12:05 Garage- ’70 Duster build

[JBrian]

Hemi update!

I was able to make some decent progress over the weekend. I got the let side fuel rail bracket made up so I'm calling that small project done except for the Cerakote. Note the hidden fuel rail pressure sensor. View attachment 1716239990View attachment 1716239991

Also pinned out the engine harness connector. I still need to go through and ring them all out. I may recruit the wife or daughter to hold one of the meter leads to speed up that process.
View attachment 1716239993

I made a lifting bracket out of some scrap angle iron, which worked beautifully. The engine hangs almost perfectly level once the flywheel and bell housing are mounted. I test fit the bellhousing and checked the runout of the trans bearing register. Lucky for me it is within the .005" tolerance Tremec transmissions like.
View attachment 1716239998
When the bell was installed, I figured I'd check header and starter fitment to make sure everyone would play nice together. There was a very small interference on one corner of the bellhousing. Nothing a little grinding couldn't resolve.
View attachment 1716239997
The starter is a mile from anything hot and drops in and out without having to remove the header. This is a starter from an early 2500 truck with a G3 and manual trans. I will need to drill the threads out of the top hole. No biggie. While this was setup, I also check starter gear to flywheel ring gear. It also looks perfect. I love when things actually work. Also note the charge wireway previously mentioned. It ends nicely right by the starter and will stay secure and out the way of anything moving or hot.
View attachment 1716239996View attachment 1716239995

Lastly, TTi says a Z-bar can be made to work with their headers with modification. Here's a photo of why that needs to be done.
View attachment 1716239994
Notice the tube is on a fairly large angle here just to get the arm where it needs to be. Based on my measurements, it needs to be offset by 1.25" to clear the header tube. I'm going to replicate the bracket with a dogleg in it and just remove this one and weld the new one on. Nothing special, just 1/4" thick flat bar with a hole in it.

I didn't get around to coating the intake and other pieces, mostly because it was way too windy yesterday to be painting. I also plan to coat my radiator and fan shroud at the same time. I want to make sure I gather all the pieces I want coated so I can do them all at once.

Your wiring solution looks very clean, much better than the rat's nest I have mostly hidden!
I love the lifting bracket, I want one and so will many other s it does a much better job of distributing the weight across many bolts!
That starter is the bomb. It so much smaller than the traditional mini-starter. I found the block needs a littler clearance/trimming.
I just shortened the bottom of my Tti 340 Z-Bar by about 3/4" for clearance. I have zero issues with my old school Z-Bar.
Great progress, let's get'er done for May!

 

[racerjoe]

Your wiring solution looks very clean, much better than the rat's nest I have mostly hidden!
I love the lifting bracket, I want one and so will many other s it does a much better job of distributing the weight across many bolts!
That starter is the bomb. It so much smaller than the traditional mini-starter. I found the block needs a littler clearance/trimming.
I just shortened the bottom of my Tti 340 Z-Bar by about 3/4" for clearance. I have zero issues with my old school Z-Bar.
Great progress, let's get'er done for May!

My local SCCA just released their May date and location. They are trying a new spot which happens to be the drag strip I used to frequent. There's also a small road course at that track and they are having the autocross on portions of the road course. I have to click this job into overdrive so I can try to make it! That track is about double the distance I used to drive for autocross, making it a 1.5 hour drive. Oh well, it's a street car, right?

 

[DionR]

Nice job. Looks like you are close to swinging it in?

I would be a little nervous about the fuel pressure sensor developing a crack. Looks like it has a bit of a cantilever there.

 

[racerjoe]

Nice job. Looks like you are close to swinging it in?

I would be a little nervous about the fuel pressure sensor developing a crack. Looks like it has a bit of a cantilever there.

It certainly is close. Pulling the 408 is my next large thing to do. Ringing wires out and modifying the z-bar will be weeknight projects this week.

That street T is aluminum and the sensor doesn't weigh anything. It will be fine.

 

[JBrian]

My local SCCA just released their May date and location. They are trying a new spot which happens to be the drag strip I used to frequent. There's also a small road course at that track and they are having the autocross on portions of the road course. I have to click this job into overdrive so I can try to make it! That track is about double the distance I used to drive for autocross, making it a 1.5 hour drive. Oh well, it's a street car, right?

No Problem Raceway? I'm so fortunate that the STL SCCA autocross venue is about 6 miles from my house. We had 155 cars yesterday! The Sunday before, April 14th, Boeing Autocross also holds open events at the same location where they limit to no more than 75 cars. So I've already autorcross'd at three events this season. And WWT (Gateway) is just 30 miles from my house we're I'll be attending the Hemi Challenge May 4th for free. You just have to run the gauntlet through STL to get to Gateway! In addition, we have three Cars & Coffees a month all on different weekends, Friday nights at Sonic and various car shows which I don't attend since I'm not a car shown guy. Now I need to practice slow in and fast out corner techniques into the tight technical parts of the autocross. I hope to have my **** together before we meet again at MoParty 2024.

 

[racerjoe]

No Problem Raceway? I'm so fortunate that the STL SCCA autocross venue is about 6 miles from my house. We had 155 cars yesterday! The Sunday before, April 14th, Boeing Autocross also holds open events at the same location where they limit to no more than 75 cars. So I've already autorcross'd at three events this season. And WWT (Gateway) is just 30 miles from my house we're I'll be attending the Hemi Challenge May 4th for free. You just have to run the gauntlet through STL to get to Gateway! In addition, we have three Cars & Coffees a month all on different weekends, Friday nights at Sonic and various car shows which I don't attend since I'm not a car shown guy. Now I need to practice slow in and fast out corner techniques into the tight technical parts of the autocross. I hope to have my **** together before we meet again at MoParty 2024.

Yes, No Problem Raceway. You are lucky there are so many events nearby. I was looking at the results from yesterday since I couldn't go, there were only 36 cars. The weather was nice, not sure why the turnout was so low.