Rocky Start Resto..

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Holy Crumbs...no wonder that the duster only gets 18 MPH with the /6..this car is HEAVY ! I have taken off everything except for the trunk lid, dash and glass...two folks should be able to pop it over on it's side with a roll over device but my straping son and I couldn't get it up on a 45 degree angle.. It was a bummer tonight..will get two more lads tomorrow and try again..

Anybody have this type of problem ?

ian.
 
My guess would be the center of gravity is off.. just be careful, because if it is really top heavy, once you get to a certain point, it make continue over.. and fast.

Grant
 
Grant,

You are correct but we are suffering from lack of room ..however, we were successful today :) Will post pictures today.

Got word back on my engine..missing bolts, seals , oil pump shot and a hole in the oil pan. Have got all covered but the oil pan...any idea where I can get one ? UAP doesn't have a listing and I have been wait on chrysler for 3 weeks now for a red touch up paint for my RAM..

Ian.
 
Well it is done and we feel great.

Took the engine in this week to be broken in..found a few things wrong :( Kinda parfor the course but the news about the was great anyway . Wiring harness off and steering wheel removed.

Tried to flip the car last night but not enough muscle with the gimp dad and the straping son. Today, went and bought two come alongs to help us. No matter what we did, and I think Grant pointed out the problem, the car kept sliding forward...even with rubber on the plywood. The space we have is small and we have to work around it. So what we did was pull the wheels off the side fartherst from us and put sand down.

Then, as calum and I lifted, Sarah ran from side to side cranking on the come alongs. We had a bit of slippage but calum and I pulled while lifting...one we got it up to @ 45 degrees that rest was easy.

To really clean the bottom we are going to have to bring it back down and roll it out. I think we will inlist a few big guys to help with that...for now, we are just going to engoy the moment :)

Some pics..sorry, we are using a cheap camera because of the grease, etc..hope you enjoy..

360 going to be tested..

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The set up..

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Victory ! Sarah and Calum

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The underside

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Time to take a bunch of pictures and start the cleaning process.

The MacKinnons
 
Folks,

This will probably be my last post on this thread for awhile. I am not sure how I hurt myself but my L5 moved and dug in to my sciatic nerve for my left leg. I have had this before and it generally goes away in a week or so but this time, at 9 weeks, is still with me and I am spending a lot of time on my back so the work on the Duster has officially finished and my car will be spending the winter outdoors. Maybe, I hope, I will have the ability to work on the Duster during te winter however, my pain relief doctor is talking about operations. I have hurt so long that I have already turned down an elective operation slated for this month.

Where are we now ? We had the engine broken in and as I suspected, there was a problem. The PO had used metric bolts ( and it was also missing bolts) and the oil pump worked OK until the motor was spun up when it promptly died. I am not sure why anyone would put a old oil pump in a brand new engine but it no longer surprises me. After the new pump was installed I got a “two thumbs up” in regards to how the engine operated. The trans has been rebuilt with a shift kit and the rear axle has a newish pumpkin in it. I have bought the goodies to built new brake/gas lines and I have the other bits to attach the brakes.

This biggest problem we had this summer was water coming out with the sandblasters when we were sand blasting the body. We spent more time unblocking the blasters. We stared with a 5 hp gas..then a diesel rig that compressed air with a rotary system. We even had a water collector on each end of the hose. The rental companies said that the compressor worked well with air tools like jack hammers and would not put any type of water collector system on their rigs. . We gave up blasting the body and I started cleaning with wire wheel. I under coated as I went ..but the look sucked and I couldn’t get the wire brush into the some of the small places.
I appologize for the quality of the pics.

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So I went looking for another compressor and found one about 30 minutes away. Look at the size of the hose. We had to have a hose inside of the shield so we could breath and see what we were doing. Man, sand got everywhere ! It doesn’t show much but sand go on my car about 60 feet away. Even broke two of my 200w ceiling lights.

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Later, I covered all with 2 part epoxy. My next job was going to spray the bottom with chassis black..toss the gas tank on....flip the car and paint engine bay the body colour. Then push the car out for the winter. We have nixed that idea so I am thinking that we could work on it in the winter.

I should mention that I am inmpressed with the bottom of this car especially since the car was used in the winter. There is one hole in the bottom of the car where 3 pieces should over lap but one piece was too short so there is a triangled hole in the bottom of the car.

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As you can see there a bit of tar still on the body..scraping, sand blasting and wire brush could not remove it so we are going to paint over it. This resto is being completed as a daily drive..not a show car.

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Until the next post.
Grassy
 
You have one of the cleanest cars i've seen in a long time. Sorry to hear about your back, get well soon.
 
Ian..........havent been on this thread in awhile..........holly crap, youve done alot. Give yourself some credit. Im real sorry to heaar about your back. Keep the faith. I know this problem isnt new to you BUT..You have bounced back before. Anything you need.......PLEASE let me know........All the best bud. Edd:hello2:
 
Looks great you have done a ton of work already I wish I could find a car in that good of shape

I would have thought that in your area, there would be a ton of rust free cars. With the rust bug up here, cars are more vulnerable.

Grassy
 
[FONT=&quot]So last year, the resto ration started with great expectations.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The first thing we did was start cleaning up all the sand. Big lesson learned there.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I sprayed two coats of chassis black to the bottom of the car …perhaps I should have used box spray but it is done. I gather that it should have been done in the colour of the car but paint is expensive. The engine bay will be the colour of the car. We (I) lost the paint chips so hopefully, we will be pouring over paint chips on Easter weekend :)[/FONT] We painted the gas tank and re installed it.

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[FONT=&quot]We dropped the car back do and pushed it outside so we could work on the suspension. It is great having a crew of strong, young men..[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]I put together a rust removal system that installed a bucket, rebar, caustic solution and a battery charger ( I have pictures..somewhere) . Worked well. So we took all the suspension apart , bought new parts, and started to put it back together. We ran into strange issues but worked with the companies and got the issues resolved.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We found a few more “surprises” but we fix them as we go on.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Then the weather turned very hot and humid…very strange for around here.. I developed breathing problems and that is where it ended. I really don’t remember much about last summer.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So, we have a big list for this summer…and my kids and I are keen.

Ian.
[/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Well I been felt better this spring so I decided to have another run at finishing the car. What I need to do is re assemble the car with different parts so I have been scratching my head a lot and many fine folks from FABO have been answering my many questions. Thank goodness or I would be still at step one. I do have the service manuals but since I have never seen some of this before, it is hard to visualize what the heck the manual is saying. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Another problem has been the marker wearing off the parts we bagged and all my suff for the car being moved a couple of times so finding what I bought hasn’t been fun…there are a few things that are still MIA and I have many bagged parts that I have absolutely no idea what the heck they are.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]My first project was the steering column. The car was originally an auto and I am converting it to a floor shift.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Here are the parts laid out and the finished project.[/FONT] I used semi gloss and I like the new look.

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[FONT=&quot]Next, I went to build up the new to me 8 ¾ axle. I thought I could buy all the parts I needed from UAP but found that there were some bits that I had to source used. I was focused on the 10 inch drum and bought the wrong parts. They will be for sale soon [/FONT]:)
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[FONT=&quot]Waiting for those parts I assembled all the parts for the front suspension / disc brake conversion and started to build. I also put new bushing in my springs. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Having some spare time we moved the car from outside to inside. I finally rec’ed the parts for the back drum brakes and successfully built up my rear drum assemble. Parking brake cables will have to wait. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]I was given a pipe flare tool a couple of years ago (new) and I started to make the brake lines. After 3 ends were made, the holder would no longer hold the tube. Bought a new one with a warranty at crappy tire so if this one croaks, I can take it back.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I installed the springs and then realized that I had put the shackles on backwards so off they came. I then installed the axle, shock plate, etc then start torqueing up the nuts per manual spec. I had bought a spring re locator kit a couple of years ago and then decided not t use it. When we took off the springs I found that one of the shackles were bent so I substituted the new shackles in the kit. When I was doing the tourquing, the bolt on one of the shackles snapped. So, I had to take the darn thing off again..thank goodness, I hadn’t thrown out the old shackles so I was able to re use one of the old ones.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Meanwhile, I have stripped out the interior for painting. I am very pleased with the condition of the cardboard and the inside of the doors. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]I have also painted the two motors in the engine bay. I have used semi gloss black and they look nick. I have prepped the engine bay to be painted the car colour. My family will not let me paint the car so I am just doing the engine bay / hood and trunk / hood. I am told that an epoxy primer will help the paint stick.[/FONT] Pictures later.

[FONT=&quot]Since my arms will not extend from under the car and into the trunk I had my wife crawl into the trunk as I torque the rear shocks.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Staring to look like a car.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]I put the adapters on my rear drums and jacked up the car and slid on the 17 inch wheels. I found that my existing bolts to secure the rim to the car wouldn’t allow me to tighten them with a socket. Off to a specialty shop and ordered nuts that would work.

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[/FONT]
One thing the PO didn’t tell me was that several of the studs on the axle were NG. I have bought new but haven’t had a time to put them in yet. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I took a pic anyway, I think they are going to fit great. I really don’t like them much but they are free..the kids can change them anytime with their own $s. Anyway, I have to wait now.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]No pics of this yet but I believe I have fabricated the mounts for one seat but the drivers is giving me some challenges. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Other than being sore, I have great hope to have this finished before end of summer. [/FONT]
 
[FONT=&quot]Work is steadily progressing when it isn’t pouring or above 35C degrees. Humidity is always causing problems.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I would like to thank the FOBO members who are helping me on this journey.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I discovered another reason I am not going to paint the car. Dust. I cleaned the engine bay, trunk, trunk hood and the engine bonnet then epoxied them. After that, 2 coats of crazy plum enamel paint. After the first shot I could see where dust has landed on the painted bits. I endeavor to keep the garage clean but obliviously not clean enough. Here are a few pics of before and after. When we pulled off the trunk lid, I found a band of rust going across the back of this unit. I would have never noticed this if I hadn’t been painting.[/FONT]
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Odd spot for rust
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After 1st coat[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]
We stripped the interior except for the dash and roof liner. We have ordered the dye ( a custom colour) and are just waiting for it now.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The new carpet is now here waiting to go in.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I realized that I am going to have to have some welding for me to fab in the front buckets so off they go tomorrow.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Dash cluster is out waiting for me to install the new gauges.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Took the ugly ball of wire harness and stripped off all the tape, ran it through our parts cleaner..then let it sit for 2 or 3 days. I then went at it with brake cleaner and rags. I think I have it just about sorted out but I may have to cut a few wires so it will look really straight.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Gotta love the “Ball” of wires…the condition was much better that I was hoping for..[/FONT]
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I cleaned (and painted) the starter, power steering pump and alternator. I really like the black semi gloss that I am using.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I cleaned (and painted) the starter, power steering pump and alternator.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
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Found that I am missing the weights on my flex plate so I cannot start putting together the motor and trans.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Hopefully, I will be unwrapping the engine this week to see what I need to complete the assembly.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Ian.[/FONT]
 
Thanks..you know, we should have a Nova Scotia FABO meet... :)

We are having a blast but kind of wish we could drive it.

Ian.
 
Ian - I'm putting buckets in a 68 Barracuda w/ orig. bench seat. I was trying to block up the new driver seat in the car before drilling the floorboard - impossible. I decided to put the orig. seat up on a table beside the bucket. Then I blocked the bucket up to match the height and back angle of the orig. Eventually, I ended up cutting the mounting brackets off of the bucket, then matching to orig. Now, I'm getting ready to build a mounting frame for the bucket in the car, using the original holes in the car! These buckets are temporary and will be replaced later with some nice leather seats and I didn't want to end up with a floorboard riddled with holes. In the Barracuda, all four mounting surfaces are different heights! The fabricated frame will allow for mounting any type bucket seat. I'll post pictures when finished.
Good luck on the resto - Jim
 
Update

[FONT=&quot]Still haven’t decided what direction to go with the seats sense I cannot modify them to fit the car but I have to make a decision soon. And I should be ordering the electronic speedo in Kms soon as well.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I have installed the snorkel scoop. I used the hole in the hood as a reference for the bottom middle hole on the scoop. I then flipped the scoop over and took a large piece of thick cardboard and pushed down so I had an impression of where the studs are located. I drilled the first hole through the hood..flipped the hood over..and centered the bottom, middle holes together. I marked where the other studs were then I drilled them…the scoop fits perfectly except where the studs when through the brace on the bottom of the hood . I need to enlarge the hole through the brace so I can put nuts on the studs..I am not liking the top hat nuts that were on the scoop. I think I have figured out a way to get around the water problem...need to install it first to see if it wil work. The scoop looks good though :)

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[FONT=&quot]We wanted to dye the interior but the daughter didn’t want a ‘stock” colour. I also had a set of kick panels that were blue and had been painted (?) black and they were peeling.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]I only want to do this once so contacted a Canadian company that deals with many auto manufacturers and repair centers. The paint will stick on metal, leather, plastic and fabric and is guaranteed for 10 years… The company will custom mix so they suggest you go into a home depot and pick a colour from the Behr catalogue. My daughter’s pick was “rising smoke”. Anyway, you clean the surface with their cleaning product, spray it with an adhesive, 3 very lights coats of dye, then a conditioner anywhere between a day and a week later. For metal, a light sand, primer then the dye.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We did not tale out everything. We left in the roof liner and the front windshield so the metal in front of the dash pad was a bugger. I am trying to track down an air brush to finish it.[/FONT]

The plastic cleaner even took some of the old dye out..

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Tapeing

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I slid pieces of bristol board down in between the dash and the windshield rubber.

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Car wash fund raising posters work well :)

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[FONT=&quot]I really didn't like spraying above me head in the small confines of the car

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"THE" Colour

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Alternator, power steering pump, starter and windshield fluid repository are ready to go on.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Suspension ready to be bolted on. Just missing the front shocks which I will install after we attach the k frame to the car.[/FONT] The bottom is the platform we are going to put the engine/trans on for the install.

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[FONT=&quot]Charcoal carpet.

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So until next time.

Grassy
[/FONT]
 
It has been some time since I last posted.

I find working on the car a couple of hours a day to be great therapy and fun since I can do it with my kids.

I have been asked more than a few times that I must have a boatload of special tools to do this rebuild but the answer is no. I have a 3/8ths and ½ socket set. A breaker bar and a torque wrench. A C clamp for pressing bits in and out. A tiny compressor with paint gun (it will not push wrenches), a tiny hydraulic jack that I bought in ’79 (it has lost it’s rear wheels) and a bench grinder. I also have a hand grinder. Other than little stuff, this is it. We have also rented a sand blaster and an engine hoist. Oh, just bought my self a 15 dollar pipe flair tool. I wish we had all the cool tools but this is a budget rebuild.

The Mazda seats. I had a plate welded to the bottom of their sliders and that is when I found that both tracks were going in a different direction. After trying to fab this difference out, I gave up and ordered a set of generic seats. They should be here this week.

Calum and I sent a couple of hours where we were over on the Island during our vacation trying to sort out the mess. We made a lot of progress but haven’t installed it yet.

We are still having major problems with the brackets to attach our alternator and p/s pump on to the 360. I have fabbed brackets for the p/s pump and a FABO member from Nova Scotia is valiantly searching for the alternator brackets. Soon I hope.

To get a bit more room for the car, we turned it crosswise ..I think it worked.

I finished the rebuild of the front suspension so we attached the engine to the transmission then bolted that to the suspension. We discovered the concept of headers. Wow. Beautiful to look at but a bugger to install. Tolerances to the starter and p/s had me concerned but it is a budget build and I figured that it would be years before the starter conked out. We were missing the dust cover for the transmission but we figured we could pop it in w/o any problems. We put the whole unit on a cart…lifted the front of the car and slid it in and attached it to the car. The next day, we got the dust cover…the starter has to come out. Ouch. We tried to do the change in the car but no luck. We had to pull the unit again..disconnect the suspension..take the headers off..pulled the starter and replaced it with a dak mini starter after the dust cover was put on…. Then we did everything again and back into the car.

To save money, we decided to use my old mustang rims. They fit on back perfectly but hit the upper control arm on the front..and I could not ship it out with the existing hubs to see if it would work so I took the caliper, etc off the front wheel and pounded out the studs. I replaced with ½ bolts ..I put 1 plus inch washers on then put the rim on…took a jack and raised it up and down…it is a happy fit. Ruined all the studs so had to put new ones in.....The adapters should be here by Monday.

So we installed our torsion bars . Again..much more fun with the headers. These puppies just don’t install easily..the moon has to be properly aligned with mars and you water bill has to be paid up so these will slide in..but done.

I need to do a bit more painting but need an air brush..I have a Binks but I cannot find the right adapters to attach to my compressor…this is for really small places..maybe I should have removed the windshield but that is far beyond my ability.

With the help of another FABO member, I found a drive shaft to fit our set up. With the right bits, it fit in quite nice.

So we decided to do something easy .. the PO bought a custom X exhaust..we figured easy peazy..ah, no. Nothing fit and none of the attachment points lined up with what we had. Plus there was a big mistake in the instructions. Anyway, after a major amount of fabrication , it is now in and looks good. We can now say we actually do have a custom exhaust J Ithik we will have it tacked together when we have the car aligned.

I installed the gas line today and have some of the brake lines done…actually, about 20 feet of them.

Hope I haven't missed too much. So much more to do but we think we can see the light.

Some pics:

Starting to join the engine, trans and front suspension with my son, Calum.
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Getting ready to push the "unit" under the car..
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Engine out again...there really is a starter in there...
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New vs the old...size does count with this set up...
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Engine in, again...
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Got to love that fit !
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Some of the bodges...but I gather, this was done by the factory, not the PO
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Exhaust laid out on the grass (minus one muffler)
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Exhaust is on !
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Torsion bar and headers
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Mufflers just beyond the X pipe..
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Until next time….
 
What an insperation. Im doing a 75 Gold Duster with my son and its a bigger project than we ever thought. Its fun to someone else doing it too. Never thought of lowering the chasie on to the engine and front end. Great Idea.
 
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