1974 Duster Build Thread

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Got some 285s on the back wheels. Waiting on a spacer to center them up- went a little heavy on the backspacing I guess. Also got my rear seat hole covered up. Not perfect but it will work until I can find a seat.

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Oh, also swapped over to a early Duster bumper. So much better than that ginormous 5mph thing. Mines rough, but it’s a place to hang a plate until I find on in better shape.

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Still at work but just got an email my wheel spacers are out for delivery. I also went ahead and ordered the Ranger air dam and that will be here today too. Ive been fiddling with the cheapo ebay tach daily, and have even tried a tach adapter but it is still way over-reading so I broke down and ordered an Autometer last night. 5 point harness on the way, and one of the first soft interior components I had to order: door panels from year one.
 
Alright buddy! I wish mine was moving along that fast. Look forward to the pics. :thumbsup:
 
Alright buddy! I wish mine was moving along that fast. Look forward to the pics. :thumbsup:

Thanks bud! Its moving right along. Its by far the biggest project I've undertaken. I just spend a little time on it every day to unwind from work- plenty of time but limited funds means I get to figure out how to do everything myself! if I didn't have this forum, it would still be a shell!
 
Update! Rinsed it off and drove it to the gas station. Played with the timing at the pump a little bit and made it home with no issues! 4 miles on it!

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Good afternoon all! Been away from the thread for a while, but not away from the Duster. Working steadily on it, and have driven it occasionally. Dealing with some tuning issues right now and regretting going with the ready to run distributor as its being a little difficult. Might be going back to the Firecore and adding an MSD box in the near future. But anywhos- Spent the weekend tidying up some wiring, and went ahead bolted up a PRW aluminum pump and housing, as well as a Powermaster 95a (I figure until I get a hood, I may as well have a lot of chrome) got a killer deal on the PRW, so it wasn't too bad. I have an HHR fan on order that I want to wriggle in there as a puller, but have a Flexalite Black Magic as a pusher right now. Its plenty when its idling, but I know it will block too much airflow at speed.

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Well, been away from my thread a while- not even sure where I left off! I’ve got the car running strong now and mostly focused on cosmetics. Interior is complete! Swapped it over to 15s today to put a little more tire on the back and cut some new plug wires to clean up the engine compartment.

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Do you need a rear seat? I have a rear seat from a 1972 Duster that I'm going to throw away. It is in very nice shape but I don't have any use for it.

I do but I think I am a ways away from you.
 
Also forgot to mention that I got a better understanding of the 727 workings with the help of this forum. I swapped the Turbo Action reverse manual valve body for a CRT Reverse manual valve body with low band apply. Also swapped to a billet front servo, billet rear servo, billet accumulator with built in blocker rod and billet band struts. Experiencing a little shift overlap, likely due to re-using the 5.0 lever I had with the turbo action. Per John at CRT he recommends a 3.9 or 4.2 with that valve body- so that will be my next project. I can post pictures of all that tonight.
 
A few pics from the trans. New valve body and accumulator and struts pictures. Guess I didn’t take any of the servos...

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Wow. I guess I’ve been neglecting my thread. Lots of updates as I’ve been working on the car steadily, and actually have been driving it a bit on the weekends. The body did not come out perfect but it’s a driver and I like it. I didn’t pay for additional bodywork in addition to what I did, only paint and that was done nicely. I know nothing is technically correct on it. The ‘70 deck lid has been in my shed for 16 years and is off my first car I built with my dad- the only thing I saved when it was totaled (not my fault!) so I figured why no re-use it. The ‘71 style stripe? Well I like them. Didn’t trust myself to cut it for my door handles but like how it turned out too. I do want to get correct mirrors at some point, but on to the pictures.
 
Off to the paint booth. You can see it’s the same color as my first duster (that I still had the deck lid from).

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Spent the down time polishing up all my trim with the bench grinder, cotton wheels and some rouge.

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New door weatherstripping, trunk weatherstripping and reassembly started.

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