I'm finally back to working on the Demon. The weather has been not good. It only stopped snowing here about four weeks ago, and now we're on the 9th day of 24/7 rain. Working outside just isn't fun when you're soaked. I finally had the car towed from my one house (with a dirt driveway) to the other house with a better driveway, and took it apart more to assess the rust damage and to make a plan. There were a few plan possibilities (replace the whole front end with frame rails/floor, replace only the rusted front end/floor parts, or like Old Man Mopar says, junk it). So after looking closer at the damage, the whole engine "enclosure" is not in the best condition, but is in usable condition. In addition, dumping the whole enclosure then paying thousands to build a new enclosure just doesn't make sense. So I've decided to just cut out the majority of the frame rails and keep and re-use the whole enclosure.
1971 Demon, FC7 Plum Crazy
- Thread starter tom999w
- Start date
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The front end of the frame rails that connect to the radiator support are good, so I'm going to cut them in front of the K-member bolt and drill out all the fender apron and side splash brace (not sure what they're called at the firewall) spot welds, and then butt weld the fronts of the frame rails, and then normally weld the backs of the frame rails to the torsion bar crossmember.
I applaud your passion.
Thanks, but it's not as bad as it looks. The car is not getting restored. I'm only fixing the structural aspects of the car and getting it legal/running/driving. It will pretty much be a bogue car (beyond a patina car but nowhere near a rat rod); similar to all the early '70's cars driving around in the northeast U.S. in the late '70's, with rusted quarter panels and lots of wear. My parents had two of them when I was a kid, they ran and drove nicely but were ugly and rusted out. If anyone here was alive in the 1970's in the northeast U.S. they'd know what I'm talking about.
mygasser
Well-Known Member
a bit 'roadkill' then?
I googled it and see what you're talking about.. Oh I see. Well not really, this Demon will be totally stock and not modified in any way; just an old junky car that were so prevalent on the streets in the late '70's..
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mygasser
Well-Known Member
a bit more 'roadworthy rescues' than 'roadkill' then, lol.
kick
Well-Known Member
80’s and 90’s there were still plenty of cars running around here with rotted quarters. I took my drivers test in 89 with my dad’s 74 gold duster that he bought new and that was on the road into the mid 90’s with plenty of disintegration.
I finally had 5 non-raining days to work on the car after work (3 hours each day before it got dark). I bought the Harbor Freight spot weld drills and a bunch of nice new power tools and drilled out about 100 spot welds on the floor and rocker. The floor is out and most of the rocker spot welds are drilled out. Tomorrow I'm going to weld a brace into the door frame and start cutting the rocker the rest of the way out.
![20250625_190208[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/20250625_190208-1-jpg.1716422854/ "20250625_190208[1].jpg")
Update: I got laid off at my job, my personal car needed work, and also the wife needed a new car, so that slowed down progress a bit. It's crappy how life's bills get in the way of working on a fun project, but the wife would not be happy if the electric bill money was spent on Demon parts.
So I got a new job and am now stockpiling parts. A new AMD floor was picked up, and also a torsion crossmember. These parts were also paid for and just need to be picked up from around New York state: a complete correct '71 Demon nose, firewall, inner/outer rocker for the drivers side, and front frame rails.
![20250723_124849[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/20250723_124849-1-jpg.1716433574/ "20250723_124849[1].jpg")
![20250723_125115[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/20250723_125115-1-jpg.1716433575/ "20250723_125115[1].jpg")
So I got a new job and am now stockpiling parts. A new AMD floor was picked up, and also a torsion crossmember. These parts were also paid for and just need to be picked up from around New York state: a complete correct '71 Demon nose, firewall, inner/outer rocker for the drivers side, and front frame rails.
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I also picked up some super cool patina dented and dinged correct W11 deluxe "wheel covers" for the Demon at the Carlisle Chrysler show. The car did not have a data plate when I bought it (it rusted out), but don't know if deluxe wheel covers would be shown on a data plate anyway. But by doing detective work, the wheels appear to be original, and they are black (not body color, which would show that the car was manufactured after mid-March 1971, after the transition from body colored wheels to black wheels OR if the wheels came from the factory with full wheel covers, which would have been supplied with black wheels) and had deluxe wheel covers (not poverty caps), based on the scrape patterns on the rim of the wheel.
Disclaimer: Alot of people may be wondering why so much time is placed on crappy hubcaps that most people junked, and not why kick up the horsepower, replace the wheels, and beef up the stereo; but I'm shooting for the car to be as correct as possible, from the '71 225 slant six engine, to the R11 Music Master AM radio, to the crappy hubcaps.
Update 11/28/25: The Detroit Horsepower website said that this car had a planned build date of 9/14/1970, so I'm pretty sure it came with the black wheels and then would have had the full wheel covers.
![20250723_124817_HDR[1].jpg](https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/attachments/20250723_124817_hdr-1-jpg.1716433577/ "20250723_124817_HDR[1].jpg")
Disclaimer: Alot of people may be wondering why so much time is placed on crappy hubcaps that most people junked, and not why kick up the horsepower, replace the wheels, and beef up the stereo; but I'm shooting for the car to be as correct as possible, from the '71 225 slant six engine, to the R11 Music Master AM radio, to the crappy hubcaps.
Update 11/28/25: The Detroit Horsepower website said that this car had a planned build date of 9/14/1970, so I'm pretty sure it came with the black wheels and then would have had the full wheel covers.
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Well space is limited (no garage, small driveway workspace), in addition to the fact that the code enforcement officer is hiding behind trees and taking notes, as well as family members asking when the eyesore is going to be junked. So I'm trying to keep the footprint of this project as unsightly as possible. The wife also "no mi gusta tu carro", but once we walked though some car shows with rows of beautiful Demons, she started to understand the method behind the madness...
Dartswinger70
Well-Known Member
Man I know the nosey neighbor eyesore thing... if ya can get it in a garage that comes to a halt pretty quick seems out of sight out of mind keeps everyone happy... I think its interesting it came in high impact color with a 6. i think I may have known they sold them like that but forgot I imagine any color could be had for a few $$$ more. I once had a 1970 Duster in the Hemi orange tor red once...that had a slant 6 in it
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kick
Well-Known Member
I was still pretty young in the late 70’s early 80’s. We took two family trips out west to Texas and Arizona to visit family from New Jersey. Also about three trips to Canada. This was in a 74 gold duster slant, no a/c. I remember stopping for fuel but it felt like miles and miles in between. It had the fold down rear seat so me and my sister had room play around and snooze when we wanted to.
Ya, not many Plum Crazy Demons were made in 1971, and today there are three times more "original" Plum Crazy Demons than there were in 1971.. Go figure..
Ai says they typically get 17-20 mpg. I guess it didn't matter much since gas was 36 cents per gallon back in 1971.
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limegreen70
Pokorny Enterprise's
I really admire how you are going about this semi resto here. I remember seeing that car on marketplague awhile back. Underneath the black paint and the wrong front end is hidden a pretty neat Abody.
That's why I live out in the sticks on almost 7 acres with 500 plus feet of woods between the house and the road.
Ya, it was for sale for months and I passed over the ad a million times, but I suppose people didn't buy it because it's kind of a Frankenstein with the Duster front end, and also super rusted. But then I talked to the owner and he said it was getting crushed in a month and a half, so I had no choice but to drag it out and try to save it. Also, it being complete (except for the door and steering column) was a plus too; that's less parts to track down. The junkyard guy even threw in a door and steering column from another car.
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