SS Springs on 75 Duster

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got the floor swept....still was dirty...had to roll around on it....anyway got the frame connectors in...car was on 4 jack stands and used a floor jack and bottle jack to get them up and in place....

they were about a inch too long...that happens alot...LOL...got them with a real good tack weld...my HF welding hat broke...it was a good 10 yrs old at least....anyway need to get it back up in the air and finish the welding .....

things are moving ahead...
 
70aarcuda said:
try buying an E body for a couple thousands that runs....has no rust...
Click to expand...
Lucky you are where you are...... Trying buying an A-body HERE for a couple thousand that runs ... no rust.... LOL
 
I did buy an e body for a couple thousand once....back in 1973...bought that 70 AARCuda....for 2k....coming up on 45 yr now...
 
Some more things done the last couple of days....

Finished the welding of the frame connectors.......mounted fuel pump...ran fuel line...mounted the fuel regulator in the engine bay....got the line lock plumbed up and bolted down....Now I can bleed the brakes...got a few more things to do...then I am going to drop the motor and trans in ....was not going to do it for awhile but gotta push the schedule up....

I need that bay in the garage for the 71 Duster....the Dana has not shipped yet but should be soon..and I need the bay with the 2 post lift in it.....
So this 75 duster gets pushed out of the way .....but goal is to have it running by Sept ....along as nothing breaks tomorrow at the races....LOL
 
finished clamping the fuel line...battery cable and alternator return wire to the body...

drilled some holes for the shifter....need the hole for the cable drilled it is going to be close to the t bar cross member....

was going to bleed the brakes...got new master cylinder and front calipers...got a power bleeder so it is a one man job......but did not have enough brake fluid...so once they few items are done I am going to drop the motor and trans in later this week....it was 108 today....suppose cool off to only 100 the rest of the week....
 
Well...think i am at the point where I can put the engine and trans it....brakes are all bled out with no leaks....although i got a ugly on the firewall from brake fluid, dam surgical tubing torn on my power bleeder...by the time I could get the car back down and release pressurizer it had dumped almost a quart of brake fluid all over everything...that one piece on the firewall is the only thing that got damaged...still got some of that Vintage Poly Red paint in a can...LOL

Going to shoot for Friday to mate motor and trans together and maybe drop them in....and waiting on some small parts to mount ignition box and coil

the center link is loose and the tie rods and pitman arm are just finger tight so i can move the car around....

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in the picture above you can not see that the engine is not setting all the way down on the K member. So I figured out that the solid mounts ..the biscuits...were on upside down....done this many many times and still get it wrong...LOL...plus the trans cross member was on backwards... battling 1000.....got everything corrected this morning and started moving forward again....Even got the passenger side headers on....oil adapter...904 dipstick tube...

Have been doing mostly wiring the pass week....ignition box and coil...fuel pump and relay.....
 
Slowly coming along.....headers are on....get the starter on tomorrow afternoon....and start to finish up some of these loose ends...
I got a Dana 60 sitting here waiting for some action on a 71 Duster

Gotta work a night shift tonight...Contractor is milling and paving on Las Vegas Blvd next to Nellis Afb...

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Got the starter on and wired to the starter relay switch.....transmission linkage do over....shifter was in 1st gear while I had trans in neutral...and got the transmission lines installed on the trans....using AN6 braided hose for it.....Should have done this before I put the headers on but I got lucky and everything went together easy.....

electric water pump is on .....

Tomorrow ...working on getting the alternator on the car...trying to find an alternator bracket....dam I thought I would have 20 of those things...then aluminum radiator and electric fan goes on.....
still go alot of wiring to do inside the car...and mount a seat....only got about another week left before I have to abandon it for awhile...
 
Stole the alternator and bracket off another car this morning...lol....

dam electric fan is too big for that radiator...but the radiator is a direct bolt in...

do some wiring this week...and maybe...just maybe get it fired next weekend

I have not even primed the engine yet....and the intake is not bolted down...valves are not adjusted....forgot

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more wiring done...more to do.....just got a few more rolls of wire...need something beside Red wire....LoL

finished off the wiring of the ignition ...using the key to start engine ......water pump...electric fan....fuel pump and lights need to be wired...

and it is 108 outside....dam......
 
70aarcuda said:
more wiring done...more to do.....just got a few more rolls of wire...need something beside Red wire....LoL

finished off the wiring of the ignition ...using the key to start engine ......water pump...electric fan....fuel pump and lights need to be wired...

and it is 108 outside....dam......
Click to expand...
You are more committed than me...it hit 92 here in Indiana and I gave up working on my engine and went inside, lol.
 
I guess I am somewhat used to the heat...LOL...dry heat.... being inside a garage makes a world of difference....I have a portable swamp cooler but have not used it yet this summer...As I am getting old..LOL..I have learned to pace myself....I usually stop by the garage before I go home after work...get a few things done...It keeps me busy and nobody bothers me there....
 
Worked on connecting fuel lines to carb...found that the carb sitting on engine had been cannibalized ....so I pulled a known all together carb out of the box..

got water pump and electric fan wired in....I believe all the wiring under the hood is done at this point..I got a switch panel to wire inside the car for the water and fuel pump....fan..and lights...that will complete all the wring ...

Next big challenge is getting a light weigh seat mounted ,,,,

Saturday morning going to adjust valves...and run the oil pump and prime the engine...put the intermediate shaft in....and If I can find intake bolts i will get it on....

I got one more week to work on this before I have to abandon it.....Ladder bar brackets for the dana 60 housing got here to day and I need to get going on the 71 Duster...
 
ok...valve adjusted..oil pump pushing 50 psi by speed handle...intermediate shaft in....intake manifold bolted on...carb bolted on...fuel lines on except need fitting for fuel pressure gauge...got the driveshaft on....

then...was making up short pieces of AN6 hose for the trans cooler...1st piece went smooth...got a tool for putting fitting on steel braided line...and the second piece...nope ...hose kept fraying ...
then i have a fitting cross thread...and of course i dont have anymore of those fitting...moving on to driveshaft loop...have universal loop...looks like mopar change the floor pan on the later dusters cause I can not find a place to bolt on the loop...same loop as i have on the 71 duster...
So hey...I got one of those US tool bolt on driveshaft loops...1st i have had this thing for several years...and now where is it...LOL......so finally tonight i find it.....
Lay it out of the floor under the car...get the plate that bolts on to the cross member....WTF...this wont work....go online to their website and does not fit 73-76 with spool crossmember...
So luckily I got one of the earlier cross members...just need a new rubber...
So waiting for small parts...fitting and such......going back to wiring the switches inside the car..
 
well..i figured that i needed to apply power to my partially wired car....smoked a ground wire...replaced it and smoked it again...had a wire in the wrong spot...LOL...
so it cranks with the key....has an on/off ignition wire kill switch...fuel pump...water pump and electric fan all work.

need to wire up lights for gauge and tail lights....still need tach installed and wired...

maybe this saturday or sunday...it is gotta move...

plus now I gotta yank the motor and trans out of an AARCuda...dam E body...probably dont remember how to get that thing out...
 
The heat and now the humidity from the monsoons are killing me..
Got most of the wiring now completed....need small things like line lock on shifter wired....tach.....and couple of wires for the taillights to be terminated...
oil pressure gauge is now hooked up...found that 1/8 compression fitting that fell on the floor last week..

finished plumbing the trans cooler...still gotta swap out the transmission cross member...
Got the plugs in the engine...and plug wires installed...not sure if I like these wires...seem to be too long,,,,
Need to blow out the new fuel lines to make sure no crap is in them...put a couple gallons of gas and see if I got any leaks before we try to start it...first time I used twist lock fittings...
 
waiting on shift light to finish tach wiring...and gauge lights is it....
Looking in engine bay...got the water pump bypass plugged today...got the drive shaft loop on..had to swap out trans cross member...fuel gauge installed...need alternator belt...need to remember the size as it does not go to the water pump now...tranny fluid....run by Walmart tonight at work...

I am thinking that Wednesday or Thursday afternoon I should be able to fire the engine....got to remember tp charge battery...

Working night this week....this should be it for night shift....getting closer to end of year where i hope to quit for good.
 
Well...****.....doing the final touches to fire this thing up......put water in radiator....pissing it out the thermostat housing,,,removed cleaned and RTV again...and the worst...dripping Tranny fluid out of the bell housing on the 904....thinking and hoping I just overfilled it...usually dont fill it until it ready to start and then top it off during the cam break it....

anyway.....it is starting tomorrow....
 
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Fired right up.....after a few minutes...had to hit the kill switch....trans is leaking pretty bad....so this is the end of this project for awhile....need to move on...

Dana 60 and 408 for 71 duster is more important plus gotta pull the 340 6 pac out of the aar as it heads for the body/paint shop
 
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Come on...don't give up?
I've been reading all along.....Reminding me Why in the hell am I doing this to my Demon????
Best of luck!!
 
not giving up....just need to get other things done...i need that bay in garage to get 71 Duster worked on...so it needs to move...and then my daughter brought here 62 Valiant SW over to fix since the 904 is leaking out of the shifter cable...and I have never worked on one of those push button trans..

that 71 duster has to be done by sept...plus this weekend I am pulling engine out of AARCuda so it can go to paint/resto shop...
 
You do have your hands full!
Best of luck with it.
Keep on with the updates
 
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