Rob's 73 Duster, Trying to get involved...

[Rob Simmons]

Hey Jay,
You can't imagine what a blessing these kids are! They're just great. When I had close to 15 kids over at a time it got to be a little bit tricky trying to find things to keep them all busy. I will have to do a better job of planning for that when I start things back up.

My sons are 10, 8, 6, and 3 right now. So this is good practice for me!

The youth group kids email me and send pictures of them "working" on the Duster and keep me up to date on what they're up to. It's almost like having them as my own kids.

Thanks for the post. I'm keeping my head down and my chin up over here.

Rob

[Sixgunner]

Well, I hope to see some posts for when ya come back.

Godspeed to all of you guys over there. Especially the Mopar fans.

Jay
(I never served but I spent 5 years overhauling the engines for Tomahawks. Not close, but what I could do at the time.)

_________________
Wannabe Texan, stuck up here in Michigan.
Mopar Convert since 1989.

[slantsixduster]

the 3100 stall is too much i put one in my 73 duster 225 and i ran a second slower than i did with my tci 2500 it is just too much and slips all the way down the track and good choice with the clifford way better than the offenhauser

[Rob Simmons]

Wow! Where does time go when you're having fun?

The Duster hasn't seen much (okay, any) action to speak of for the last 15 months (has it really been that long?)

The two die hard "GodsRods" kids do go over with some friends and "visit" the car once in awhile. They fire it up and rev the engine with its open headers. That's all great fun for them!

I never did find anyone to adopt them for three years.

[Rob Simmons]

A little update...

I'm planning a trip back to Georgia to see some of the youth group kids graduate from high school. Their graduation just happens to be May 26th which is the same weekend as the South Georgia Slant 6 Points Race in Valdosta.

With the potential to be back in Georgia for the first time in two years, hang out with the youth group, and go to a Slant 6 race, I'm gathering up some of the parts we need to make the GodsRods Duster a little safer and more reliable and consistent.

Now hopefully the Army will let me take some leave in May.....

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Dart270]

Go, Rob, go!!

Lou

_________________
Return of the 64 Dart. Hang on...

[Rob Simmons]

Okay, I'm finally taking the time to figure out how to post pictures. If this works, it's a picture of two of the kids with the GodsRods Duster and my Dart at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, GA back in June 2004 the weekend before the Mopar Southern Nationals.

We had just gotten it put together with the new engine, trans, etc and this was our maiden voyage.

Someone please let me know if I got the photo to post correctly.

Thanks

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Slant6Ram]

Works good.

When I click on the little pic I also get a bigger version and a pop up with dancing girls! I guess you expect that sort of thing with free image hosting.

Keep learning!

_________________
1980 Aspen 225 super six

[Rob Simmons]

You're kidding about the dancing girls, right?

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Rob Simmons]

Well, we made it.

I was able to make it to Georgia 4 days before the race, so it was a mad thrash to go through things and make some improvements in time to be ready.

The GodsRods kids had graduation stuff all week, so they weren't able to get greasy as much as they wanted. It was an unexpected blessing in some ways though because I had some good quality "guy time" with my two oldest sons as we worked on the car together. Chase (10) one day and Andrew (12) the other three.

A group of the GodsRods kids (er, young men ) came by one day so we could make a trip to the new Summit store together. That was an expensive visit that I'll be in trouble for when the credit card bill comes. And they came by again to help pull the old fuel lines and gas tank and install the fuel cell and new fuel line.

We went through the front brakes, re-packed the wheel bearings, replaced the lower radiator hose and a freeze plug and put in the new re-curved distributor from Dusteridiot the first day.

The second day was our trip to the Summit Super Store in McDonough. That place is awesome and if there is one in your area, I highly recommend a visit. Just make sure not to take 5 excited teenagers and a credit card on the same trip! We also removed the gas tank and stock fuel lines and started installing the fuel cell and fuel line that day.

Day 3 we finished installing the fuel cell and line, pulled the seats and belts, started installing the Summit seats and RCI harnesses and re-installed the driveshaft. We gave it a quick dish soap and scotch brite pad bath to knock off the 2 years of oxidation. We looked for some more stick on letters to replace our "GodsRods" lettering that the sun baked off, but couldn't find the right kind.

Day 4 (Friday) we finished installing the seats and harnesses, going through everything and bought a new battery and ran it for awhile. Everything seemed okay so we cleaned up our mess and went to graduation. We loaded the car on a borrowed trailer that night about midnight. My head hit the pillow about 2 a.m. and when the alarm went off three hours later I seriously doubted my sanity for doing this!

We picked up Kendall and headed South for fun and adventure! We got to the track about 9 a.m. and saw some friendly familiar faces we hadn't seen in 2 years. The car passed tech just fine, but Kendall didn't! It seems that South Georgia Motorsports Park has a safety policy that requires all drivers to be 18 years old! There is a liability waiver form you can have the parents sign and have notarized, but it has to be the original signature, so we couldn't have them FAX or email a scanned copy to the track. I wanted to cry, but Kendall took it like a trooper. He said, "They make rules for a reason, you drive and I'll pit crew."

We hadn't gotten the new distributor installed quite right, so the first run was an embarrassing 19 something coughing and spitting the whole way.

With Slant Cecil's help and a timing light we finally got it timed right and installed the MSD Blaster Coil.

The next pass was what I had been hoping for. I knew it felt better when I cleaned off the tires pulling up to the starting line. It had much more power. It spun a little, then grabbed and zipped down the track to a 15.85 at 87+ MPH! Quite an improvement over the 17.46 at 78.55 MPH from 2 years ago when we parked it.

That would be the best pass of the day as on the next one I messed up and started in Drive and it upshifted to 2nd before I realized my mistake.

The next and final run of the day was the first elimination round and I was paired against Stormin' Norman. He knew he had an easy win, but you never know what can happen. Unfortunately for us, all that new found power and my inexperience caused the tires to spin like crazy through the 60 foot mark. I figured I had lost because of that, but I had about 16 seconds to think about Norman coming on strong behind me. I looked for him out of the corner of my eye and just repeated to myself, "Don't beat him through the traps like you did the first time out". That wasn't necessary because he came on hard and caught me just before the traps. I can't remember the exact E.T., but I was about 2-3 tenths slow on a 15.80 dial in. My son Andrew has the time slips and won't be back from Georgia for another week or so. When he gets back to Germany I'll post the right E.T.s and MPHs.

We were dog tired from lack of sleep, not being used to the heat and humidity and adding a nice sun burn to the mix, but we had a good time and are really glad we made it.

I was really disappointed that Kendall couldn't race, but was very happy with the improvements on the Duster.

The highlight of the trip was seeing my son Andrew get so involved and excited about doing car stuff with Dad. He hadn't really shown much of an interest before. Each day as we worked on the car together he got more involved and interested. By the time we were at the track Saturday and making passes he would run half way down pit road to meet me as I came back from a pass with a huge, excited smile on his face and he'd be yelling the E.T to me.

Thanks to DusterIdiot for the re-curved distributor! I think that was the best improvement made to get the car down into the 15s.

Thanks Cecil for helping us get the timing set.

And thanks to Ron, Rick and Roger for the parts you donated. I wasn't able to get the roll bar welded in, but I have someone going to take a look at it to see if he can do it for us. He can weld, but he's never done a roll bar before. I'm going to search the internet for some photos and instructions and send them to him along with the NHRA guidelines and see what he says.

Thanks for the MSD box and rev limiter Roger! I'm sorry I wasn't able to get them put in for the race. I was trying to get the critical stuff done first and when I got down there I realized we had done more before I left 2 years ago than I thought. We had switched back to electronic ignition with a new ECU, so I thought it better to keep the upgrades to the new distribuor and coil. The friends we were staying with had very slow dial up internet connection, so my MSD website search for wiring instructions and part #s was a wash. Now that I'm back home I will find the information and send it to Georgia so they'll have it. We had also put in a set of gauges that I didn't remember. Once I saw them I remembered Jimmy (one of the youth group kids) installing them. He was sweating so bad he had to tie a t-shirt around his head as a bandana to keep the sweat out of his eyes. I can't believe I didn't remember that.

The manual steering box I bought didn't get delivered in time, so we didn't get the steering converted. I did go to the post office and pick it up after the race, so the box, pitman arm and adapter are ready to be put in.

This time before I left I took the time to drain the block and radiator so we wouldn't blow another freeze plug and radiator hose when it freezes. I also drained the fuel cell and ran the lines dry. I pulled out the harnesses and boxed them back up so the sun wouldn't destroy them.

So now the Duster is back in storage and still looking for someone to play with it. The GodsRods Gang is all off to college and I'm back in Germany.

I circulated the word among the Slant 6 racers, my local church and the folks at the shops that have supported us that the Duster needs another group of teenagers and a willing leader to continue what has been started. If you're in the Georgia area and are interested in using the Duster for your church youth group or to just teach teenagers about working on cars and drag racing, send me a PM. It's a shame to just let it sit another 2-4 years when it could be used for His glory and/or to get teenagers interested/involved in cars and racing.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[DusterIdiot]

[Dart270]

Great job, Rob! Thanks for the update and hope I see you before long.

Lou

_________________
Return of the 64 Dart. Hang on...

[Rob Simmons]

D.Idiot, I couldn't even set the timing right! Getting feedback from me to tweak your recipe would NOT help! I'll leave the technical tweaking side of things to folks like you and Cecil, etc. I have a lot of passion, but not much else.

Lou, This trip reminded me how much I miss being "home"! I'm hoping to get stationed at Fort Bragg, NC in Fayetteville after Germany since Fort McPherson in Atlanta is closing. Tom Drake sent me a map of NC with colored dots indicating all the diffent types of race tracks. You could hardly see the map under all those dots!

I pushed the envelope a little too far on this trip where "car stuff" is concerned during a "family vacation", so I'm not exactly in the good graces of the boss. She was patient through Saturday, but when I had to take more time to drop off the car on Monday and then go back yet again to drain the fluids, etc she pretty much lost all hope on me.

I hadn't turned a wrench or seen a race in two years, so when the "addiction" returned it returned with a vengeance!

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...

[Jeb]

Yeah Rob don't you just love that slant six distributor clamp . The cramped engine compartment of a Duster desn't help things any either. Did you ever put your car on the scales and see how much it weighed? That think picked up though I think that with a set of slicks you might be able to get into the 14s. Carburetor tuning might get you even lower.

I wasn't able to help you and Cecil much but you know what they say, watch and learn.

I drove my car down there this year but I will probably be trailering it next year. I am getting sick of those 2.76 gears and am about to go to some 3.25s. If only I could find somebody who knows how to rebuild a Chrysler 8 1/4.

_________________
82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

[Rob Simmons]

Hey Jeb,

As you can tell, I'm not very experienced in the tuning department. I'm sure there's a little bit more power to be had by tuning the carb and tweaking some other things folks have mentioned. It feels good to be to a point where the car actually has enough power to make slicks useful!

We probably dropped maybe another 50-75 pounds by replacing the gas tank with the fuel cell and bucket seats with the Summit racing seats I guess. I would have liked to put it on a scale at Cecil, but I didn't think about it at the time. The car weighed 2,785 when we parked it two years ago. The 180 for the driver is still the same.

There's still quite a bit of weight reduction that can be done by dropping the bumpers, gutting the doors and swapping the glass for Lexan.

All those things we would do if we had more than a couple days a year to play with it I guess. It's parked in Stockbridge if you get a hankerin' to fiddle on it.

Check out Gerald Wright at The Wright Performance for swapping gears (and maybe adding a Sure Grip ) to your 8 1/4. http://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8866 He was the gray haired guy that came by a couple times to ask if we needed any help. He was running a nice Petty Blue '68 Valiant street car with a stroked small block that ran 12.12 at 111 MPH with 2.94 gears! He does rear end set ups, but his engine work keeps him pretty busy. He may ask you to pull the rear end rather than dropping off the whole car because he works out of his home and doesn't have a lot of parking space. He's a great guy and will take good care of you. He lives way up North in Ball Ground, GA. He does make trips here and there and may be able to work something out for you so you don't have to take the rear end all the way up to Ball Ground. Is the 8 1/4 in the car now, or is it one you are going to upgrade to from a 7 1/4? Give Gerald a call and see what he says.

_________________
Rob
I want to "Slant" the world!
... one vehicle at a time...