The car below I found on FABO. It has a full Caltrac rear suspension set-up and pulls a 1.31 60' time. Incredible.
Showing posts with label Duster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Duster. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Dual-Snorkel Hood Scoop
These run $279.99 with mounting hardware. These came on 71-72 Dodge Demon's from the factory, but I think they look great on Duster's too.
The car below I found on FABO. It has a full Caltrac rear suspension set-up and pulls a 1.31 60' time. Incredible.
The car below I found on FABO. It has a full Caltrac rear suspension set-up and pulls a 1.31 60' time. Incredible.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
'Should Be 7-10 Days To The Wrong Address'
I check my e-mail this morning to see how all my newly purchased friends were doing and where they were in their travels of the American Shipping System. All appeared to be well, except one thing, my set of Torsion Bars from PST.
Note, these were the first of the suspension products ordered on Jan. 26th. Every other suspension piece was ordered on the 28th and I had shipping confirmations for each of those vendors as of this morning. ’No biggie.’ I think to myself.
But a gut feeling told me I better check, and boy am I glad I did.
I call. For some reason instead of them needing my order number, they ask for my zip code, then year and make of my car to look everything up (I pray they do this for some kind of social study of what classic cars are in what areas of the United States because that‘s a helluva scary record keeping system).
So, Dude checks, I wait in silence for 2 minutes (quite a fuckin‘ while). Dude comes back and says: ‘Yep, shipping today. Should be 7-10 days to California.’
‘I’m in Washington’.
‘What? Oh. Jeez. Okay…’ Long story short, the Torsion Bars are shipping out today, to the correct address.
Sure glad I called.
Note, these were the first of the suspension products ordered on Jan. 26th. Every other suspension piece was ordered on the 28th and I had shipping confirmations for each of those vendors as of this morning. ’No biggie.’ I think to myself.
But a gut feeling told me I better check, and boy am I glad I did.
I call. For some reason instead of them needing my order number, they ask for my zip code, then year and make of my car to look everything up (I pray they do this for some kind of social study of what classic cars are in what areas of the United States because that‘s a helluva scary record keeping system).
So, Dude checks, I wait in silence for 2 minutes (quite a fuckin‘ while). Dude comes back and says: ‘Yep, shipping today. Should be 7-10 days to California.’
‘I’m in Washington’.
‘What? Oh. Jeez. Okay…’ Long story short, the Torsion Bars are shipping out today, to the correct address.
Sure glad I called.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Progress: Mind, Body, & Soul Music
A lot has happened in a week’s time, and my bank account is hating me for it.
It’s all for the greater good:
Previously, I had my entire front suspension, minus torsion bars and shocks, priced out to be Moog items through RockAuto, and all was well… Until I ran across a study done by the company Just Suspension.
Sure, one company is going to smear another, but this was pure fact and I was admittedly heartbroken. They tore down their own Ball Joint and Moog’s Ball Joint for a side-by-side comparison. At first glance, the Moog joint looks like the way to go: beefier, thicker, shinier (if that matters to anyone)--but once it was tore down the Moog joint clearly has inferior seals and grease passages (which is huge to me when it comes to a ball joint, as I want the grease reacting and shifting instantly with the road reaction the ball joint is surprised with) and to top it off the Just Suspension Ball Joint has a forged shank! Is the Moog Ball Joint an option now? Not even close.
Immediately I went to Just Suspension’s site and began pricing out ball joints for my 73 upper control arms and spindles. These ran $170, ‘Fuck it, buy em’ I told myself. Now, what about the rest of the suspension components? For the next ten minutes I was hunting through Just Suspension’s site seeing things like exuberantly priced performance tie rod ends and high-dollar adjusting sleeves that weren’t even solid steel. Pitman Arms for $160? I can‘t do it...
Well, I soon learned you have to draw a line in the sand with what you’re comfortable with. I went ahead and bought everything else Moog brand, including 11/16” Tie Rods, through RockAuto for $350 to my door.
You get what you pay for in this world; I guess I will take a gamble on my remaining suspension parts being Moog and their several decade-long track-record. I’ve always been a fan of Moog, don’t get me wrong, it’s just for this I am doing my best to pull out all stops to the best that I can afford.
Next to those parts I got a screaming deal on Performance Suspension Technology 1.03” Torsion bars, Poly Seals, and Clips for $250 to my door, which will round out nicely with a set of Hotchkis RCD Bilstein shocks for another $400 when I can afford it.
I also got bit by the bug for some new wheels. When going down the performance suspension route for my car, I completely ignored an integral part of the driving experience: what fucking rims am I going to use?
This came after a conversation with a vendor who politely let me know that I was wasting my money going this far with my suspension to slap on some shitty, chipped, rusted-out 15” Cragars. This left me in a quandary as I hadn’t budgeted for this, but since I was going to save $800 on my motor, why not get this bitch some dancing shoes?!
The problem was I hated anything over 15” rims on a Duster, until 2 days later when a patron on an A-Body Dodge/Plymouth forum suggest I take a look at a certain fellows thread… And sweet Aunt Jamima did I find the wheels I liked! They were 2005 Mustang Bullitt Edition 17x8’s. There was one little problem though, the backspacing. This option required wheel spacers, which I will never be comfortable doing any hard-cornering with. So I set out on the hunt for what I needed and succeeded. These rims were affordable, the perfect fit, and holy hell were they handsome!
These rims are Summit Racing 17x8 Legend 5’s in Gunmetal Finish. I buy them for $613 with shipping included. The next day I find out they are the generic version of a Foose wheel appropriately named ‘Legend’s’ that are supposedly very popular and retail at $249/each.
Moving on to other integral car upgrades, I recently visited a company’s website named XV Motorsports and came across their chassis stiffening systems. I watched their little 2 minute video showing how much flex this little red ’Cuda received under rigid conditions. Shocking.
Do I want all these chassis stiffening parts now? Yes. Can I afford them? No. Am I a good fabricator and can whip all of this up myself? Why absolutely!
I already have tubing and 10” steel pipe (cut for me by B569RR over at bigblockdart, thanks Tom!) for the subframe connectors and driveshaft loops, so I previously committed to doing those myself.
The lower radiator support brace, inner fender braces, and engine compartment brace I will tackle myself.
I suggest if you don’t have the resources to do these yourself, I highly recommend buying these through XV and have them installed on your A-Body Chrysler. Suddenly your car won’t ‘Drive like a Dodge Dart’ my made-up Grandpa* would always say.
*I may or may not have had a Grandfather who actually said that.
It’s all for the greater good:
Previously, I had my entire front suspension, minus torsion bars and shocks, priced out to be Moog items through RockAuto, and all was well… Until I ran across a study done by the company Just Suspension.
Sure, one company is going to smear another, but this was pure fact and I was admittedly heartbroken. They tore down their own Ball Joint and Moog’s Ball Joint for a side-by-side comparison. At first glance, the Moog joint looks like the way to go: beefier, thicker, shinier (if that matters to anyone)--but once it was tore down the Moog joint clearly has inferior seals and grease passages (which is huge to me when it comes to a ball joint, as I want the grease reacting and shifting instantly with the road reaction the ball joint is surprised with) and to top it off the Just Suspension Ball Joint has a forged shank! Is the Moog Ball Joint an option now? Not even close.
Immediately I went to Just Suspension’s site and began pricing out ball joints for my 73 upper control arms and spindles. These ran $170, ‘Fuck it, buy em’ I told myself. Now, what about the rest of the suspension components? For the next ten minutes I was hunting through Just Suspension’s site seeing things like exuberantly priced performance tie rod ends and high-dollar adjusting sleeves that weren’t even solid steel. Pitman Arms for $160? I can‘t do it...
Well, I soon learned you have to draw a line in the sand with what you’re comfortable with. I went ahead and bought everything else Moog brand, including 11/16” Tie Rods, through RockAuto for $350 to my door.
You get what you pay for in this world; I guess I will take a gamble on my remaining suspension parts being Moog and their several decade-long track-record. I’ve always been a fan of Moog, don’t get me wrong, it’s just for this I am doing my best to pull out all stops to the best that I can afford.
Next to those parts I got a screaming deal on Performance Suspension Technology 1.03” Torsion bars, Poly Seals, and Clips for $250 to my door, which will round out nicely with a set of Hotchkis RCD Bilstein shocks for another $400 when I can afford it.
I also got bit by the bug for some new wheels. When going down the performance suspension route for my car, I completely ignored an integral part of the driving experience: what fucking rims am I going to use?
This came after a conversation with a vendor who politely let me know that I was wasting my money going this far with my suspension to slap on some shitty, chipped, rusted-out 15” Cragars. This left me in a quandary as I hadn’t budgeted for this, but since I was going to save $800 on my motor, why not get this bitch some dancing shoes?!
The problem was I hated anything over 15” rims on a Duster, until 2 days later when a patron on an A-Body Dodge/Plymouth forum suggest I take a look at a certain fellows thread… And sweet Aunt Jamima did I find the wheels I liked! They were 2005 Mustang Bullitt Edition 17x8’s. There was one little problem though, the backspacing. This option required wheel spacers, which I will never be comfortable doing any hard-cornering with. So I set out on the hunt for what I needed and succeeded. These rims were affordable, the perfect fit, and holy hell were they handsome!
These rims are Summit Racing 17x8 Legend 5’s in Gunmetal Finish. I buy them for $613 with shipping included. The next day I find out they are the generic version of a Foose wheel appropriately named ‘Legend’s’ that are supposedly very popular and retail at $249/each.
Moving on to other integral car upgrades, I recently visited a company’s website named XV Motorsports and came across their chassis stiffening systems. I watched their little 2 minute video showing how much flex this little red ’Cuda received under rigid conditions. Shocking.
Do I want all these chassis stiffening parts now? Yes. Can I afford them? No. Am I a good fabricator and can whip all of this up myself? Why absolutely!
I already have tubing and 10” steel pipe (cut for me by B569RR over at bigblockdart, thanks Tom!) for the subframe connectors and driveshaft loops, so I previously committed to doing those myself.
The lower radiator support brace, inner fender braces, and engine compartment brace I will tackle myself.
I suggest if you don’t have the resources to do these yourself, I highly recommend buying these through XV and have them installed on your A-Body Chrysler. Suddenly your car won’t ‘Drive like a Dodge Dart’ my made-up Grandpa* would always say.
*I may or may not have had a Grandfather who actually said that.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)