Back on the Duster...aka what i did on my summer vacation

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Okay...went to the tranny shop,they put a new bushing in the tailshaft so it's all good. Got my shorter shocks,but they are single adjustable,he forgot that I had originally ordered double adj. Thats ok,I'm going with what I got,and I will get a credit for the difference.

So i played around with ride height and pinion angle and finally got the upper brackets welded to the housing. Not the best welding job in the world,but as long as the brackets don't fall off I'll be happy. I couldn't really get the car high enough,so I was all bound up underneath the car. Note to self....someday get a car lift....well those are my excuses anyways.:D



So after getting the rear end back out,I welded my washers to the front box, which will serve as my new holes for the lower bars.



Tomorrow I should be able to get the 3rd member out of the housing and disassemble the lower plates so I can start cleaning up and painting stuff.

I have to pull the yoke off and replace the pinion seal,luckily this unit doesn't use a crush sleeve,it uses shims instead,so I can just hammer the yoke back on.

Ok this picture is the inner fender well and you can where the tires have rubbed in the past. I would like to move it out so the tires don't rub.....there is room between this panel and the outer panel of the car....so I'm open to ideas....big hammer lol porta power it.......lay wet rags in the trunk between this panel and the outer panel of the car and heat it up and move it? IDK

More tomorrow....

 
Well last Friday I took off for a day at the drags,went down to Sonoma and walked around and got to see some people I haven't seen in a while,so that was good. I worked Saturday on my brothers truck,Sat night on the car,till 2 in the morning and took Sunday off,as I was way too tired to work.

So between Sat and today this is what I have accomplished....I made patch panels to cover up where the stock shock mounting stud used to be. When you move the leaf springs in,you need to come up with shorter shocks,which I failed to do,so they bottomed out and broke off. Panels,welded in,grind off...yumm metal shower.









So after that was all done I figured I would drill out the gas tank and weld in my steel fitting for my pick up elbow. I should have just mig'd it from the start as I overestimated my tig skills haha....spent way too much time trying to weld it,too much heat,and ended up mig'n it in the end anyways. I ended up with a slight angle to it..live and learn. I took it down to the car wash today,cleaned it all out,so next will be some primer and paint for it.



So I have the rear housing back under it,with the shorter shocks,oh and I changed the pinion seal in it also. $33.00 for that little sucker. Tomorrow I will clean up the 3rd member and the drums and backing plates and hope to get that all together.

 
Well,this will be the last I get to work on it for a while anyways..I head out tomorrow for Indiana,I actually have some work lined up..yeehaa

So,I'm putting the rear end back together for the last time,I forgot I destroyed one set of axle gaskets. Luckily I have the same ends of the tube for the next rear end that I narrow and a hole punch kit for making gaskets and some gasket material. I make a set of those and get the axles and backing plates on.



Then I got the fuel tank painted and the new fuel sender installed.




So here is where it's at before I threw the cover over it. I need to add some gear lube to it,and I'm going to make new brake lines,I can't get the old ones to work with out bending the snot out of them and looking ugly.

I don't have the new tank pad installed,and I might try to come up with rubber liners that will go between the tank and the straps.

In hindsight,I should have ordered a steel 90* elbow instead of aluminum. That way I could have welded teh elbow right to the tank,I could have done it in one fitting and kept the hose closer to the tank....Oh well thats it for awhile.



 
Well,this is what I'm now working on.......53 Corvette Pro Mod car,based out of Elkhart In...twin 90mm turbos and oh yea.............................................it's got A HEMI

Turbos are down behind the front wheels,I'll get more pics tomorrow,as we are going testing at Chicago



 
blown340 said:
Well,this is what I'm now working on.......53 Corvette Pro Mod car,based out of Elkhart In...twin 90mm turbos and oh yea.............................................it's got A HEMI

Turbos are down behind the front wheels,I'll get more pics tomorrow,as we are going testing at Chicago



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DAMN that is one bad corvette. Good thing he put a real motor in it though it would have been much slower with a chevy :toothy10::toothy10:
 
Competition Enginerring sells a nice weld on sump kit for about $80, and allows you to pull fuel from the rear of the tank, instead of the front....which is where the gas is when you nail it...just a thought. Looks like you are doing a great job on it...I'll bet it's really a ride, with a blower on it!
Show us some wheelie pics when it's done!
Alan
 
I'm at the US Nationals,where we didn't qualify...but there are some awesome hemi cuda's and Darts here...I will try to get some pics and post them up when I get back to Sac
 
alan627b said:
Competition Enginerring sells a nice weld on sump kit for about $80, and allows you to pull fuel from the rear of the tank, instead of the front....which is where the gas is when you nail it...just a thought. Looks like you are doing a great job on it...I'll bet it's really a ride, with a blower on it!
Show us some wheelie pics when it's done!
Alan
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Alan,many years ago I had purchased that sump that you are referring to,but going off my memory,which has seen better days,it did not fit anywheres close to the bottom shape of the tank. I remember trying to cut it so it would fit the angle of the tank,and giving up and having a local radiator shop weld a bung for me like I did on this one. This is a new tank,so no worries about blowing up,but the previous one was used,and well,I let the them weld it.

Now if you could section it,so it's not so wide and fits the one flat section of the tank that might be an option. I'll just have to make sure I keep plenty of fuel in her :-D
 
Well,after working 32 days in a row,I took a few days off before I started back on my ****box.My laptop finally imploded,so I ended up with a new Vaio and a used Del 9300...long story....and I dropped my camera,so the flash quit working on it,so sry in advance,some pics are kinda dark.

I am going to try a single regulator in place of the 2 I was running before,we shall see if it will pass enough fuel through it to keep the bowls full.

I also added a steel braided line to the fuel gauge in place of the plastic line I had before.Even though it was thicker plastic,probably not a good idea.So I also now have -8 line from the pump to the regulator in place of the aluminum tubing I had in there before.



So next up were the rear brake lines,since the new 4 link brackets ended up right next to the stock vent/brake fitting,that setup could not be used. I kept the stock vent and moved the distribution block up the rear end housing,since I was making new lines anyway.

After bending the lines up,I bled the brakes...Mighty Vac,so you can bleed brakes by yourself...whohoo...I made sure none of my new flare ends were leaking before I made up a mounting block for my fitting.

So,not wanting to drill any holes in my housing,I got a piece of tubing,took a nut,ground it round so it fit inside of the tubing,welded it together,now I have something for a bolt to go into. Took that and tacked it to the housing,so now I have my fitting mounted to my housing.



My new location




The final assy



Had to modify the connector that goes on the new fuel sender,as well as needing to make up a ground for it,as the stock setup grounds through the metal fuel line,and installed the fuel tank and plumbed it to the filter.

The 2 studs sticking down are from the new battery box during mock up. I ended up welding nuts at the end of those and cut off the excess in the trunk so they sit flush with the underside.



Next up was filling the 2 holes where the stock shocks used to mount. I ground down the welds and just have to use a little filler to make it look purdy



So I finished up tonight by installing the battery box,and attaching the shut off switch and starter relay and I had to make 1 new cable,battery to solenoid and a need more cable to make up a new ground cable.If I had more time I would really like to make a flat floor to go over the spare tire well,but for now I will get some more trunk paint and blend in the ugly areas.



 
Well today it actually made it out of the shop and down to the gas station under it's own power.

I made a major brainfart,when I was working on the fuel system a fitting must have fallen down on top of the lower pulley,and when I turned it over today,the fitting ripped my blower belt...dohh...no harm to the pulley,just my wallet.

I will have to raise the rear ride height a little,I have a breather can that I need to plumb in and also come up with an air filter set up if I continue to run this scoop.



 
Bigmacdak said:
Looking good man! Keep up the good work. That thing looks SICK!!!
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pettybludart said:
Looks like youv,e been busy.Nice job.Where,s the roll bar (cage)???
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Thanks both of you...oh you mean this one hehe it's an Art Morrison 10 pt that I bought many years ago. But when I do put it in,I would like to move the dash out towards the seats so the bar will fit between the dash pad and the windshield. It also has the down bars in the back that hug the roof and then go down thru the rear package tray so you can keep the rear seat. No racing for me,just going to cruise this thing while I continue to work on it.

 
Evidently I also suck at a leekfree oil pan installation:mad: At least the tranny works fine.....oh thats cause I didn't build it...hahaha

Drips right on top of the header,embarrassing to say the least.So I ordered some gaskets from SCE,they should be here Tuesday and start the fun all over.

This afternoon..



This evening

 
So I pull the oil pan off and I figure while I'm at it I better do the rear main seal also. So off comes the rear main,turn it over and the damm thing is cracked:mad:

So I talked to my machinist and he suggested that I try to locate as many good used ones as I can and hopefully we can come up with one that doesn't need much work to make fit.

I finished pulling the engine all apart,it will need new rod and main bearings,so while I'm at I will see if we can hone it and put new rings in it.

The heads need to be gone through also,the stem seals are all over the place and I think it was sucking oil down in the cylinders....the saga continues
 
Well this is where I sit now....In cleaning parts, I found the lower pulley that I though had no damage from the fitting fiasco,ended up being cracked. So when I order a new pulley,I will go up one tooth. That will drop my final compression from 12.6 down to 11.6. At 10 lbs of boost I am right on the edge for pump gas.

The pulley change will lower the boost down to 8 lbs and with the timing retard via the MSD will also help this engine live.

There is a big scar in one of the cylinders,so I might have to use another block,which is std bore but it needs to go .030 over,and reuse the pistons that I have.Also,we'll see how round the bores are.

This motor is already at .030 over,I could go .040,but I would rather not. So once I get the different rear cap,I'll drop all this over to the machinist and see what he says.



 
Yee HAA rear main cap was not cracked after all......i'm cracked hehe

I have been running stock rods with arp bolts,but at this time I am going to step up to after market rods. Manley,Eagle and Scat make rods for this,so my machinist is going to get me some prices on them.

So in the meantime,since this shop gets dirty really easy,I decided to make a small engine building room.

So I make a little trip down to Lowe's,good thing they are close,for some lumber and some plastic sheeting. Wagon sure comes in handy sometimes



Bob Vila I'm not haha...but I did manage to get it put up without incident. I plumbed air to it and put up a light inside.I screwed it together so I can take it apart when I finish.



Here it is with sheeting on it,,,haha my new favorite toy is a Stanley electric staple gun...Hey it's the little things in life,right



So I started loading it with cleaned parts and some tools,good thing I am going to be doing this this winter,if it were summer this thing would be like a sauna.Heck I even gave the engine stand a bath.



I even straighten up some of my shelves a little,I really need to come up with a bookcase.

 
Well tonight I got the cylinder heads apart. I think I was getting oil down the intake ports from the lifter valley and possibly from the valve seals. Tomorrow I'll find someone who can soak these for me and get them cleaned up.

I'll soak the valves in some solvent and them put them in the drill press and spin em and clean them up,see how they come out.

In between engine projects I want to change the brake proportion valve,I have it on the front brakes,supposed to go to the rear.

The other is putting the MSD with the boost retard in also. It started nibbling the pistons between the top of the piston and the first ring,that could be in part to the oil in there,and the cracked intake manifold,making in lean





 
Man, I wish I had a quarter of the room you have....

By the way, wanna work on my hunk-a-junk for a while? :D
 
sharpie said:
Man, I wish I had a quarter of the room you have....

By the way, wanna work on my hunk-a-junk for a while? :D
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Haha..We can always use more room. What kind of work does your car need?

Let me know if you want me to come take a look at.
 
blown340 said:
Haha..We can always use more room. What kind of work does your car need?

Let me know if you want me to come take a look at.
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unfortunately I have a bad sound in the motor. Some people think rod knock, others exhaust leak. Here's a video I posted, but it doesn't sound quite accurate.

 
From what I can hear it sounds more like a rod knock than exhaust leak.

IDK,but like I said before if it's not raining and you want me to come have a gander at it,just let me know,I don't think your that far away.
 
blown340 said:
From what I can hear it sounds more like a rod knock than exhaust leak.

IDK,but like I said before if it's not raining and you want me to come have a gander at it,just let me know,I don't think your that far away.
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Well unfortunately it started raining already *doh*

My dad said he heard bent pushrod in that, but I can't trust him, he hasn't worked on engines very often (except tank engines), and the last one he worked on was probably 25 years ago or more.
 
Well, where do I start,,,engine was running,still had a pan leak

pulled engine out, took apart, was going to change rear main seal, thought rear cap was cracked.............it wasn't

Fine then, I'll put new rods in it and freshen it up, crank needs to be turned.

Then my machinist calls and says the pistons are fine, but the bore is waayyy too big. I have .012 piston clearance. It also has a zero gap 2nd ring, which he does not like. They seal up good on a leakdown test but not while it is running.

So more than likely, my big clearance was a big factor in all the oil in the combustion chamber.

So last weekend i bomb up to Port Angeles Wa to pick up a block from friend, it should clean up at .030.

He is semi retired and I am semi broke haha, so I told him no rush on this, he is no longer open to the public, he does mostly nostalgia top fuel stuff and will work on mine when he feels like it. Heres a pic of the block, I also got a small block chevy for a friends nostalgia sprint car.

 
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