My 71 Duster Project

[smartken22]

Here are some pictures of the transmission I brough back from my Dad's. When it was in the car, the clutch pedal was super stiff and it would eat throwout bearings like crazy! After we removed it, it appears as though it has a B body tailshaft on it and the crossmember was rigged to accept that style tailshaft. It also moved the motor back 2.5in and since the tranny was hard mounted, the motor and tranny sat at an angle. That would explain all the problems and the weird hack job in the floorpan. Well, I received the 4 speed hump and when I went to line it up, the shifter was too far forward. Here is my plan to fix this and make it all right...Ordered a B/E style tailshaft from Brewers performance (see pic example) since it is the same length as the B tailshaft. Once I swap that out it should move the motor back to its original location since I am using the correct crossmember and should move the shifter back farther. I plan to machine a bracket to move the shifter to the A body position (I saw an example/template on the Big Block Dart page). Am I going in the right direction with this? Thanks!

Ken

 

[Nite Moves]

Nice work................I wish i could do body work.........Keep it up man...........Looking great

 

[smartken22]

Thanks! It has been a fun project so far. I forsee some roadblocks coming in the future so I will be pickin all your brains here soon!

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Wanna come do mine next???

 

[smartken22]

Spent yesterday removing the fuel tank. When the car was running it would clog up fuel filters like crazy so I already new what this was gonna look like. I am gonna call up vanns today and order a new tank, and fuel sender. I plan to upgrade all the lines including the sender to 3/8 vice the restrictive 5/16. I think that I am gonna ditch the hard lines and go with steel braid all the way back. I may used hard line in certain areas...not sure yet. I am also gonna put an electric pump in the rear by the tank. Any recommendations on pumps? I am ordering everything this morning. Thanks!

Ken

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Wow that does look bad. I had my son pull my tank yesterday and looked good just needs a good cleaning.

 

[smokindust]

ive done a few dusters myself, and also have one i,m restoring for a customer and a 72 twister that im building for my street car. i'll post some pics soon. but i wanted to ask you if those keystones were for sale? thanks and good luck with your car. MARK.

 

[smartken22]

ive done a few dusters myself, and also have one i,m restoring for a customer and a 72 twister that im building for my street car. i'll post some pics soon. but i wanted to ask you if those keystones were for sale? thanks and good luck with your car. MARK.

Those Keystones are in bad shape! They are all rusted out. I do plan to get some new rims and tires once the resto is completed. Thinking about some Cragar S/S...If you are still interested, let me know. I just need to keep the car a roller for now.

Ken

 

[smokindust]

i'm on an ole school kick right now, those rims are hard to find in sbp, i'm def. interested when your ready! i also have alot of duster parts and 340 stuff. as long as the rims are strait i can restore them.

 

[smartken22]

i'm on an ole school kick right now, those rims are hard to find in sbp, i'm def. interested when your ready! i also have alot of duster parts and 340 stuff. as long as the rims are strait i can restore them.

I will send them your way when I get my new ones! They are straight, just rusted out. I also have a spare one that is in excellent shape as well. I will keep you posted.

Here is the progress from last night. Got the old fuel hard lines removed as well as the rearend. I guess that I have the California emissions setup on this car for the fuel system. Should I get rid of the 4 tube tank and convert to the single tube, or should I just stick with how it is? I also saw a nasty break in the return line as well. Looks like it got crushed somehow. Well, good thing I am goin through it! Next plan is to restore the rearend and slap her back in! Here are some pics.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

You are moving a lot faster than I am, I do good to get one thing a week. Looking good so far I really like reading what you have done so far. Are you going to make new lines or order new ones?

 

[smartken22]

Thanks! I will continue to submit updates to the forum. I ordered a 25 ft roll of 3/8 fuel tubing from Jegs: http://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS+Performance+Products/555/63063/10002/-1
I plan to make all new lines. I already have the tooling to do the flares, etc...plus this is what I do in the Navy so it makes this process easy! I also ordered the Holley HP electric fuel pump as well.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Holley/510/12-125/10002/-1
My goal is to plumb all the hard lines and rear mount the pump by the new tank somewhere. I have not decided on a location yet so any ideas are encouraged.

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Can't wait to see you do up the lines for your car. Bending is easy but how hard is it to make the flares?

 

[smokindust]

easy if you have a flaring tool!

 

[smartken22]

Got some new parts in today! I hurt my back this weekend working on the rearend so I have not been working on the car lately. Hopefully I am back in the saddle soon. Here are some pics! She's gonna be like new when I am finished!

 

[smartken22]

i'm on an ole school kick right now, those rims are hard to find in sbp, i'm def. interested when your ready! i also have alot of duster parts and 340 stuff. as long as the rims are strait i can restore them.

Do you have any Rally stockers? If so I would trade the Keystones straight up for em. Also, do you happen to have a fuel filler tube within your parts? As you can see from the pics, mine is in bad shape.

 

[green1]

Per the fuel line ( I put in a 6 al); Every heard of Dan Dvorack? Held 20+ national records. I talked a bud that wanted a good engine machined into talking to Dan. We have been down to his shop 3 times, asking questions. 2nd time, we were talking about fuel lines, he said use the 5/16" ( I had already crawled under his '64 Belvedere hemi LAWMAN. 5/16.
Dan's experience is; gas is heavier than air. On a hard launch; the friction in the small line keeps the gas forward, with a bigger line, less friction, the gas moves backwards. He said, with a bigger line, just put a cheap electric, that doesn't need a regulator back there, on a switch, used only for hard launch. Just use a GOOD stock pump rest of the time.

 

[smartken22]

My back is all healed up for the time being so I started work on the car again. I started by removing the quarter window. That was actually a very easy process! Here are some before and after pictures of the rearend and parts that attach to it. I have the new leaf springs and brackets all ready to go. There was a lot of corrosion on the old leaf spring shackles. Come to find out, they were not even the right ones to begin with. I ordered and received the correct ones. There are some comparison pics. The rearend is all degreased and stripped down ready for new paint. I was going to paint it this weekend, but the winds would not allow for it so I will try again next weekend.

 

[Senior Chief]

(I plan to make all new lines. I already have the tooling to do the flares, etc...plus this is what I do in the Navy so it makes this process easy! I also ordered the Holley HP electric fuel pump as well.)

As you can see from my avatar I'm an old Navy guy, retired. I'm also bought a Duster 340 new in March of 1970. Long gone, but I'm always interested in Duster builds. I also appreciate that you restoring it to an original look. I am subscribed to this thread approximately 50 others.

 

[Raupleminze]

I might have a filler tube if you still need one. Pm me

 

[green1]

Those old shackles can't be factory. Have my 70 Duster almost ready,(then got laid off), been restoring a buddy's 69 Charger, waiting on the machine work. If you need any help, PM me; what a learning curve on bodywork and electrical. Ditch the ammeter. Run more redundant grounds...

 

[smartken22]

(I plan to make all new lines. I already have the tooling to do the flares, etc...plus this is what I do in the Navy so it makes this process easy! I also ordered the Holley HP electric fuel pump as well.)

As you can see from my avatar I'm an old Navy guy, retired. I'm also bought a Duster 340 new in March of 1970. Long gone, but I'm always interested in Duster builds. I also appreciate that you restoring it to an original look. I am subscribed to this thread approximately 50 others.

Thanks for the interest Brother! I am currently a Maintenance Control Chief out at China Lake, Ca. for the F/A-18 Hornets. I am an AMC (Prior AMH before they merged the rating) so I have a lot of background with hydraulic tubing, airframes work, and painting etc... so restoring this old Duster comes naturally for me. Here is a picture of an F-18 me and two other Chiefs painted nose to tail for the Centennial of Naval Aviation celebration. I think I am good to go to paint the duster!

 

[smartken22]

Those old shackles can't be factory. Have my 70 Duster almost ready,(then got laid off), been restoring a buddy's 69 Charger, waiting on the machine work. If you need any help, PM me; what a learning curve on bodywork and electrical. Ditch the ammeter. Run more redundant grounds...

Thanks for the tips, I will definitely take you up on that offer! I am sure I am going to need lots of help when it comes to putting this beast back together. I agree on the old shackles. They look like something someone fabbed up. Looking at everyone elses setups, the new shackles I ordered look correct. I am curious to see how this car sits with the new leafs and correct mounting hardware.

 

[smartken22]

Shot some primer on the rearend today with my touch up gun. It should be ready for black either tomorrow or Sunday!

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

You are really making a lot of progress on your car. Keep up the great work.