Dash Fire Duster Rebuild

[Wvbuzzmaster]

This is kind of a overdo thread but now that I am under way on rebuilding my 1972 Duster, I figure everyone would want to see what I got myself into. Some have seen my various help threads for issues I have run into, so some of this stuff will be a repeat for some. And some pictures and information will be omitted if it was covered already in those related threads. This thread will be somewhat high level overview on those topics. So let’s start with an intro to the car and I will add a few posts of pictures etc as I go thru this to get progress caught up.

So last November (2020) I purchased this 1972 Plymouth Duster. It started life with a slant six, 904, and 7-1/4, no big surprise. Before I bought it a more desirable drivetrain was installed, being a 340/727 and B body 8-3/4. It was very solid condition and ran and drove. I knew it had issues but was willing to take it on. The seller had lost interest in the car after an electrical fire at the ammeter had destroyed the once pristine interior’s condition. While the damage was isolated mainly to the dash it left soot throughout the whole interior. So the previous owner started the rebuild with his limited resources and got as far as replacing the windshield and the wiring harness... well, kinda. He indicated that the harness was not matching up and he was not sure why but figured it had to do with being from a later car. So he hooked up enough to make it run and drive again before losing interest.

So enter me, I saw potential and we made a deal and I hauled it home. I made a list of what was needed... which in hindsight was a waste of time, cause I would have been better to make a list of what wasn’t needed because I have bought most the car by now lol.

List of major work that was planned:
New wiring harnesses
Recondition dash/clean interior
Upgrade braking to 73 up power disc
Wheels and tires
Suspension
Motor mounts

So that list seemed like all it would need... until I got it on the 2 post lift in December... and continued to find more as I got into it.
Entire rear axle had to be rebuilt
Driveline angles had to be corrected
Parking brakes components were omitted
More of the interior was damaged than met the eye
Every bushing in the suspension ended up replaced
But the biggest surprise was under the hood... where I now have the top of the engine torn down... after finding bend pushrods and hydraulic lifters missing retaining clips.

So this has been pretty high level so far, let’s see some pics, stay tuned for more posts that will contain the pictures to date.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

These pictures were all taken in November and December of last year and mark the highlights of what I was working on. This was installing the green bearings in the axles and figuring out the wheels and tires I wanted to run. So as you noticed it has the Rallys up front in all the pics, that is because of B body rear and it was a small bolt pattern car, so another reason I went to 73 disc brake upgrade route. Oh, those are 14” trailer wheels and tires I had laying around because the seller needed the ones he had on the car back. And as for the wheels they are knock offs of the Pro Stars. Goal is to keep the car somewhat nostalgic because well, I want the full experience of a vintage Mopar muscle car.

Also you can see I am learning valuable reliability information... yes that is my truck jumping the car. It is called self recovery, which is possible when all you are doing is circling the block in your subdivision... logged 15 miles on the odometer during this time... and was barely winning lol. By this time I had installed my new Poly Loc motor mounts, and changed the tune on the carb, progress.

Behind the scenes I was buying tons of parts to begin the rebuild.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

So in the month of January thru March we tore down the rear axle and rebuilt it will parts from Dr Diff, including including 3.91 gears, bearings, and Sire Grip Clutches. The shop isn’t heated so the cold hindered progress. Those pics are not very exciting, mostly just wear patterns which we got pretty close on. The main thing here was the pinion nut was now not just finger tight and the gears were no longer chipped, and the clutches no longer shattered. Additionally the rear brakes were gone thru and replaced, and the new Espo plus 2 inch leaf springs were installed. Also replaced transmission crossmember and mount from 73 style spool to 72 style block which was part of correcting the driveline angles. Had a lot of vibrations and clunks before so those should be resolved.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

April I tore the engine apart and bought parts for that, here is some carnage and mock up of new parts, not done with assembly because I tore the front suspension off too, and encountered more stuff. Here is engine shots.

Notice the internal carnage. So installing new rockers, new to me LD340, and I think this pic new lifters are installed checking pushrod length, which I bought Smith Brothers pushrods. Not too exciting but more stuff going on, and ordering parts.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Ok, this post will bring us up to current. Bought all new TTI shorty headers and dual exhaust, mocked that up, new air cleaner, also mocked up, and pristine original trans shield and repop drain cover... let the murder begin...

So I say murder because everything in this post required murderous tactics. I removed the Hedman headers with a saws all for starters, that got me to mock up of headers to see what was next...

So that pristine original trans shield did not stay pristine... my oil pan has an aftermarket gasket that is flanged which was not allowing the shield to sit correctly, in fact it was shoving the shield into the flex plate. So I ended up cutting the shield down to avoid that whole area and that worked perfectly.

Finally you will see a repair I was trying to avoid and why the front suspension is still off the car. I found a big rust hole in the bottom of the driver frame rail that was too big to ignore. So Dad and I evaluated solutions and came up with a repair. Starting with 14 gauge steel and letting it cover most of the bottom of the rail and 2” up the side to add more stability in the repair. Ran it forward and aft of all rust damage determined. It was installed with a lot of tack welds to avoid burn thru risk. After that we broke out the JB Weld and filled in the gaps. Once I paint it black it will disappear in behind the tire. This is not a preferred method of a restoration, but this car is being built to drive, so this is to restore the structure.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Only progress made tonight was install coolant overflow bottle and misc set of horns I had laying around (beats the single high horn that was on the car). Oh, pulled transmission dipstick tube, made a mess, and new dipstick tube doesn’t fit.... and it’s for sb mopar automatic but not in my experience. ugh, old dipstick tube was hitting header tube so guess going to have to try to reshape and install old tube tomorrow...

 

[MOPAR4Me]

Looking good, keep after it, a little at a time is the way of completing these projects. There are usually so many things planned, plus the unplanned, that it can become overwhelming if you don’t just plug away a bit at a time. The shield turned out great.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

New transmission dipstick tube is adapted to the car so now that is done... and a new problem found... when installing the same bolt i removed from the trans to engine bolt it bottomed out right before squeezing everything together... so guess who is questioning every other one of those bolts.... ugh...

So avoided that for now and went on to the engine to transmission braces that not everyone uses. Received my perfect original braces and they fit good... if the mini starter fit or the passenger header... so those braces are being modified to fit around those items now...

Before anyone starts a debate on them not being necessary... I want to use them even if they have to be modified to work so no need to debate.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Updates from this weekend’s progress. Lots of finiky stuff but long story shprt is both engine to transmission braces are modified to fit around the starter and the header flange. Installed front passenger side brake line cause that us an SOB no matter what. And I installed new transmission coolant lines... and sadly had to eliminate the aux cooler cause aftermarket lines routed thru the rad exchanger opposite oem and cant deal with the headache of that. Also installed the new Canton filter plate and Earl filter adapter plus stainless lines, AN-10. You can see I beed to make filter mounting bracket but another day.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Worked on the car some more today... not adding pictures because not much visual difference as mostly cleaning engine mating surfaces and bolting on passenger side header permanent. So the build continues...

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Today’s progress. Got the brakes on the passenger side all connected up. Then I painted driver side suspension parts to put on tomorrow.

Then I messed around with my spare wheel assembly. Shout out to Moparmat2000 because I stole his idea of using a Lincoln Town Car aluminum spare. However, I perfected the center hole enlargement process with the use of this very handy pipe reamer that Dad owns. Couple pics of the spare test fit on the car. The rear required the center hole to be larger than the front for some reason, didn’t question it, just used the reamer again.

Also I bought brand new seat backs for my bucket seats, so here’s a comparison of new to old, anyone need the old ones?

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Here is an update.... it runs...

 

[moparmat2000]

Looking good brother

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Guess I can add a photo of the engine back together.

 

[BuckeyeAlex]

This car was local to me and I wondered what had happened to it, great to see it show up here with some progress! I knew it with the owner before the guy you bought it from, prior to the dash fire. It had a 318 and 7 1/4 rear in it at the time.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

This car was local to me and I wondered what had happened to it, great to see it show up here with some progress! I knew it with the owner before the guy you bought it from, prior to the dash fire. It had a 318 and 7 1/4 rear in it at the time.

By the time it got to me it had the 340 and B body 8-3/4 swapped in by the owner I bought it from... he retained the 727 that was behind the 318. Additionally it has not been a simple fix at any time. Everything that could be worn out is, assembled wrong check, yup lots of rework. I call it good parts, good intentions, unfortunate execution. He was great guy, not really his fault he kept running into inability to afford fixing it up. After 50 years its anything you touch on the car you have to ask "how deep does this issue im trying to fix go?" The answer is thousands of dollars deep lol.

 

[Wvbuzzmaster]

Today’s progress is a new gas tank vent and flip fuel cap. Used a modified 5/16 bulk head barb fitting and 5/16 hard line.