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➔SOURCES
Holley EFI; 866/464-6553; Holley.com
Schumacher Creative Service; 206/364-7151; Engine-Swaps.com
US Car Tool; 919/855-8200; UScartool.comThe new Pro Dash from Holley is here, and
it is big. We will need to perform major
surgery on the dash to mount this screen.
The Pro Dash has a large 12.3-inch diagonal
screen size with touch-panel controls and is
compatible with our Holley Dominator ECU.
We are planning to use the Pro Dash as the
only instrument panel with no other gauges
in the car.The chassis shop installed a new
chrome-moly rollbar, complete with
diagonal back braces. The shop
fabricated aluminum panels for the
back seat and package tray and welded
in new mounting brackets for the leaf
springs. We don’t have a tube-bender
in our shop, so it is nice to have a local
chassis shop with the right tools.We installed the Direction Connection K-frame along with a mock-
up engine so we could confirm everything fits together. Sliding a
long tube through the main bore of the engine block verifies the
engine is sitting “square” in the chassis, which is actually offset a
couple of inches to the passenger side in muscle-car–era Chryslers.The grille was installed to check fitment, and we discovered the
clearance holes in the core support were in the wrong location.
We must have made a mistake in the CAD file that was sent to the
laser shop. Now we need to figure out how to modify parts that are
welded in place.QUICK VEHICLE
DETAILS- 1972 Plymouth Duster
- 512-inch big-block Chrysler wedge
- 727 three-speed automatic
transmission - Strange S60 rear axle
- Holley Dominator EFI system
- Sequential port injection and
coil-near-plug ignition
The smaller-tube headers fit the Duster
perfectly, and they’ll support the power
output of the new 512-inch engine.
We had been planning to use a motor
plate with the 470 engine since it had a
Jesel beltdrive and an electric water
pump, but that motor plate didn’t fit
with the accessory drive on the new
512 engine. Fortunately, we had an old
Direct Connection big-block K-frame
sitting in storage, so we pulled it out for
a test-fit. The engine fit fine with the
big-block K-frame and provided extra
space for the front accessory drive. The
rubber in the original spool-type engine
mounts had deteriorated, so we con-
tacted Schumacher Creative Service for
a set of its polyurethane mounts.
The Duster needed some chassis
work, which we weren’t equipped to
handle in our shop, so we sent it to alocal chassis shop. The chassis
shop removed what was left of
the old mild-steel rollcage and
bent up a new chrome-moly roll-
bar. The shop also installed alumi-
num interior panels, welded in
new mounting locations for the
rear leaf springs, and installed a new
radiator core support. The new core
support was sourced from US Car Tool
and is made from heavy 12-gauge
material. It’s designed to accept a
26-inch radiator from a fullsize car and
provide additional clearance for the
water pump. A healthy big-block can
overwhelm an original radiator, so we
decided to install a big radiator now to
avoid a serious problem down the road.
At this point, it feels like we have a
good road map for the rest of the build.
The time at the chassis shop was well36 CAR CRAFT AUGUST 2019
Once the core support was squared away, we hung the front
sheetmetal to check fender alignment and panel gaps. Our upper
grille support needed to be trimmed to clear the new core support,
but everything else lined up nicely.spent, since it solved some issues that
had stymied us. The next steps are to
finish the brake system and dyno-test
our new engine. Stay tuned.