72 duster Build progress

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im diggin the graphics on the car.. def sets it apart and gives it some attitude... very nice
 
You're making me want a Mustang again. I actually looked on Craigslist last night hoping I'd find a new one to spend my no extra money on!
 
72Dodge said:
You're making me want a Mustang again. I actually looked on Craigslist last night hoping I'd find a new one to spend my no extra money on!
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HAHA....

It is true what they say......everyone and their brother has one of these things. So if your goal is to stand out in a crowd then keep searching lol. But I kind of like the feeling of not having "all eyes on me" every time I want to just cruise.

And they really are fun cars to drive and handle like a dream.

They really don't even come with that much power from the factory but they are so light and nimble that they have a good seat of the pants feel to them.

like I said, I am not going crazy in the looks department. Just something I thought would be cool to do to make it a throw back to my old mach 1 I use to have. And to put my touches on it so its not like every other mustang in town.

Plus I really liked the color on the car ( mineral gray I believe is the name of the paint )....it was more commonly seen on saleen mustangs and special edition mustangs of that nature and on the latest body styled mustang. Just a nice clean under the radar aggressive color in my opinion.

sorry guys....not trying to sell anyone on mustangs here. Just sharing my thoughts lol
 
SpeedracerX said:
im diggin the graphics on the car.. def sets it apart and gives it some attitude... very nice
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Thank ya Bill, Just doing a few personal touches here and there to it.

Amazing what a difference graphics can make in a car when done right.

After my Duster was painted I wasn't to sure how I liked it.....it just looked "off".

I put the stripe kit on it and it became a completely different car in my eyes and made it look mean.

some times its the little things that make the biggest differences.
 
figured I would stop into fabo real quick and update you guys on things.

My little man broke his wrist last week (atleast it was a few days after his birthday and at the end of summer and not his primary use arm). He was at school on the monkey bars and slipped and fell and broke it and the bone popped up ontop of the break so they had to put him to sleep and rebreak and set it. ( I fell off the monkey bars when I was a kid too and broke my collar bone.....they should really get rid of them things lol.). anyhow, they ended up casting him all the way up to the shoulder because they said the kind of break that it is and being that he is pretty active that it could easily be broke again so they wanted to take the extra measure.

Other than that....the only thing new really to mention is that I just finished working on my wifes grand cherokee. last winter the heat wasnt that great and the windows fog up now and then. and all of the dual climate control blend doors broke. so I finally decided to take the plunge and get it done before the weather got to bad. now I see why the dealer charges on average $1500 minimum in labor for that job lol. I have to remove both front seats,center console,steering coumn and entire dash,wire harness's, under hood had to remove coolant resevoir,ecm,tcm,wire harness,bunch of brackets,heater hoses,a/c lines, HVAC unit under dash,then had to cut the hvac and install the new heater core and dual climate control blend doors and a fresh air vent blend door and reset all the actuators and do a few other things and then had to reinstall it all.

It wasnt really a hard job....just time consuming. But I am happy to say that the heat is AMAZING in it now,all the blend doors work,no leaks and no left over parts or screws! HAHAHA

anyhow,just figured id stop in and drop you guys a line.
 
Broken bones always suck, but getting the cast signed is always cool.. Hope he gets better soon my friend
 
Good to see you back! Now that you have your Mustang to DRIVE, you really oughta start looking for a Mopar project......
 
I never left lol. I still check fabo almost everyday (hard habbit to break lol). I just don't post as much.

I wouldn't mind doing that one day "after we are able to get a house and a garage of my own ". If I did another a body I think I'd like to do a dart maybe. I just like the shape of them . I'd really love to do a cuda but they are just so hard to find,expensive,and expensive to build.

Whatever project I may do in the future, I know I don't want it to be as extensive as the duster lol. I want to start with a good base that I can do things to little by little rather than a complete overhaul.

All wishfully thinking at the moment ....but one day lol.

A house is the main goal now. After that's been accomplished ...then I can start thinkin harder about another project.
 
SpeedracerX said:
Broken bones always suck, but getting the cast signed is always cool.. Hope he gets better soon my friend
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Thanks bill. We were hoping for a half cast because we wanted to paint it to look like iron mans arm. But with them doing a full cast with a bend in it .... Wouldn't have the same effect. But yes he has been geeked about getting people to sign it for him.

He has been a trooper about it though!. For being as young as he is and it being as bad of a break as it was he has been a tough dude about it.

I went and bought him a really cool Lego set right after it happened to help make him feel better and we went to build it and he was struggling with only one hand and he said "I wish I could take this cast off already". I said "buddy it's only been on a day , you got a lot more of this to look forward to yet" lol.

Other than that he hasn't complained about it a bit.

I think the doc said we can have it removed in 4 weeks if all heals well. Which means he should have it off just in time for trick or treating lol
 
Long time no see everyone!.

I still pop into fabo once a week or so and lurk the forums just because I still enjoy seeing what projects people are working on but haven't actively posted in a couple years since I sold the Duster (man that went fast!, sure miss it!).

Still getting by, family is doing well, Still working toward the goal of getting a house.....long slow road unfortunately. But we have made big strides toward that goal and on improving our situation. And we want to do it right the first time and not be looking to do it again a few years down the road....so we are being patient and trying to get in the best position we can to get what we want the first go round.

Happy to report we are a all Mopar family again though!. I had my 01 Mustang GT for a couple years and I converted it all over to being a Mach1 and did lots of stuff to it but I sold it not long back. I also sold my 05 F-150 not that long back. All in preperation of getting a new truck. My wife got a 05 WK grand cherokee with the 5.7l hemi in it about a year ago now. And I couldn't help but be jealous that she had more power in her suv than my truck so I decided after I sold both my vehicles I would look to remedy that situation. And after looking for quite awhile I finally found the right deal.

2011 Ram 1500 Sport/TRX,4x4,quad cab,short bed,5.7L,loaded to the max. Love the truck and plan on doing a few things to it also. After we get a house in the next year or two hopefully and things stable out a bit I would love to get back into a Mopar project car. I told myself after the Duster that I would never get into such an extensive project again....And call me crazy but I would love to do it all again. I miss doing the work,I miss making something out of nothing...As much of a pain in the *** it was building that car as long as I did...I made alot of memories doing so and I would like to do something similar again one day. So you guys will most likely being seeing me alot more again one day down the road lol.

Anyways, here is a few pics of the new Mopar for those of you curious.



















 
Good to see your still lurking my friend.. Nice truck!! Black marks on the pavement from you?? lol
 
Thank you. One day I will definitely be doing it again. Cant say for sure what kind of car it will be but I will get back into something. I think one of the parts I miss the most outside of the mechanical aspects would be doing the metal work. And the part I still miss the least would be the sanding haha. I told myself I could see myself never touching a piece of sand paper again but that was a lie. I had a car given to me last year by a neighbor that moved and I replaced both rear quarter panels and did a paint job on it over a weekend and flipped it for profit. As much as I hate the sanding...I will admit it felt good to be back in that "groove" lol.

It might take awhile before I have another project but Ill be back eventually. Ill continue to lurk until then.
 
I look forward to whatever project you do eventually wind up with... Im curious, have you run across the Duster since you sold it? (I cant remember if you sold it to someone local or if the car went far enough away that you wouldnt run into it)
 
SpeedracerX said:
I look forward to whatever project you do eventually wind up with... Im curious, have you run across the Duster since you sold it? (I cant remember if you sold it to someone local or if the car went far enough away that you wouldn't run into it)
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Im from lower MI, The guy I sold it to was from Detroit (about 80 miles or so away). A friend of mine went to the woodward dream cruise a few days after I had sold the Duster and told me he seen someone thrashing on the Duster up and down the streets. And apparently it wasn't but a couple weeks or so after that he sold the duster.

Reason I know this is about a year after I sold it I got curious and typed in a few things on google and found a link to racingjunk.com and found my Duster for sale down near the ohio kentucky border for around $18k I think it was. I emailed the guy and told him that I built the car and he went on about how much he loved the car and how many compliments he got on it and how his professional painter complimented at how it was one of the best paint jobs he had ever seen and the body work.

He told me he was just feeling the waters putting it up for sale but wasn't worried if it sold or not because he liked it. He traded a chevelle or a nova for it and some cash I think he told me. The guy he got it from ( guy I sold it too ) told him that his wife was making him get rid of it. And the guy also told me that after buying it that he found it had no oil pressure and the guy never told him. So apparently he thrashed it and took the oil pump out. Luckily this guy caught it before it caused damage.

What pissed me off the most is the guy I found didn't know a BIT about me or its history. The guy I sold it to I gave hundreds of documents and receipts and pictures and told him everything about the car and what I went through with it. He didn't tell this guy a bit of it ....not a single piece of paper or nothing. So I told this guy everything and how long I had it and it was in Mopar Muscle Mag. Original color, the transformation it went through and he was blown away.

I have not heard from the guy since then. Don't know if he still has it or if it has changed hands again. A shame if its getting thrashed around. What I wanted most out of selling it was for someone to appreciate it and enjoy it. Not get greedy and try to flip it....or beat the hell out of it. But, its not my place to say anymore. Hope where ever it is....it is being cared for!.
 
yea... Sucks when the people who buy stuff, could care less about the history, blood, sweat and tears that went into it before they got it... But like you said, once the money changes hands and the keys get handed over, its out of our hands... I too hope your sweet ex-duster found a good home with someone who will treat it with the proper amount of love and respect...
 
Whew! Just read this thread through the first 900 posts to just after the stripes were added. I've been building cars for 30 years and had a number of shops, but watching you build that in a little garage on a budget was realy refreshing to me. I'm actually looking forward to building the 73 we just picked up for the Mrs. I was so burned out on on building I didn't even want another car due to the expense and BS of having dealt with customers cars, I could care less if I never saw another old car again! Your approach to solving problems and repairing an old car with limited resources, is what made the car hobby in the first place. Long before TV crews and "7 day builds" on "reality" TV. Good job Jarrod, and thanks for reminding us what hot rodding is really all about, making the most of what you have and breathing new life into old metal.

-signed, a former "pro" builder.
 
70440 said:
Whew! Just read this thread through the first 900 posts to just after the stripes were added. I've been building cars for 30 years and had a number of shops, but watching you build that in a little garage on a budget was realy refreshing to me. I'm actually looking forward to building the 73 we just picked up for the Mrs. I was so burned out on on building I didn't even want another car due to the expense and BS of having dealt with customers cars, I could care less if I never saw another old car again! Your approach to solving problems and repairing an old car with limited resources, is what made the car hobby in the first place. Long before TV crews and "7 day builds" on "reality" TV. Good job Jarrod, and thanks for reminding us what hot rodding is really all about, making the most of what you have and breathing new life into old metal.

-signed, a former "pro" builder.
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Thank you very much for the kind words!. Makes me feel good that even after all of this time people are getting good use from my build thread and that it might inspire others to tackle the jobs ahead of them themselves.

More and more these days it seems to cost a lot more money for a lot less quality. People just don't take pride in what they are getting paid to do or lack the skill and knowledge to do it correctly.

When I built the duster it was a long (painful at times) process but I stuck with it and seen it through to completion. It took 4 years as I had to buy parts 1 piece at a time. And it was ALOT of work. But looking back it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot!. Back then I told myself I didn't want to do another project of that extent again. But I would totally do it again if given the chance to do so!.

We are still making strides towards purchasing a house so I can have my own garage again. But once I do...... I WILL be getting another project or 2!. Hopefully within the next year or so we can be in the spot we would like to be in to be able to purchase a house. It's a long slow road getting there building credit/saving up and not havin anyone to help co sign or anything. But one day soon hopefully we will make it happen. And then I'll be getting back into the game and when I do I will for sure be posting progress here on the forum.

Thank you again for the comments and I am glad you enjoyed the read!.
 
Thanks guys. And yes it sure is my old Duster!. Sad to see it has changed hands so many times!. I wish someone who could appreciate it would get it. It deserves better than to be swapped and traded and thrashed. I see a couple little things that have been changed (tornado sticker on tail panel). Otherwise it's pretty much where I left off with it. Strange the feelings that come when seeing it again and seeing it for sale. Almost like running into an old girlfriend you use to be head over heels in love with lol. Nothing I can do about it now. Other than hope someone will get it and keep and enjoy it like it desearves
 
And it really bugs me that the guy I sold it to didn't sell it with any of the documentation I gave when I sold it (hundreds of receipts, a box full). And didn't tell any of the history to the buyer. And the person selling it now doesn't even know the bumpers are new. They just say "looks like new, nice chrome". And after ALLLLLLLL of the paint staking hours I put in to body and paint work and they list it as having "nice paint". F*ck off man! Lol. Ok, rant over. Wish I still had the duster at times. But everything happens for a reason. I'll get another project and do it bigger and better (maybe not.... That's a lot of work) hahaha
 
Wow , Just wanted to say , I am brand new today to this site and man am I glad I joined . I have wanted to own a Mopar all my life , but never could afford one . I just picked this sweet car up about a week ago , joined this group , found your thread , and man I gotta tell you I am blown away with the amount of documentation and the time you have spent on this car . This is my very first Mopar , so I don't really know a lot about these cars , The car is absolutely beautiful in everyway . The only thing I would like to do is a rear end swap . As I would like to use the car for trips to Gatlinburg Tennessee . Any help from xMoparx would be greatly appreciated . as I am not a trader and WILL be keeping this car for a really long time .

Hope to hear from you soon
Ken
 

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