Captainkirk's Duster project

-
So.....'Special K' has gone about as clean as it can go with a wire wheel. I'm considering whether or not to sandblast the nooks and crannies or stick a fork in it and call it done.
I will mull this over during the weekend.
As for the pistons; a quick weight check of one of the new 'sixteens' showed 728 grams...a 'fur piece' from the 660g ones that were in there...so most likely, I will be bringing back the crank, rods and flywheel for re-check of the rotating assembly balancing. Now, I know it would probably assemble and run just fine as-is, but this is the time to do it. Nothing like a little mass, boys.
I have decided it would only be prudent to change those original rod bolts at this time as well...I'm thinking 44 years is a pretty safe bet those things are 'timed out'.
Thus far, the plan is to assemble the short block over the winter here, in my nice, warm shop space until such time as the suspension is back on the car and I can drop the motor in....
 
Yes. As you know, great people. But man...ya gotta communicate. Communication is what can make or break a business, and that's how mistakes and misunderstandings are born and bred.
Had a discussion via email regarding less-than-efficient communication practices. Let's just say it was not well-received and leave it at that for now.
 
Business must be that good to blow off customers.......
 
Well, I dropped by to see Tony tonight, unsure if I was going to be dragging my parts home after an angry exchange, or moving forward. I guess we 'patched it up' of sorts, and I gave him the go-ahead to bore the .030 over for the new Speed Pro's.
Projects are full of peaks and valleys, and I have just bottomed out. Having just dropped almost 4 bills on new pistons and rings, I'm now looking at almost 4 bills to create holes to stuff them into. Growing up, hot-rodding used to be a poor kid's hobby; using your hands and wits to turn your grocery-getter into a WMD (weapon of mass destruction). Today, it feels like a big Hoover stuck into my back pocket. There are so many more worthy things to use that kind of cash on, seriously. Things around the house that are in sore need of repair or replacement, building my savings up....it wouldn't be so bad if this was the end, but as I am noting with much despair, there appears to be no end in sight. Several times on the way home from Tony's tonight I actually asked myself aloud; "Captain; what in the hell are you DOING?!!! Eight hundred bucks? Are you SERIOUS?"
I guess I am, because I told him to go ahead with the boring. But I'm beginning to wonder if my skimpy resources can match my enthusiasm, or if they ever will. The sands of time continue to fall, and I think back to The Duke's words the last time he dropped in on me;
"Cappy, you and I rode the range together. Those were good years, and I'm looking forward to ridin' with you some more. A LOT more. But it's up to YOU to decide if it's gonna be you or someone else sittin' in that saddle."
I hope I can live up to those words; I hope we can ride the range together again......
 
I am, I have realized, getting swept up in the current and dragged down-river.
What started out 10 years ago as an 'exploratory tear-down' on the Heart of The Duke has turned into...well, a complete engine build. I am partially to blame for this. I could have simply run a flex hone though the bores, re-ringed the pop-top pistons, replaced the lifters and buttoned 'er up, run octane booster in the fuel and let the chips fall where they may.
The 'A-R' part of me refused to let that happen.
I did not need to strip every mother-lovin' piece of suspension off The Duke either...it rolled IN to the garage, it could have rolled OUT.
Nope, I have to lay the blame squarely where it belongs...on my shoulders. Some folks say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". My motto should be "If it ain't broke, overhaul it anyway". And that may end up being the death knell of this project. But I'm in this deep, might as well keep swimming. Sometimes I have to remind myself to paddle, breathe, and keep kicking, but if I do ever finish this thing, I guarantee two things:
1) I will never sell it. I'd never get back what's being put into it, and;
2) It will have been worth the effort.
I'm very much looking forward to the day I can scoot the bucket seat forward, depress the clutch pedal and listen to that Very Annoying Buzzer buzzing, then thumb the ignition and hear The Duke cackling; "Hello Cappy!" Even if I DO hate when he calls me that...
 
As you may have read on another thread here, I'm now agonizing over the next speed bump on the Road to Completion:
Do I want to change the rod bolts?
Sounds like a no-brainer, right? 45 year old bolts on a fresh motor? Don't be ridiculous.....
But wait; there's more!
It appears that the only bolts worth buying, and quite possibly the only ones available, are the ARP bolts.
ARP bolts are different; have a different torque value, use lubricant on the threads, and result in a different amount of crush. Ergo...your round rod end is now egg-shaped. OK, so you replace the bolts at 80 bucks a set and align-hone and recondition the rods, right?
But wait; there's more!
Replacing the bolts and reconditioning the rods ends up costing around $225.00...and I can buy a BRAND NEW set of Eagle forged rods for $270.00 with ARP fasteners installed. No brainer, right?
But wait; there's more!
The new Eagle rods weigh 605g as opposed to the stock rods at 753g...which *might* require the engine to be re-balanced. This would throw another 400+ dollars into the gaping maw formally becoming known as the 'money pit'.
But wait; there's more!
How do I KNOW it would require re-balancing unless I buy them and actually have them checked with the pistons and crank? Again; don't be ridiculous. You DON'T know, you goofball! But if you BUY them, can you return them? Probably not.
Which leads me back to the start with the question; Do I want to replace my rod bolts?
Charlie Brown, you blockhead!
Sigh...
29723796612_995d822c61_z.jpg
 
I will be seeing Tony tonight and will discuss the rod situation in depth.
I see nothing wrong with reusing the stock forged, shot-peened rods other than the fact I could get brand new forged rods for a few dollars more. Is new always better? No...especially when new rods are forged in China and my old rods were forged in the US of A back when some people gave a damn and took pride in their workmanship...
I will see what Tony has to say about it.
 
image.jpeg
Captain, the strife you detail over time, cost and allocation of dollars to real life expenses are exactly why chose to go with what Ma put together with some hot rod up grades.
I will run a rebuilt '74 stock bottom 318 with stock pistons and heads. However those heads have an over size (1.88 intake/1.6 exhaust) valve job. Cost the guy I bought the motor from $375 for the valve job and porting, blending and gasket matching.

Add a Purple Cam, a Performer intake with a nice little 600 cfm Holley and some stock 340 exhaust manifolds and my Duster will have a very economically built 318 that reminds me of the low cost hot rodding we did in the late 70's

Best of all to me, My car won't be a clone, but a true low buck build tribute to the hot rods of my high school days...
 
Actually, I am rather surprised. Not only did Tony endorse the Eagle rods, he recommended them over reworking the stock forged pieces. I inquired about the 'internet rumors' about Eagle rod breakage, he said in every case he had read about in professional publications (not internet rumor), these cases occurred in engines pumping out 6-700HP where H-Beam rods should have been chosen over I-Beam.
With regard to the balancing.....*sigh*....he says it really doesn't matter which rods I'm going to use, the rotating assembly should be rebalanced since we are using new pistons. Well, can't say I didn't see that coming.
Cha-ching!
The only 'good news' is that he can get me the Eagle rods 20 bucks cheaper than I found them on eBay with the BIN price.
We talked about heads. I can use either pair, they are still gonna have to be gone through regardless...probably at a cost of $750.00
Cha-ching!
I still haven't selected a cam yet.
Cha-ching!
Well, look on the bright side...the project will keep marching forward, just gonna take a little longer, I guess. And that leaves me more time to get the front and rear suspension cleaned up, rebuilt and reinstalled, I suppose.
 
It was late on Friday evening; the house was quiet and my wife had retired to bed already. I was sitting in my den, deeply engrossed in Larry Shepard’s How to Hot Rod Smallblock Mopar Engines, when I heard one of the French den doors creak slowly open. I paid it no mind; it’s very typical behavior for my black cat Dillon to follow me from room to room and curl up nearby wherever I am. If I’m in my den, he will poke a paw in the door if it’s ajar and quietly bat it open with outstretched paw…squeeeeeak…and saunter in like he owns the place. Sometimes I wonder…
Hearing the slight groaning of the hinges, I just assumed it was him again. Besides, I was lost in the chapter on engine blueprinting.
It wasn’t until I caught a whiff of wood smoke and saddle leather that I raised my eyes from the page I was reading.
“Hello, Cappy”
Oh, Hello, Duke! What brings you to my neck of the woods? And don’t call me “Cappy”…
He jerked a thumb towards my worn sofa. “You mind?”
Mind? Hell no! Sit down, pard! Where are my manners?
His eyes shifted towards the unopened bottle of Jameson’s on my makeshift bar, again; “You mind?”
I didn’t. Not for him, anyway. I got up and grabbed the unopened bottle and was about to hand it to him, then remembered this was The Duke, not Frank Sinatra. I tossed it his way and he snatched it out of the air deftly, the way someone might snatch an errant fly.
He looked at it quizzically, searching for a cork, but figured out the screw-on top thing in three shakes of a lamb’s tail.
He tipped his head back, and the bottle with it.
Glug...glug…glug…
Three huge bubbles burped up to the upended bottom on the bottle. When he lowered it, more than a quarter of the golden contents were missing…”Ahhhhh!” he hissed, with undeniable enjoyment, a huge grin crossing his lips. He wiped his mouth on his sleeve much like Rooster Cogburn in True Grit; all that was missing tonight was the eye patch. “Cappy?” He handed me the bottle by the neck.
Now, I love my Jameson’s. But when I partake, and not all that often, it’s usually less than an inch in the bottom of a tumbler, and I nurse it a good long time. So long in fact, that I stopped using ice a long time ago because it would melt well before I was finished. And Jameson’s is too good to water down, my friends.
I tipped the bottle back and took a snort myownself, and immediately felt a river of molten lava fan out across my chest. A hacking cough escaped me and my eyes began sprouting water like firehose…Dang!
Nothing like good Irish whiskey, eh, Duke?
“EYE-rish whiskey? Well, why ditten’ja say so?” he cackled. “Pass that hooch back my way, Cappy!”
The upended bottle burped twice more, sounding like an office water cooler on break time.
When he handed it back, it was less than half full.
Cautiously screwing the top back on, I deliberately pushed it to the side, out of reach. I mean, he IS The Duke and all, but still…
So, what brings you out to my neck of the woods?
“Cappy, I come ta have a talk with you.”
Sure, Duke! What’s on your mind?
“Well, it’s about what you’ve been doin’…”
I was pleased. He must have noticed the flurry of activity with the new pistons, boring the block +.030 and my current dilemma regarding con rods…
“You’re goin’ at it all wrong, Cappy”
I was stunned. Wrong? But…the block…?
“You’re spendin’ all this time on my motor, my heart…which is good, mind ya…don’t take me wrong, Pilgrim. But, where are ya gonna put it when you’re done?”
In the engine bay, where it belongs. Whad’ja think, I was gonna put it in the trunk?
By now my ego was stinging worse than my chest after the Jameson’s.
He took off his hat and twirled the brim between his fingers. His voice got soft and low, as it always does when he’s serious and giving sage advice…”Now, listen, Cappy. That car isn’t any more ready for a motor than, well…my herd was ready for Abilene in ‘Red River’ when I first started the Dunson ranch. It takes time, and sweat, and hard work. You have an engine compartment still in primer, front and rear suspension still out of the car, no fuel lines, brake lines, master cylinder or any of that other stuff that needs to go in before you drop me off stands. Winter’s comin’ on and it will be too cold to paint, and you haven’t even bought paint yet for the engine bay. You’re chasin’ a mustang that can’t be caught, Pilgrim. You’re gonna finish this engine and have nowhere to bolt it. I wouldn’t tell you this if I wasn’t right, and I am, Cappy. And you know it. Sure, go ahead; work on the motor over the winter. But you’re concentrating on the wrong horse, Pilgrim. Somebody’s gotta say it, you’re too darn stubborn to see it, but I’ll say it. I’ll say it. Now quit hidin’ that bottle and hand it back to me.”
Ouch. Wordlessly, I handed back the bottle, then took it from him and took a pull myself.
He was right, of course. Why did he always have to be right? I closed my eyes, feeling the burn of high-test Irish whiskey going down the sewer pipe and let out a long sigh.
The den door creaked again like a rusty barn door hinge and I opened my eyes to say something, anything…and saw Dillon move silently like a shadow across the carpet. Other than that, the den was completely empty and silent, except for a half-empty bottle of Jameson’s and the lingering smell of wood smoke and saddle leather…

29141786182_82d06da1b5_z.jpg
 
Last edited:
Don't argue against The Duke, you'll lose everytime, Cappy. LOL
 
But seriously, that's why I'm doing all the look nice work first. If and when I get to that point of engine work........
 
But seriously, that's why I'm doing all the look nice work first. If and when I get to that point of engine work........
Yeah, you and the Duke...both right, dammit...
Truth be told, I'm an engine guy. I love the horsepower work and I know I'm shirking the other stuff because, well...it's not as fun.
But I also know that's what will trip me up in the end if I don't do what needs to be done. Now, pass me that bottle....
 
If the cars are good mechanically first, then why not make it look nice? Once that's done, throw the plow horse at it until you put the thourogbreed in.
 
Just five more minutes, mom....
urk! Geez, that was one hell of a nap! Looks like a year of so went screaming by!
OK; truth or dare...truth.
I haven't done jack **** since I had the block bored.
Truth be known, I was feeling pretty guilty about that (but not THAT guilty!), and Life had pretty much taken over with priorities and such. And, truth also be told, the itch just wasn't there. There; I said it.
So Tony has had my block and new pistons sitting in his shop for almost a year, and I was starting to get a little worried about that. I could go pick up the parts and throw them in my basement for another 10 years, or...
I picked "or" this time. I stopped by the shop (the block was still there, thank goodness, and he didn't have a storage bill for me, knock on wood) so I handed over the plastic and told him to order a set of bushed Eagle forged rods, which he did. Now, I can think of about 100 other things to do with a couple hundos, but spending them on storage fees wasn't one of them, so...
Anyway, if nothing else, I would like to get the bottom end of this motor zipped up. So after the rods arrive, I will be dragging the crank back to him for balancing of the rotating assembly with the new pistons & rods. Maybe that will work up an appetite to start working on the car again come spring. These things come in waves, and when you're riding the crest of a wave you gotta pull out the stops and let 'er rip. Conversely, when you find yourself at the bottom of a trough, it's best to know when to say "no".
At least I'm still plugging away, if you wanna call it that. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep.
 
Just five more minutes, mom....
urk! Geez, that was one hell of a nap! Looks like a year of so went screaming by!
OK; truth or dare...truth.
I haven't done jack **** since I had the block bored.
Truth be known, I was feeling pretty guilty about that (but not THAT guilty!), and Life had pretty much taken over with priorities and such. And, truth also be told, the itch just wasn't there. There; I said it.
So Tony has had my block and new pistons sitting in his shop for almost a year, and I was starting to get a little worried about that. I could go pick up the parts and throw them in my basement for another 10 years, or...
I picked "or" this time. I stopped by the shop (the block was still there, thank goodness, and he didn't have a storage bill for me, knock on wood) so I handed over the plastic and told him to order a set of bushed Eagle forged rods, which he did. Now, I can think of about 100 other things to do with a couple hundos, but spending them on storage fees wasn't one of them, so...
Anyway, if nothing else, I would like to get the bottom end of this motor zipped up. So after the rods arrive, I will be dragging the crank back to him for balancing of the rotating assembly with the new pistons & rods. Maybe that will work up an appetite to start working on the car again come spring. These things come in waves, and when you're riding the crest of a wave you gotta pull out the stops and let 'er rip. Conversely, when you find yourself at the bottom of a trough, it's best to know when to say "no".
At least I'm still plugging away, if you wanna call it that. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep.
I got tired of reading all this thread and skipped to the end. Looks like the bottom line should be: you didn`t figure anything out before starting to buy parts. You should have taken all those problems into consideration before buying anything. Don't sound (from what I did read) it was anyone but your fault. Did I EVER MESS UP ? WHO HASN`T ?
 
Figure what out? It was a coin toss between reconditioning the old rods and buying new ones. For nearly the same cost.
If you can't already tell, this is an ongoing project and the game is changing constantly. I have recognized the need to be flexible. There is a basic game plan but it's not set in concrete; plans change as time goes by. Kind of a lost cause to start reading this from the beginning at 42 pages, I would get tired of reading it too, LOL! And yeah, we all make mistakes and bad choices as we go, all you can do is roll with the punches.
 
Last edited:
Figure what out? It was a coin toss between reconditioning the old rods and buying new ones. For nearly the same cost.
If you can't already tell, this is an ongoing project and the game is changing constantly. I have recognized the need to be flexible. There is a basic game plan but it's not set in concrete; plans change as time goes by. Kind of a lost cause to start reading this from the beginning at 42 pages, I would get tired of reading it too, LOL! And yeah, we all make mistakes and bad choices as we go, all you can do is roll with the punches.
I switched to fuel inj. after rewiring my car. It all works right, but sure aint as neat and pretty as it was before !
 
That's how the river runs sometimes, and you gotta go with the flow. Paddling upstream is usually not productive for the most part. If FI works for you, then there's nothing wrong with it no matter what anyone else might say. You can always re-vamp the wiring at a later date now that you made the switch.
 
If you're not getting any enjoyment or relaxation out of it, it may as well be work.
 
I'm starting to view this project as a never-ending money pit.
Well my friend, time for some soul searching and decision time. And I'm not trying to be a smart *** either. It would be nice to see and hear Duke, but not at too high of a cost, mental and financial. I myself had a pretty tough year last year, and it's looking like I am gonna be ok. My car is a money pit also, but mainly cause I don't know squat about body work. Do what's best for you my friend.
 
I'm starting to view this project as a never-ending money pit.

Ha....reminds me of how most view their EX-wife (s).....on the bright side, at least the Duke doesn't scream at you that you are a worthless a**. You got that going for 'ya.

Duke is like a loyal dog, just sits there waiting for some lovin'. You are lucky, the majority of us would give our nuggies just to have a glimpse of our first Mopar / hot rod.....yours is sitting in your garage.
 
-
Back
Top