Well Thanks!!

Where in 'da Burgh are you from?

always good to see some SW pa Slanters on here

Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

I'm in Swissvale, near Swisshelm park.
Harry

Cool.. I grew up in West Mifflin and We used to take cars to an upholster in Swissvale for the longest time when I was a kid..

It looks like swisshelm park is aross the river from the waterfront.. I never knew what was over there until I looked up the park ...ha ha..


Well welcome aboard and Generally I take my ruster racer out to Pittsburgh raceway park quite a bit.


keep on slantin'

Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

lots of nice work there, Car looks pretty solid especially for being in the rust belt!

_________________
87 Dodge B150 Slant 6 Auto

Thanks 6Vanner,


Yep, puttin a bit of used drain oil in the ol' rust proofing gun and blasting the underside of your car 2X per year can make it last in the harsh salt chamber that is The Northeast.





Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

2/20/23:

It has Been a while.

I still have the F bodies, however the Quantity briefly went up to 4 as I did find a very nice 1978 4 door Beige Sedan on craigslist back in 2013. -

The 1980 Sedan was sold off and I kept the 78 sedan for almost 10 years.

It had Just over 24,000 Miles on it when I bought it almost 10 years ago and I fixed some things on it here and there. Adding about 2000 Miles on it since 2013. It was probably the nicest F body I had owned, It had the Original Exhaust, Resonator Muffler etc with the pentastars Stamped in them as well as a very Factory Fresh Engine compartment and interior. It also Had Original paint, with dings road rash and scratches, but no rust of previous paint repairs or sheet metal work at all since 1978, which was amazing for any car from 1978 let alone an f Body.

Similar Scene, With the 1978 Sedan as the 1980 Sedan's Stunt double.



The '78 Sedan is now sold and found a buyer who will appreciate it for what it is.

Back to the '79 Duster.. I put a new fuel tank and sending unit in back in 2011 from spectra premium. Tank started leaking when it was topped off, as well as the fuel gauge stopped working as well.

Got it up on the Lift, Drained the tank and found the fuel sending unit to be rotted causing the leak. I kept the OE sending unit that I removed from the tank in 2011. It needed some repair and I got it to read close to the proper readings. The spectra premium parts send incorrect resistances to the fuel gauge anyway, so I would need a Meter match box to "condition" the fuel sending unit resistance curve so that the Fuel gauge reads correctly.

Some Shots of the Unit being repaired:
Had to resolder the thin brass metal that moves against the resistance wire....It popped off during 10 years of storage.




I should have spent more time futzing with it here - 21Ω gets the gauge to 3/4 tank... 10Ω will get the needle to Full.





I also was able to swap some upgraded brake parts that were cast off from my Grüne Hölle project. Slotted and Drilled rotors replaced the salty, crusty, rusty Chrysler 10.97" Rotors.
Also Bought Some New EBC Yellows.. The feel is not so rock hard compared to the Parts store pads for the "repurposed" rotors.
Braking feel is immensely better, with the ability to modulate too.




I got the car off the lift and took it for a test drive and now the fuel system is acting up.. I might have to drain and drop the tank again to replace the sock filter on the pickup tube or it could just need a new high pressure fuel filter. I have already replaced the Fuel pump with a brand new MSD 2225 and it's exhibiting the same symptoms of fluctuating / low fuel pressure when Injector pulse widths climb up.

On the '79 Wagon I installed a Hitch!
I had found a hitch on Craigslist a year or 2 ago, it was missing parts ( the L shaped "ears") so I had to fab them up and do some mock up. I am finishing it now, It looks like it will turn out pretty nice.

The Upper part of the hitch tube has long welded bars that extend up and bolt under the tailgate or tail lights on the rear bumper support to frame plate. (longer 3/8" bolts are required as the factory bumper to frame bolts will be too short.

The "Ears" Bolt onto the hitch and extend back to the bumper's crash impact absorber bolt that goes through the unibody frame rails next to the gas tank and above the leaf springs on either side. This is essentially a 13" L Shaped piece of metal with 2 holes drilled in it. - 1 hole for the receiver hitch frame and the other for the big bumper absorber bolt in the frame.

I will finish the project up with some satin black paint and do the final install and torque tomorrow and Come back to add some trailer wiring for a flat 4 connector.


Some Pictures:
I don't have a before picture of the Hitch But It had a goofy 1-5/8" Receiver tube so That Had to go and get replaced with a 2" tube.


Some Fab Pictures... you get the idea of what this hitch looks like here..




Mock up in the car / under the rear bumper.
In my situation I found that it hit the tailpipe so I bent it down a bit to clear and not hit the hitch frame... more on that later.




In this picture you can see where it bolts to the Bumper Retention plate on the inside of the impact absorbers.


Another angle showing the plate and bolt location:



My hitch actually contacts the lower lip on the rear bumper... Mirada, Diplomat, Gran Fury, Caravelle, and '80 Aspen /Volare may be different somehow.


Stock 3/8" Bolt Removed from Rear plate - It's too short - Replaced it with a 1" or 1-1/4" Long Grade 8 Bolt with Washer.


Template for my "Ears"


Ears cut and installed for mock up.



Right Side Ear .. I added a New attachment point for the exhaust hanger.. To keep the tailpipe ~3/4" Lower


In the "Paint Booth"

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Awesome work, Greg. Always great to see your progress.

Cheers, Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

2/27/23:

Well I have some Fueling issues on the '79 Duster I never hand any issues like this since I Did the EFI swap back in 2008. - It runs Lean after a while after the engine Heats up, but cold it's fine.

I have replaced the Fuel Pump, Sock Filter and High Pressure Filter. and the issue persists.

I have a New Fuel Pressure Regulator on order. Hope to replace that soon. If that does not solve it then I would suspect crappy Chinese MSD Fuel Pump, even though this one is brand new. The old one I had on there for years and I thought I would replace it as it was starting to get erratically noisy.
Now that I think about it It's probably the pump getting warm and not keeping up with the larger pulsewidths of the injectors. when It's cold for the first few miles it runs fine with no issues.

The yellow stuff brake pads provide an incredible pedal feel compared to the other parts store pads that were on the car.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

Finally Figured out my issue on this car.. it was a real head scratcher, but the problems were all self induced.
I should have someone around to idiot proof my work for me..

The car is back on the road, hope to daily drive it a few days to work this week.
It made it to milkshake pickup and running errands and daycare pickup today... Has a bunch of new fuel system parts that it did not need, but peace of mind about fresh filters, pump and regulator cant hurt.

Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

I did get 3 days of daily driving in.

On Wed, coming home from work, about 5 miles from home I pushed the clutch in for a stop sign on the outskirts of town and crunch!.. No more clutch..
No side of the road fix for this one and it was at a busy stop sign in town at 3:05 PM.

I was able to roll the car back off into a gravel siding near the road and the Neighbors helped me with bus duty as well as giving me a ride back home.
I walked to the police station and told them about the old Plymouth that i left on the side of the road.
I told them I would be back with my trailer to collect it later in the evening.. as It was Science Fair Nite at the Elementary school.

Got the Car onto the trailer and all put away at home.
Yesterday morning I removed the inspection cover expecting to find a broken clutch fork pivot.. I have had those break on me before.

Nope.. All good there, the adjustment rod was straight and intact too.
I couldn't see it from the road but it was that pesky Z bar again.
Frame Pivot side. 3rd Time / 3rd car in 4 years. I have 6 Manual transmission Mopars and 3 of these have failed. I bet the other 3 will fail sometime.

I got the Z bar pulled off, and all cleaned up Ready for welding..






I have been to this rodeo before...
Reset the tube, reweld, grind, reinforce with additional metal on the Frame pivot side.




I blasted and painted most of the parts whilst they were removed and we are back in business. Ready for my spring trip next month!

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

3/27/23:

So far so good.

I drove to get take out pizza yesterday and took the family for milkshakes.
Improved -Z- bar linkage with repairs seeemed to hold up fine so far. Ready for another 236,000 Miles.

Greg

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

4/25/23:

I had a nice Trip through the mountains over the weekend with the '79 Volare
/ Duster F body coupe.
The route I had planned took me through the mountains and highlands of
Western PA, extreme Western Maryland, Eastern / Central West Virginia, and
Central Virginia.
Mountain Peaks and Twisty Roads abound everywhere, as I only ran about ~20
miles of interstates on the trip south.

It seems that The Megasquirt II EFI is running pretty good. I had a little
hiccup on the way to my destination where the sock filter in the fuel tank
pickup came off and then allowed some trash to get lodged in the fuel pump.
I was able to nurse the Car about ~100 Miles south on US 220 Through WV and
VA until the Traffic Lights got dense and the car was unable to safely run
in traffic at 17-22 AFR..I pulled over and it was towed the last 60 miles. I
got 21-23 MPG through the mountains and was not using "OD" on the return
trip back to PA.

We dropped the fuel tank to find that the spectra premium fuel sending unit
lost its' sock filter -It was replaced and clamped back onto the the pickup
tube.. I guess it's a pretty poor fitting part as I have never seen that
happen before : We flushed the gunk out of the fuel pump and
reassembled pump and tank as needed.

That solved the issue - the Return trip home was all good except it wanted
to get stuck in "OD" and not shift back to 3rd gear.... Issues caused by me
not checking engine block / to bell housing runout when I installed the OD
trans about 20 years ago. That all needs fixed now... Or I might just fix
the bellhousing runout and put a T5 Transmission in the car. ( that's what I
should do).

Some trip documentation:
Got an early start from Home:




Trip Included US 219 in Maryland and Seneca Rocks in WV - Stopped for a
morning hike to the top of the rock. I had it all to myself

US 219 In Maryland Near WV Border:






Seneca Rocks, WV







A Nice Vista on Mountain Valley Road / VA 39:



A Cool old Sign in NC..

Morning Hike to an old Water Mill Site:



On the Way Back - US 33 in VA then WV.



Some Glamour shots of my rusty old daily driver along some beauitiful valley pulloffs on the route:










770 Miles Round Trip, not extensive but a good spring trip.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

6/5/23:

The family and I went to a semi local swap meet (150 Miles one way) up near Erie PA.
We loaded up the ValianTrailer and pulled it with the Disco Wagon to the Albion Mopar Show. I was surprised how well the Aspen towed... with the Lean Burn, 2.45:1 Gears and '79 California Emissions package and all!

First time pulling anything this heavy with the Disco Wagon and it went well.



Ava Made $78 selling bracelets, rings, and Necklaces.
Good show, I sold some parts too.




Some of my favorites:

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack

8/16/23:

I got around to Pulling the trans out of the '79 Duster.. It stopped shifting out of OD.. I could shift into OD , but not out... so that was tricky on the road.

I have a Spare OD that I built a while back for use in the '69 Dart.. It has the 307 Front Bearing and is incompatible with the Factory Aluminum OD Bellhousing on this car.

I have a 3 speed Laying around that had the special IBR that holds the 307 bearing with the Large 5" and change OD so I bolted that onto this spare transmission. I got the flywheel surfaced today, and Rebuit the sloppy Hurst shifter, and shimmed it up quite a bit.

The car Needed a clutch too. So I am putting a Ford 10" disc from Rockauto in there for now and reusing the Pressure plate, as it looks good.

I have a few 1"x23 spline discs that I am going to send off to a clutch rebuilder and see if they can reface the disc cores for me.

In other Beige F Body news, the "Disco Wagon" went on a canoe trip to the local lake. Since the canoe is too unwieldy for me to load by myself onto the roofrack, I used the trailer instead. My daughter is too short and too feeble to be of much help lifting the vessel onto a car yet.

The old wagon gets a lot of admiring fans at the lake... cute kid and a boat helps I guess?



There are some nice lakes and rivers near here that are good for canoe trips.

The little one lost her hat in a gust of wind on the lake; but the nice folks at the state park boat rental gave her this little hat for $0.


Good times and work to be done as I am wrapping up the summer.

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/hyperpack