Painting the chassis is done
need a different ball joint seperator to get the lbj apart
Painting the chassis is done
need a different ball joint seperator to get the lbj apart
I'm sure a pickle fork and an air hammer would work for that ball joint, granted, it might vaporize it but it would get it apart
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
For some reason when I overheard you talking to Brother Dallas this morning I assumed y'all were in a junkyard. More glad to see that picture.
In reply to HalfFast :
That's the one to use for this application? If so I'll grab one tomorrow
Slash N Burn.......OHY
In reply to HalfFast :
That tool is the best $20 I ever spent at the hammer store, I just got one last weekend for ball joints on my Yukon.
I bought mine to remove studs from hubs. Installs them too :)
Doors and glass- 200
Dash -60
Trunk floor - 75
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
If you want to make it look like an AMC. It's not that hard or expensive to do. If you don't know how, ask and I'll walk you through the process. Who cares what the rest of it is mechanically. Or make an AMC race motor. ( that will be expensive though).
Just make sure that the time you spend on your car doesn't feel like a waste or that you're taking time from your true interest.
In reply to frenchyd :
Where did he say that he wanted it to look like an AMC? I'm so confused.
I'm enjoying seeing your progress! Maybe you covered this earlier, I don't remember -- what's the track width and wheelbase of the Duster vs. the chassis? Some Hellcat style flares might look pretty cool..
In reply to Kendall Frederick :
Stock car 110, duster 108. Track width is definitely wider on the stock car. However, i really like the radiused wheelwell look, so i doubt flares will happen. Unless is a debris sprayer. Cant have that.
Frenchy: dunno where amc came from, but im pretty happy with duster. Its just heavier than i want, but fiberglass body parts will come in time.
So, the linked ball joint separator didn't work. Jaws didn't open far enough by about 1/8 inch. Pickle fork got them apart, but haven't cleaned everything up to see if they are still good.
Were almost at the "real update " point. If im feeling better later, ill see what i can do.
Rear window and gutter stainless: -50
Took the ad down. Nothing left to sell.
I am setting on the edge of my seat for updates.
Previous budget was 5001.25 with 415 recoup
new money:
fuel line clamps: 11.80
button head seat bolts: 9.39
ecu brackets: 11.99
fiberglass welding blanket: 20
3x 9 in an line: 45.87
½ inch drain plugs: 8.40
Floor and tunnel shield 122
Nicopp brake line 35.97
24.99 hemi orange paint
Sales
Suspension and brakes:300
Decklid, dart fender, dart sport grillre:150
Rear bumper and filler: 180
Rear plastics, kick panels, rearview mirror: 200
Doors and glass: 200
Dash: 60
Trunk floor: 75
Rear window stainless and drip rail mouldings:40
new total: 4086.66 with 1619 recoup
been a bit busy. But a good busy.
When we left off, I was building exhaust. I had the street rod headers into 2.5 90 degree elbows from oriellys, to a pair of mocked up 2.5 jones performance chambered mufflers from stampies scrap.
Well, we went from there to a 45ish carved from a camaro ss exhaust from the body shop scrap pile, straight out to just in front of the rear wheels. Added an h pipe because it seems like a good idea. I had to section all the straight chunks of 2.5 pipe I have together to make the pipes long enough. But, it was all on hand.
20221015_082522 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221015_104232 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221015_114336 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221015_124541 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221015_124552 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Then I decided it was time to blow it all apart. See, I have reached the end of the fabrication on the chassis, so its time to paint it and get the duster body in the shop.
So I pulled the car completely apart, pushed iyt outside, and soaked it, the engine, and trans in castrol superclean. After scrubbing, I hit it all with the pressure washer. Amazing amount of filth and grime came out.
20221016_150843 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221016_152257 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Loaded it and my rustoleum light machine grey into the truck and took it to my buddy’s place for paint. He owed me one. We used the light machine grey, cut with mineral spirits and hardener sprayed through a $9 harbor freight gun
20221022_085227 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221023_175811 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
IMG_20221024_173405 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Put the front suspension back on finger tight and broght it home. Finished the underside painting and touced up places where art couldn’t get with the gun, as well as started cleaning and painting parts to go back on for the “final” time
20221027_070734 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Once that was done, I began putting leftover DEI floor and tunnel shield on parts of the floor. I only had enough on hand for the toe boards and one of the under seat areas, and more is on order. Trans tunnel will get done as well. Then, I will use fiberglass insulation on the underside heat shields and double wall them, as well as the insulation on the floor pans inside. I’m trying to mitigate driver heat as much as possible prior to adding a cool suit as god saw fit to make me deal with heat very, very poorly.
20221101_080026 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221101_080226 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
The chassis side is now up to date. I’m cleaning, painting, installing and plumbing currently. I think I will be having the crossmember under the engine raised prior to putting the body on, as that is just a major drag point for my purposes. I also don’t think I’m good enough at fabrication to do it myself. Hopefully ill get the rake lines and fuel system setup this week/weekend.
This brings us up to the body. My buddy Steve delivered it a couple weeks ago, and I promptly git the back on dollies so it was mobile. Then listed it as a part out on Facebook. See, I don’t want to hack up anything that can be used by a restorer. Lots of this stuff isn’t made yet, and it tough to find at all, let along in usable shape. This car is destined to be beaten to death, and I don’t want to do that to the good stuff. Or scrap it. Hence the parts I pulled from the Tennessee cars.
So, in evaluating the 74 I bought, I noted a dart fender, good doors and decklid, good trim, rust free rails, usable dash and some interior plastics, good bumpers and glass. So I sold all that. Zeroed out the car and the Tennessee parts, keeping what I want and need. I feel good about all the good I was able to get out of it.
IMG_5664 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221019_154520 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221029_163041 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Saturday, brother Dallas and I spent the day getting it ready to cut up, and started cutting. We got the trunk floor out, all the sold parts off and delivered to the buyers, and a plan for the rest of it to get cut.
20221029_173909 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
20221029_182417 by Michael Crawford, on Flickr
Brother Dustin and I did a thing
You dropped your water pump
I need to get a new water pump. Both mine feel like they're full of rocks.
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
Let me check the shelf I probably have an extra good truck pump
Man, Michael, you just keep bringing the noise. Do carry on.
In reply to wheelsmithy (Joe-with-an-L) :
https://youtu.be/kl1hgXfX5-U
Dunno how to embed a video, but that was just played very loud in honor of your comment.
Patrick: thank you sir! Much, much appreciated.
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