in the Duster for 3 years and assessed everything. There is a lot of work to be done! "Not spending too much more money" on this thing is out the window. It's really hard for me not to re-do stuff that I wasn't totally happy with. It's been almost 7 years since I've driven it and have done and learned a lot more about these types of things since then.
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That said, an EFI conversion is pretty high on the list. I did it on my Coronet and I really like it. That car runs light years better than it ever did with a carburetor. Throttle response is much crisper, it runs cleaner and the drivability is just better overall. No idea if mileage has increased but it may very well have.

Nothing wrong with a carburetor but it does not have the data logging capability, digital ignition control or the ability to change the tune on the fly. I do have an Innovate LM-1 A/F monitor thing which can datalog but it's just a gauge and not a complete interactive system. It's kind of obsolete now anyway.
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Basically, this car will need to be fully re-wired, especially if EFI is in the mix. I was in the middle of wiring when it went into storage. I have a Ron Francis "Bare Bonz" panel which was chosen because it was minimal but am realizing now that my original plan was insufficient.

Like most aftermarket wiring, it's based off GM architecture so there will be a lot of things that I'd have to re-engineer to make them work on a Chrysler product. Frankly, it would be easier to start off with a complete harness and customize it to my needs. I rewired my Coronet with an American Autowire harness which I liked and I may go that route here. It's also based off GM, is expensive and comes with a lot of extra stuff that I wouldn't need but it's quality stuff that I know how to work with. If I go with EFI, the wiring will be integrated into whatever harness I get.

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Other stuff on the list includes a QA1 K frame and possibly their tubular control arms and dynamic strut bars. Just seems like the right thing for this type of car. Unsure of how much weight it will save but I like the idea of having more room and new parts underneath.

Speaking of weight savings, I've had a fiberglass hood for several years now, probably time to put it on the car. Should shave significant weight off the front end. One of my friends is a body guy who does nice work, been talking to him about painting it for me. Probably just go with an Organisol/flat black type treatment.

Another major consideration is the exhaust. Currently, it's TTI 1 5/8" into 1 7/8" step headers into a heavy, 3" H pipe system with 40 series Flowmasters. I have always thought the headers are a little bit of a cork, could be worthwhile to go to a larger primary tube and collector. As stated, the rest of the exhaust is 3" and weighs a ton. I know it's heavy because I put it myself laying on my back, would be a significant weight savings changing to a stainless system.
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If I go with the EFI, it would be best to get an in-tank fuel pump with a return. Unfortunately, that means I'd either have to buy a whole new tank setup for EFI or modify my brand-new aluminum tank. I regret not getting the tank set up for a future EFI conversion when I bought it because I could have. At the time, I just had it in my head that I didn't want to deal with an electric fuel pump.

Modifying the tank would basically require cutting out a recess for the fuel pump module. I can MIG weld but not TIG so it would have to come out and go to someone who can do the job. It's never had any gas in it so welding on it wouldn't be dangerous.

I'm confident I can do these jobs in a reasonable amount of time but if I do all of it including taking the motor apart to check it, I doubt I'd have it done by Carlisle. Just have to make the decision to spend the coin and buy the parts and see how it goes.

Talk about project creep!

Stay tuned.
 
Is that the block I sold you years ago??..my duster has been sitting in the garage 3 1/2 years now..
 
LOL, speaking of who sold who what block....
Here is the one I got from you years back...



Ha! Awesome Rob, glad you were able to put it back into service. That motor propelled the car to a best of 11.97 by the previous owner. My best was 12.0 with a broken piston ring in the #5 hole.

But see that Dave, all these old blocks get used eventually.
 
[QUOTE="rmchrgr, post: 1973430182, member: 6515

But see that Dave, all these old blocks get used eventually.[/QUOTE]

Very good..now that I've been looking for one no luck..
 
It just took a honing. I used replacement 340 slugs from KB. IIRC, 243’s? I had Comp narrow the LSA to 108 on there XE285HL cam. A 750 AFB that Literally cost $10.
(Thanks Rich!)
The exhaust is Summits headers and there exhaust kit.
I do want to up the anti on headers though. I picked those up mainly for the engine break stand duties. I really can’t stand them for street duty.

If the health and back hold, it’ll see service in a ‘71 Duster soon. I am working on the engine bay right now. It’s stripped out naked getting ready for paint removal and epoxy primer over these next few days since there scheduled to be warm and low chance of rain. I’ll paint the engine bay the factory color.
EL5 Butterscotch/Bahama Yellow.
(KISS method)

It’s not intended to look mint since the target of the car is fun & race, & then more fun. Wash rinse repeat.
 
Very good..now that I've been looking for one no luck..
There is a lack of machinists are LI since the demise of all but one race track but no lack of hot rodders or guys that still want to build a engine for some type of racing.
I “Still” have a pair of 340 blocks waiting to be sonic checked. I’ll keep you in mind for when there finally done.
 
if you are thinking about a steering wheel change...I would be a buyer for that ol' tuff wheel and adapter.

:)
 
I like your new shop. How are you enjoying it so far? Is the blue car a Super Bee?
 
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