This week I got to see the Feather Duster Hull I got from Brett. It's in pretty decent shape (better than the Feather I drive now...when I first bought it a few years back). Had to remove the underdash cat, as it's warranty was up (it was all bones and leather...no more orange shag...sorry...
)I'm starting the shopping list and have a few quandries to 'iron out'...
So far I have all the sheet metal to fix the car with minimal problems, sadly the car has a factory sunroof opening, and inquiries to a few yards that are mopar places usually get me a 'laugh' at trying to find a replacement assembly..."Sorry don't have one in stock...", "you know how much that thing would cost?!?!"... The option is rare for a Feather Duster, but I'll have to mull over "capping" the roof or holding out to find that impossible to get 1974-1976 A-body item...
So far some things are nice, luckily I have to replace the floor pans so that gives me a chance to tie the subframes together for some stability and work out a bellhousing clearance issue.
Tomorrow, I'll be talking with a friend of Andyf's to do some machine work. If all goes well, when he's done my 2.2L pistons will be dished properly, and we'll have a nice looking Clifford Hyperpak intake that will be EFI ready.
(Thank you Reed for selling me that item...it's not going to waste!)The initial build ideas for this car will be (will change as needed):
1976 Feather Duster Hull (will use all the stock aluminum body parts)
Paint Choice is looking like B8 blue (Ditzler 2628)
I think I'm going to have my Graphic Designer wife "upgrade" the graphics a bit...
Buckets with the fold down rear seat seems to work fine in my current daily driver.
Stock disc brake front
Will have a set of 14x6 rallyes up graded by Willamette Custom Wheels to 16x7 (50 series tread might be 'nice')
Upgrade T-bars to 892/893's
Manual Steering box will be retained, will upgrade suspension as needed (bigger struts, sway bars, a REAL set of leaf springs, gusseting the attaching points, already have a K-member to weld up and "box", etc...)
Engine:
I have an early 60's block prepped and ready to go for the "Long Rod" build.
Silvolite 1291 soon to be attached to a set of 198 rods.
Head will be a gasket matched "late" head with a set of SI 1.70/1.44 valves installed.
Compression ratio target will be 11:1
Cam is yet to be decided leaning toward a split profile in the 268/274 range with an LSA to support EFI and overlap that's "nice" for the Hpak intake.
I've decided to try out an 'over the counter' EFI system and have a Holley 950 Commander ready to go (while in Baghdad I used an old IBM think pad and already worked up a set of spark map tables based on the MP distributor, a stock "street" EI distributor spark table, and a rudimentary fuel map).
I will also be using a 1981 "locked out" ESC distributor coupled to an MSD-6A and an MSD-8655 Crank Trigger.
Drivetrain:
I have a truck low slung starter bellhousing, will use an 11" clutch (same type for 225HD/340/360/383), and slant flywheel with hydraulic clutch.
Since I have an A-833OD iron cased unit, I'll use that to begin with.
Will install an 8.25" rear with 3.91 sure grip.
Currently looking at "upgrading" to an aftermarket electrical system (especially with a fuel pump relay, and headlight relay), since the car is pretty much "gutted" I think I'll go for a set of aftermarket gauges too...
Will keep things up to date as "progress" occurs on the Feather Duster Xperiment.
-D.Idiot
"This is what happens when slant sickness starts going chronic..."
Would like to thank Lou, Slantzilla, Reed, andyf, and Doc for valuable input on this project...time to make the dream a reality.
, good luck 