Need help perfecting the budget build hemi swap

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I bought a 73 Duster when I was working in the oilfield back in the late 70's for $150. I had a mangled passenger quarter and was missing the marker light. The hole was a perfect place for wasps to get in the trunk. The car cost me another $75 because of the cortizone shot I had to get. I was stung on the knuckle and my arm swelled up to my elbow in minutes....
 
I love my car, but she hates me. I'm gonna NFL it's *** if this keeps up!
[ame]http://youtu.be/n1FzxNN7obw[/ame]
 
mguner said:
I bought a 73 Duster when I was working in the oilfield back in the late 70's for $150. I had a mangled passenger quarter and was missing the marker light. The hole was a perfect place for wasps to get in the trunk. The car cost me another $75 because of the cortizone shot I had to get. I was stung on the knuckle and my arm swelled up to my elbow in minutes....
Click to expand...
Can I say Muther ****** on this forum ? No, okay, the little futher mucker, cost me 9 hrs of Prednisone dripping from an IV, but I slept through that, and the steroid ate a hole in my stomach, so now I have to take the purple pill. That said, it took 3 weeks to recover, but I'm much better.
I first noticed my frame tweek when I couldn't get the exhaust around the shocks evenly. The guy who sold me the car had redone the hole interior, but under it were floor boards that weren't welded to the front unit body.
 

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Okay enough of the self pity, and back to the car stuff. DAMMIT THIS IS A CAR FORUM !!! ( after I self appease me )
[ame]http://youtu.be/kcs3j8qc5SI[/ame]
 
"Dan the welder" feel's confident that the frame tweek that has cause all the havoc, is a fixable deal, and we can stretch everything back into uniform specs, the proper way. So I guess it's a rack it, heat it, pull it, unweld, and weld it deal. A touch of cajón, and some contoured door bars, and torque boxing. I was kind of depressed, resigned to the fact that this project would take another year, unless I stop paying the bills, and feeding Dawn, and myself. I feel very luck to have the right people surrounding me.
 

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Hey, you didn't post something, or maybe it was nothing .Was there a message from above?
 
Well I'm going to correct a word of advice that I see posted up here a lot " UNIT BODY CONNECTORS" Every time somebody asks, what to do, to stop twisting ?, another person answers unit body connectors. Having them with the torque boxes, ties them into the rockers a bit. ( I guess ) So that should help, but the frame can still be twisted fairly easily. I would imagine to stop the twist, you really have to attempt a feat of engineering that rivals a full out race chassis. Some cars are just better than others.
I can see on my frame where a jack has been place, at some point in it's history, and the frame has bulged a bit. On other cars I've had, I've done the same without that happening. The strange thing is this frame seems less rusted than any car I've ever had. The only really bad spot is the place where the rear shackle mounts bolts up, and the where the bumper attaches. My thoughts were that with the 4 link, those places are not really bearing the weight as much anymore, and that would buy me time to fix those parts at my leisure When I get the car onto a frame table, I'll no more, but I may just attempt some kind of engineering stunt. I haven't bothered, because I didn't want to impose on anybody, and basic was all I wanted out of this car. But I do like things that make strangers react, by saying, " Look what was done there!" I think I'm being forced more, and more toward - Pro Touring Race car, inspired street machine. The steering maybe slower, and the brakes smaller, but it'll still be a bit beefy for a street ride.
 
Okay, so the fuel line is dictating where it wants to go. I have a frame rail to firewall strut, a vacuum canister, and transmission dipstick, and the heater control valve blocking me from the back corner. I hate the idea that it has to first come forward, and down, and than back past the hot exhaust headers, to the rear of the car. I'm not crazy about, having to fix a relay in the back corner under the hood either, and than having a long run to the fuel pump out back. But all the electrical is out front. So what can I do ? We need as much trunk space we can get for the electric wheelchair.
 

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First I went to the big chain racing equipment outlet, and bought a oil filter relocation kit. It had issues with the cheap clamps, and swelling hoses, until one day a hose exploded,( I mean blew the case off the cheap hose.) right where it says " Reserve parking, police only." ( Not a good way to make friends ) So I designed a oil filter relocation kit that was good up to 3000 PSI. ( the heft is for longevity, not pressure.) Well the same for the transmission coolers on the market, the lines swell, hardly any are available with fittings, ( unless you pay the big dollars ) plus they're all junk, and tend leak within months. I think installation should be the only maintenance, Install it, and never look at it again. So My friend Rev. Eugene, and myself, brought it back to the drawing board. The answer again was discard all those cheap parts. ( look at what B&M gives you for $100, yes they give you 3/8 fuel line which breaks down under transmission fluid ) My transmission cooler hoses alone are good for 1800 PSI, they have stainless steel belts. like a tire, and won't break down under petroleum products, or detergents used in transmission fluid. The fittings are not that low grade aluminum stuff that snaps when you over tighten them by mistake. Plus I intend to mount it with rubber mounts, so I don't have to destroy my radiator fins. Hopefully this is built for a life time, even in the event of world war III. ( It cost me, or you, less than the above mentioned crap.)
 

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So a few weeks ago, I was messing with this, or maybe that, I forget right now, but I noticed that I couldn't move this car forwards. I could push it backwards, but that's all. So I brought it up on a forum, and 90% of the replies were the same answer, which was, - Because I'm using green bearings, and the pumpkin is a fresh rebuild, the inner, and outer splines have to be out of alignment, and I'll need to tear it completely apart again. That news just plan hurt, and than I said F**k it, I'll finish the rest, and deal with that later. In the meantime, the car was too close to the wall, and had to be moved. Just in case there was an emergency, and I had to pull the van to the front door. Figuring the pumpkin is screwed, I let a friend of mine chain his truck to it and drag it forward a bit across the dirt until I had enough room. Since the car is pretty much finished, Dan, and I decided to pull the axles today. Imagine 5 bolts you pretty much can't access, if the axles won't spin. I said, " I'll die if it's just locked brakes, but it would have free up when we chained the truck to it." We pulled the drivers side, and it wasn't moving at all. Than we went to the passenger side, and pop the drum, and everything was nice and free. Locked brakes. Go figure. Twisted the adjuster, and everything is good. Plus Dan don't believe that the frame is tweeked. Just really badly hung 1/4's. I guess I have some finishing work, but mechanically it's done.
 

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Go drive the piss out of it before the snow flies and the Bigfoot sitings get in full swing, do a burnout video or something....
 
I've owned a 71 cuda, a 73 cuda, a 67 charger, a 71 charger, a 73 challenger, a 69 Barracuda, and a 73, and 75 duster. I think I've changed the speedo gears on half of them, and I never knew it had to be indexed to the little mark on the back of the gear. Alright, this car has reduced me to full fledged idiot. This has been the worst car I've ever worked on, ( and once my brother gave me a Mustang II, so it's that bad.) so I will try to start it up, as soon as I get a battery, and hope it doesn't burst into flames. I envision the posted photo as being exegetically correct, with the exception that the flames are actually coming out the wrong end.
 

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I think it's Stop, Drop, and Roll, not Duck, and Cover. They always told me, " One day you'll appreciate what you learned in school."
 

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It didn't work. The starter didn't turn, silence. The rest of the electrical system apparently works fine. It's the damn seat belt interlock. I asked up on the forum how to get around it. I got some very vague answers, and the general consensus was to run the yellow wire straight to the starter relay, and remove the rest. It didn't work. The rest of the wiring is exactly the same as the 69 Barracuda, which ran fine for years. I don't know how to fix this without a lot of rewiring to emulate the 69 wiring.
 
I did the good ole, jump the start, and run with a screw driver, because I had my coffee in my other hand. The screw driver didn't make a great connection. So when the starter didn't turn my heart just sunk. Than while pulling the screw driver away, it connected, and it startled me, unexpectedly and I jumped, and the coffee flew, and now I'm drenched, but this S.O.B. is gonna work. One of the other seat belt interlock wires gets tied into the yellow for constant power. If all goes well tomorrow, it'll run.
 
There are only 2 wires to choose from, that the yellow wire can jump to. So it's 50/50, but I'm choosing the brown one because the yellow/black was already jumped to the straight yellow.( but than again maybe it was bypassed by the previous guy ) But, first I'll check it out with a test light, it should have power, when they key is turned.
So before all of the above, I was running around making certain that all the wiring , and grounds are perfect. I was under the rear axle, ( trust me- with the tail pipes, 4 link, coil over shocks, and stock fuel tank, with the shocks at the low setting. ) in the mud, leaves, and dirt, and there's hardly any room to work around the fuel tank pick up tube. I had to punch a hole in a grommet for the fuel pump wire. So I was smooshed in there with a very sharp awl. And the video tells the after math. ( you can probably skip through 3/4 of it. )
[ame]http://youtu.be/k3WVlbZK6zM[/ame]
 

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Sure you can throw a out of the box carburetor on an engine, and fiddle with the curb idle, but without being in gear, you might be out in left field awhile. I have nobody to help bleed brakes ( zero braking.), but I needed to know, will it run okay in gear. Plus, " Who doesn't like playing with their engine, when you first get it running ? "
The Quickfuel carb is a little different than the Holley, in that - Holley wants the floats set so that when you remove the site plug, the fuel is even, or just trickles. Bump the fender, and fuel trickles. Quickfuel's site plug is clear plastic,or something, and the fuel level is supposed to be on the center of the site plug cross haired visually. The rear on mine is a fraction high.
[ame]http://youtu.be/T5Cj9pSuAOE[/ame]
 
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