72 duster Build progress

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oh boy, long day.

and nothing went super smoothly so it was just one of them days when I had to "talk" to all the nuts and bolts and everything lol.

so .... I finished wiring up all my turn signal wiring, got it all in loom and nice and tidy, all my turn signals and headlights and reverse light and license plate lights worked....but I couldnt get my hazards or my brake lights to work for some reason.

and I knew I had it all wired right, so I was racking my brain on what the heck was going on....kept thinking maybe I had a bad ground or something......finally it dawned on me that last year when I was working on my glove box light that I accidentally popped a fuse and never replaced it.

so I put a fuse in and BAM.....everything was working again!. so now I have all my lights working.

then I spent some time on the hood latch adjustment and I kept messing with it and messing with it until I got it set pretty good.

I installed all the new headlight hardware.....getting the old springs out were a pin because the old strew heads were stripped out....but I finally got it and got all the new stuff installed.





got all the new grille hardware and bezel hardware installed.....and the previous owner of the duster had changed one fender over to a 73 and up style fender which the headlight bucket area is SLIGHTLY different than a 72 and the hardware kit I got was for a 72.....and the plastic push in pedastal mounts that the headlight bezels screw into were a little bit to high on that one fender. so I ended up having to grind it down by about a 1/4" and rebeveling the end of it where the embossment of the bezel recesses into it. and after all of that the bezel finally matched the flushness of the other bezel.

installing the grille was a little tricky....by myself so lining things up were a bit troublesome. But I got it in there.


then I got the new H4 crystal headlights put in and bezels on.






and put the new parking lenses in and the chrome bezels.

I got it all installed and looking good. its not PERFECT......but everyone that looked at the car couldnt tell the issues until I pointed out what I was talking about....maybe im just being to picky?

on the lower bumper filler panel there is a SLIGHT bend in the metal which makes a section of the grille gap look a little bit bigger...but nothing I can do about it.

the one fender that is a 73 and up fender has a SLIGHTLY different contour than the other fender which makes the upper gap look a little bigger on one side versus the other.

not to mention im working with 41 year old parts....and I dont think they were even exactly perfect from the factory when they were brand new lol

like I said....I might be just being to particular with it.....but what issues I mentioned there really isnt anything I can do a whole lot about so hopefully its not as bad looking as what I see from my perspective lol.....I tend to do that alot because I take pride in my work and try to do as best a job as I can when im doing something.

anyhow...thats where im at on it today.....let me know what you guys think!!!














 
I think the next task should be to drive it some!! lol

soooooooooooon.......atleast I hope LOL.

if I had all the parts I needed,free time,an extra set of hands and lots of ambition (maybe a few beers too lol)....I think I could have the car pretty much finished.

but with my schedule,waiting on parts,doing it all by myself...etc...etc....Im hoping I can get it close to done in the next 2 or 3 weeks maybe.....somewhere around the 1st part of june anyhow.
 
Hey guys, today I pulled the duster out of the garage, gave her a bath. Then my dad and I took a quick cruise around the block....had about 20 people staring,giving thumbs up,yelling cool car....lol. Strange to go from driving my daily driver truck and being incognito to switching over to the duster and feeling like everyone is watching me lol.

then came back and finally put all my new bumper bolts it (had them on the shelf for almost a year so I figured it was due time haha).

Then I took my wife and son for a ride around the block (they still have not had a chance to go for a ride in it)....and on the way back I turned the corner and pinned the throttle and cut the tires loose real good and my son got a real kick out of that lol.

Then after I brought it back I finally started on mounting my tail lights in the car .....which is proving to be a real trouble. between the previous owner messing with the tail light brackets, and me adding the new tail panel which I am sure is not an EXACT factory fit...and the aftermarket tail light gaskets I have not fitting as well as id like them too.....im having fitment issues, so I am going to have to do some more tinkering around with them some time and try and get as perfect as a fit out of them as I can.

anyhow....I took a bunch of pictures of it all cleaned up and wanted to share them with you guys. Let me know what you think!























 
She looks awesome my friend... Good to see it out basking in the sun. Also glad to hear the family got to take a quick spin, and you got the tires a little warm LOL ...That had to make you happy..
 
AWWWWWWWESOOOOOOOOME!!!!!! She looks GREAT Jerrod. WOW:prayer::prayer::prayer::blob::blob::blob:
 
She looks awesome my friend... Good to see it out basking in the sun. Also glad to hear the family got to take a quick spin, and you got the tires a little warm LOL ...That had to make you happy..


yeah buddy lol. it put a grin on the face for sure lol.

I still need to do some tweaking and adjustments to dial in the car when I get the chance too. she starts up good, runs great,comes on like a bat out of hell. But im having a little bit of stalling issues once and awhile (if in gear and sitting still and tap the throttle and immediatly let off,sometimes she will stall out ) so im going to have to do some carb tweaking and dink with my timing a little.
AWWWWWWWESOOOOOOOOME!!!!!! She looks GREAT Jerrod. WOW:prayer::prayer::prayer::blob::blob::blob:

Thanks bud, lottttttttssss of work to get to this point....not done yet but unlike a year or more ago.....the finish is in sight LOL
 
btw love the new avatar... after years of staring at the motor its a definite change of pace.. between the new avatar and the name change, its like your a new man! LMAO!!! (amazing what having the finish line in sight does for ones morale huh?)
 
btw love the new avatar... after years of staring at the motor its a definite change of pace.. between the new avatar and the name change, its like your a new man! LMAO!!! (amazing what having the finish line in sight does for ones morale huh?)


HAHA

yeah, I was sitting here a bit ago and looked at my avatar and though "crap thats old" lol. The car wasnt even in primer yet when that engine picture was taken lol. Time for a change of pace and an updated picture.

And the name change I thought would be cool to coincide with the new custom license plate...the new "identity" if you will. (although my niece just named my duster "Stacey" the other day.....so I guess the duster has multiple personality HA.
 
HAHA

yeah, I was sitting here a bit ago and looked at my avatar and though "crap thats old" lol. The car wasnt even in primer yet when that engine picture was taken lol. Time for a change of pace and an updated picture.

And the name change I thought would be cool to coincide with the new custom license plate...the new "identity" if you will. (although my niece just named my duster "Stacey" the other day.....so I guess the duster has multiple personality HA.

LOL.. My wifes best friend named the Dart a couple years back when she saw what color it was going to be... she named it 'Daisy'... knowing that cars usually get girl names and being a fan of Daisy Duke, I was fine with it... though I never call it that.. neither do any of my friends.. to us it will always be the Buggy.. Shes the only one that calls her Daisy LMAO ...
 
Very cool Jerrod!

Be well,
Pat
Thanks pat!

LOL.. My wifes best friend named the Dart a couple years back when she saw what color it was going to be... she named it 'Daisy'... knowing that cars usually get girl names and being a fan of Daisy Duke, I was fine with it... though I never call it that.. neither do any of my friends.. to us it will always be the Buggy.. Shes the only one that calls her Daisy LMAO ...
I still haven't personally came up with a nick name for it yet. At least not one that's stuck, I just call it "the duster" lol. Most of my friends call it "it's not done yet" haha

Awesome work you have done. She looks sweet!
thanks for the compliments I appreciate it

car looks awesome!! love the look of those headlights, might have to order a pair for my scamp!
Thanks, some headlight gurus here on fabo (won't name names) frown on the use of aftermarket headlights. I have yet to take it on the road at night but they seem pretty bright!. And I may eventually install relays to improve on the factory headlight wiring also. Plus these lights use h4 bulbs which are replaceable.... So you don't have to buy a whole new lens if the light ever burns out. I think I got them last year for like $50
 
Funny thing about nick names... they really are completely by chance.. when the Dart was first dragged to the lot beside my buddies garage, we were just standing there looking at it... I was all excited about having an old car of my own (such as it was that day.. check back to the first page of the buggy thread LMAO ).. and my buddy bob just looked at it and said.. 'there it is.. bills buggy'... it stuck.. like glue.. that was 9 years ago now.. then my wife had the plate made for the front a year later while we were at Carlisle... that nickname will stay with that car as long as shes mine... as for the girlie name... Daisy works for me.. (it was either that or give her my favorite **** stars name .. Jenna... as in Jenna Jameson LMAO)
 
LOL


I've always wanted a catchy nick name for it but it's just one of those things you can't force. It will come naturally eventually
 
well today I had some new parts from classic industries show up.

My new sill plates and hood insulation.

The good news is..... The sill plates look great!









The bad news is......my hood insulation looks like a pile of rubble!. The box it arrived in was not damaged in transit. It looks like some goober at classic industries could not find a box large enough to accommodate the hood insulation , so they made an extension box to fit in the end....and then pushed it in and taped it up....it which point this is what happened as a result of.



















Im a little ticked off to say the least. They could have did a better job packing something as large and as fragile as that. Now I have to dink around with getting in touch with them and seeing what they intend to do about it.
 
Oh yea... That would be going back, and someone there would be getting an earful from me. Hope you get that all worked out fast my friend
 
How are the metal bends and depth of the little indentations (all those little lines, don't know how to describe them) on the sill plates on the Classic Industries ones? Compared to originals...? I bought new sill plates from Year One, and the bends were way too radiused (not sharp enough) compared to originals and the indentations were so shallow that I sent them right back. Just totally unacceptable quality. I don't expect something like that in repop to be exactly like original, but I also don't expect it to be blatantly obvious from 20 feet away that they're cheap repops.

Reason I ask is because going by your pics, yours look much better than the Year One ones. I'd be surprised if they don't get them from the same manufacturer, but if I'd have better luck from CI, I'd try again. Thanks!
 
How are the metal bends and depth of the little indentations (all those little lines, don't know how to describe them) on the sill plates on the Classic Industries ones? Compared to originals...? I bought new sill plates from Year One, and the bends were way too radiused (not sharp enough) compared to originals and the indentations were so shallow that I sent them right back. Just totally unacceptable quality. I don't expect something like that in repop to be exactly like original, but I also don't expect it to be blatantly obvious from 20 feet away that they're cheap repops.

Reason I ask is because going by your pics, yours look much better than the Year One ones. I'd be surprised if they don't get them from the same manufacturer, but if I'd have better luck from CI, I'd try again. Thanks!


They actually look really nice. Really close to my originals (Im sure they are not 100% factory spec.....but close enough that I dont have nay complaints........and I tend to be pretty picky so that says alot LOL).

I I think they were $79.00 plus shipping through classic industries. and I used a 15% off promotional code aswell so I got them even cheaper yet (under $67 or something like that).

The manufacturer of them is "Trim Parts". Then come nicely boxed, come with all new screws, nice quality parts.
 
Just heard back from classic industries and this is what they said.

"We sincerely apologize for how this hood insulation was packed and received.
We will take action immediately with our shipping manager to see to it that
this does not happen again. Please dispose of the hood insulation you
received. I placed a new order on invoice xxxxxx for it to be
sent out today. I have pulled this part from inventory and will have it
packed securely this time to avoid any damage. I will have this order sent
out 3 days air. If you need further assistance or have any questions,
please let me know.


Thank you"

so luckily it looks like they handled this very well and that the situation was remedied fairly easily.

now....hopefully the new one shows up in good condition this time lol.

just wanted to update you guys so you could see that Classic industries seems to have handled my complaint fairly well!.
 
Just heard back from classic industries and this is what they said.

"We sincerely apologize for how this hood insulation was packed and received.
We will take action immediately with our shipping manager to see to it that
this does not happen again. Please dispose of the hood insulation you
received. I placed a new order on invoice xxxxxx for it to be
sent out today. I have pulled this part from inventory and will have it
packed securely this time to avoid any damage. I will have this order sent
out 3 days air. If you need further assistance or have any questions,
please let me know.


Thank you"

so luckily it looks like they handled this very well and that the situation was remedied fairly easily.

now....hopefully the new one shows up in good condition this time lol.

just wanted to update you guys so you could see that Classic industries seems to have handled my complaint fairly well!.

Good to see they are going to make things right. It would appear they have decent customer service. I will keep my fingers crossed that the next one shows up in better shape..
 
Cool thanks for sharing Jerrod, everything is looking and can't wait for more pics. So you guy's believe in the under hood insulation? I took mine off and threw it away, maybe I shouldn't have :( oh well :)
 
Cool thanks for sharing Jerrod, everything is looking and can't wait for more pics. So you guy's believe in the under hood insulation? I took mine off and threw it away, maybe I shouldn't have :( oh well :)

I just wanted it to clean things up a bit ,deaded some of the sound and to not have my hoods paint exposed to all of the engines heat.

not something thats "needed" but something that I decided to do is all.
 
I just wanted it to clean things up a bit ,deaded some of the sound and to not have my hoods paint exposed to all of the engines heat.

not something thats "needed" but something that I decided to do is all.

The buggy didnt have any insulation when I got it... It still doesn't. lol. Have never noticed any ill effects on the underwood paint from engine heat myself. (Plus I eventually will be cutting a hole in the hood to make use of that dual snorkel scoop I put on there.) :cheers:
 
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