My 71 Duster work in progress

[b-body-bob]

Yes, but that doesn't make it unusable. It's a weird grind, though, for sure. That's a bunch of duration for such low lift.

I stored the lifters in the clamshell that my Howard's lifters were in so I could reuse it, or someone could.

Wow. You justify ridiculous expenses like I do. "Well, I don't have a carburetor. Might as well go Six Pack!"

Well, you did sort of talk me out of going stroker on the 360.

To be honest I don't have a reason to do anything with the 400 block or parts. I don't expect to buy any more project cars, ever. If the A12 was a 383 car, then yeah I'd use it. But it's not and now that I have a good small block in the Duster it's useless to me.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Well at least you had a test drive or two, trying to follow along but most of it is way over my pay grade.
How are the treatments going, you hanging in there?
My car has turned into the lady in waiting, no call all week, which probably means it just sat with no attention!

 

[b-body-bob]

How are the treatments going, you hanging in there?

Treatments are going as expected - I have every one of the expected side effects. The largest part of my day is spent trying and failing to pee. I can't say if it's because something is blocking it or if it's just a false urge, but either way it's maddening.

My car has turned into the lady in waiting, no call all week, which probably means it just sat with no attention!

The only contact I get on my A12 are emailed bills.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Treatments are going as expected - I have every one of the expected side effects. The largest part of my day is spent trying and failing to pee. I can't say if it's because something is blocking it or if it's just a false urge, but either way it's maddening.

The most important Little Piggy refuses to go "Wee wee wee"?

I'm not downplaying your situation by any means, just keeping it light. It's gotta be damned frustrating. I haven't had a false urge in a long time, but I remember the annoyance of it. Multiple times a day might drive me over the edge.

The only contact I get on my A12 are emailed bills.

I started making arrangements for the Pink H0R (the Swinger--the VIN is LM23H0Rxxxxxx) yesterday--no, I'm not wasting any time--and I expect (hope?) it'll be done the same way. I don't think I'd enjoy being slapped with a potentially-$20+K bill all in one sitting.

For the record, this is the car that's going to drive home just how expensive this hobby can be. I won't be surprised to have $50K invested by the time the key gets twisted.

 

[b-body-bob]

I'm not downplaying your situation by any means, just keeping it light.

I make fun of it too. IMO it's the only way I can get through it.

For example, I've decided that I can get by on half my typical sleep because I wake up every half-hour, sometimes an hour, and stand over the toilet for 15 minutes with no results. Wash, rinse, repeat. I don't need to set an alarm because I'm going to be awake anyway.

I won't be surprised to have $50K invested by the time the key gets twisted.

Ha ha ha. Talking to the bossman at the shop with my A12, we've decided that a full restoration is going to cost 100k plus. Thankfully I won't have to pay for all the work since I will be doing the drivetrain and all the parts installation myself, but you're likely to have $50k in metal, body, and paint by the time it's over. Then you're still staring down the drivetrain, wiring, upholstery, etc.

Also, FWIW, I'm finding a lot of AMD parts are out of stock and they won't give an expected date of availability, so I recommend trying to buy what you need ASAP.

 

[Dr.Jass]

Ha ha ha. Talking to the bossman at the shop with my A12, we've decided that a full restoration is going to cost 100k plus. Thankfully I won't have to pay for all the work since I will be doing the drivetrain and all the parts installation myself, but you're likely to have $50k in metal, body, and paint by the time it's over. Then you're still staring down the drivetrain, wiring, upholstery, etc.

Also, FWIW, I'm finding a lot of AMD parts are out of stock and they won't give an expected date of availability, so I recommend trying to buy what you need ASAP.

I expect the body-shop bill to be $20-$25K, which would be high for that shop. They're not a restoration shop, they're just a regular body shop with a very talented body man. I won't use any reproduction sheetmetal on this car unless I just can't avoid it. A rust-free '71 comes with it that I'll gladly cut, and I've got access to an NOS fender, decklid, and quarter panel (so far) if necessary. The trunk extensions are good, as is the spare-tire well, but the latter is dented to clear a trailer hitch. It's kind of shocking how rust-free the car is.

I've already spent a pile on parts and much of the hard stuff is already found. I actually have two A-body factory tachs (there's only been three on eBay in the last four years--Kev's GF and I bought all of 'em) and a set of production-line-only NOS exhaust tips. I'm trying to use as many original parts as possible. I'm easily $12K deep already. It's the stuff everyone tossed out--LH exhaust heat-shield gasket, '70-only shift interlock, etc.--that really hurts the wallet. Thankfully those are parts I've already found and purchased.

 

[Dr.Jass]

To be honest I don't have a reason to do anything with the 400 block or parts. I don't expect to buy any more project cars, ever. If the A12 was a 383 car, then yeah I'd use it. But it's not and now that I have a good small block in the Duster it's useless to me.

Same dude I bought my Challengers from had two sets of Stage VI heads. On a 400 they use a 440 intake. A Six Pack would drop right on there.

 

[b-body-bob]

You can check the lift fairly easily with a caliper. Just measure the smallest part of the cam, rocking the cam in the caliper a bit to achieve the lowest number. Then do the same on the largest part of the lobe. Subtract your first measurement from your second, multiply by 1.5", and you're your uncle. .472" at the cam is ~.315" at the lobe.

Precision was not involved but there's about 0.3 difference so that's close enough to call it 0.472 correct lift.

I recall a purple shaft a step or two below the 0.509 that was low lift but IIRC it didn't have much in the way of duration. This is an odd bird for sure.

 

[Dr.Jass]

I recall a purple shaft a step or two below the 0.509 that was low lift but IIRC it didn't have much in the way of duration. This is an odd bird for sure.

The DC/MP "Hemi grind" camshaft was 280° advertised duration with .474" lift and was their first entry above the Magnum-spec cam. The next two steps were 284°/.484" and 292°/.509" in the hydraulic lineup. A friend put the .509" cam in a mostly-stock 383 after I told him to use the Hemi grind. He bitched that it was a dog so I asked him for a ride. It didn't do much. I asked him if we could switch seats, and promptly ran the thing to nearly 7 grand. He freaked right out. He didn't like me running it that high, but half his freakout was how fast it was. He'd been granny shifting it between 4,500-5,000 the whole time. The thing would rip your head off above 5,500RPM. He never got used to revving it, and never got around to changing the cam before ridding himself of the car.

 

[b-body-bob]

The DC/MP "Hemi grind" camshaft was 280° advertised duration with .474" lift and was their first entry above the Magnum-spec cam. The next two steps were 284°/.484" and 292°/.509" in the hydraulic lineup. A friend put the .509" cam in a mostly-stock 383 after I told him to use the Hemi grind. He bitched that it was a dog so I asked him for a ride. It didn't do much. I asked him if we could switch seats, and promptly ran the thing to nearly 7 grand. He freaked right out. He didn't like me running it that high, but half his freakout was how fast it was. He'd been granny shifting it between 4,500-5,000 the whole time. The thing would rip your head off above 5,500RPM. He never got used to revving it, and never got around to changing the cam before ridding himself of the car.

The A12 440 has a 509 in it with whatever the typical forged piston was from when it was built. IIRC it's pretty much built to match Don Dulmage's "Old Reliable" book. With 5.13s and 31" tires it ran 7.20s so it is definitely not a dog and there is no choice but to rev the living daylights out of it.

 

[Dr.Jass]

...it is definitely not a dog and there is no choice but to rev the living daylights out of it.

That was the case with his car, too. He just didn't know it. It ran much harder in his RPM range with the stock cam, but with the .509" it was a beast up high. He just didn't realize that more cam=more RPM. It was much quicker than the original cam, but he couldn't bring himself to go above 5,500--even that was higher than he liked. If you've got to spin a 440 with the .509", imagine having 57 less cubes and 3/8" less stroke with essentially the same heads. It was barely pulling at 4K.