I have been a visitor off and on here for years. I am mainly a b-body guy but I built a 74 Duster and a 72 Dart for my sons. My son with the Duster has gotten busy with work, school and life in general so I ended up getting the Duster back. This happened about the same time that I picked up a '72 Satellite racecar project for a good deal. The Duster has a 318 4 brl, 904 and an 8 1/4 limited slip. The Satellite has .060 over 440, manual shift 727 and a narrowed Dana. I'm pretty sure I know where that drive train is going to end up. Gathering parts right now and will post updates.
'74 Duster big block conversion
- Thread starter Outlaw525
- Start date
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Ironracer
Gearhead
You are gonna have some fun, and a Wild Mopar when You are done! I had to look really close! Looked like a 73 Duster I sold at Garlits in 07 or so!
Cool cars !!!!
LMAO! Enjoy!
Making a little progress. The Duster had been sitting for about 2 years so I cleaned the carb and fuel system, new plugs, oil change and new tires. It runs pretty strong for a mild 318. I'm going to keep driving it while it's getting prepped for the 440.
Prepping the hood scoop for paint.
I am a product of the late 70's and have always like the look of spun aluminum Centerlines and Dusters with skinny front/wide rear tires. I found a rough set of 15x3.5" and 15X10" Auto Drags for a good deal and spent last weekend cleaning and resealing them. The rears will get 295/50's next week. Here's the before and after with new caps:
I am a product of the late 70's and have always like the look of spun aluminum Centerlines and Dusters with skinny front/wide rear tires. I found a rough set of 15x3.5" and 15X10" Auto Drags for a good deal and spent last weekend cleaning and resealing them. The rears will get 295/50's next week. Here's the before and after with new caps:
JDMopar
Well-Known Member
Dang! You did an awesome job on the wheels. I love satin Autodrags. I'm sure you probably know, but there's a mod you can do to the spool mount K frame in the Duster to make it the same thing as the old Direct Connection A body big block K frames. Then you can use factory big block spool mounts to mount your 440.
Those Cragar SST wheels are very hard to come by. Super cool.
Sorry everyone, I'm terrible about updates. Quick one on the engine from the donor racecar. I had a bit of setback there and shared the full story over on B bodies. Did all the normal stuff- fluids change, oil in the cylinders, cleaned the carb and fuel lines. Cranked it over and it fired up and ran good for about 5 minutes and then died and lost compression. Turns out the cam bolt was loose and the cam gear spun, bending a bunch of valves and pushrods. This was made worse by the fact that the pistons were in upside down. So now the 440 is coming completely apart for inspection and rebuild. Lucky the Duster has a fresh 318 in it now so it's drivable.
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I have been cleaning and detailing the interior.
new dash pad
wood steering wheel
replaced and dyed some of the plastic pieces
dyed the speaker covers
recovered the package tray
The hard board headliner was pretty rough so I ordered one of the ABS replacements and covered it to match the package tray. I'm going to need an extra set of hands to get it installed
new dash pad
wood steering wheel
replaced and dyed some of the plastic pieces
dyed the speaker covers
recovered the package tray
The hard board headliner was pretty rough so I ordered one of the ABS replacements and covered it to match the package tray. I'm going to need an extra set of hands to get it installed
Like the mirrors. Very cool.
Upside down piston installation…. Amazing, simply amazing. Outstanding work by the builder!
That must have freaked you out.
Upside down piston installation…. Amazing, simply amazing. Outstanding work by the builder!
That must have freaked you out.
Engine update - I got the 440 torn down. The tops of the cylinders were ground on, I guess for valve clearance, but on the lower side of the cylinders. That would match the upside down pistons. Rod side clearance is huge, over .035 on rods 7/8 and 3/4. The sides of the rods were ground on possibly for balance? .020 of end play on the crankshaft. I'm just going to play taps over this poor thing and move on.
I have a low mileage .030 over 383 that I have been holding onto. I pulled it out of storage and am going to go through it for Duster.
I have a low mileage .030 over 383 that I have been holding onto. I pulled it out of storage and am going to go through it for Duster.
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I think the 383 is a great idea. Totally under rated engine that will flat PERFORM built and tuned right. Man, somebody really screwed that 440 up.
Yea! No doubt. Dang shame.
Smile and laugh at it. Post all the screwed up pictures you can so we all can laugh, not at you but at the last builders shenanigans.
Smile and laugh at it. Post all the screwed up pictures you can so we all can laugh, not at you but at the last builders shenanigans.
My plan is a retro look for the 383, I have a set of either black Cal Custom or blue Moroso valve covers, TM6 intake, yellow Accel plug wires and a '69 oval air cleaner. I think this will go well with the Centerline wheels.
I salvaged a bunch of parts from the 440 for the 383- ARP head & main studs, Melling oil pump, billet rear main seal cap, balancer and the aluminum water pump housing along with the Stealth heads. I cleaned up the ports, opened up the pushrod passages, replaced all the valves, valve springs, seals and reused the 10 degree retainers that were on the heads.
The 383 came out of my '71 Road Runner. It wasn't the original engine, it's a '67 block. It has been a good engine, but after 20 years of my right foot it was ready for a little TLC. There's a fresh 500" on the stand that will be replacing it in the Road Runner. I measured the crank and it was still within specs at standard diameter for the rods and mains and I have a set of standard full groove main bearings that I had picked up awhile ago. Crank goes in tonight.
I salvaged a bunch of parts from the 440 for the 383- ARP head & main studs, Melling oil pump, billet rear main seal cap, balancer and the aluminum water pump housing along with the Stealth heads. I cleaned up the ports, opened up the pushrod passages, replaced all the valves, valve springs, seals and reused the 10 degree retainers that were on the heads.
The 383 came out of my '71 Road Runner. It wasn't the original engine, it's a '67 block. It has been a good engine, but after 20 years of my right foot it was ready for a little TLC. There's a fresh 500" on the stand that will be replacing it in the Road Runner. I measured the crank and it was still within specs at standard diameter for the rods and mains and I have a set of standard full groove main bearings that I had picked up awhile ago. Crank goes in tonight.
You obviously have some awesome skills and talents. I'm sure the car is going to be quite a prize when finished. The only thing that scares me is you used the word "Accel". I've never had good luck with any of their crap; specifically, my brother bought a brand new set of Accel ignition wires for his '72 Dart (that I sold to him). Believe it or not, the car actually ran better with the brittle OEM wires he pulled off.
With all the money you're feeding this beast, please consider other wires. May I suggest Granatelli wires?? They're solid core, but feature an RFI Suppressor ring so the AM radio still works. Solid core means 0 ohms per foot resistance! I have a set on our EFI Jeep Grand Cherokee, and they don't scramble ECU signals.
With all the money you're feeding this beast, please consider other wires. May I suggest Granatelli wires?? They're solid core, but feature an RFI Suppressor ring so the AM radio still works. Solid core means 0 ohms per foot resistance! I have a set on our EFI Jeep Grand Cherokee, and they don't scramble ECU signals.
Where did you get good upper door panels would kill to find them.
With all the money you're feeding this beast, please consider other wires. May I suggest Granatelli wires?? They're solid core, but feature an RFI Suppressor ring so the AM radio still works. Solid core means 0 ohms per foot resistance! I have a set on our EFI Jeep Grand Cherokee, and they don't scramble ECU signals.[/QUOTE]
I've had issues with the cheap 7mm Accel wires also. I have run the 8.8 wires on a couple vehicles including my 472 hemi with good results. I have an new set of 8.8's on the shelf that I am going use, if they don't work, I will look into the Granatelli wires.
They are actually the original ones for the car. I cleaned and scrubbed them with Dawn and stiff bristle brush to get the flaky crap off, then went over them lightly with a green scuff pad before dying them.
I've had issues with the cheap 7mm Accel wires also. I have run the 8.8 wires on a couple vehicles including my 472 hemi with good results. I have an new set of 8.8's on the shelf that I am going use, if they don't work, I will look into the Granatelli wires.
They are actually the original ones for the car. I cleaned and scrubbed them with Dawn and stiff bristle brush to get the flaky crap off, then went over them lightly with a green scuff pad before dying them.
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Crank is in. I used the ARP main studs and billet rear main seal cap from the 440 along with a new red Viton rear main seal. I have had really good luck the Viton rear seal not leaking on multiple engines, even after sitting for a while. The main studs are probably overkill for this build, but WTH, I had them.
My pistons got lost in route from Summit Racing but they were quick to get another set shipped. While I'm waiting, I worked on the aluminum water pump housing that came off the 440. The water passages were quite a bit smaller and didn't line up with the passages in the block. I used a set of extra gaskets to make templates off the block and opened up the housing passages to match.
I used an MP aluminum water pump that I had. It's on the right compared to inexpensive Chinese aluminum water pump on the left that was in the housing.
Also installed a high flow 160 degree thermostat (right) in place of the stock style (left). Big difference in the passage size. It is also vented for air to pass through when filling the system.
I used an MP aluminum water pump that I had. It's on the right compared to inexpensive Chinese aluminum water pump on the left that was in the housing.
Also installed a high flow 160 degree thermostat (right) in place of the stock style (left). Big difference in the passage size. It is also vented for air to pass through when filling the system.
KB pistons finally arrived today. I'm using a set of 440Source I beam rods. I did replace the 7/16" cap bolts with no markings that came in the rods with ARP ones that were in the rods in the 440. Off to the machine shop to have the pins pressed in.
Pistons are installed and cam centerline checked. I had a new Comp Thumpr cam made in 2011 on the shelf. I degreed in exactly at 102 per the specs. I went with a billet Mancini timing chain and ARP cam bolt. Heads will be installed tonight and I will start masking it of for paint.
I bought a rechromed '72 rear bumper at the Portland Swap meet in April. Finally had a chance to clean and paint the brackets and swap out the big heavy crash bumper. It definitely cleans up the back of the car. Before and after pics.
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