Project Riddler's Ride - 1976 Plymouth Duster

[sublime green]

Thats one lucky duster. Cant wait to see more.

[Riddler]

Well today I made it over to the media blaster's. He warned me that the fender's were no good. I was heart broken since I knew the car was practically rust free.

The fender's turned out to be not bad at all. Just has some minor waves in the driver's side and the passenger has a small hit in the front.

Passenger Side:


I should be able to tap these out....

Driver's side:

You can still see where the bondo is. He's going to finish up blasting the fenders of bondo and then I should be able to bang them back into shape.

He then showed me the hood and trunk lid. He said these are some of the best parts he's ever blasted. Barely any paint on them and they had practically no rust.

Hood:


Trunk Lid:



The last picture is of the car on the rotisserie waiting until all the smaller parts are done.



Well that's all for now....stay tuned...

Riddler

[pettybludart]

Looking good Joe.You know how hard it is to find a minimal rust car in these parts.Your wifey did good for you!

[sag]

looks good. I cant wait to get a rotisori for my project

[Riddler]

Well I started working some on the Hemi 5.7L to get it cleaned up and converted to a car LX motor.

I started by removing the truck manifolds, accessories and motor mounts.



While trying to get the pulley bolt out, I broke it. WTF?



Right now I'm at the point of getting a smaller puller 3 jaw puller. Once I get the pulley off, I'm hoping to be able to get at the bolt.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Small Update - Car is still at media blast and should be coming this week. The bolt is still lodged in the crank and I haven't found the time to get it removed.

Riddler

[Badart]

Car is coming along nicely. That sucks about the crank bolt. That might be a tough one. Are you planning on drilling it and using an easy out?

[jeffneal66]

While you are waiting to work on the pulley bolt, I would let it soak with Liquid Wrench. It should then come out very easily, when you are ready.

[LH23H2R]

A 1976 Duster -- or any '76 "A" Body -- with a V8 is a relatively rare sight ! I'd like to find one of the super rare factory 360-powered Dusters or Dart Sports some day ...

Just out of curiosity , was your Duster built in Windsor (R), Hamtramck (B), St. Louis (G) or Newark (F) ?

Post those non-a/c brackets and pulleys in the for sale section . Priced reasonably , they'd sell quick !

Years ago I found a '76 318-powered Duster in the local salvage yard , that was an export model ( sales code "I" on the fender tag ) !!! It was devoid of all smog junk .
The tag which shows which country the car went to was missing ... Maybe it was a special order for Mexico , as Dusters weren't built there ( only Dart Sports -- called "Super Bee" in Mexico -- were built there ) ; I'll never know where it came from

[Riddler]

The car was built in St. Louis. As for it being rare? I'm not sure. I know 1976's were the least built year but in the eyes of many it's not a collector. HAs no rare factory options.

The car was an A/C car when it was built, just someone used a set of torches and cut the bracket down so it looks like non-A/C brackets.

Riddler

[LH23H2R]

Originally Posted by Riddler

The car was built in St. Louis. As for it being rare? I'm not sure. I know 1976's were the least built year but in the eyes of many it's not a collector. HAs no rare factory options.

The car was an A/C car when it was built, just someone used a set of torches and cut the bracket down so it looks like non-A/C brackets.

Riddler

I meant "rare" in the capacity of "less were made than the 225-equipped versions" , and not in terms of being collectible .
Now , if it were an original 360 car ( talk about rare ! The 360 wasn't a seperate model in '76 ; it was an engine option on all models except the Feather Duster / Dart Lite ) , that would be another story .

After looking at the pics of the engine again , I recognised that the alt bracket didn't look *correct* ; but seeing it that the car isn't from the south west U.S. , the lack of a/c formed my assumption .

1976 "A" bodies are a truly unique animal amongst their own :

- Foot-operated parking brake ;
- Ambre-coloured parking lamp lenses ;
- Interior rear view mirror mounts on the windshield ;
- Aluminum-case 4 speed o.d. trans ;
- Dash v.i.n. was transposed , with the i.d. itself being stamped above the "Chrysler Corporation" screening ( at least the Newerk-built car were that way ... ) ;
- 360 was an option on all models , and not itself a seperate model as in year prior ( VS29L & LM29L ) .

That "Gen 3" Hemi swap should turn out GREAT !

[Ptdartfreak]

Nice build i want the hemi and the street lynx and and and...... lol im jealous

good luck and i will be watching this

[Riddler]

Well after waiting 8 long weeks, the Duster has arrived home. I'm eager to dig in on metal work but I know it's going to be a long slow process. I don't have an end date in mind, and honestly I see this as a project for a few years. Money permitting.

Here's what I have to work with after media blast and epoxy primer. The car has been hit on both sides very lightly. Both quarter's need work. The front floor pans are also pretty much shot. I have new one to put down anyway! Onto the pictures....

Full car shot on rotisserie


Driver's side quarter with slide tool holes.


Driver's rear seat belt mount. Both are sides are gone.


Driver's front floor pan or whats left of it.


Driver's front A pillar. The lead from the factory came out during media blast.


Engine bay


Passenger side front floor.


Passenger side rear seat belt mount.


Passenger side rear quarter. The only rust to the outside body panels. Small patch will fix this.


Passenger side trunk extension. It looks like the previous owner jacked the car from that pinch weld.


Trunk area clean


and finally the roof with very slight dents.


Now that I have the car back the plan is to work a small amount each day on it. I have to return the rotisserie so the plan is to make some stands with casters that bolt to the bumper bolt locations.

Riddler

[TxSwimDad]

sweet work there.

BTW, I saw a rotisserie made out of a pair of heavy duty engine stands once. Seemed like a cheap alternative to a real rotisserie.

[Backtobasics]

Nice progress. Long way to go, but I bet this feels like you are ahead, and can make some progress....

[71ChallengerSE]

You're now at point zero, it can only get better from here.

[Riddler]

Well it's been a while since I posted to this log. For good reason. My project I've hard for 12 years melted a piston and I've begun parting it out. I'll miss her! Here's a picture of that car.



All the money I'm making from parting this car out is getting put into the Duster. Woohoo!

Anyway, this week I found another Hemi 5.7L engine. This time a 2008 LX motor. THe story goes this motor was in a charger at a body shop that was involved in an accident. The owner drove away and the car overheated. The shop replaced the thermostat and did a few other things. Still overheated. The insurance company told them to replace it. I purchased this for $300CDN.

Yeah my little pickup has brought home two hemi's!


So this motor is an MDS motor. The plan is to remove the MDS lifters and replace them with the truck lifters.






The plan now is to sell off the truck 5.7 parts as well as the extra car parts I have. I have a spare LX timing cover and intake and pretty much a whole truck motor.

Riddler

[Riddler]

I haven't really done much since I've been parting out my Neon. But I have made some purchases.

This is a fuel door pocket off a newer challenger with the Retro look fuel door.





The plan is to replace the stock Duster fuel door with this one.

Riddler

[TxSwimDad]

Hey Riddler, if you think that someday you might want to activate MDS (under your own control) leave the MDS solenoids and lifters in place...wink wink..nudge nudge...More to come tihs summer....I hope!

[Riddler]

Hmm I dunno if I want to. It's suppose to be a muscle car. Bah what do you guys have up your sleeve?

Riddler

[TxSwimDad]

Imagine MPG on demand :P & HP all the other times.

We are working on the idea for our 10/30 'cuda and we think we have it all figured out.

10/30 'cuda = 1/4 miles in the tens and 30 mpg

[Wylde1]

Originally Posted by TxSwimDad

10/30 'cuda = 1/4 miles in the tens and 30 mpg

Now that I like!


Wylde1.

[Rosepetals]

We have a 1976 Feather Duster.. It has been in the family since it came off the lot brand new.. We just gave it to our younger son to finish up for his Senior year in school. I'll have to get some pics of it on here. He has changed the interior from white to black, switched out the manual steering to power steering, and instead of red with white stripes he is going to have it done in blue with white stripes. My husband's best friend is a professional painter and is going to help him with the paint job when it's ready. We have it on car rollers right now so he can swing it around the shop while he is working on it, I'm excited for him. We thought it would be good for him to get it as is, make him appreciate cars better than some kids who get cars and run them into the ground..

[Riddler]

Still working on collecting parts. I've had some relocation boxes laser cut. These should help with being able to fit wider tires under the rear end.



Riddler

[Riddler]

Well as I'm sure you can tell, I haven't really started cutting metal and such. I have however saved up and bought some more parts.

Here's my front RMS Alterktion.






Then since I went to a different spindle I needed new brakes. Wilwood had some really nice 4 piston Dynalites with 12.19" rotors.






I'm hoping to be cutting metal soon. I've got alot to do. My goal is to have rolling chassis by xmas.

Riddler