Project Demon Spawn: the rebirth of my 70' Duster-efi, 408ci, t56, dana 60

[dusterbd13]

yeah, if you wouldnt mind taking a closer look at the grille when you get a chance, id appreciate that. hopefully the upper trim is still in good shape. even bigger hope that the lower tim springs back into shape.

what king of shape are the quarter window latches in? do they still stay open at highway speeds?

michael

[rfalker1]

Hey question, it seems ur father does great body work, I was wondering where you are located because i am looking to replace my outter rocker panels

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Hey michael, i forgot i had this picture too:

The middle/lower trim looks like it came unclipped, but i think we have spare ones of those, ill know for sure in a couple days, but it may have survived...now that i zoomed in real close though a few of those ribs may have broken by the headlight. Im not too sure about the quarter window latches, i hardly ever open them, but between the demon and the duster i can take a peek at those too.

And Randal, were down in Southwest Florida-Cape Coral/ Ft. Myers, were just a private operation- just trying to keep all our piles running and on the road haha, but if you were close enough im sure we could help out in some way

[Dolmaner]

thats awful, good luck on the rebuild, glad to see your ok. its cool that your using some old parts from the car.

[rfalker1]

Dang, I am in St. Louis, i think that's a little out of my range. I wish i was a little closer, because if so I would be there in an instant

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Michael, the grilles a goner, but id say the aluminum(?) bits on it are salvagable, ill take some closer pictures tomorrow.

Heres a pic of how i got the duster delivered to me...I was told they were specialized lifts that would not damage any underbody components-bs! I didnt notice until i got it home, but theres a huge dent in the back of the oil pan.


I found a used fiberglass hood for the demon on CL for $150. It has the factory style scoop, but i dont like the looks of those; im going to splice in a cowl scoop. My dad thinks theres too many spot welds on the inner fender wells to take the dusters off and use on the demon, so we'll be ordering new ones. I have a solid 4 days of working on the demon before i have to work again, well see how much i can get done.
1) fuel cell/trunk.
2) sub-frame connectors.
3) transmission tunnel/ front floor pans (maybe).

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

daaamn brotha.. they rearended you so hard it turned the duster into a pinto!

[dusterbd13]

helping a friend of mine with a 71. we need the stainless bits from teh grille.

looking forward to progress pictures, and pictures of the stainless.

Michael

[ALLstrokedOUT]

..I didnt get as much finished as i wouldve liked, but im going back out there tonight for another few hours of work. I finished up the fuel cell's trunk frame, and got one of the subframe connectors cut up and welded in. Im hoping to get the other subframe connector welded in tonight, the front floor pans out, and maybe the new fronts tacked in.






EDIT: Just got back from the shop, the subframe connectors are in and the front floors are 1/2 out. Ill be back at it tomorrow hopefully to break the front windshield out, take the dash out, put the floors in, and work on shaving the firewall...

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Today i took out the rest of the floor pans, welded the tops of the subframe connectors better, cut out the firewall, took the dash/windshield out while my dad did some work on the front fenders.




Ill be heading back later tonight to get more done (i forgot the sheet metal in my truck at home this morning). I plan to work on the trunk floor, front floor pans, and fill in the firewall.

EDIT: went back, got most of the trunk done, my dad welded the front floor pans in, and I made up the firewall patch so its ready to get welded in tomorrow

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Well, i got the firewall shaved, the trunk finished and started making my cowl hood. Ive moved onto the hood since were still waiting on rear floor pans, roll cage..etc.





EDIT: the rest of the nights work, i probably have another day or so of work on the hood. The inner fender wells are coming in in two days, so no hold-ups!

[Chris 68]

Looking good! I need to head over and check it out!

[go-fish]

Good to see you exorcising the Demon! Lightning fast progress too, Tim. Are you shaving your firewall because the aftermarket A/C doesn't need the factory firewall deformities? I'll probably get to doing the firewall before I even get the aftermarket A/C unit. Does the whole area get smoothed aside from the heater hoses?

[RicerwannaB]

Great looking build, ill be looking forward to seeing the 'finished' product!

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Thanks guys! And Johnny, no A/C for me..none of our cars have air conditioning. I dont plan on putting it in the demon either to keep to the simplistic bare-bones K.I.S.S. fundamentals that i left off on the duster with.

[SRD art]

Dang dude! As I've been reading the thread today I thought for sure you were going to get hosed big time, like maybe $3-4000 from insurance. $14,000 is a pretty decent figure since you can salvage many of the parts. Not sure the total you have into it but that's probably not far off what you'd be able to sell the car for prior to any damage. For example I have about $12K into my Nova and right now unfortunately I'd feel content with getting $6-7000 selling it.

Anyways, glad to hear you got a decent settlement, a halfway decent replacement, and glad to see it'll be back on the road soon. It's always good to see positives come out of negatives and keeps us all on the hope wagon with building our own projects.

If you need help seeing colors on the car before you paint it let me know, that's my especiality! ;)

[ryeguy2006a]

When it comes time for the motor and wiring it up, I would love if you could go into more details about your EFI set-up. I am considering using megasquirt and their systems. Did you find it easy to use?

[rfalker1]

you are really working hard!! looking good!!!

[Capown]

daaamn brotha.. they rearended you so hard it turned the duster into a pinto!

ROFL!! I thought it was a pinto when i first glanced at it!! lol Doing good keep up the work

[ALLstrokedOUT]

Thanks guys and Ben, thanks for the offer on the rendering, ive already decided on flat sublime as the paint w/ black hood, gloss black bumpers.

ryeguy2006a, If you look at the end of my old build thread i started the building and wiring of the MSII. But i will take a lot of pics of everything as it comes together. I found it really easy to solder the board together, theres a lot of info on the MS forums if you get stuck too. Ive only played around with the STIM to use to the computer software but it seems user friendly. When you start thinking about building one, id definatly buy their relay board too-everythings written out where to put each wire, all the fuses/relays are in one convenient place as well. Our shop is in front of a very reputable dyno/performance shop (w/ several magazine articles to their credit) so when it comes time to crank it up ill be pushing it over to them to be safe.

Im heading home in a bit, i should get the floors finished, weld in the 'cross-bars' to the subframe for the transmission crossmember, and i should be able to help my dad get the inner fender wells in. I pick the roll cage up from fedex tuesday, and should be ordering all the little AN fittings and such to finish up my fuel injection in the near future. I decided to go with a Hellwig front/rear sway bar and Hotchkis leafs for the rear. The front sway bar is tubular, and so brand new that they havnt made the first production one yet, so it may not get delivered to me for a bit.