f-body question/advice

[Sussmad]

thinking of looking at this for my daughter to go back and forth to high school, 2 mile ride. I know something more modern and safe, but she is an excellent driver and her sister did it in the 63 Valiant. The guy is calling it a "Duster" and there is a badge on the side that says Duster but it's a mystery to me. The car looks very clean in the pictures for a northern car; /6 with 55K; he is asking $3500 but I would need to offer lower; also has extra hood, fenders, bumpers and grill included? What do you think?

 

[memike]

It could very well be a duster and by looking at the louvers and interior it most likely is
a Duster.
I am going to say it has a 225 super six automatic with power disc brakes that will be a great daily driver, ask to put it up on a rack and look at all 4 frame rails and floor pan just to make sure it is not soft from setting, that sure sounds like low miles for that year, could it be the odometer role over and is 135.000 miles.
Myself I like these cars and are user friendly, and a plus that you can repair most anything as she drives it. Those wheels are super sweet, and hard to find
Drive it and drive it hard turning left and right backwards hitting the brakes to check ball joint's and upper and lower bushings .. memike like :colors:

 

[ramenth]

It's a Duster. It's a package on the Volare, that's all.

What Mike just said about the rails, but also make sure the cowl drains are open. There will be two rubber covers on the firewall that you can flip up and feel around in there. Those are notorious for getting clogged and causing rust along the bottom of the firewall, the toe boards, and the tops of the front frame rails.

There's also a small metal plate on top of the right front rail, below the upper control arm that's used to shield the fuel and vapor lines. It does a good job of collecting crap and rusting the top of the rail.

Other than that, a lot of the rust out areas are typical Mopar: trunk extenders, lower quarters, door bottoms, etc.

 

[memike]

It's a Duster. It's a package on the Volare, that's all.

What Mike just said about the rails, but also make sure the cowl drains are open. There will be two rubber covers on the firewall that you can flip up and feel around in there. Those are notorious for getting clogged and causing rust along the bottom of the firewall, the toe boards, and the tops of the front frame rails.

There's also a small metal plate on top of the right front rail, below the upper control arm that's used to shield the fuel and vapor lines. It does a good job of collecting crap and rusting the top of the rail.

Other than that, a lot of the rust out areas are typical Mopar: trunk extenders, lower quarters, door bottoms, etc.

Thank you for your help and wisdom ramenth :cheers:

 

[Sussmad]

thanks for the reply Memike; I didn't know that a Duster was made in 79; I thought they were all Volares by then. It does has the 225 but the add says it has one barrel carb, which again I though was strange.

 

[Sussmad]

thanks for clarifying Ramenth

 

[ramenth]

Thank you for your help and wisdom ramenth :cheers:

thanks for clarifying Ramenth

You're welcome.

Mechanical wise there's a few things you might want to keep an eye on as it gets older. One is the Lean Burn if so equipped. Not hard, though, to swap that over to the older ECU if needed.

The other is to chase down a set of recall brackets for the upper control arms. If the car is sitting on it's factory alignment settings, it shouldn't be a big deal, but if you ever need to put an alignment on it, the control arms don't like to stay in place, once they've been loosened and re-torqued.

Other than that I've had good luck with this platform and it should make a good driver for your daughter. Reliable and safe, plus good on mileage.

The only upgrades I recommend on these cars out of the box is usually to eliminate the rubber in the suspension, but that's not really necessary. It just tightens the car up and makes it better handling for a little more spirited driving.

Maybe when daughter is done with it and dad decides he wants to do a little hot rodding!

 

[dodge freak]

I think its safer in a crash then say a new Ford Focus

A new Ford might well be easier to drive to avoid a crash--anti lock brakes, front wheel drive for better traction on wet roads but in a crash these older cars hold up better then many folks believe,,,there is many, many reasons the death rates were higher in the 70's, from no seatbelt use, higher drink driving limits, less traffic lights and no left turn green arrows, plus more riskier drivers on the roads 40 years ago

Don't forget accidents now get reported in seconds thanks to cell phones, in the old days you laid there for 5 mins before a call for help came it