74DartSwinger360
The Brat Pack
And still Considering Go-Wing/No-wing
Hey Kelly,
Any progress made?
Did you decide on this or not? You could also do a DC Style "Ducktail" spoiler
My 1974 Plymouth Duster 360
- Thread starter Prine
- Start date
-
Hey Kelly,
Any progress made?
Did you decide on this or not? You could also do a DC Style "Ducktail" spoiler
74DartSwinger360
The Brat Pack
Hey Kelly. Got any updates on the Duster?
anything- love this thread
thanks for the compliments...and I was feeling it was time for a update to this thread.
Where to begin? Ahhh yes...how my Duster is coming.
Last update it was sitting in my packed out single car garage, 3 months after I got home from "paint and body"......"work".
I had spec'd out the next stage of the build, and had bought a TiG welder, removed the stock exhaust manifolds and ordered and recieved the Hot Side piping and bends and had started making forward facing headers...mocking up for the single Turbo.
Right there.......literally 25 hours into mocking up the Hot Side piping after work and on the weekends, after working a 50 hour work week....that Woman I thought was my wife of 13 years decides to let me know that She had foriegn relations with my only blood sibling (I will no longer call him a brother) and that she was no longer interested in the future of Our Relationship.
I dropped everything and tried to reason with her, and she was adamant that she was done and wanted a divorce. My blood sibling was staying at our house in my good graces coming off his own recent divorce, and I asked him to go somewhere else and let her cool off.....The Ex packed her stuff and the kids AND my sibling and they all left my Marital Home May 16th, 2013.
I was in shock, and tried to maintain a clear head....I accepted that she no longer loved me, and decided to Venture out on my own like I had always wanted to....to go somewhere I had always wanted to go but never made an effort towards.....a place that few have gone and fewer ever return from......OREGON.
I met an Oregonian through Craigslist and struck a friendship and researched some information and formulated my plan.
I found a job in Oregon and sold my TiG welder 1 month into ownership, with less than 8 hours of welding time on it......I removed the roller cam 360 from my Duster and installed it in my Dart Sport....with a new radiator. The transmission started slipping so I removed it and bought a TF904 kit directly from the local Dodge Dealership and had it rebuilt by a close friend that happens to be a Dodge Technician at the same dealership....then installed the freshly built transmission.
I removed the OE Rally wheels off the Dart Sport and put them on the Duster,.......knowing if I ever had tire trouble....14's are hard to come by.....and installed the (4) 17x7 2005-2008 Dodge Charger steel wheels....with 245/45/17 used tires I had scored when I worked at the Ford Dealership....they bolted on no problem....With a set of 1.25" Spacer/Adapters I got off ebay for $50....for the Rear only.
I had a garage sale and sold my air compressor, my Home Theatre system, the Entertainment Center, and some other small stuff.....packed the Duster, parts, and my tools into storage and struck out for Oregon.
I checked the Mileage between me and Oregon and I was looking at 1667 miles One Way....shouldnt be no be deal.....fresh 360, fresh transmission, new radiator....good/balanced tires. I figured at 15mpg I would need just over 110 gallons...at $3.35/gallon I was looking at approx. $400 in fuel alone......$2400 in the bank account.....$600 in cash....Check.
I made it 150 miles and all of a sudden my temp gauge did a funny wiggle and started shooting for 250* and stopped climbing just before the 3/4 mark on the gauge......I maintained speed and watched the gauge like a hawk, and the rear view mirror for smoke/steamy white smoke fearing I was about to blow a head gasket/hose or something....I was still 110 miles out of Albuqurque on I-40....and came to a little town called Santa Rosa.....I inspected everything under the hood and the upper hose was limp and the radiator was not purculating.....I figured the radiator cap was the culprit and maybe the thermostat hung open or something, so I bought a Radiator Cap and a thermostat at the NAPA in Santa Rosa and changed them out, in the parking lot Hot Rod Magazine style.....I struck back out on the road and instantly the tempature shot back to 230/240ish on the gauge.....I maintained 65/70 mph and made Albuqurque.....I let it cool all the way down at a Shell station and started considering trading it in the next day and proceeding on....
Bout 10pm that evening....I made Albuqurque around 8....I struck out for Oregon again....2 gallons of coolant, 5 quarts of transmission fluid...full tank of gas. In the cool evening air the temp never rose off of 180ish....and I made MOAB, UT around sunrise the next day.....no sooner than the sun came up and the morning air turned and started rising above 70*....so did my temp gauge and I saw 240* again and was white knuckeled the whole way from MOAB to Salt Lake city, UT.....and in the 6 lane Chaos that is Salt Lake UT traffic....my tempature bumped up to 245 and I noticed at 75mph there was wafts of smoke coming from the back of my car.....I pulled over and discovered trans fluid coming from the Bellhousing....I topped it off and pushed on for Ontario, OR.....and finally made Boise, ID around 530pm that day.....the temp still sitting at 240 while driving.....I was living on a prayer.
I tanked up and pushed on finally arriving at my Destination......Bend, OR at 9pm that night.
July 2013
28 hours....nonstop, except for the radiator cap, thermostat, and the cool down.......11 tanks of fuel....avg. 16mpg....at 240* for 1670 miles....and it never popped a head gasket, hose or otherwise.....
After a couple of days driving around Bend,OR.....I discovered the real culprit behind the intermittent overheating.
The Power Steering/Water Pump belt....although it was tight, and tracking straight....it was completely Glazed on all the contact areas.....I bought (3) Gates 9451's and put (2) in the trunk...Solved that problem...and has never caused another issue.
Fast Forward 3 months...Sept. 2013.....day off....slept in....got moving around about 1pm.....needed some groceries...decided to go out and pick up some stuff and go to Goodwill and see if we could find some House Stuff......
Got ready...got in the car....backed out of the garage and heard a snap and all of a sudden the front tire started rubbing hard on the fender/frame/something..jumped out and looked and the Driver Side torsion bar had snapped....6" back from the control arm....luckily at 1mph....2 feet out of the garage....20 feet before I realized something happened.....this kind of stuff doesnt happen everyday.
I slowly pulled it back in the garage and put it on a Jack Stand.....not going anywhere today.
Thankfully....I had met a Mopar Guy there in Bend,OR a couple of months earlier....Joe- in a Vitamin C 1967 Dart GT with cragars on it....and got his phone number....I called him and he didnt have a set of old torsion bars, or any parts....but HE forwarded me to a guy named CAB....like a Taxi Cab....and this guy (Super Awesome...long time Mopar Builder/Racer)....just so happen to have (2) sets of torsion bars under his workbench...and sold me a set of .87's for $75.00, the next day after it happened and got me back on the road that same weekend!!!
I have never met people as Awesome as the people I met in Oregon....I hope I am not giving away the secret fellow Oregonians....but Oregon is in my Opinion...the Best State in the US of A.
Back to the story.....
Duster is in Storage....Dart Sport has racked up 10,000 miles in Oregon....Dec. 10th 2013...a blizzard hits and drops temps into the Negative TEENS....drops 4" of snow at the beginning and adds another 2" and the roads in 2 days were solid pack.
I had been out looking for a new job because I got laid off for the Winter Season at the Golf Course I was working at.....
and the Dart Sport doing ok in the extreme cold, and blizzard like conditions.....
I was giving a friend a ride home from my house to hers less than 2 miles away and safely delivered her to her house and on the way back.....nearly half way back....going around a Round About...at less than 3 mph....the front slid out and hit a 8" curb with a Super Hard....CRUNCH!.....the engine stayed running but the steering wheel jumped out of my hand.
I backed it off the Curb and limped it home....1/2 mile with it pulling real hard to the Passenger Side...When I got home...I jumped out and ran around the car to find the Lower Control Arm mangled and the wheel/tire tucked back and underneath the car!!
I HAVE.....parts and options in Texas....but OREGON....2 weeks before Christmas!?
Once again...Oregon People....just so happened that I knew where a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger, 2 dr/ht, /6 auto Project car was sitting while a Young Marine was on Active Duty and away...and made Contact with Chris aka Buggy....in North Carolina, and he granted my request to remove his LCA and strut bar, and replace it and reassemble his car as soon as I could get a replacement part.
I made the call to my cousin, Cevidicus....and asked him to drive out to my Favorite Parts Duster.....the one the little old lady gave me for parts....45 miles out in a Mesquite thicket in Texas....and remove the Pass. LCA and strut bar and ship it to me in Oregon...
Cevidicus came through and shipped the 37 lb box via United Postal Service for $40.00...I got it December 23rd and went out and replaced the one I removed for my car ON the Dart Swinger!!!
Wow....what a story.
Just wanted to update this thread.....I dont have consistent Internet Access...and I have randomly logged and browsed the site, but I am not online much and I know...."Wonder where Prine went and what happened....He was a regular here for...Years".....has went through your minds.
Well, now you know.....Im just not on the Internet.
Mopar On
Where to begin? Ahhh yes...how my Duster is coming.
Last update it was sitting in my packed out single car garage, 3 months after I got home from "paint and body"......"work".
I had spec'd out the next stage of the build, and had bought a TiG welder, removed the stock exhaust manifolds and ordered and recieved the Hot Side piping and bends and had started making forward facing headers...mocking up for the single Turbo.
Right there.......literally 25 hours into mocking up the Hot Side piping after work and on the weekends, after working a 50 hour work week....that Woman I thought was my wife of 13 years decides to let me know that She had foriegn relations with my only blood sibling (I will no longer call him a brother) and that she was no longer interested in the future of Our Relationship.
I dropped everything and tried to reason with her, and she was adamant that she was done and wanted a divorce. My blood sibling was staying at our house in my good graces coming off his own recent divorce, and I asked him to go somewhere else and let her cool off.....The Ex packed her stuff and the kids AND my sibling and they all left my Marital Home May 16th, 2013.
I was in shock, and tried to maintain a clear head....I accepted that she no longer loved me, and decided to Venture out on my own like I had always wanted to....to go somewhere I had always wanted to go but never made an effort towards.....a place that few have gone and fewer ever return from......OREGON.
I met an Oregonian through Craigslist and struck a friendship and researched some information and formulated my plan.
I found a job in Oregon and sold my TiG welder 1 month into ownership, with less than 8 hours of welding time on it......I removed the roller cam 360 from my Duster and installed it in my Dart Sport....with a new radiator. The transmission started slipping so I removed it and bought a TF904 kit directly from the local Dodge Dealership and had it rebuilt by a close friend that happens to be a Dodge Technician at the same dealership....then installed the freshly built transmission.
I removed the OE Rally wheels off the Dart Sport and put them on the Duster,.......knowing if I ever had tire trouble....14's are hard to come by.....and installed the (4) 17x7 2005-2008 Dodge Charger steel wheels....with 245/45/17 used tires I had scored when I worked at the Ford Dealership....they bolted on no problem....With a set of 1.25" Spacer/Adapters I got off ebay for $50....for the Rear only.
I had a garage sale and sold my air compressor, my Home Theatre system, the Entertainment Center, and some other small stuff.....packed the Duster, parts, and my tools into storage and struck out for Oregon.
I checked the Mileage between me and Oregon and I was looking at 1667 miles One Way....shouldnt be no be deal.....fresh 360, fresh transmission, new radiator....good/balanced tires. I figured at 15mpg I would need just over 110 gallons...at $3.35/gallon I was looking at approx. $400 in fuel alone......$2400 in the bank account.....$600 in cash....Check.
I made it 150 miles and all of a sudden my temp gauge did a funny wiggle and started shooting for 250* and stopped climbing just before the 3/4 mark on the gauge......I maintained speed and watched the gauge like a hawk, and the rear view mirror for smoke/steamy white smoke fearing I was about to blow a head gasket/hose or something....I was still 110 miles out of Albuqurque on I-40....and came to a little town called Santa Rosa.....I inspected everything under the hood and the upper hose was limp and the radiator was not purculating.....I figured the radiator cap was the culprit and maybe the thermostat hung open or something, so I bought a Radiator Cap and a thermostat at the NAPA in Santa Rosa and changed them out, in the parking lot Hot Rod Magazine style.....I struck back out on the road and instantly the tempature shot back to 230/240ish on the gauge.....I maintained 65/70 mph and made Albuqurque.....I let it cool all the way down at a Shell station and started considering trading it in the next day and proceeding on....
Bout 10pm that evening....I made Albuqurque around 8....I struck out for Oregon again....2 gallons of coolant, 5 quarts of transmission fluid...full tank of gas. In the cool evening air the temp never rose off of 180ish....and I made MOAB, UT around sunrise the next day.....no sooner than the sun came up and the morning air turned and started rising above 70*....so did my temp gauge and I saw 240* again and was white knuckeled the whole way from MOAB to Salt Lake city, UT.....and in the 6 lane Chaos that is Salt Lake UT traffic....my tempature bumped up to 245 and I noticed at 75mph there was wafts of smoke coming from the back of my car.....I pulled over and discovered trans fluid coming from the Bellhousing....I topped it off and pushed on for Ontario, OR.....and finally made Boise, ID around 530pm that day.....the temp still sitting at 240 while driving.....I was living on a prayer.
I tanked up and pushed on finally arriving at my Destination......Bend, OR at 9pm that night.
July 2013
28 hours....nonstop, except for the radiator cap, thermostat, and the cool down.......11 tanks of fuel....avg. 16mpg....at 240* for 1670 miles....and it never popped a head gasket, hose or otherwise.....
After a couple of days driving around Bend,OR.....I discovered the real culprit behind the intermittent overheating.
The Power Steering/Water Pump belt....although it was tight, and tracking straight....it was completely Glazed on all the contact areas.....I bought (3) Gates 9451's and put (2) in the trunk...Solved that problem...and has never caused another issue.
Fast Forward 3 months...Sept. 2013.....day off....slept in....got moving around about 1pm.....needed some groceries...decided to go out and pick up some stuff and go to Goodwill and see if we could find some House Stuff......
Got ready...got in the car....backed out of the garage and heard a snap and all of a sudden the front tire started rubbing hard on the fender/frame/something..jumped out and looked and the Driver Side torsion bar had snapped....6" back from the control arm....luckily at 1mph....2 feet out of the garage....20 feet before I realized something happened.....this kind of stuff doesnt happen everyday.
I slowly pulled it back in the garage and put it on a Jack Stand.....not going anywhere today.
Thankfully....I had met a Mopar Guy there in Bend,OR a couple of months earlier....Joe- in a Vitamin C 1967 Dart GT with cragars on it....and got his phone number....I called him and he didnt have a set of old torsion bars, or any parts....but HE forwarded me to a guy named CAB....like a Taxi Cab....and this guy (Super Awesome...long time Mopar Builder/Racer)....just so happen to have (2) sets of torsion bars under his workbench...and sold me a set of .87's for $75.00, the next day after it happened and got me back on the road that same weekend!!!
I have never met people as Awesome as the people I met in Oregon....I hope I am not giving away the secret fellow Oregonians....but Oregon is in my Opinion...the Best State in the US of A.
Back to the story.....
Duster is in Storage....Dart Sport has racked up 10,000 miles in Oregon....Dec. 10th 2013...a blizzard hits and drops temps into the Negative TEENS....drops 4" of snow at the beginning and adds another 2" and the roads in 2 days were solid pack.
I had been out looking for a new job because I got laid off for the Winter Season at the Golf Course I was working at.....
and the Dart Sport doing ok in the extreme cold, and blizzard like conditions.....
I was giving a friend a ride home from my house to hers less than 2 miles away and safely delivered her to her house and on the way back.....nearly half way back....going around a Round About...at less than 3 mph....the front slid out and hit a 8" curb with a Super Hard....CRUNCH!.....the engine stayed running but the steering wheel jumped out of my hand.
I backed it off the Curb and limped it home....1/2 mile with it pulling real hard to the Passenger Side...When I got home...I jumped out and ran around the car to find the Lower Control Arm mangled and the wheel/tire tucked back and underneath the car!!
I HAVE.....parts and options in Texas....but OREGON....2 weeks before Christmas!?
Once again...Oregon People....just so happened that I knew where a 1974 Dodge Dart Swinger, 2 dr/ht, /6 auto Project car was sitting while a Young Marine was on Active Duty and away...and made Contact with Chris aka Buggy....in North Carolina, and he granted my request to remove his LCA and strut bar, and replace it and reassemble his car as soon as I could get a replacement part.
I made the call to my cousin, Cevidicus....and asked him to drive out to my Favorite Parts Duster.....the one the little old lady gave me for parts....45 miles out in a Mesquite thicket in Texas....and remove the Pass. LCA and strut bar and ship it to me in Oregon...
Cevidicus came through and shipped the 37 lb box via United Postal Service for $40.00...I got it December 23rd and went out and replaced the one I removed for my car ON the Dart Swinger!!!
Wow....what a story.
Just wanted to update this thread.....I dont have consistent Internet Access...and I have randomly logged and browsed the site, but I am not online much and I know...."Wonder where Prine went and what happened....He was a regular here for...Years".....has went through your minds.
Well, now you know.....Im just not on the Internet.
Mopar On
longarm
Car sold back to original owners
Glad your doing alright and good to hear from you.
I wondered where you been.
Sounds like you been out there for a short time but
have found a new home and life.
Hope things continue to get better and better for you!
GOOD LUCK and check in from time to time to let us
know how your doing.:cheers:
I wondered where you been.
Sounds like you been out there for a short time but
have found a new home and life.
Hope things continue to get better and better for you!
GOOD LUCK and check in from time to time to let us
know how your doing.:cheers:
DionR
Well-Known Member
Dang, always hate to hear things like that.
Let me know if you are ever up in the Spokane, WA area.
Let me know if you are ever up in the Spokane, WA area.
champyfz450
Well-Known Member
Prine, do you have any info on this car?? I'd really like to find the wheel/tire specs on it. Thanks!
I reached my Goal.....despite all the obstacles.....by my own Hands, blood sweat and Tears.
I sold the 1974 Duster 360, and continued on with my
Quadruple Black, Dodge Dart Sport -
Bucket Seat Console Automatic, fold down rear seat, power steering, disc brakes, Single Turbo v8.
I even brought my new Son home from the hospital in it.
Daily Street/Highway Driver
Mission Accomplished.
It sure has been an awesome adventure
I sold the 1974 Duster 360, and continued on with my
Quadruple Black, Dodge Dart Sport -
Bucket Seat Console Automatic, fold down rear seat, power steering, disc brakes, Single Turbo v8.
I even brought my new Son home from the hospital in it.
Daily Street/Highway Driver
Mission Accomplished.
It sure has been an awesome adventure
Last edited:
longarm
Car sold back to original owners
Good news for sure!
Glad things are working out!
Glad things are working out!
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