'72 Duster "AERO DUSTER"

[dunnjun]

BJ,
Personally I think the wide body IMSA look would look great (wasp waisted), but, I know you must have seen Jason's Demon @ gforcedesinconcepts.com . He has squeezed a lot of rubber under his Demon, without flareing, and it seems to handle very well. Watch the video! 6.1, alterkation front k member, tremec 5-speed, air-ride suspension, minitubbed. AND sublime green, could be go green. It doesn't seem to push, and the 6.1 has instant thottle response. I will always be a mopar man, but the ease of building these camaros have got a lot going for them. Challengers 1st, then Duster/Demons, then charger/ roadrunners. Now that Hotchkis and XV have updated Mopar suspensions, I look for them to really move up in the scoreboards. XV and Hotchkis, have really raised the bar for Mopar handling, Bill Howell's Charger is a perfect example. I can't wait to see it on the road!
karl

[dusterbd13]

ive had days like this. some of my fondest memories, actually. and even with a duster!!

[Bjkadron]

I edited the story and added a section.. New in italics..

[Bjkadron]

BJ,
Personally I think the wide body IMSA look would look great (wasp waisted), but, I know you must have seen Jason's Demon @ gforcedesinconcepts.com . He has squeezed a lot of rubber under his Demon, without flareing, and it seems to handle very well. Watch the video! 6.1, alterkation front k member, tremec 5-speed, air-ride suspension, minitubbed. AND sublime green, could be go green. It doesn't seem to push, and the 6.1 has instant thottle response. I will always be a mopar man, but the ease of building these camaros have got a lot going for them. Challengers 1st, then Duster/Demons, then charger/ roadrunners. Now that Hotchkis and XV have updated Mopar suspensions, I look for them to really move up in the scoreboards. XV and Hotchkis, have really raised the bar for Mopar handling, Bill Howell's Charger is a perfect example. I can't wait to see it on the road!
karl

Yes, I have seen it... But for that car I want SERIOUS rubber.. Like 335 front, 345 rear or bigger. Unfortunately that gets expensive REALLY quickly! So I am forced to build a more reasonable car first. Re-intro to come soon. It will be closer to stock To save money, But still insane. And you can fit 275-285's under the stock front. and 335s in the back with just minitubs.

[Bjkadron]

ive had days like this. some of my fondest memories, actually. and even with a duster!!

Amazing how that works isn't it!

[Bryce]

Thanks!



So how is the moving going?

house is good... taking all my time. garage floor is epoxied and no time to work on the cars.

[Bjkadron]

house is good... taking all my time. garage floor is epoxied and no time to work on the cars.

I understand... I got 2+ jobs so I could afford to work on it.. and now I have no time... Oh well. haha!

[Bryce]

oh yeah, I have two jobs, three cars, a wife and a house. you know what always wins out on the priority list!

[Bjkadron]

Hey all! Not much to report progress wise.. But I did make it into the August Issue of Popular Hotrodding magazine!!! Page 56 top left. I'll try to scan it in soon.

[chunger]

Ha! I was just flipping through my issue while I brought in the mail and spotted your car! Nice. Looking forward to the feature article...

[Bjkadron]

Ha! I was just flipping through my issue while I brought in the mail and spotted your car! Nice. Looking forward to the feature article...

I am looking forward to it too! But it might be a while.. Either I have time and no money, or have money and no time! But I will keep plugging along and I will get it done eventally!

[Bjkadron]

While not exactly earth shattering, I got a lot done on my daily duster since my last update. I finished my Choke conversion, made my overflow tanks, relocated the horns and worked over my leaf spring bushings.

The choke: I was getting really sick of the automatic choke working when it felt like it, and turning on whenever. So I converted it to manual choke. I made the bracket for inside to not be noticeable. And I made the other one to bolt to the carb in the same spot as the vacuum pot. Oh did I mention that I like everything perfect? I used a piece of a wrecked fender off of a dodge van for the interior plate. And spent about an hour getting it to fit perfect. Then I used a old gutter bracket (aluminum) for the other end. I got the choke cable from summit racing.

The piece:


Shaped, drilled, and painted


Installed


Carb bracket


through the firewall



The overflow tanks were awesome! I didn't have room for one big tank so I made two smaller aluminum ones. I had to relocate the horns to fit them. I actually started with some aluminum energy drink bottles. Then I vented one, attached fittings to the bottom of both, painted them black, made a bracket, mounted them and installed them, now I should never have to open the radiator cap.

The bottles


the fittings


scuffed


Painted


bracket mounted


tanks


another view


one more



The horns I had to relocate because the overflow tanks needed to go there. I actually only had one installed because I had to take one out to make room for the big radiator. But now I have them both on. I wanted them to both be pointing the same direction so one is upside down.

New horn location


The bushing work I did is because poly bushings have two main problems, binding and not letting the suspension articulate, and not letting the suspension "roll" in relation to the car which can cause the car to "hop" around corners. So I clearanced the edges to allow it to roll, cut down the edges so it doesn't bind and am installing grease fittings when I put them on. Just a note: don't try to cut poly bushings on a lathe. Or, if you want to ignore my advice, just spin it really fast so it will cut better.

Action shot


All four done


A better view


Thanks again for looking!

[Bjkadron]

The PHR article is online... you can see mine here

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/fea...own_sedan.html

Here is the previous one as well.

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/fea...edelbrock.html

And I will have a really cool update soon... But I can't tell you more right now.

[FoxGranadaChuck]

Sweet!! Keep us updated!

[Bjkadron]

Ask and you shall receive!

And the big surprise is... :

I got a rather large box in the mail yesterday. Guess What was inside!



Dodge Viper Calipers!!!



Made by:



Which ones do you think will stop better?



Of course they won't just bolt on.. I have to make an adapter. And a new bearing hub. But they should stop like dropping an anchor!

More updates soon! Thanks for looking!

[dusterbd13]

theres a guy out there that makes the adaptors and such for this swap. hes over on the forabodiesonly website. andy f, i think.

[Bad Bird]

Awesome story on the last page. Makes me wish I had a classic American car as an approximate daily driver...

[Bjkadron]

theres a guy out there that makes the adaptors and such for this swap. hes over on the forabodiesonly website. andy f, i think.

Yes I know.. He has some great stuff.. It just doesn't fit in my budget. Also since I am a machinist and have access to a mill it will be no problem as soon as I find the dimensions. Also I will have to make versions.. One for the 12" rotors I am using now.. One for the 13" I wil be swapping to.


By the way! Does anyone have dimensions (such as bolt spacing) for the Viper calipers?

Awesome story on the last page. Makes me wish I had a classic American car as an approximate daily driver...

Thanks! I am actually looking for something else so I can drive the Duster when I want.. and not just put a bunch of useless miles on it.


Side note: the viper calipers are pretty heavy. So with the bigger rotors I won't loose much weight. But the stopping power should increase tremendously!

[Bjkadron]

That is right... I got another box..

This was in it:



What could it be? Bolts, clevises, rod ends threaded tube, cone spacers, jamb nuts, ball-joints and some studs... Sounds like, Suspension parts!!!!

I'll let you know what it is all for soon. I still have to get a couple more parts.

Thanks again for looking!

[Bjkadron]

So I have made some good progress this week. I assembled most of the components from the box (see previous post), Worked a lot on my three-link design, and started on bodywork.

The components in the box turned out like this. They went together nicely and should work great. I am working on a new swaybar system before I put them on.



My Suspension is still in the planning stage. But it is a 3-link with either a panhard or a watts link, I am not sure yet.

And I got sick of looking at bondo flaking off so I decided to start messing with the bodywork.. This is after I helped the lose bondo off with a screwdriver.



Then I ground it down and separated the tail panel, cut out the rusty spot, patched it, welded everything back together, and ground down the welds. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of all this. Until I got to the skim coat of filler.



Then I decided that I didn't like the rock ship rust spots on the side so I started working around the side. But I stopped so I wouldn't get carried away and grind down the whole car.




And that is about it for now...

Thanks for looking!