Demon Clone Project

[Idaho]

Been coverting a 75 Duster to a Demon. That lead sure does make it hard don't it. LOL Looking good so far keep up the nice work.

Thanks. Love your cars. Can't decide if I like the 71 or 72 grilles better. I have the 72. I'm guessing the trim parts are the same so a guy could swap easily. I have a tailpanel and tail lights from FABO members being shipped.

I'll be following your Demon clone project.

 

[Idaho]

Option 4 # ??
Part them puppies out and maybe pick up something in this price range
that has no real structural damage .... Just a thought

http://www.gmautosalesinc.com/1968_Dodge_Dart_143998430.veh

I do like that 68.
I actually like the chop cut rebuild challenge.
Manitoba eh? My wife is from Selkirk and some of my family homesteaded south of Winnipeg.

 

[Burntorange70]

Thanks. Love your cars. Can't decide if I like the 71 or 72 grilles better. I have the 72. I'm guessing the trim parts are the same so a guy could swap easily. I have a tailpanel and tail lights from FABO members being shipped.

I'll be following your Demon clone project.

Ya the grilles mount the same so swaping them is easy.


Looking like there is a few differences in the later Duster VS the Demon back end. Nothing that cant be worked around though. Just little things. Was going to do a thread about it and what needs done. Will not be till after X mas though.

 

[Idaho]

My used Demon tail lights arrived so on a whim I did a little "body work" on them. Haven't seen this so I'll post some pics. Likely cause it's kinda silly but here it is:

I used plastic similar to the old cassette boxes, same thickness as damaged areas (5/64"). Damage cut to rectangle shapes and pieces cut to fit with dremel cutoff tool. Glued in with 5 min epoxy. Trimmed height with dremel sander, then paint stick with stick on sandpaper and tape to transfer height from other ribs. One area I used a file. Dremel with small burr to clean up expoxy welds, credit card as guard. Mask and paint. Home made oven.

Took me about 2 hrs including finding the materials and tools to do the repair, another hour to mask and paint. Reminds me of model building.

 

[dartfastback]

Excellent pictures of the repair. Good job. Adds value to our used lenses cause now we all know how to do it.

 

[Idaho]

Thanks. Not sure if anyone will bother with this repair since it's not a very noticeable thing but I'm glad I did mine.

 

[Burntorange70]

Looks nice. Good work. I have to fix mine like that too. They like to brake right there. Not hard to do just takes a little time.

 

[alex_borges_br]

Hi, we used chloroform to weld acrylic plastic. A friend repaired its 68 lenses and I can tell that lenses are shinning like new.

This video shows the work which a shop does here in brazil..

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYBiItbi9Vo"]Restauro Lente Lanterna Traseira Dodge Dart / Charger 72 "Amostra de Serviço" - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Idaho]

That's pretty cool stuff.

Can't say the same for the music (I must be getting old - but come on... I don't even know what to call that... not music to these ears LOL)

 

[Three A's]

Thought plenty about that. Two cars is just not in the cards. My time for car toys is limited and I don't want my shop permanently tied up as I like to do other things like woodworking. Cost is another factor. If I did a second car I'd give it to my daughter, not sell it as to me the amount of work involved is too much for what I'd get for it.

What part of Alberta? I've lived in Manning, Cold Lake, Wembley, Edmonton, and Calgary.

Sorry for not replying sooner wasn't being trying to be rude or anything. I live
south east of Smoky Lake,on the way to Cold Lake. I'm about 2 hours north east of Edmonton. Do you know where that is,butt f--k nowhere. The only thing around here is farmers,cattle and coyotes.

 

[Idaho]

Sorry for not replying sooner wasn't being trying to be rude or anything. I live south east of Smoky Lake,on the way to Cold Lake. I'm about 2 hours north east of Edmonton. Do you know where that is,butt f--k nowhere. The only thing around here is farmers,cattle and coyotes.

No offense taken. Ya you are in the sticks. Check out Grimshaw - brrrrr! First thing that happened after I moved there my tranny went out in my '64 Falcon. Pulled it in the dark with a flashlight on the snow on the driveway at -40F, repaired it in the basement. I think of those as character building experiences.

Farmers are solid folks. Cold keeps the riff raff away. The weak just freeze to death or move south. Coyotes make for good target practise.
I moved south too. Not sure what that makes me. :grin:

 

[Three A's]

No offense taken. Ya you are in the sticks. Check out Grimshaw - brrrrr! First thing that happened after I moved there my tranny went out in my '64 Falcon. Pulled it in the dark with a flashlight on the snow on the driveway at -40F, repaired it in the basement. I think of those as character building experiences.

Farmers are solid folks. Cold keeps the riff raff away. The weak just freeze to death or move south. Coyotes make for good target practise.
I moved south too. Not sure what that makes me. :grin:

I know all to well about the character building experiences at -40F. I was once young dumb and full of cum, but those days are over.That's why they have heated cabs. LOL.
As for moving south, that's just smart. but to tell you the truth, this winter hasn't been that bad. for a northern boy, not T-shirt weather, but you know what i mean. coffee anyone.

 

[MoparDemon]

Great project, i love the creativity and choice of how you fixed your tail lights..that should be a sticky. I will be following your build for sure :mrgreen:

 

[Idaho]

Thanks. Sorry didn't see your post. I have relatives near Maple Ridge.

The project has taken a turn. The Dream Weaver (yellow 340 car) got to me I guess. I wasn't liking the rust in the Dart Sport on inner panel areas. I've stripped the front frame off the yellow car, and am working on getting the frame off the blue car to swap it over. The Dart will be used as a template to get everything straight.

You can see the /6 coming out. I built a stand for the engine/tranny that will be used again, and a lifting/support bracket for the front of the car.

I'm only getting a little time in bits and pieces as you can tell by the slow progress.

I found a local 8.8 Explorer axle. Can't think of a reason not to pick this up for the project. I may do a mini-tub, and would like to have about 12" of rubber on the ground, car as low as I can get it without major mods.

(Anyone need a good running /6 & 904??? - dime a dozen I suppose)

 

[Idaho]

Went to check out an 8.8 diff from a 97 Explorer last evening. Looks great on the outside, brakes and all. Pulled the rear cover, oil kinda dark. Fished around with a magnet, found metal chunks! Spider gears are the source. Axle shaft slop also suggests clutch packs are bad. I'll keep looking. Glad I checked inside.

Noticed the rear sway bar and wondered about using it. Anyone done this?

 

[Idaho]

Contemplating wheels, tires, diff, etc, did some measuring with a plumb bob, posting for future reference. Should be useful in making decisions about wheels, moving springs, mini-tubbing, shortening diff. etc.
It allows me to consider purchases that may become available at any time.

Frame to inner side of spring (ISS) 3 3/4"
ISS to brake drum 6" (limits wheel backspace to 5" or so depending on tire)
ISS to inner fender lip (IFL) 11 1/4" (limits tire width to about 10.5" assuming perfect backspace - 1/2" can be gained with fender lip trim)
Frame to IFL 15" (max tire width with springs relocated is about 14")
IFL to brake drum 5 1/4"

Link to Mopar axle lengths.
http://www.moparts.org/Tech/Archive/axle/16.html

A body is 57 1/8" drum to drum (I got 57"). To axle flanges is 52 5/8"

Explorer 8.8 is 59.5" disc to disc. This axle allows for an extra 1 3/16" backspace (total about 6 3/16" - bullitt 17x9 has 5.94 BS - OK, 17x10 is 7.27" - too much)

This allows about 1/2" tire clearances. I've not accounted for the upper wheel housing profile and how that may impact a taller tire. I suspect tubbing is needed for tires well under the 14" zone.

Of course anyone using this should measure for themselves - at least a couple times!

 

[Idaho]

Well here goes the front frame swap. I did not find this process here so I'll post some pics. Can anyone tell me how to get text between pics?

It's easier on the back to have it up in the air. I'm using my engine hoist on the fabbed dolly attached to the front bumper bolts.

The stripper disc does a good job showing up the spot welds. Holes drilled before using the spot weld cutter make things much easier. WD40 keeps the cutter sharp.

I used a plasma cutter (Harbor Freight unit - working great) to cut the floor pans and rockers. It's a lot easier getting the pans off after, getting at both sides drilling and using the air chisel.

It's a rather tedious job but there it sits wondering what the heck I'm trying to do to it.

At this point I'll use Andrew's method used on the Blue Missile (thanks) to reinforce and repair the lower rad support that was damaged by a tow hook after the accident. I'll have easy positioning! Then I'll start sandblasting.

 

[MoparDemon]

Wow that was pretty serious lol.. good job man, was that front clip from the blue duster your daughter crashed?

 

[Idaho]

Yes. She's an organ donor now (the car).

Kinda funny, with a couple wheels/tires in the trunk its balanced so I can pick it up and push it around with one hand.

Might have to save that one good quarter before it goes to it's grave.

 

[sireland67]

I would save the 1/4 panel and the entire cowl section, put them up for sale here and they should go quick.

 

[Idaho]

The spare tire pan is decent too so I'll cut it out. Quarter would be kinda spendy to ship but maybe a local sale.

Why the cowl? I didn't think this area was rust prone.

I wonder if anyone would want rear frame rails.

 

[Idaho]

I've built a replacement rad support / front frame brace. The second pic shows my method of tying it to the frame rails.

I've also made a template of sorts for splicing in the frame using the Dart Sport. The jack stand locations are marked on the floor and support locations on the frame referenced. Multiple reference points are marked on the floor with a plumb bob so the donor recipient can be precisely located in place. The 2x2s are precision cut and tapped in place for use to set the donor frame elevations and an extra set supplementing the jack stands to ensure accuracy. Their positions are marked on the floor. Measurements from firewall to corner points were taken.

I feel fairly confident I can duplicate the Dart Sport. It had passenger 1/4 damage at some point but I believe it is a straight car. If you see flaws in this approach let me know as I'm shooting from the hip.

 

[Thunder]

That's some pretty serious work you're doing there. Looks like you've got a good handle on it. Been thinking of getting one of those HF plasma cutters but hadn't heard a lot of feedback on them. I'll be watching this one.:coffee2:

 

[Dartnut]

As for the Duster car you are parting out, i would take the quarter off, rear tail light panel with tail lights, trunk lid, trunk floor, rear bumper, quarter window, RH rocker, and upper cowl.
It would definitely be a chicken bone before i scrapped the rest!
Great work you're doing there!

 

[Idaho]

My progress is pathetically slow but here it is.

(If anyone knows how to post text between photos please let me know)

Sandblasting was not particularly fun in the cold with a cranky sandblaster (that applies to the machine and the operator). Also the sand supplier being out of the finer grit convinced me to try larger grit. With my largest nozzle it worked just enough to frustrate myself before finding a supplier with finer material. I do love what a sandblaster can do.

I was pleased with the pulley sling for painting. This was awesome. Kinda like a rotisserie.

I used SPI epoxy primer. Lays down easy, should provide good corrosion resistance with two coats and a flash between. I may do the entire car with it. It's the only primer I know of with UV protection. It's got a little more gloss than I expected, was thinking satin. I'm undecided, as I like meadow green but the satin black would be mean for a Demon. I think then I'd need to convert the parchment interior to black as well - perhaps with dye paint.

Got to get that frame welded in. I found out the two cars are quite different already using the reference points, the elevations differ. I plan to tack it in place and mount up fenders (doors are on) to verify fit.

Can't be that hard right? Does that sound like famous last words?