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

-
Well since my engine is all apart and parts and pieces are at the machine shop, I was looking around trying to figure out what i could do on the red bomb while spending close to $ 0 dollars.

I bought a roll cage for back in 1996 haha and figured, hey I'm not getting any younger, so what the heck I'll work on getting it in the car and off my shelf.

My original purchase was with the front bars going in front of the dash, I would like them to go as close to the front window as possible, and I don't mind putting a hole in the dash. Also, during moving this stuff all over the country I lost the flat plates that the cage will weld to. So I ordered the side bars that will go into the dash, when I get them I'll compare them with the bars I have and then figure out which ones I will go with.

So much for the budget lol,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,here are some pics

Before.





Some of the bars that will end up in there



Front seats out,,,and those are leaves not potato chips hhahaha



Back seat, rear carpet and panels removed, that's as far as I got tonight

 
Yesterday I received my floor plates and the different front bars that I ordered.
The bar on the left is the one that hugs the A pillar and goes thru the dash, the bar on the right goes in front of the dash.

I'll have to see which one works best, trying to keep from obscuring my vision and how much work it will be to run it thru the dash.



Haha I've got wires going everywhere,,,,,,,,you want meatballs with your spaghetti? I will be able to clean alot of this up





She's staring to look naked lol



And here is where I left off tonight, unfortunately I don't think the front carpet is going to live another day

One other thing, this was a stick car, so it still has the clutch pedal in it. It uses a heavy spring and I would just leave it pressed against the floor.

Somehow, some of the main wires were getting pinched between the pedal and the pedal mounting bracket, if they would have worn thru, that might have left a mark.



Tomorrow, my plan is to get the whole dash assembly out
 
Are you planning on taking out the wind shield? If now, how do you get the dash out without the windshield out? Also, if the windshield is in, how do you get the dash back IN?

j
 
chlngr1970 said:
Are you planning on taking out the wind shield? If now, how do you get the dash out without the windshield out? Also, if the windshield is in, how do you get the dash back IN?

j
Click to expand...

Yes I am going to take it out, as of right now I have the rope seal and all the stainless trim off. It's loose, just waiting till I have a hand getting it out. Don't wanna break it
 
blown340 said:
Yes I am going to take it out, as of right now I have the rope seal and all the stainless trim off. It's loose, just waiting till I have a hand getting it out. Don't wanna break it
Click to expand...

I was joking, saying I needed you for my Demon :p Actually, I may need some help in a couple weeks when I drop my new powerplant in.

If you need any help with the windshield or anything else tomorrow, let me know. I have Sundays completely free.
 
sharpie said:
I was joking, saying I needed you for my Demon :p Actually, I may need some help in a couple weeks when I drop my new powerplant in.

If you need any help with the windshield or anything else tomorrow, let me know. I have Sundays completely free.
Click to expand...

PM sent
 
Today I removed the heater assy, dashpad, what was left of the glovebox. Also removed the gauge assy and wiring harness.





I see now why I had headlight issues,, hahaa,,the plug above the fuse block is the headlight connector, it has a burned up terminal, to the left is the dimmer switch, it also has a burned up connector and the fuse block looks like it wasn't immune from a little burnage also



I got all the window trim and the rope seal out for the windshield. It's all loose in the retainer.



this is kinda what I'm going off of if I decide to run the bars thru the dash

 
Man -o man that is a lot of work you've been doing there! Great to see you take the time to fix all the extra problems properly as they come up. An inspiring thread i must say, as i've been putting off pulling my dash to do a comprehensive rewire. Thanx man!
 
v8val said:
Man -o man that is a lot of work you've been doing there! Great to see you take the time to fix all the extra problems properly as they come up. An inspiring thread i must say, as i've been putting off pulling my dash to do a comprehensive rewire. Thanx man!
Click to expand...

Haha....no Thank You...Yaa it is a lot of work, but I'm having a great time working on this. I have learned a lot about electrical since I first put it together long time ago. I should be able to clean a lot of it up, can't wait for that part.
 
Soooo.....I finally got the windshield out, the dash removed and started working on getting the main hoop plates to fit the floor. Once I get those tack welded in, I'll start cutting the hoop to get it to fit.







 
John, I'm sorry I never called back on Sunday. I had forgot that I had to attend a dinner party at my girlfriend's bosses house that night at 6PM. I would still love to give you a hand and learn a thing or three!
 
sharpie said:
John, I'm sorry I never called back on Sunday. I had forgot that I had to attend a dinner party at my girlfriend's bosses house that night at 6PM. I would still love to give you a hand and learn a thing or three!
Click to expand...


That's fine, call anytime. Depending on how the day goes, I'm usually there after 7 in the evening and most weekends also.

If nothing else can always bench race hahaha
 
I got the main hoop fitted to the floor plates and I'm thinking that I may want to pull the headliner out for a couple of reasons.

Even if I do put something between the cage and it when I weld it, there still is a chance of something screwing up.

It will give me more room to get to the top of the bars.

And I can also put some Dynamat type stuff on the roof while I have the headliner out.





 
Well I've actually got a little done this week, man fitting tubing is really time consuming, trying to get everything lined up sure eats up time.

I have managed to get both side bars and the front cross bar tacked in, I wanted to keep the rear view mirror and visors in it so I installed the bar to where they will clear.

I will still have to modify the visors a little bit, but we have an upholstery shop next to us, and he's really helpful, so I'll get some advise from him.





I bolted the dash at the bottom, I will not have to cut any of the lower part of the dash, but up top, where the bars go through I trying to come up with some ideas for it.

One plan is to cut like a square out of the top of the dash where the bars will pass, then cut the square back down to fit and weld it back together, when the time comes for the final install.

I have to get the dash to bolt in so I can figure out the cross bar that will go behind the dash and also to see where the front tubes would want to mount up.

Hmmmm,,, I wonder what Foose would do? :confused:





 
So today I was looking at the dash and really couldn't come up with any other plan, so I got out the air saw and went to town on it.

I cut the top portions of each side off





Then i modified the lower halves and tacked them back on



The top pieces will be welded on last, once I do that the dash will be in for good.

I got the passenger top fitted and didn't quite finish the drivers side.

Just to check I threw the instrument panel in for test fitment. It fits, although it moved it to the right a tad. If I use this cluster, I'll just weld up the holes and re drill them.

Haha, the dash pad, well let's just say I'll jump off that bridge when i get to it



 
I've made a little more progress on this fun little project,,,I have got the dash cross bar in..



mock up with the dash in place



Then I started laying out the front bars



Originally I was going to have the front plates bent 90 degrees, one place I went to has a $ 100.00 minimum and another had a $ 20, but their press brake was tied up due to a large run.

So I figured I would just make 2 plates and weld them together

The top plate is not tack welded, so I will grind on it for a little better fit



Outside....



Inside...



Next up will be the cross bar behind the seats and the smaller bars that will tie into the subframe connectors.
 
You're doing a great job! Been there, done that, so I know how much work it takes. One thing I would suggest (if you hadn't already planned it, is once you have the main part of the cage tacked together, to cut holes in the floor and drop the cage through, so you can more easily weld those top welds all the way around.
 
DusterDave said:
You're doing a great job! Been there, done that, so I know how much work it takes. One thing I would suggest (if you hadn't already planned it, is once you have the main part of the cage tacked together, to cut holes in the floor and drop the cage through, so you can more easily weld those top welds all the way around.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave, I was told awhile back about cutting the holes and kinda forgot about it, thanks for the reminder. I can cut the holes for the main hoop, for the the front part, I was going to break the tack weld at the main hoop, then lay the front part down to weld the top of the front bar. Then tack back to the main hoop and drop the main hoop thru the floor to weld on top of it.


If that all makes sense?......Also did you weld the holes back up, or just weld the plates in over them?

Thanks in advance for the advice
 
71dustar said:
thats a lot of work while your engine is being put together. everything looks good.
Click to expand...

Thanks, not a whole of money being spent, just a a lot of time. I hope to have it all back together in May, of what year I'm not sure, but definitely May :-D
 
More pics,,,,slowly pluggin away, I'm rackin my knees climbing in and out, but oh well.

Was getting ahead of my self wanting to do the seat bar, figured I'd better do the rear bars first, that way I don't have to climb over the jungle gym to get to them.

The bars that came with the kit I really wasn't liking much, they just had a slight bend and went all the way to the back of the car.

So I was looking at the bars that were originally intended for the front and cut them up and used them.

They were the bars to the right in this picture



And this how the came out



Next up will be bending up some mounting plates to go under the bars at the frame



I have some extra 1 1/4" tubing, so I was thinking I could put a plate towards the rear of the car, and have these smaller bars that tie into the seat bars right under the package tray. It will just clear the battery box on the right side so I would not have to move it.



I was also thinking of a another bar that would be midway on this long one, triangulating it. This is just a short piece I had laying around, I would probably run a bar from halfway between where the bar is going to mount to the frame and the fuel filler neck in the pic, and angle it up the 1 1/4 bar.

I am also thinking of putting an X between the 2 at the rear end, under the package tray. We'll see how they others go first

 
Haven't worked on the red bomb much lately, but I did manage to get this done.

For the rear plates I ended up cutting them into three sections then welding them back together so they would fit the floor contour better.





I was trying to keep the heat down so I alternated welding sections on each plate.

And finished



Got the front part of the bars to fit, then sliced the backs and cut down the mounting plates.



So next up I'll grind out where the rear plates will sit, and start working on the x brace between the two rear bars. Still debating if it needs another bar added to these long rear down bars.
 
Chop, cut rebuild continues.....

I made the x brace that goes between the two rear down bars



Next up was the seat brace/upper belt mounting bar



Then the lower bar that ties the front and rear hoops together on the drivers side



The diagonals that tie into the subframe connectors





The connectors were installed many years ago, had I been doing them today I would have cut some of the floor, this would have enabled them to fit flush at the the rear around the start of the rear frame rails.

Besides being stronger had they been welded to the floor, I would have not had to cut such a large hole to make sure I have access to weld the bar to the connector. Food for thought on the next build.

Sure am glad I bought the DEwalt CNC machine center, been using the heck out of it......:-D



These bars were from the kit, I think they originally were supposed to be the rear down bars that would retain the back seat. I thought I would give them a try as side bars.



I am keeping the armrest and while these will clear it, I think it's too much of an angle, If I were to use these, I think it would need a bar from the bend down to the floor on the passenger side, the horizontal bar on the drivers.






I still have two straight bars left, that I could see about having bent, at a lesser angle than these, they want the upper part to pass midway between your shoulder and elbow. I'll play around more with these tomorrow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top