Project Track Demon - Eventually

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Update.

So after finding a bunch of grit and grime in the engine I decided to pull it completely apart and thoroughly clean everything. Also needed to check the ring gaps to verify everything was good there. Found the cam bearings were a little worn so I decided to replace those as well. Pulling the pistons I actually found a couple of rings were stuck to the piston with gunk. New rings were necessary because well I broke one.

So the engine has been scrubbed with a fine tooth comb, all passages blown out and now the pistons, crank, and rods are back in the block. I need to get a camshaft and I'd like to do something other than a factory cam because it appears that these engines really wake up with the right cam. My issue is that the block has been decked roughly .020". Our measurement shows that the pistons are about 0.048" down the hole. I want to make sure I'm not going to have clearance issues. Using factory magnum rockers with Mopar Performance valve springs.

Anyone have any cam recommendations?
 
well I actually had to pull the pistons and rods from the block last night. Turns out the guy before me put the rods in the wrong holes. Chamfers on the rods weren't facing the right direction. Oh well everything went well last night and it's back together.
 
The good news is we actually have gotten somewhere on the car recently. The engine is all assembled, painted and ready to drop in now (I haven't taken any pictures), new seals in the transmission, and a filter and pan gasket, and today, we put as much of the front end on as we dared to before installing the engine with the summit headers.


If we can keep at it, we'll have it going in not that much longer...considering it's winter in Michigan.
 
Thanks to goldduster318 I'm even closer to having the Krusty Demon on the road this spring. It's going together quite well and I'm focusing on getting it together rather than making it perfect right now. Ask gold...I've got some really pretty painted and shiny parts that are being bolted onto a car with hardly any rear quarters.

For the time being it will be more Roadkill and less Barret Jackson!
 
MrAndrewLitt said:
For the time being it will be more Roadkill and less Barret Jackson!
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Nothing wrong with that if it's on the road! :thumbup:

I can't even watch any of those auctions anymore. Just a bunch of rich SOB's buying cars they will never drive on the gamble that the cars will gain value. Those aren't car guys, they're investors. I'd rather have my multi-colored, half Duster, half Dart, Demon "tribute". Only numbers that match are the VIN's to the title. But it's faster and handles better than any Duster or Demon that Ma Mopar ever put on the road, and that's good enough for me.

What's with the Duster emblem? ;)
 
72bluNblu said:
What's with the Duster emblem? ;)
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The 70/71 A-bodies all have decals. So it's actually a decal. It's a factory mistake that's been there all along. That sticker is just as aged/cracked as the Demon ones on the back and the other side front fender.

I was laughing about that pretty hard when we went to go look at the car before he bought it.

Other than the 1/4's, this car is actually pretty awesome. Frame rails and floors are real clean. Just needs 1/4's and trunk extensions and a few other small patches here and there. Doors open and shut perfectly and it's pretty straight

One thing is, he's really, really lucky that he knows me. The car will only have heads, wheels, one upper control arm, valve covers, distributor, carburetor, exhaust, and gas tank that were in my car at some point. More stuff that was easy to sell :D That and I know what all the parts look like and where they go, right down to bolts.

Already starting off with a 318 magnum with a 4-barrel, headers, 2.5" x-pipe, poly bushings, RMS strut rods, 74 Disks, and a 65 b-body rear axle with a 3.23 sure grip. Should be good.
 
That would be pretty cool if it was a factory mistake! Someone on the assembly line having a case of the Monday's? Or maybe the Friday's? ;)

As for ALL 70/71 A-bodies, that's not accurate. '70 Dart Swingers and GT's had their emblems on the rear quarters, and they got metal emblems. '71 swingers got them on the fenders, and the '71 GT's got one year only rocker emblems. I knew the Demon's got stickers in '71 and emblems in '72 but I thought that was a deletion of the "devil guy" issue, I didn't realize the Duster's got stickers in 70/71.

'70 Dart Swinger (courtesy abodyjoe)

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'70 Dart GT (courtesy 7071DartGTReg)

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'71 Dart Swinger (courtesy abodyjoe)

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'71 Dart GT (mine!:D )

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Here's the 70 Duster like mine. "Valiant" emblem with a Duster sticker below. on a 71 it would be the same sticker but w/o the valiant emblem.

His car has a sticker like this. Looks totally original. Wish I had a better picture of it.
 

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goldduster318 said:
One thing is, he's really, really lucky that he knows me. The car will only have heads, wheels, one upper control arm, valve covers, distributor, carburetor, exhaust, and gas tank that were in my car at some point. More stuff that was easy to sell :D That and I know what all the parts look like and where they go, right down to bolts.
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I am quite literally Gold's A-body little brother. Every once and a while we try to get someone else to join the A-body brotherhood, but no luck so far.
 
MrAndrewLitt said:
well I actually had to pull the pistons and rods from the block last night. Turns out the guy before me put the rods in the wrong holes. Chamfers on the rods weren't facing the right direction. Oh well everything went well last night and it's back together.
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Just wanted to thank you for mentioning this. Put my pistons in last weekend and was thinking: "Hey all new everything. Just need to make sure the valve reliefs are right, doesn't matter which cylinder they go in." Pretty sure I didn't bother to make sure the chamfers were against the crank and not the middle. Probably just saved my engine.

edit: now that I think about it more, I should be fine. The valve reliefs are only at the top of the pistons so there's no rotating them. Moving them to the other side wouldn't change where the chamfer is pointing. Everything was installed and blueprinted at the machine shop so it should be good. Still going to do a sanity check when I get the chance.
 
Big day today:
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The engine and transmission went in pretty easily. We bungeed the driver's header in place before dropping in the engine. The passenger side header should go in pretty easily from below. They are summit headers. Overall a pretty good fit on the driver's side.

BTW: the 318 magnum still uses the LA 318 style mounting ears, not the 340/360 driver's side. Bolted right up. We put a V8 k-frame in the car so it dropped right in.
 
More updates coming soon.

This weekend was huge, on Saturday we installed headers, brakes (filled and bled), steering, suspension, and the hood is back on!

I need to go thru grease the steering components, recheck the brake lines, put a decent alignment to start and then I can drop it on it's wheels!

Pics will come later.
 
So....more stuff is getting done and I'm much closer to firing the car. As a push I signed up for RoadKill Nights drag racing on 8/19 here in Pontiac, MI. I better get this thing going or I won't live it down. Goal is to drive the car on July 30th. That will give me a couple weeks to break it in, check some bolts, and maybe work out some kinks. Fingers crossed.

However, the car is back on all four! First time in one and a half years.
 
Sorry for the cluster of photos without explinations. This is my first time using the latest version of the forum. So new three core aluminum radiator (plenty of clearance!), new sending unit (had to bend the filter up slightly to get it to fit), filler tube (made our own 70 filler neck ;) ).

This car will literally be new (ish) minus the body :rofl:
 
Small progress update. I needed to add an overflow bottle to run the drags at Road Kill nights. Another hand me down from gold came through. Now it didn't quite fit with my new aluminum radiator so I had to modify the bracket a little bit. I drilled out the rivet, pressed out the little fasteners, and welded in some longer 1/4-20's. Just need to add a couple of spacers, but she's looking pretty good. Also have all of the power steering stuff on order.

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Very cool build........these type of buildup are the very backbone of this hobby.......carry on yall are doing awsome!
 
Rd2Scamp said:
Where and when is this "Roadkill night" ????
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It's in Pontiac, MI at and outside of the M1 Concourse. They are shutting down Woodward Ave on 8/19 between Rapid Street and South Boulevard to have street legal 1/8th mile drag racing. I believe you can still spectate, however all the spots for drag racing, car show, and what not are completely full.
 
MrAndrewLitt said:
It's in Pontiac, MI at and outside of the M1 Concourse. They are shutting down Woodward Ave on 8/19 between Rapid Street and South Boulevard to have street legal 1/8th mile drag racing. I believe you can still spectate, however all the spots for drag racing, car show, and what not are completely full.
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They are also running one in Kansas City this year. Either or would be blast to be at!
Kansas City ROADKILL NIGHTS Powered by Dodge
 
Whoops my bag thought it was in July bummer I missed the first one dang the KC one.
 
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