Late to the welcome wagon!

Maybe late but still feel welcome , signed up earlier this week and didn t have time to write up here. People have been friendly and have good insight with pictures and am very pleased so far.
Now about me I reside in western Quebec close to Ontario Canada , have been a mechanic but now swithed to office work but still in the car business , been into the hobby since I can t remember.It just flows in my blood , as a kid my dad was restoring a 31 model A(blue oval , never quite reached my dad there).Shoulda seen his face when I brought home my first real car , bought it on my 18th B day , it was a 71 340 demon in panther pink(most things guys are attracted to are pink so I don t wanna hear anything bout a guy driving a pink car)and yeah that thing pissed alot of people off in the college parking.Sold that car in 2003 or 4 to a friend of mine(he still has it but it back to its original hemi orange).Have had chevys throughout and in between(still have a couple)and gote the lady an mgb with a mazda powertrain(efi 6 speed auto with paddleshift all from donor miata)currently in the works!then came december 2016 , I traded a phenomenally clean 3rd gen camaro and a good sum of cash for what you see here.

Nice car,welcome from NY.

good choice!

and welcome ....

Welcome to FABO! Nice car and Great pics!!

WELCOME - From Pa. -- Nice Duster.

Thank you gentlemen . here are my plans for the next few weeks...
got about 11 lbs of fat out of the tailights(I sacrified a set of 81 malibu tail lights for the plstic pots ...

stiil need to seal the lights(if they weren t leakign I never would haave put so much work for 11lbs) every bit counts... Then in the process of sealing the back window (duster rear window rubber wavy inside)
I found bunch of other heavy items , all the rear items add up to 54lbs : that is the seat , seat belts , armrests , inulation+pad and spare cover. I plan on making a shape of the seat in fiberglass , then stretching the vinyl over so it looks like a seat , I figure it ll weight tween 5/7lbs . maybe i ll start a thread just to mark the progress after I get the scales and baseline the car , so far everything i ve weighed is with the scales in the pic!

and yet some engine comp. upgrades ... The ld340 came with the car , there is a 750 vacuum sec on the car now , will try that 650 dp , the battery is a fake , waiting on a braille and relocation kit from summit , that is a dodge journey lectric fan (I eyeballed it and said hmm that will fit right in my original shroud)just got to rip the flexalite relay and sensor unit out of my malibu , my master cyl was empty when I got the car , traced the leak inside the firewall so ordered this aluminium lookalike from ssbc , welds and relocastion kit is for later(will order custom width s60) , holley pump just waiting again on summit for sump kit , the rad and shifter are pretty straightforward...

Welcome, but I have to ask , why are you so concerned with removing weight off such a nice looking car? Did I read correct that you removed the tail lights and installed Malibu tail lights?

SGBARRACUDA said:

-- why are you so concerned with removing weight off such a nice looking car? --

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--
Drag Racer ?

SGBARRACUDA said:

Welcome, but I have to ask , why are you so concerned with removing weight off such a nice looking car? Did I read correct that you removed the tail lights and installed Malibu tail lights?

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Thank you for the warm welcome(and for complements on the car).I guess to answer your question(s), I think were all set out to different goals when we start these projects , some like pro touring cars some like stock restorations , gassers rat rods you name it...When I think duster , I think street machine old school carbed , rough idle , raked body and bigger tires out back. Weight plays a major roll , but rest assured , I will not cut into the car , I just bought a spare k member(picking it up next weekend) that I will gut and brace(some guys take as much as 18lbs out)but I will keep my original intact, glass hood and bumpers(you can get really nice chrome on plastic nowadays)...and the lightweight weld wheels will be wrapped in vitamin c orange and capped with repro dog dish caps , so that , the fake batt , the fake back seat will give the illusion of a nice resto/driver , yet be a serious contender , oh and there are numurous other thing like calipers that I didn t get to yet ($$$) little at a time .


And for the malibu tail lights I replaced the heavy white metal pots or reflectors(feel free to correct my appelations) with 81 malibu lights I just happened to have and they also happened to line up perfectly with the lenses(the size of the b/u light and brake light pots are less than a mm different)so I cut up the malibu pots off (the 2 needed cause chevys have three bulbs across+b/u bulb)painted them in canadian tire chrome bumper paint , lined them up and drilled them to fasten them to the existing screw holes on the duster lenses sealed them with right stuff and made two aluminium straps , When you open the trunk you don t even see them.

Hope I m not offending anyone with my chevy parts but it gets worse I have ford rotors on the way , that apperently you have to machine a inner race pocket to get them to line up with the 4 piston k.h. stuff , I m hoping the offset will line right up with the 4th gen corvette calipers that I have , because offset aside the bolt holes line right up with the spindle. If I get that to work I will start a thread on it and document everything with pics and all you junk yard pickers will have a new option for lightweight brakes(and I mean the early 4th gen vettes , less desirable and cheap as nails+very light)...I will stop now , this reply is getting long (if we talk cars I can talk all yer ears off)...

I can save you all that work. Add another 100 cu.in. done.

The 340 in it right now(numbers matching)sounds real good and healthy so I will run it this summer. I do have plans for a bigger small block built to the outer limits of streetability.For now I am getting the car ready for safety and fixing all little issues but in doing so I can t resist the urge to loose fat when something is to heavy , I always do that to every car (daily driver too) ,its a disease I am just a car anorexic!

speaking of issues found this today , figured out why driver door har to close , pic of after welding , will put metal putty tomorow and will airbrush on base/clear and then buff , I think I managed to contain the damage tothe area!