'72 Duster "AERO DUSTER"

[Bjkadron]

deer suck.

but its always nice when you have a backup.

and dusters arent too bad to daily, even with a car seat. i had to do mine a couple of months ago. only car that would fit three that we had running.


it also reminds you of the things you want to change and upgrade, as well as deficiencies to design out.

Michael -

I drove it daily for almost a year before I couldn't afford the Gas anymore and had some stuff I wanted to do to it.

But yes, always new ideas... Like: Fix the dash lights so you don't have to use a flashlight to see how fast you are going!! And fix that annoying little squeak from the glovebox. But the drivetrain/suspension swap is what I'm excited about.

[Bjkadron]

Great News! I now have solidworks on my laptop so I can work on parts designs at home. Such as, My 3D Subframe connectors!

Like this:



Basically you have a upper(inside) piece, and a lower(outside) that sandwich the floor and bolt together. So you can have a backbone type subframe connector for torsional rigidity and not have to hack the floors. This isn't quite finished. I have to add the pieces that will go the the rear frame, and the firewall (to connect to the front support) but this is the general idea. It isn't actually as intrusive on the interior space as you would think. About the same size as a center consol, and you could finish it as such if you wanted.

That is about it. Thanks again for following my projects.

[chunger]

Nice work. Are you using the student edition of SW? If so, any idea what it lacks compared to the really expensive version?

[Bjkadron]

Thank you!

Actually, The great thing about the student version is that it lacks nothing! I guess they figure that If they get you hooked on all of it you will want it all later.

[Bryce]

awesome work. If you ever need help trying to design something hit me up.

Also on your floor sandwich plates make one plate 1/8" large than the other. This way you didnt just build a sheet metal brake. HAHA.

[Bjkadron]

awesome work. If you ever need help trying to design something hit me up.

Also on your floor sandwich plates make one plate 1/8" large than the other. This way you didnt just build a sheet metal brake. HAHA.

Thanks! Like maybe suspension? ;)

Ahhh! Good Idea! I hadn't thought of that!

[Bryce]

HAHA, I keep telling myself I will start back up on your stuff. Then my stuff gets in the way.

[mrn2obelvedere]

Add some triangulation, it won't give you much structure otherwise.

[Bjkadron]

Add some triangulation, it won't give you much structure otherwise.

Yes, I said it wasn't finished. I just wanted to show the general idea.

[jaybee]

I like that solution--partly because I've been thinking of the same thing for my '57 Chevy. Plan is to "unibody" my body on frame car with solid body mounts and mount the trans tunnel "backbone" to the top of a center X member built similar to what Art Morrison puts in their chassis. http://artmorrison.com/tri5.php They're a sweet chassis and I'd love to have one, but budget just doesn't make it possible.

[Bjkadron]

Yes, I did it this way because I know many people don't want to cut up their nice cars to get good stiffness. On one of mine that isn't a concern, but the other one has a perfect floor and it would be a shame to cut it up.

[mrn2obelvedere]

I do like what you are doing with your car by the way! I can come off as callous sometimes sorry.

Are you ever planning to autocross the car?

Out of curiosity, how will you extract data from the aero testing you are doing? What are you in school for?

[Bjkadron]

I do like what you are doing with your car by the way! I can come off as callous sometimes sorry.

Are you ever planning to autocross the car?

Out of curiosity, how will you extract data from the aero testing you are doing? What are you in school for?

Thanks! not a problem, constructive criticism is always welcome!
Absolutely! I plan on auto-crossing it, HPDE'ing it, drag-racing it ,and doing pretty much anything else that will let me lean on it. It won't be an all out race-car though, Full interior, And a Defroster so I can see in the rain/winter.

Well I plan on doing my aero testing the old fashioned way.. Watching air currents and measuring the pressure variations.

I am in school for Mechanical engineering Technology Associates right now, But I am about to finish that degree and start on a regular Mechanical engineering Bachelors degree.

[JonsGottaDusta]

Cool looking project you have here. Keep up the good work. Duster's rock!

[SRT-68]

Great project! If you are going this far out in the design then go as wide and as low as possible. In the long run it won't be that much more work and the result will be much better. Just my $.02

[Bjkadron]

Cool looking project you have here. Keep up the good work. Duster's rock!

Thank you!

Great project! If you are going this far out in the design then go as wide and as low as possible. In the long run it won't be that much more work and the result will be much better. Just my $.02

I am assuming you are talking about my race-car project. Yes, it will be wide and Low. The only way to go when it comes to outright speed. On my other two Projects (the daily/toy, and the nice one) I am going to have a minimum of 4.5" of ground clearance. Which is the minimum for where I drive.

[Bjkadron]

Quick! What do you notice?


Hopefully you didn't notice anything right off. But you might have noticed my new bracing. I don't know how much it will stiffen it up. Probably not much but if Chrysler thought it was important enough to add it to the F-bodies than it can't hurt. I can't say if they make any perceptible difference because I'm not quite done. I have to finish drill and through bolt them. Also these are actual Chrysler products. Though modified to some extent with a hammer, pliers, a grinder and a drill.

Here is another picture of how the attach.

[dusterbd13]

they actually put these factopry in 75-76 a-bodies.

[Bjkadron]

they actually put these factopry in 75-76 a-bodies.

Really? How did they attach them? Where? Did they do anything?

[dusterbd13]

used an upper fender bolt that ad the speed nut removed, and a through bolt in their place. went to the pinch weld on the firewall, and used a nut and bolt there as well. litlle more poutboard than you have yours,. but im not sure exactly how mych. and i dont know if they did anything for chassis stiffness, but they did help with fender rattles.

Michael