New Duster 2

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stroker mike

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So, I have had the duster at home for about 10 days, bought it from a mechanic, and the guy had 8 quarts of oil in it. It was making some pretty scary clacking sounds deep inside, I got worried! I changed it, was shocked at how much was in there. Put in about 4 1/2 quarts of VR1 and the clacking went away and I learned that I do, in fact, have the correct dipstick... what the..>?? What a day. I had to put on an eddie 1405 to get some idle and solve the vacuum leaks, the 1850 on it was just bad, it's like you pay three grand for a mopar and you gotta go thru the whole thing piece by piece... and every time I went in the garage I almost passed out it smelled so strong of gas, so after I replaced the faulty electric fuel pump with a trusty carter I discovered there was no check valve on the fuel cell vent hole, no wonder I was choking. I don't just have those laying around so I stuck a pcv valve in the hole for now and the smell mostly went away... should work for a day or so till I can get to Goodies speed shop. Kragen aint got one. Anyway I know I'm on a rant but I sure am happy when I walk out in the garage and see my duster, it's rough but I like it just fine.
 
RANT!????

Sounds like a normal day with a new MoPar and a minor adventure tail that MUST be told.

Sounds like a productive day and a good one.
 
Thanks, Rumble, your words have meant something around here since I first showed up. It's good to be in a place where someone gets it. So, the company I sub-contract for put all projects on hold till friday, three vp's and the marketing dept all got the axe, so I am gonna have the rest of the week off - my cam and lifters and gasket set should get here tomorrow, so it looks like I got time for a cam swap! Now that's a productive use of time!
 
stroker mike said:
Thanks, Rumble, your words have meant something around here since I first showed up. It's good to be in a place where someone gets it. So, the company I sub-contract for put all projects on hold till friday, three vp's and the marketing dept all got the axe, so I am gonna have the rest of the week off - my cam and lifters and gasket set should get here tomorrow, so it looks like I got time for a cam swap! Now that's a productive use of time!
Click to expand...

Hey thanks man. I try and help. I certainly understand the saga a car can produce. Hell of a week at the company I see. WOW!

Well, at least you have stuff to do on the car now. Cam and lifters will take a little time to install and sort out afterwards. What cam did ya get?
An 1850 rebuild kit is inexpensive as well. I grabed on for my 1850 along with a metering plate to metering block kit and did it up right quick. E-Z , P-Z, nice and easy.
 
Sounds like you have that duster headed in the right direction now.
Nothing better then having a project out in the garage!
 
stroker mike said:
So, I have had the duster at home for about 10 days, bought it from a mechanic, and the guy had 8 quarts of oil in it. It was making some pretty scary clacking sounds deep inside, I got worried! I changed it, was shocked at how much was in there. Put in about 4 1/2 quarts of VR1 and the clacking went away and I learned that I do, in fact, have the correct dipstick... what the..>?? What a day. I had to put on an eddie 1405 to get some idle and solve the vacuum leaks, the 1850 on it was just bad, it's like you pay three grand for a mopar and you gotta go thru the whole thing piece by piece... and every time I went in the garage I almost passed out it smelled so strong of gas, so after I replaced the faulty electric fuel pump with a trusty carter I discovered there was no check valve on the fuel cell vent hole, no wonder I was choking. I don't just have those laying around so I stuck a pcv valve in the hole for now and the smell mostly went away... should work for a day or so till I can get to Goodies speed shop. Kragen aint got one. Anyway I know I'm on a rant but I sure am happy when I walk out in the garage and see my duster, it's rough but I like it just fine.
Click to expand...

Thats not a rant......I bought a '72 demon that came from"Crank town".. The motor mounts were WELDED to the K frame, They broke the steering column because they couldn't find the keys.( they were in the driver side floor board!!!) They had an "E" body 4 speed.( nifty hole under the dash) The fuel line ran through the pass. compartment. Ect Ect...
Enjoy your Duster
 
I am just glad to see you get another car. I remember when you sold your other car.
 
Yep, selling the dart was hard to do, but I am back in action. We do what we gotta do and keep priorities in order and it all works itself out in the end. I decided to be conservative this time overall and build within a strict budget, maybe not going for a roller cammed stroker right this second, although the big block is still on the stand, just gonna slide a 270 mega in this 318 and minimize the neccesary upgrades. Just have fun with it. Do it old school, got hooker hang down headers and a set of drag lites, got it primer black with a cardboard headliner and smelly carpet... ha! Bigger and better things always come eventually, and I have learned how to realistically see what an upgrade is gonna cost... how? The hard way! Ha! Ask my wife....
 
glad to see your car is going well..I know you will love the xe274 Im selling you when or if you get the 360
 
I actually would be stuffing that into my other 318. It has 675 heads though, no flow, so it's sitting in a garage in Willow Glen. The pistons in that block are so far down in the hole that I laughed out loud!!! Cast crank, too, great... we'll see how it goes with the job thing before I buy anything else.
 
oh ok thats cool hope everything gets better from here on out for you
 
I hope so too.But in the mean time, I'm talking to a guy about a possible trade for a 72 swinger that needs finishing but has all the right stuff so wish me luck!
 
You made me laugh out loud! Yes I do. What's even funnier is folks been tellin me that for over 40 years!
Ok, now big muscle mopar guy that I think I am, I did a psi check on this thing ---- and forgot to open the throttle first---- got 90 to 125 psi! I was ready to blow a gasket at that point! It took me till two o'clock to realize I'd done it wrong and I did it right this time... 125 to 140 this time, number 5 was highest and number three was lowest. I know that aint good, having a 15 point spread there, but it's alot better than 90! And I didn't pull all the plugs, either, so I aint complaining. I am confident that with some time and love it will end up being a pretty cool ride.
Now the man with the swinger has a 360 with forged kb's and eagle rods, .020 over and a new crane cam, the body was just done and paint is new, driver quality, new bushings, new race built 904, but the heads aint done and there's no ignition or exhaust. I'd have to assemble the car, all the trim and interior are there, but need to be put back in and on... also have to come up with an intake and carb, I got a couple carbs layin around, but no extra intakes. I figure I could get it going for around a thousand, an intake, exhaust, and I got a points distributor here, might could do it? What would you do? Would you trade? At this point my duster just has a mediocre built 318 with bolt on's, but is pretty rough, overall. I think I may just do it!
 
stroker mike said:
So, I have had the duster at home for about 10 days, bought it from a mechanic, and the guy had 8 quarts of oil in it. It was making some pretty scary clacking sounds deep inside, I got worried! I changed it, was shocked at how much was in there. Put in about 4 1/2 quarts of VR1 and the clacking went away and I learned that I do, in fact, have the correct dipstick... what the..>?? What a day. I had to put on an eddie 1405 to get some idle and solve the vacuum leaks, the 1850 on it was just bad, it's like you pay three grand for a mopar and you gotta go thru the whole thing piece by piece... and every time I went in the garage I almost passed out it smelled so strong of gas, so after I replaced the faulty electric fuel pump with a trusty carter I discovered there was no check valve on the fuel cell vent hole, no wonder I was choking. I don't just have those laying around so I stuck a pcv valve in the hole for now and the smell mostly went away... should work for a day or so till I can get to Goodies speed shop. Kragen aint got one. Anyway I know I'm on a rant but I sure am happy when I walk out in the garage and see my duster, it's rough but I like it just fine.
Click to expand...

I think we have all had days like yours..... I know I have...... One thing after another..... it will get better!
8)
 
stroker mike said:
Yep, selling the dart was hard to do, but I am back in action. We do what we gotta do and keep priorities in order and it all works itself out in the end. I decided to be conservative this time overall and build within a strict budget, maybe not going for a roller cammed stroker right this second, although the big block is still on the stand, just gonna slide a 270 mega in this 318 and minimize the neccesary upgrades. Just have fun with it. Do it old school, got hooker hang down headers and a set of drag lites, got it primer black with a cardboard headliner and smelly carpet... ha! Bigger and better things always come eventually, and I have learned how to realistically see what an upgrade is gonna cost... how? The hard way! Ha! Ask my wife....
Click to expand...

Hey don't fell bad as I bought my Duster off Ebay and went thru a few things too to get it running right. It had a new drivetrain but it was set up as a strip car. Changed the 2" open spacer to a 1" 4-hole hole spacer, raised the throttle bracket so cable wouldn't bind up, installed the kickdown linkage that was missing (luckily rebuilt tranny wasn't damaged), worked thru some electrical bugs and tuned it good for the street. Then I had to change out the wheel studs after finding out the hard way the guy had been running some homemade wheel spacers on the rear wheels. With a new drivetrain and fresh suspension I figured the car was worth the risk of not seeing it personally. After alittle interior work and a fresh paint job it will be a nice low buck driver for me.

I'm also on a budget with my car and will work on it as time and money allows. Can't stand it when people rig stuff on cars instead of doing it correctly. It doesn't have to cost alot to do it right if you know what you're doing. Good luck with you new Duster!

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