my '72 Duster

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95teetee

95teetee

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Drumheller, Alberta
(I planned on doing a ton of pics as I went, but I was so disheartened by the condition of the car when we started, that I skipped the majority of that process- didn't want reminders lol)

This is what she used to look like back 10+ years ago:
duster1.jpg

built 340, kitted 727 w/2500 stall, 4.10 SG. Originally a 318 car, a guy I know built it in about 1980 (the red paint that was on it when I bought it was applied that year. Poor thing even already needed rust repair at that point (driver's inner fender, lower quarters on both sides from what I found working on it now). I even found a receipt for radial T/As from '77 with the owners manual from when my buddy bought tires for it.
I parked it about 10 years ago- the motor had started to rattle (thought it was a spun bearing- my brother pulled it apart a year or so ago and couldn't see anything wrong). Also, it wouldn't hold a wheel alignment. Not really serious reasons, but it was also time for a change.
This year I decided it was time for another Duster (and my Scamp is a bunch of parts being held together by rust lol)- couldn't find anything decent (and close), so pulled the old girl out of the weeds and went at it.
Here are a few pics from August 21:
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By now we have a 360 in it (deciding what the final power plant will be- rebuild the 340 maybe, or my brother has a 416 kit he says he wants to build for it[-o<) with my 727 (but not the converter of course). About this time I spot a kink in the k-member...now we know why it had wheel alignment problems (the guy I bought it from wasn't used to power- put the pass. corner into a pole. Bought a fender from my brother way back when, but they didn't fix the underlying issues. We didn't notice how deep it went until now). Out comes the engine and tranny again, and we tear into one of my brother's parts car for another. Change that out, and we're back on track.
 
While my brother has been doing most of the mechanical stuff, I'm doing bodywork (his neighbour is a welder, and he does some patch panels. Not very well, but he does them).
Sept 16- primed and waiting for sanding(didn't care for this primer that much- stuff's supposed to dry flat in my experience lol):
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and some pics I took today- sitting on the trailer fresh from getting exhaust, sanded, I've painted the jambs, underhood, etc,, waiting to go to the painter on Monday:D

yep, I'm deleting the vinyl roof...
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most of the interior is back in (a lot of the Duster ended up on the Scamp- front end, buckets and console, rallye mirrors, go-wing and dual snorkel scoop, etc.)
the buckets were recovered when I moved them to the Scamp. (That's a new dashpad from BE&A, still needs to be tweaked a bit)
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here's a couple pics from the other part of my brother's shop:

Ram SRT-10 under cover:
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and some barracudas:
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the red one is a 273 pushbutton auto (IIRC), the yellow is a 273 4-speed a/c car, and the green one has a built 340 with a Doug Nash 5-speed.

The security system:):
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Still some more stuff to do obviously. Not sure how much work I've got ahead of me on the electrical system, need to change the master cylinder.
Gotta crank the torsion bars down a ways too lol.
Not incredibly happy with my bodywork (mostly the lower quarters in front of the rear wheels) but I got tired of trying to improve it.

Now that we've made it this far I do wish that I'd documented the work a little better.

We originally thought we could have it done by the end of August, but setbacks (like the k-member) got in the way. Still made pretty good time on it (good thing I was cut back to two work days a week:D-also a good thing that I have a generous brother who said my work situation wasn't a reason not to do the car- he'd pony up the cash for whatever we needed:thumleft:)
 
This is going in too (thanks bro:blob:)

sharktooth.jpg


wish I'd taken before pics of this sucker- had to do a lot of fixin' on it.
 
Badart said:
Looks great and those are some nice early A's. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

thanks- besides those cudas, my brother also has a 340 '71 Demon, but it's parked somewhere else, so I couldn't include it in the pics...
(I get my love of a-bodies from him obviously- he started out way back in the late '70s with a '72 340 Duster (which burned up in a Christmas Day garage fire about 15 years ago:-()
 
painter left me a message today that it was done and ready to go:cheers:



....he didn't say whether it looked any good or not:neutral:

(I'm more worried about my bodywork than his paint work lol)
 
stopped by this morning and took a couple quick pics with my ipod...
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I car really see the difference between what the original paint mixer (as seen in the first post of the thread) made for me as plum crazy, and what this is (this looks pretty damn close to me).

...and I can see a lot that I missed in the bodywork aspect of it,,,once everything is back on it I'm pretty sure I'll be happy to drive it around though:D.
 
Looks beautiful to me. You did all of that bodywork and the painter gets to have all of the fun. That's just not fair. Get that thing together and get it on the road.
 
thanks guys- Badart, you got that part right for sure lol- he gets to do the part that actually makes it look nice, after I spend weeks slaving away on the hard part:wack:
:iconbigg:

Now the plan is to reassemble it over the weekend, maybe have it out Monday.
(it needs a new master cylinder, but I don't need no stinkin' brakes:p)
 
thanks- it feels good. Still plenty to do, but I can drive it now anyways:D

edit- just in time for winter lol.
 
update (first a few of the pics I've posted elsewhere):
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so in quick summary (stuff that readily comes to mind, anyways lol): new SS springs, converted to manual steering, new floor pans and some quarter patches, replaced k-member, new balljoints, put the sharktooth in, a '79 360 mated to the original 727 into 4.10 8 3/4 SG, new dashpad, a ton of bodywork, replaced the interior and exterior parts I had on my Scamp.
Still need the front bumper replaced or repaired, some wiring to do (horn and backup lights not working yet), replacing front shocks right away (might need to get a new steering box too- the one we stuck in there is pretty loose).
edit- got the new front shocks in after work today, haven't test-driven it yet. It has a bad wander going over bumps at highway speeds, I'm hoping the shocks help- or it's steering box time (everything else is good under there, the box has a bit of slop though.
Would like to put some bigger rubber out back...a few other odds and ends that aren't coming to me right now.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the results:)
 
and that's why I am going with plum crazy. Look at that how can you not love that color
 
thanks guys- Paul, these tires definitely don't have the attitude the old ones did- the guy who bought those rims got an absolutely perfect size and backspacing for the car.


Actually, the guy who originally built this car stopped by on Sunday night to have a look- I told him about what I found in the glove box:
tires.jpg

he said these T/As were the first set of tires he put on it when he bought it.
Yep, they messed up the year of the car on the receipt:D




unknownsnake said:
and that's why I am going with plum crazy. Look at that how can you not love that color
Click to expand...
when I put these fenders and hood on my Scamp about 12 years ago, they were already this color- I almost changed the Scamp to plum crazy at that point lol.
 
Man o man!

you work to fast!, come finish mine for me would ya? HAHAHA

seriously though you did a great job and it looks close to what I vision the final product of my duster as being.

good work!
 
DusterDude72 said:
Man o man!

you work to fast!, come finish mine for me would ya? HAHAHA

seriously though you did a great job and it looks close to what I vision the final product of my duster as being.

good work!
Click to expand...

thanks dude:D

one good thing about being cut back to two days a week at work- lotsa time to work on the car.
 
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