70 duster: updating, and a no-dough pro-touring makeover

So I finally took the time to read this build-up. This is a wicked car, your attention to detail is awesome too.

so I've spent a little time over the last week working on the duster.



first order of business was getting the seats fit and wired into the car. decided that id start with the drivers side, as that's the most important for comfort and fit. (makes sense, as I'm the ONLY person that drives this thing.)



when i started out, the seat was awfully high in the front, causing some discomfort between me, the roof, the steering wheel, and the clutch pedal. i had it lowered as much as i could. heres what the stock Lincoln mount looked like:





i used the back mounting hole for the bench seat to base things off of. put a spare carriage bolt through the back outboard Lincoln mount point and the factory hole. that's how the seat was sitting in that picture.

wound up figuring out that the front leg of the seat was not sitting flush to the contours of the floor pan, and that if i trimmed it a bit, it would allow the front edge of the seat to drop dramatically, alleviating most of the fitment problems.



so i got out the harbor freight sawzall that my old boss gave me for Christmas one year (my good craftsman was broken by my brother, and i haven't fixed it yet) and started a cuttin'.



heres what i wound up with.





now i have a lot more clearance at all the tight spots. just about perfect seat bottom angle as well, and that's with the tracks all the way bottomed out in their travel.



this is when i started to over think things and screwed up.



when doing this, never try to use a tape measure and estimate the center line of the car. wound up moving the whole seat 1.5 inches towards the door, and mounting it there. seemed good in the garage, so i took it up the road for a test. it just didn't sit right. was offset to the steering wheel, which made my hips twist on the pedals, etc. went back to the shop, and tried the bench mounting point again. only put the one bolt in it, as i already had a couple of spare holes in the floor pan now.

went back up the road, and it fit me like a glove. so, i figure the few holes now count as weight reduction.



i took the car down to troy, up through the uwharries, and back home. before i even got the rest of the install completed, i knew it was the best money and time I've spent on the car in a long time. i also knew that i had a few new problems to contend with.

problem 1. when i was adjusting the seat, i heard something sound like it was cracking, and my front component speakers stopped working. apparently the seat motors and the amp were attempting to occupy the same space at the same time now, and the seat won. dammit.....

problem 2. i have no cup holder. for the last 16 years, I've been putting my coffee cup in between my side and the armrest on the bench. fit great and NEVER spilled.

problem 3. i lost my armrest



all solvable.



first though, i had to finish installing the seats.

drilled the new front mounting hole for the door side, and moved on to the inside. the tracks on that side needed to come up a hair in the back, and a bunch in the front. for the back, i used a steel wheel lug nut from an 86 dodge diplomat as a spacer. the tapered side fit perfect in the ford mounting hole, and it leveled the seat out to .1 degree at the back. to get the front the same, i wound up using 1/8 wall 1X1 square tubing to make a spacer. length of 1.75 inches.

also, made some floor washers/seat reinforcements out of some 1/4 plate i had laying around. 3X3 squares with a hole drilled in them. also, for hardware, i used some carriage bolts i had bought down at Lowe's with nylock nuts. total in hardware was 5.86

to power the seats, i had left a 20 amp lead in my harness along the door sills for eventual power windows or locks. so i pulled those over to where the seats were to power the seats.

to fix my amp problem, i wired the components directly to the head unit. they actually sound better now that they're not powered by the old audiovox amp.

also learned that after powering the passengers side seat, it has a micro-switch in it. when you tilt the seat back forward for rear seat access, it automatically slides the seat forward with the electric adjusters. when you put it back upright, it goes back to exactly where it was set before. really nice unexpected feature. thanks ford!



heres pics of both seats mounted, and the mounts i made. (both seats mounted the same way, with the same hardware and measurements)









after i got done with the seats, i went back to the trunk. i permanently mounted the amp and subwoofer enclosure, as i dint want them sliding around at high rates of lateral acceleration. use #10 screws and fender washers up through the trunk floor to mount the sub box, and some s10 screws with captured washers to mount the amp. all these parts came out of my magic bolt box.



last on the list is my news of the week:

I'm going autocrossing with this car and my dad on Sunday. Tarheel Sports Car Club is having their test and tune day down at Maxton, and its time to see what this old girl can really do. I'm excited. hopefully ill have some time to get the carb fine tuned between now and then.



total is 1717.64



stay tuned, ill have action shots good lord willing.



michael

more holes = lighter right?

thanks for the first real update the forum has had in a while.
things were starting to really slow down recently.

long day, so this may be somewhat incoherent.



short version for those that don't like to read: the autocross was great. had a blast, and was quicker than dad.



left out this morning at 7AM, chasing the sun. nice drive down to Maxton, NC. about 1.5 hours each way. light traffic, highway sparkling in the sunrise, good air, great tunes on the radio. we got there as they were still setting up. registration and tech was a breeze, and we ran into a couple of guys we knew. also a bunch of guys that just wanted to check out the bright red duster with the nasty exhaust note.



drivers meeting was at 10AM, and we did the novice course walk. during that, we realized just how bad the track surface was. LOTS of sand/gravel. also, very rough as far as chuckholes, etc.









dad had the recommendation that we tape the car to protect the paint. so, we begged/borrowed/bought 4 rolls of 1 inch wide painters tape. took about 30 minutes of the first 1 hour run session to do it, but I'm grateful that we did.



over the course of the day, i got somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 runs in. only thing i did to the car was check the fluids and torque the lug nuts. just wanted to get a feel for where i was starting from.



the last session, i started "timing" the field. since this was a test and tune session, there was no timing equipment set up. so i used my CD player, where it read the seconds into a song. started the song when a car left the line, looked at the time when it crossed the finish. the RX8's and Mini coopers were running 28-30 seconds. dad was running 31-34 seconds. i was running 29-30 pretty consistently.



the car has a few kinks to get worked out. under-steer is fairly significant when its not under throttle, it runs rich, there's no turn in, i flop around inside like a drunken fish, and fuel slouches down the car from the filler neck, even with only 1/2 tank. its geared right, plenty responsive to throttle, and an absolute HOOT out there. i was actually running up to 50 at some points on the track.



heres pics, to prove that it happened.















michael

looks like a great time,

awesome, looks like you had a blast out there!

had a little time in the shop tonight, and a little space now that the s10 has been paid for and is gone.



a while back, my rear end began to get very, very noisy. like a very amplified, very pissed off handheld plunge router. used to be that any throttle over 55 would get it to howling. after maxton, any speed with load made it howl, from idle on up. i got a quote from a local shop that does most of our drive train work for 600 bucks max, and that was with gears, clutches, bearings, everything. fair enough. more than i really WANT to spend, but.....







also started redoing the front suspension. plans are to go to 3/8 taller FMJ spindles for better negative camber gain, and offset UCA bushings for better alignment specs. I'm thinking of going with the recommended specs from hotchkis, which are -1.5 camber, +7 caster, and 1/16 toe in.

to get there, other than the offset bushings, i had heard reference in some older forum posts about using spacers between the lower ball joint and spindle. plans are to do about .25 inch spacers for my alignment numbers.

while i have the front apart, id like to make sure things are as right as they can be. to that end, I'm planning on adjusting the strut rods to where there is minimal bind, checking these crappy ADDCO mounts to make sure they are not binding, and setting the t-bar ride heights equally without the sway bar attached this time. also fixing the ackerman by getting the tie rod ends the same length as one another. anything else I'm missing in the general tune up and
optimization?



the spindles are already purchased from a mid 80's M-body that had only 54000 miles on it (and it was at pull-a-part!)



heres a pic to show the height difference.







assuming this works as i think it will, ill be selling the a-body pieces to offset some cost.



got the passengers side torn down tonight for the most part.







and my growing pile of removed parts





this Sundays Ill finish getting the drivers side taken apart.



Tuesday i have a half day at work. ill be dropping my UCA's off to get the bushings pressed (i could do it, but for the 30 bucks it will cost me, its worth the money for me not to have to) and my hogshead off at the drive line guys.



hoping to get it all back together in time to make the Sanford autocross next month.



cost as of tonight is still the same.



michael

Don't ya just love that first whiff of gear oil smell when you crack the rear end open? lol

so, i spent a few hours on it last night, and she fought me EVERY step of the way.
 
earlier this week, i got the other side torn down, and the new Moog offset UCA bushings pressed in (cost 35, not 30. money well spent. if anyones local, go down to Mabry's automotive. the guy is GREAT to work with.)
 
last noght, after it got too dark to work outside, i headed down to the shop. went to install the UCA on the passnegers side, and started to fight the car. little "persuasion" with a 2x4 and a 3 lb hammer, she went where she was supposed to. then the bolt holes wouldnt line up. had to take the shock out, the swaybar off, etc. finally got it all back together with the new spindles and spacers, though, and did a rough alignment. how i did that was to put an old rotor with no studs on the spindle, (no t-bar tension right now, by the way) and jack the UCA until the spindle pin was at right height measurment from where it was before (measured to the fender lip. and yes, i know youre supposed to measure at the inner pivot of the LCA. never been successful at that though. i just cant seem to be consistant with that method.)
roughed in the passengers side at 1.5 negative camber, 4.5 positive caster. used 2 hardened 5/8 washers per bolt for a totak of .25 shim stack.
 
heres pics. ive been working outide on the honey-do list all day, and im beat. add 43 to whatever the total was.
 



 
Michael

Good to see progress.

The Duster sounds like a S10, just fights with you.

nah. s10's at least fight fair.

mopars like to fight dirty. like using different bushing sizes for side to side, left hand threads, and interference fit suspension parts.

they also like to drink your blood.

seriously. i havent worked on this car in years where i havnt bled.

Just a point of curiosity, is that top shock mount sturdy enough for a coil-over?

nope. ive seen guys do it, but its a stamped piece of 1/8, spot melded to the inner fender of the car which is around 18 gauge metal. just not designed or structural enough to support the while weight of the car.

that being said, ive seen guys do it by welding he whole shock mount in, and reinforcing the area with downtubes from the firewall.

a while has passed with not a lot of work on the duster.



i got the drivers side back together, my strut rods FINALLY adjusted (stay away from the American muscle pieces. they are absolute crap. half the threads disappeared (sheared off the strut rod) while i was adjusting them. the front nuts did take a torque setting on them, so I'm just going to keep an eye on them. as a side note, the previous alignment guy that took 6 hours and charged me 200 bucks for an alignment that was nowhere near correct and actually caused the tire to contact the fender never tightened the strut rods back up after he adjusted them. may explain some of the evil steering/braking/handling characteristics of this car)



also, i worked with my brake sliders some. i noticed some odd wear on my pads, as the inboard pad is worn down about half way, while the outboard still had machining marks on them. came to figure out that when i POR15'd my calipers and caliper adapters, i never cleaned them back up where they were supposed to slide. the grease cant help a friction fit. so i took out my zizz wheel with an SOS pad and scrubbed them shiny. fresh grease and they should be good to go.



heres pics of one side done:





i still have to st my T-bar preload when i get it back on the ground. also have to trim my wheel studs some more. they're bottoming out in the lug nuts. then i can finalize the alignment and hook the sway bar back up.



while I'm waiting on my hogshead, i started working on my air dam again. its an 80's S10 piece made from 2 spares i had. took the good one, cut it in half. sectioned in a piece of the bad one to lengthen the whole unit to fit my car better. 6 3/4 inches worth of splice. took my harbor freight plastic welder and wended it back together. still have to do the front side, then ill check it for fit. if i still like it, ill do my bodywork, smooth it, and spray it semigloss black. may add brake cooling ducts too.













lastly i FINALLY got my splash shields installed.

add 7 dollars of screws and washers, as i lost the originals. or used them on something.







i pick up my rear end from the re-builder tomorrow. that's gonna hurt......



Michael

Such an interesting front suspension on this thing. I just stare at it for a minute every time you post a picture of it. The taller spindle should decrease it some, but it would seem that it has such a high caster gain with the angle on that UCA, but it will also mean that it has good anti-dive. That's actually one of the very few things there just is not a consensus on, so it's nice to see something further out there than I've seen as the norm. More anti-dive is actually one thing I would really like on my blazer, I've locked the backs well before the fronts in some admittedly odd situations.

actually according to reilly, my caster gain doesnt change with the taller spindles. negitive camber gain is around .25 more per inch, though. and theyre lighter, which means less unprung weight.

on my s10, i never had a dive problem with my front end. key is to get the ride height right, with the shocks valved right. once i had my budget setup in place, it didnt dive like it did when i bought it. the stock shocks and springs really sucked. i know it would hav been better to design in some more anti-dove with my UCA setup, but they were already tough enough to figure out without adding more to it. so we left well enough alone.

michael

A taller spindle should degrease caster gain all else being the same because you have a greater distance between the ball joints. If you think of it just in view from the side it makes more sense, at least for me. It's a really tiny change, but it's there,

figured id lik you to this artos. this is the spreadsheet that made me decide on the swap to the taller spindle.

http://www.bigblockdart.com/techpages/spindles.shtml

got the wheel studs trimmed and the front tires back on.

Look at that, slower caster gain...

so, budget total from the previous updates: 1766.64



for this one, it hurts. a lot.



740 in rear end rebuild, 15 in gasket and posi additive. gear oil was actually free (had two bottles of 85-90 Valvoline in my storage building, unopened, from god knows when.

so the new total is: 2521.64



that's a hellofalot more than i had anticipated spending to get it to this point. kind of discouraging, really, but then again I'm doing it right and not cutting any corners.



so, heres what 740 worth of hogshead looks like:











new clutches, gears, bearings, seals, and pinion yoke, plus setup. its quiet now.



if i had to do it all over again, i would have gone with the explorer 8.8. would have been considerably cheaper, and gotten rid of my wheel spacers and rear drums all at the same time.



i also got all my front wheel studs trimmed off 3/8 of an inch, but didn't take any pictures. you really cant see a 3/8 shorter wheel stud in a picture.



trial fit my new front air dam. still not finished with it. need to make a bracket to hold the center of it at the proper angle. after that, bodywork and paint. then ill decide whether its staying.









and a picture of the better of the two strut rods threaded portion.





got the ride height set right after this picture, sway bar reconnected, and did a quickie alignment on it. max caster on the eccentrics, camber wherever it fell, and 1/16 toe in. camber was right at -1 degree, caster right at 5.5 positive.



took it for a quick test spin (3 or 4 miles), and thought i heard some rubbing. couldn't really find where it was coming from, even after dong a thorough nut and bolt check. it rained all last week, so i didn't have any time to drive it.



Saturday, i was planning on getting some miles on it. it was actually sitting in the driveway warming up when my phone rang that my dad had totalled his brand new Z06 up at VIR. put the car away, and loaded up the truck and trailer to go take my mom to see him, pick him up, and haul back what was left of a 80,000 Z06 corvette. Saturday was a very, very crappy day. but my dad and his student were both more or less OK. just banged up pretty good.



today i got the car out since it was nice to put some miles on it and get a feel for the new setup. ran good, good turn in, drove straight, steering wheel straight. really liked it so far, except for an odd intermittent pull over slight bumps.



when i got down near work, i hit the crowned manhole cover with my right front corner, and immediately had the steering wheel pulled from my hands and point me towards the nice, shiny, new light pole. after i got the car squared away and quit cussing, i turned around and SLOWLY got home. nothing hurt but my pride.



this was not the fault of bumpsteer. what happened was that my right front corner actually locked up in compression. the lip of the UCA ground my wheel to a halt when it came into contact with it, causing my underwear changing course correction.

this was always the tight spot with my old spindles, but with the new found negative camber and taller spindles, it apparently has used up all my fudge factor. there's some nice shiny grooves in both the inside hoops of my front wheels where the higher side of the UCA is contacting, as well as some deeper gouges where the lip in front of the UBJ is hitting.



I'm going to grind the lip down about 1/8-3/16, and see if i get the clearance i need. if I'm still hitting, ill go back to the shorter spindles.



just as a reminder to all, CHECK EVERYTHING THROUGH THE FULL SUSPENSION ARTICULATION, NOT JUST RIDE HEIGHT. i usually do this, but got sloppy this time and it nearly bit me in the ass.



updates when i find my fix.



Michael