Late to the welcome wagon!
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?
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)...
