1971 Duster Handeling

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72bluNblu said:
You can get just as low with torsion bars and standard spindles. The backside of the inner fender is the limit in the front. With my current set up, at full suspension compression there’s only 13” from the spindle to the bottom of that inner fender, which means a 26” tall tire would hit. Gotta add clearance to the inner fenders after that.

72BBSwinger added clearance on his…
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Oh agreed. I’m just saying that when I chose the coil over kit, I did so with the intent to go low as possible. I’m doing some other aero tricks. If it all comes together as my sketches appear too, it should be pretty neat.
 
72bluNblu said:
You can get just as low with torsion bars and standard spindles. The backside of the inner fender is the limit in the front. With my current set up, at full suspension compression there’s only 13” from the spindle to the bottom of that inner fender, which means a 26” tall tire would hit. Gotta add clearance to the inner fenders after that.

72BBSwinger added clearance on his…
View attachment 1715911119
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I like that front cage.

I wonder if the 4 studs in the down bars are for an X-brace. I drew up a cage like that years ago copying the Late Model Circle Track car I helped with. I drew another X across from of motor from frame rails. That's hard to physically pull off though.

Never seen that picture. Does he still have the car?
 
autoxcuda said:
I like that front cage.

I wonder if the 4 studs in the down bars are for an X-brace. I drew up a cage like that years ago copying the Late Model Circle Track car I helped with. I drew another X across from of motor from frame rails. That's hard to physically pull off though.

Never seen that picture. Does he still have the car?
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He may have been working on some kind of cross brace. In retrospect I wish I’d done something similar with my J bars, but I’m not taking them out now!

He sold the car, not sure what happened to it. The picture is from the for sale ad here
 
72bluNblu said:
You can get just as low with torsion bars and standard spindles. The backside of the inner fender is the limit in the front. With my current set up, at full suspension compression there’s only 13” from the spindle to the bottom of that inner fender, which means a 26” tall tire would hit. Gotta add clearance to the inner fenders after that.

72BBSwinger added clearance on his…
View attachment 1715911119
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So basically I'm going to lower front end add spoiler and align it and what I get is what I get. It has to be better I'm sure!!
 
snowcrane2005 said:
So basically I'm going to lower front end add spoiler and align it and what I get is what I get. It has to be better I'm sure!!
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Use the suggestion of the Lowering Blocks also, before the alignment. Speaking of, the Only place I may have gotten a half *** one, just flipped hands to a used car lot... crap
 
Ironracer said:
Use the suggestion of the Lowering Blocks also, before the alignment. Speaking of, the Only place I may have gotten a half *** one, just flipped hands to a used car lot... crap
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Does anyone have an opinion which front spoiler is better the direct connection one or the 67 Camaro one for function or doesn't it matter?
 
Direct Connection is wider and better.

But the repro are more expensive and they are all fiberglass. If you hit something they crack.

The Camaro one's are ABS plastic that flexes on impact. And they are very inexpensive.

Where you drive your car and what you want to spend is your decision.
 
autoxcuda said:
Direct Connection is wider and better.

But the repro are more expensive and they are all fiberglass. If you hit something they crack.

The Camaro one's are ABS plastic that flexes on impact. And they are very inexpensive.

Where you drive your car and what you want to spend is your decision.
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Exactly. I’ll add that because the DC style ones are reproduced by different people/companies the quality is all over the place. Some are really nice, others are really thin and take a lot of fitting.
 
snowcrane2005 said:
Do you think this one is better functioning than the camaro one?
70-76 Plymouth Duster and 67-69 73-76 Dodge Dart Front Spoiler | eBay
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Not really sure. It’s supposed to be a copy of the DC spoiler, but honestly it looks pretty thin. On the pictures of the backside I don’t even really see a good way to mount it.

The coverage is important, and it looks like it will cover more area than the Camaro spoiler. But the more area it covers the more air pressure it will have to withstand. I haven’t seen that one in person, but it looks like it will be hard to mount in a way it will be strong enough to actually hold up at higher speeds.
 
this is the kind of car that would be fun to build for that sandhills speed race held in nebraska, thats what it's about is the speed and handling
 
Lowcar said:
this is the kind of car that would be fun to build for that sandhills speed race held in nebraska, thats what it's about is the speed and handling
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I think it should be alright If I braced it I would think?
 
72bluNblu said:
The "red brick" Valiant is pretty heavily modified in the suspension department. When it was built is was wild, although now you can pretty easily just buy everything that was on it. There's a list of it's specs here
mopar handling

I would add that just because the Red Brick hit 160 mph doesn't mean that it wasn't front end light when it did it. You might reach out to @lilcuda, he was the most recent owner of the 'brick that I recall although I'm not sure he still has the car.
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Yeah, I sold the Red Brick in 2016. The guy I sold it to sold it to Mr Belvedere2 on here less than a year later and he since sold it to someone in Southern Ca. I actually almost never come on this site anymore because I don't own and a body anymore. I have a 1967 Belvedere II now.
 
Ill add that getting air out from under the hood is a good idea, but I wouldn’t lift the back of the hood. The back edge of the hood is a high-pressure air area, that’s why Cowl induction hoods work so well. You might jam more air under there than you think you’re letting out. Vents in the hood should be up where the low pressure bubble is, pretty much right behind the radiator.
That’s why when jeeps started coming with a 5.9 in 98, there are vents up there.
 
snowcrane2005 said:
Can anyone tell me what they can get for top speed out of there duster and actually handle it in the road?
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This car was clocked at 163mph...

f090c0c1032d374512a0dbc014c911f4--bricks-the-one.jpg
 
snowcrane2005 said:
I will get the actual alignment specs as I did not do it myself of of course. When i put competition springs and big rear tires it raised rear of car and i raised the front up to compensate so I'm sure this is all compounding the problem. Does anyone have any suggestions on good tires I can get that would be rated for that speed and would fit on stock Rims? And do you think this is much difference between a tall one from randy and the DC spoiler? I imagine the DC spoiler would work better since it is mounted to bumper. Also with the DC I should still probably look at lowering the car if I can at all correct? How high do you have your car off the ground from the bottom of the front spoiler?
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Low as possible, with some (Very little) rake. 15x7 with 225/50ZR15 will fit...with a Duster, you can go wider in back.

Mattax said:
Egzactly. As you know when one looks at real road race cars, they all had their bodies as low as possible.
Same rake can help, but if air is getting underneath, thats a problem.
If the suspension has been raised, that's going to hurt geometries for stability as well as roll center heights.
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Also, too much rake screws up the camber in front.
 
snowcrane2005 said:
You don't know of anyone who has a direct connection one for sale do you?
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72bluNblu said:
Nope. You could try putting up a want ad here
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And a saved search on eBay.

RogerRamRod said:
Ill add that getting air out from under the hood is a good idea, but I wouldn’t lift the back of the hood. The back edge of the hood is a high-pressure air area, that’s why Cowl induction hoods work so well. You might jam more air under there than you think you’re letting out. Vents in the hood should be up where the low pressure bubble is, pretty much right behind the radiator.
That’s why when jeeps started coming with a 5.9 in 98, there are vents up there.
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And turbo Mopars...
 
May have already been mentioned (did not read all the comments) but years ago there was a book available on making an a-body handle. Used all OEM style components if I remember right. I have a copy of it...somewhere. The "Green Brick" was based on it, I think.
 
inkjunkie said:
May have already been mentioned (did not read all the comments) but years ago there was a book available on making an a-body handle. Used all OEM style components if I remember right. I have a copy of it...somewhere. The "Green Brick" was based on it, I think.
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This one?

F196BB98-8C7A-4264-98F2-A89949D4A19C.jpeg


Tom Condran’s book. I have it, it’s a decent read but I think it used to be a lot handier than it is now. Basically it covers a lot of upgrades from later model cars, adding larger brakes and things. Stuff you could mostly get out of salvage yards.

I bought it close to 10 years ago and even then it was a bit outdated. He doesn’t spend much time at all on anything you can get now, like larger than 1” torsion bars, bigger than 11.75” brakes, etc.

Basically it was a great book before the whole pro-touring movement. Back when if you wanted your Mopar to handle you were basically on your own. And there were still Mopars in wrecking yards that had those parts on them. Nowadays all the parts to make your Mopar handle are readily available in the aftermarket (and not so much in the yards) and you can go above and beyond the capabilities of the parts and handling described in the book. Same for the green brick for that matter. Was pretty novel and ground breaking at the time, but now it’s a pretty basic set up.
 
72bluNblu said:
This one?

View attachment 1715928067

Tom Condran’s book. I have it, it’s a decent read but I think it used to be a lot handier than it is now. Basically it covers a lot of upgrades from later model cars, adding larger brakes and things. Stuff you could mostly get out of salvage yards.

I bought it close to 10 years ago and even then it was a bit outdated. He doesn’t spend much time at all on anything you can get now, like larger than 1” torsion bars, bigger than 11.75” brakes, etc.

Basically it was a great book before the whole pro-touring movement. Back when if you wanted your Mopar to handle you were basically on your own. And there were still Mopars in wrecking yards that had those parts on them. Nowadays all the parts to make your Mopar handle are readily available in the aftermarket (and not so much in the yards) and you can go above and beyond the capabilities of the parts and handling described in the book. Same for the green brick for that matter. Was pretty novel and ground breaking at the time, but now it’s a pretty basic set up.
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Back in the 1990s when Tom's book was pretty new we were at a show in the Bay Area (Fremont, CA). I got to talking to Tom about his book and the parts he was suggesting. It was pretty much what I had done on my old '67 GT hardtop (and now on my son's Dart and my Barracuda). His eyes lit up as he was only working on theory and had never got around to building one. Also beat him to a factory big block sway bar at a swap for $40 in the 1990s. We used to spent time talking when we saw each other at the shows. I suspect his health hasn't held up as I haven't seen him in a few years. I did build him a Direct Connection k-member, too.
 
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