74 Duster - My first project.

A few years ago I bought a 74 Duster. It has a 360, 727, 8 1/4 3.21SG diff. I was pretty naïve when I bought it, and allowed myself not to see the body issues not so cleverly hidden by Fiberglass, bondo and a bunch of old kitchen gloves stuffed in there for backing. The drivetrain seems solid, so I still got a decent deal at $1200.00.

Anyway I spent the next few years driving it a little, fixing it a little until I realized it probably wasn't safe to haul my kids around in. I started tearing it apart gutting the interior seeing how bad the floors and rockers really were.

Boy the previous owner did a hack job on that body work. I'd say for 1200 you still pretty good especially if the drive train is good.
The good thing is the panels can be bought, depending on how the frame is.

After a marathon trip to a little town just out of Dallas Texas I came up with this gem. The PO disassembled it, painted it, then let it sit for a couple years before advertising it on FABO for sale.

So what are your plans for this one ?

The drivetrain from my original car will go into this one. This car has AC and power brakes which I'll keep for sure since this will be a cruiser primarily. The black interior and all the new parts I put on the original car will make their way onto this body.

I'm so excited to be reassembling. I've got the new gas tank in, the diff from the original car, the super stock springs and shocks and the wheels and tires installed on the red car now.

Here is where I am right now. Can't wait till it warms up a little so I can get the motor and trans out of the old car cleaned up and installed in the red car.

After  I get it on the road, I'll address handling etc. The white car has a factory front sway bar that won't make it onto the red car right away. I want to go with 1" torsion bars and heavier sway bar etc. but right now I'm concentrating on getting it on the road. The red car had a front end rebuild before I got it so it should be good for now. I did weld in subframe connectors though.

Sorry for all the short individual posts, I keep getting kicked out. I've done most of these a couple times now LOL.

Cley

Nice!! a clean looking car and i like the red on it.

66 Dartman wrote:Nice!! a clean looking car and i like the red on it.

I like the color too. Coincidentally it matches my tow rig!

Looks like a solid project. What year is the red one ?

It's a 74

Cley

That red one looks great! I wish my Cuda was that solid.

Well that Duster looks like it has a bit better body than your first one.

Black interior will look good with the body color.

It still has the trim studs for the half vinyl roof. I think that would look good in black as well, but I'm on the fence. I may just get the trim studs removed too. For now it will likely get blacked out grille and bumpers until I can afford rechroming.

Nice score!

I love road trips, especially when Mopars are involved. Nice Duster.

That white Duster had some pretty bold hole air conditioning.

I successfully converted my column shift column to look like a floor shift model. I think it turned out great! Not perfect but just how I wanted it.


I rebuilt my Heat/AC box with a kit from Detroit Muscle Technologies. This was a great kit with great instructions.


I cleaned up my Flintstones style washer fluid pump. It works good and I think it is kinda cool!

Oh and I picked up some new headers, new motor mounts, new trans mount and all the fittings to install my line lock. I'm running out of excuses to get that empty area under the hood all filled up.

The foot pump usually has a spot of white paint on it so it can be easily seen.

COOL

Nice rebuild, is the motor all stock or does it have a few mods?

The motor is not stock but I don't know what has been done. It definitely has a lumpy idling cam in it and seems to make decent power. I could tell that the intake and carb was swapped back to stockers just before I bought it, and I know the car was drag raced so the motor is a mystery. I'll start with an Edelbrock LD4B intake and a 670 street avenger when I get it running and go from there.

My main focus is to get it driving. Not likely to be this summer now.

Cley

Have you ever thought of the Edelbrock RPM intake, good for street or strip. I have one, never drag my car good from low rpm to 5000 or more. It suits me just fine, lots of people love it from racers to street people like me.

Jean-Guy

For now I am using one I bought cheap from a member on here. When I build a motor or freshen this one, I'll likely use an RPM air gap.

Cley