1973 Plymouth Duster repair and rebuild

[abdywgn]

shows what I don't know about how to do that. ideas maybe, execution, not so much. could you hold the block on the lathe and bore it out that way? had to look up what that bit looks like, thinking there might be some hiding in the garage from the neighbors moving sale.

 

[JohnFM3]

Well, in the end I did turn the shank of the bolt down. Justification was cost. I mess up a bolt, I can buy the bolt and nut at Detroit Muscle and Classic Industries for $20. I can say that I can not purchase a new push rod end for that cost. And the option of going with a heim joint was a no go.

I made a few light passes on the lathe, and its a perfect fit. No wobble at all. I did burn out the rubber seal which should indicate that the fit is even better as the seal is not taking up the slop. When installed, there is a tad bit of side to side as to be expected. But no twisting. I feel confident that I am under .005 in tolerance from the bore.

As too using the lathe, yes it can be done. And I have the 4 jaw chuck to do it, just no boring bar. All my cutting tools are for external cuts. The other thing to consider is that in order to set that up for a offset cut, you would have to ensure centric from left to right and adjust the top to bottom jaws to shift it in the direction needed. The setup needed to do that would have been far longer than the 2 min I spent putting the bolt in the chuck, centering with the dial indicator and light taps, then tightening it down for cutting.

And its done.

I may consider redoing this later when I have some extra chomoly or high strength steel. Could use this as a lesson in heat treating and hardening. For right now, its done and installed.

 

[abdywgn]

Looks good! Thanks for all the explanations on how to do the different options.

 

[JohnFM3]

Looks good! Thanks for all the explanations on how to do the different options.

Thank you for conversing with me which helped me think out my options and not get tunnel visioned.

Now to wait for the HDK suspension parts to arrive.

 

[abdywgn]

Your welcome. I'm glad the responses didn't muddy the decision waters.

 

[JohnFM3]

So while I am waiting, I think I am going to bypass the Amp meter in the gauge cluster. I dont have reason to perform the whole MAD bypass yet. Its my intention to install a Single Wire alt which will allow me to make the full change easily enough. But for now, I am going to join the 2 wires behind the instrument cluster together. I may add a third wire for use at a later time, like a Red 16 gauge wire. Could send that to a volt meter later.

Its my goal to simplify the engine wiring harness over time removing what will be come un needed wires. Such as the wires required for the OEM ignition system. As I have cut into that at the resister to trigger my relays for the ignition coil. At some point I will buy a painless wiring harness and replace the bulk head connector. But that will be after the barracuda is on the road. And at this time, the primary harness wires and connections look good.

 

[JohnFM3]

OMG I hate soldering on cars. I can not get it to hold. I have pre heated the wires with a lighter, I have used my flux, I have not used flux. I twisted the strands before twisting the 2 wires together, I have tried not twisting the 2 wires till I twist them together. I have event tried my pencil tip as well as my larger flat tip. I can not get the dang solder to flow. And its not like I have a cheap soldering station. I am building a HO train layout and afforded myself the opportunity to purchase a Hi End Weller with digital controls and heat control. For S's and G's, I even gave my basic Ryobi battery operated solder station a shot.

I am about to terminate the 2 wires on a 2 pin water proof automotive plug, and take the other side and horse shoe a chunk of wire on it in case of further use.

I hate soldering on larger gauge wire. I am great with 20 and 22 gauge. No problems soldering 18 gauge feeder wires to HO track. But give me two 14ga wires to butt together, and its a big fail.

:-(

 

[JohnFM3]

You know, I am about to wire 4mm Castle Creations gold plated bullet connectors which are used on my hobby grade RC's, they are used on 12 and 14 ga wire and have a current capacity of 75Amps. Solder them on, plug them together, cover with shrink wrap.

 

[JohnFM3]

Its done. I pulled out my non premium solder. I filled the pockets of the castle creation bullet connectors. Tinned the tip of the wire, and heated up the solder in the connector thru the side access hole, then pushed the wire in the connector filled with solder. Its done. I checked resistance and got .4 ohms which was what I was getting before. I call that a temp win. Allow the liquid tape to dry, apply heat to the shrink wrap, and move on to the next issue to tackle. A better solution will come post car driving.

 

[JohnFM3]

Ok, story time. With out pictures, as I dont want it rated X. Indecent exposure of a car's wiring.

So as I have stated in the past, the wiring in this car is less than desirable. Its my intention to thin it out to ensure reliable runability prior to performing a full harness swap (post barracuda road worthy), and with changes like the HEI ignition setup and a single wire alt, I believe I can reduce the engine harness alot.

I am now at a point with nothing to do on the car until more parts get here, "do I" or "do I not" dig into the wiring more than I already have and start thinning?

So with this bit of down time, I cut and soldered the amp meter wires together. Nothing to special. While doing so, I saw a yellow wire near the bulk connector sitting exposed. And I saw a black wire coming thru the side of the bulk connection where someone snuck it outside of the connector body and the firewall (aka cutting hazard). I remember seeing this wire in the engine compartment and went out to confirm. I have a bypass wire which goes from inside the car (the black wire previously spoken of) and is spliced into the passenger side engine terminal connector only to then follow the factory wire to the coil. Since I am not using the factory ignition, there are several wires right there I can cut out of the harness. With the alt change, I can loose more. Leaving only the temp sensor and a oil pressure gauge if I so choose along with the power and ground for my ignition. On the driver side of the engine, I have all the wires which go between the resistor and ignition box to remove.

At current, its my intention to maintain the OEM bulkhead connectors. And replace all lights with LED's to minimize electrical load. I have been reading up on the MAD electric modification to solve some of the electrical problems surrounding the alt / bulkhead / amp gauge situation. In general, keep the car free of fires and being broken down on the side of the road long enough to enjoy the car while completing the barracuda.

The joke about this is, my stance stated above was the same stance taken before dumping a bunch of cash into fixing the brakes, suspension, engine, and etc. But its almost done and safe to drive on the road with my family in it.

John

 

[JohnFM3]

Notes for tonight

New 3/4 DD to 5/8 36 spline steering coupler delivered today. I am not thrilled with the fitment. Not sure if 9/16 would be correct. This one was specific to 5/8 Chrysler unlike the universal 5/8 bought last time. Neither have a key slot, this new one is proud Ofer 5/8 and goes on the input shaft unlike the other which is too small.

Started installing my Blue Dots. Driver side taillight lense drilled to 7/8 with no fracturing or cracks. Need to get it to 1 inch to install. During drilling thru the many bits I stepped thru, the hole moved down .060 in under center of lower section. Unsure how close I can match on the passenger side. May have to use hole saw and make one cut at it. It has a centering bit, I can pre drill to set alignment before hole saw starts cutting.

 

[JohnFM3]

So I have been digging into cleaning up the wiring, with 1st task of making sure it all works. Spending my time on the lighting. I had to buy a new light switch and brake switch. Also pulled off the unknown brand LED brake/tail light bulbs in favor for some OEM 1157's. I will replace with LED after I have the car working. I have already found a wiring gremlin in the tail light harness, when I move it around the right brake light goes from bright to dim while running lights are Off.

Though not pictured, I bought the car with the instrument cluster torn apart. I have been digging into the brake/tail light circuit and found this wire in with the brake switch and blinker with a red crimp connector. I am ASSUMING (I know, that bad word) that its a ground and the other half of it is connected to a post which holds the steering column up.

Can anyone please confirm that there is a ground wire grouped with the brake light switch wires?

I have couple of other wires I will follow up later. I have 2 wires wrapped together cut and hanging near the lower driver door hinge. I believe one is to the door pin. Mainly as I see the other half coming out of the pillar where the door pin is located. That still leaves me the second wire to ID.

So here are my blue dots installed. And guess what (as some already know), they dont work. Not directly infront of the bulb. So they look good when off and parked, but thats it. I have some options to think thru. Disappointed.

Something which did turn out great. Pauly gave me the info as to where he found the carbon fiber vinyl overlay. After painting with Black Primer, followed by Gloss Black Paint, I installed the vinyl overlay. The only damage as a result of the tape used to protect the lettering was to the "Lights", "Wipers", and "Fasten Seat Belts" lettering was damaged in 1 way or another. I need to use a blue paint pen to go over the raised rings around the gauges and switch pods.

Now its time to buy the new gauge cluster.

 

[JohnFM3]

Ok, this makes no sense. I need help understanding.

Fuse 1, 2, & 3 are all fed by the same 12ga (maybe 10ga) wire. And yet all 3 circuits are protected by 20amp fuse’s.

As I recall, 10ga = 30A and 12ga = 25A.

Is it under the assumption that no 1 circuit will get to 20A, yet a short would pop the fuse?

I am planning on replacing the fuse block this weekend with a modern blade type fuse.

 

[mpgmike]

Yes, it is assumed you will never max out all fuses on a single feed line. It's like a 100 amp service box for the garage. You may have a total of 160 amps worth of breakers and still be legal.

 

[JohnFM3]

WTF, where do I find a diagram of the headlight switch and identify what each wire is for? The wiring diagrams for my car at MyMopar is useless in providing this information.

I though I had bought a bad headlight switch, so I exchanged it for another. Even changing brands from cheap to Napa. Still nothing. I found what I thought was the 12v source coming into the switch. Can anyone tell me if there are 2 terminals on the headlight switch which have 12v coming in? If not, then its safe to assume that I found the source terminal. And when I jump to the terminal going to the tail lights, I have an appropriate light. Hit the brakes, and those come on.

 

[JohnFM3]

Ok, I thought the resistor was only for the ignition. Now I see that it is also used for the alternator field wire.
As the diagram shows, one field wire goes to that what I assumed was a regulator. The other field wire goes to the other side of the regulator, one side of the resistor, and returns to what seems like the the same pin. Unless of those wires are grounded.

So what is the deal with having no resistor? Would I expect to see charging issues?

And I still am looking for answers to my question about the unknown black wire bundled with the brake switch wires. If someone could look under the dash of their car to confirm its a ground, that would be great.

 

[JohnFM3]

Ok, I am not sure I showed my solution for the ignition power. Based on the suggestions here, I went with two 4 terminal relay approach. Then used the blue and the brown wire from the wires that goto the resistor. Blue has 12v during run, Brown has 12v during start. The blue and brown wires are only used for triggers and pass thru the relay to ground. The relays get a 12v which will come from a breaker protected power distribution block (such as the one from MSD) straight from battery. There is the possibility of replaying the relays completely with the msd power distribution block. More on that later.

So in further investigations after finding the below charging circuit diagram, both the blue and the brown wire come directly from the ignition switch. In the event of the blue wire, it also goes to a field post on the alt as well as a post on the voltage regulator. As the 12v source is coming from the ignition switch, I am going to assume that its safe to use in the method I am, unless someone here believes I am making a mistake.

Meanwhile, I am digging into the harness and cleaning things up. Mainly sorting out why wires were cut and correcting them or notating. The orange wire off the harness connector that goes to the ignition switch was cut on the switch side. Come to find out that it was no longer needed as there wasnt a automatic shift indicator which needed lighting. I will definitely keep that in mind so if I install a gauge (such as a wideband air/fuel) one from autometer, I now have a power wire for lighting.

 

[JohnFM3]

Something else I worked on yesterday. As I have spoken in the past, the fuse box is toast. The typical bad terminals which overheat and melt the box. Then the owner replaces the terminal leaving the box. Well, I am seeing huge amounts of voltage drop thru the various connectors and the fuse box. So I built the below replacement for the fuse box.

Its a generic 8 circuit blade style fuse box with flat blade terminals on the bottom as shown in the below image. I have a power bar on the side for the incoming wires to terminate to it, and I have a multi terminal bridge which can match the factory of 1 wire on the first 3 terminations, the second wire on 2 terminations, and the next 2 wire are singles. (picture of that to come later). The individual wires from the distribution bar will goto the underside of the new fuse box. And of course the other side of the fuse connections will go to the car. I as explained, I am going to mimic the car OEM as much as possible. I am waiting for a book I bought on the 1973 duster electrical. I am hoping for good information including wire gauge size. Then I will buy the appropriate wire's and build this part of the fuse box, the solder it to the dash harness. With any luck, I can bolt this under the dash like factory.

I built the metal part holding the electrical fuse box and distribution bar. My welding opon the top was horible, and I did the best I could to grind it down. I also was set to hot and distortion bit me. I may try to salvage the part and re work the metal. Most likely will just build a new one with what I learned. My neighbor has a metal brake (I think thats what its called) to cut metal in one swift action. And a bender for use with flat bar. So cutting the few parts needed and bending 1 piece 90 degree's was only 3 to 4 min.

This is all good experience for when I wire the barracuda hopefully next summer. I intend on going with Painless Wiring on that car, then taking what I learn and replicating on this car. Aka, several years from now... lol

 

[JohnFM3]

One last thought before I go to bed. I am really torn on whether to replace the ignition switch while I have the column torn apart, or just save the $100 and re assemble the column. Column is getting work done on it as I am installing the upgrade kit from HDK allowing for use of a 3/4 in DD steering joint, and a bearing installed in the bottom of the column. I have done all the prep work this weekend. I will provide pictures when I assemble it. That is also when you get to see the new steering wheel I bought.

As to the ignition switch, my column is completely torn down. Its 3 screws and the switch comes out. Now I need to consider if I want to do it now, or pull the column when it dies.

Think, Think, Think.
John

 

[JohnFM3]

Well, some good and bad news....
The good news is I am more or less finished with my Instrument Cluster bezel. I am looking for feedback as to whether i should do a few more things, such as a RT Red stripe around the area of the bezel where the fastening screws go. There is some clean up I need to do, hopefully. If you look closely, you can see small amounts of blue that touched on the fiber carbon vinyl overlay. The vinyl does have a texture to it. So we will see how it cleans up. Now I just need to buy the instrument cluster and install the combination back in the car. Its kind of hard to tell, but the blue paint is slightly darker and matches the metallic blue paint of the car pretty well.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news. With a bad experience with another online purchase. There are those who will say its on me, but I dont believe so.

I purchased axle swap kit for my 1997 Ford Ranger 8.8 axle to install in the Duster. When I installed a 1996 Ford Explorer 8.8 in my 1992 wrangler, I bought a similar kit, every thing fit, and I was happy. When I had the Ranger 8.8 installed in the Barracuda, I bought the parts, paid a shop to install, and all was good (so I assume; explain later). So when the install kit showed up, I didnt question it and started prep'n the axle this weekend.

Come to find out as I was test fitting the parts, the 8.8 kit purchased was too big for my 8.8. Calling the supplier for assistance resulted in finding out that the kit I bought was for a Explorer which has a 3.25 in diam axle tube. The Ranger axle is 2.75 in diam. To elaborate on the above comment about the barracuda, now I have to wander if the kit I bought for the fab shop was even used. Or did he replace the kit I bought for one of his own.

In the conversation with the Sales rep, he found that I was suppose to purchase the 2.75 inch kit for a Dana 44. Now this would be ok if this was clearly called out. I will show you the pictures and let you decide.

The rep says the indication of the tube size was in the stock number. In the end, they are willing to exchange it as both kits are the same cost and their shipping cost to me would be the same, but I have to pay for shipping to send it back to the West Coast. I thinking shipping cost to them is going to be close to $50 via UPS from East Cost to West Coast. I am thinking this falls under a reasonable request that they send a return label and exchange with no cost to me as a bit more clarity would go a long way to preventing this. I dont know, such as "Kit for Explorer axle fitting a 3.25 in diam tube", or maybe something like "For small diam tube 8.8 purchase the 2.75 diam kit for dana 44". The descriptions are so small as it is, a few more words wouldnt hurt.

 

[JohnFM3]

Ok, so what the rear axle solution seems to be. AFCO leaf spring plates for a 3in axle tube. Mopar Performance perches for a 3in axle tube. And Calvert Racing 1/2in U Bolts for a 2.75 axle tube.

When everything shows up, I can offset drill the plates inward 1/8 in on all 4 holes to fit the 2.75 u-bolts. And the plates have the shock mount on them, so the factory duster shock setup will remain the same.

I still have those electrical questions above. That question regarding the black wire (possible ground?) is still very much on my mind. Not sure how to proceed testing to confirm its a ground or not.

More to come.

 

[mygasser]

the simplest way to check the black wire for ground is connect a test light from battery live to the black wire. if it lights then yes it goes to earth. that's how i'd check it anyway.
neil.

 

[JohnFM3]

the simplest way to check the black wire for ground is connect a test light from battery live to the black wire. if it lights then yes it goes to earth. that's how i'd check it anyway.
neil.

Thats necessarily accurate. Ohms law says that voltage will drop across the total resistive load and proportionally to the number of load and the ratio of resistance between each. So if I have two 8 ohm loads in series such as cluster lamps, each lamp will drop 6v (half the total incoming voltage assuming its 12v). Before someone tells me, this is precisly why automotive loads are not wired in series. But adding a test light will add a second resistive load in series to what ever is prior to the test point of the wire being checked. If I had a 8 and 4 ohm load, the 8 ohm load would have a voltage drop of 8v and the 4 ohm load would drop 4v.

So adding the test light to the black wire found with the possibility that it could be a ground, could result in it being lit (even dimmed) as there is resistive load and as such would create a voltage drop.

Normally, I would check by voltage with a meter. But given the state of the current harness, I can not trust that 12 volts is even getting to a load and going to ground thru that wire. I can not perform a continuity test as that assumes that this ground goes to a junction and is grounded else where. I am really trying to NOT cut the wrapping around the wire to track where its source is.

The best option is to find another example and see if the 3rd wire bundled with the 2 brake light switch wires goes to ground, if not then where.

 

[JohnFM3]

Well, I went after my tail lights with the blue paint pen in hopes that it would improve them from the faded and broken grey. I think it turned out ok. The picture doesnt do it justice. I went over it with 3 coats. And the cover is pretty uniform. Will be interesting to see how it turns out on the car.

Another new item done on the car. We now have front exterior lights. And another loose wire found. The Yellow wire from the light switch which goes thru the firewall via the bulkhead connector was just hanging. I am guessing electrical issue in the connector and the prior owner was bypassing it. Well, I found it and ran a bypass wire from under the dash to the loose wire on the other side by the bulkhead connector. Its kind of funny, now with that connection made I now have front marker and park/turn lights.

Speaking of markers, check out the new marker lights I bought to replace the broken OEM ones. I like the style. Blacked out completely. And when on, you see a single row of LEDs in the correct color per location.

When I get the car road ready, I will get a couple of pictures of the car with lights on when its a bit darker so they effect shows best. Being LED, they are pretty bright. There is no excuse for not seeing me.

 

[JohnFM3]

Installing HDK torsion bar elimination kit.

So I "had" a mini-lathe. 7 x 14 grizzly. And with that, it took 5 hrs to get to the end where I was ready to cut my first crush sleeve free. Cutting 1in mild steel to 9/16 with .020 passes is not the fastest process.

As I said above, I stated with 1in mild steel rod. Cut a 3in chunk to put on the lathe. I cut the outer diameter to .58 inches in prep for final dimension following the drilling out the center bore. Got the bore drilled, starting to part it off when the cutter got jammed, crashed the lathe, and broke the new metal drive gears.

I had recently upgraded my mini lathe with new tapered bearings and all metal drive gears. Plus a lot of stiffening and adj of the cross and compound slides. Now Toast.

After the parting action, I was going to take it down to final dimensions including reducing the head size down to .100 (shy of 1/8 in). Roughly the size of a HD washer. And making sure the overall length was just shy of the width of the chassis. Figured I could do that with a grinder.

I am thinking I am going to weld it now and just be done with it.