1972 Duster Build

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Jhenry70 said:
Hey FABO family! I've posted a few times in other forums and I figured it was about time I started a build thread. Especially since I've actually started doing some work instead of just hunting for parts.

I got the Duster a few months back, bought it pretty much as a shell, 2 owners back had bought it because it had a rear coil over ladder bar suspension he wanted for another project and started parting out. Wish I had grabbed it before most of the parts were gone! The passenger door, interior, grille, gauges, tail lights, bumpers, hood, rear end, etc were sold so its been a bit of fun trying to find parts to put her back together.

It's been Back Halfed with an Alston chassis kit and tubbed. The cage has been started and the chassis has been tacked into place and the tub and sheet metal work is about 70% fabricated. It came with a Slant Six still in it and a 3 speed manual trans which I just pulled this weekend.

So far I've bought some parts from members here on the forum, sourced parts from local collectors, and crawled through the pick n pulls... I've purchased the following parts.

Hood, rear bumper, gauge cluster, passenger door, parking brake lever, pedal assembly, grille and bezels, door sill plates, kick panels, misc interior trim, interior door handles, engine bay wiring harness, rear light harness and a dome light assembly.

I've also picked up an 8.8 rear end with disc brakes and 4:10 gears which will be shortened soon. I've also grabbed the steering knuckles and caliper brackets off of a 77 Aspen Wagon for the front disc brake conversion. All new ball joints, tie rod ends and bushings as well as the tapered adapters for the upper ball joints so the stock UCA will work with the 77 knuckles.

I'm sure I forgot something in there somewhere... Anyway, my plan is to get her stripped down, cleaned up and slowly start putting her back together as a good rolling chassis and the start working on the body and paint. I'm not going for show but I'm looking to have a nice fun ride to cruise around town in. I've got a 318 and a904 that I'm going to stuff in her for now.

Paint will more than likely be Sassy Grass with Satin Black hood.... Maybe a dual snorkel scoop?
Haven't really even thought about wheels and tires just yet.

I'm sure I will have plenty of questions for you all as this will be my first A-body build (always been a 69-72 chevy truck guy) and I'm hoping to keep it on a tight budget.
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wow, this is so similar to my upcoming build for my 1970 duster.
 
Ty Winings said:
ok, ill try, I'm 15, and my duster is my first restore.
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Just be patient. I remember those days, my dad brought me home a 1969 chevy pickup when I was 15. No engine, 3 flat tires, 4 speed transmission was sitting in the bed in about 100 pieces along with what was left of the bench seat. He told me I had a whole year to get it on the road before I got my license. I was driving it a year later....
 
Jhenry70 said:
Just be patient. I remember those days, my dad brought me home a 1969 chevy pickup when I was 15. No engine, 3 flat tires, 4 speed transmission was sitting in the bed in about 100 pieces along with what was left of the bench seat. He told me I had a whole year to get it on the road before I got my license. I was driving it a year later....
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cool, yep, I'm debating the seats from summit racing that look like stock ones, how hard is it to do the mounts
 
Ty Winings said:
cool, yep, I'm debating the seats from summit racing that look like stock ones, how hard is it to do the mounts
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Was it originally a bench? If so, you'll need to weld in some square reinforcing plates like the original bucket seat cars had in them. If you get seat sliders with those seats it shouldn't be too hard, you may have to make brackets to raise them up a bit. I'm still figuring my seat mounts out. I've tried a couple different ways and haven't like either of them yet. Mines a bit different though, I have a full sub-frame race chassis from the torsion bars back to the tail panel and my sub-frame connectors run right under the seats and come through the floor pan about 3 inches tall. So my seats "straddle the connectors making it a little harder to get them to sit where I want them...
 
Jhenry70 said:
Was it originally a bench? If so, you'll need to weld in some square reinforcing plates like the original bucket seat cars had in them. If you get seat sliders with those seats it shouldn't be too hard, you may have to make brackets to raise them up a bit. I'm still figuring my seat mounts out. I've tried a couple different ways and haven't like either of them yet. Mines a bit different though, I have a full sub-frame race chassis from the torsion bars back to the tail panel and my sub-frame connectors run right under the seats and come through the floor pan about 3 inches tall. So my seats "straddle the connectors making it a little harder to get them to sit where I want them...
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ok, idk, ill check
 
Another productive weekend at the shop. Got the rear end dressed up, re-installed the "S" Spring for the locker, painted it and new diff cover. Bent new hardline for the brakes and mocked up the flex hoses and welded new mounting tabs for the junctions and installed the parking brake cables. Everything has great clearance with my rims, I was worried there might be some issues with the cables.

Have to get the hole saw and punch a couple holes in the tin work in the trunk so I can get a wrench on the upper shock nut closest to the frame. Just going to get a plug for the holes, will make it so much easier to pull the shocks to change the coil overs in the future.

Rear end is now under the car waiting for final measurements and adjustments before she's locked into place with the bars. Getting excited!


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I didn't get pictures yet but she's officially a roller again! Got the rearend all squared up and bolted in, coil overs are on and she's off the Jack stands! Just have to do final welding on my ladder bar safety hoops and lock down my track bar.

Need to make a couple brackets for my rear brake line and the parking brake cable, stab the drive shaft in, run my brake lines to the rear with an adjustable pro portioning valve mounted near the driver and mount the new shifter.. Hopefully I can get some of it done before the holidays.

I've started messing around with the center console I picked up a bit. Got a good idea on how I'm gonna refinish it and have started a thread on the modifications for the B&M Hammer shifter here B&M Hammer - Console mods
 
Started the modifications to my center console. Created a template to cut the shifter hump off of the original top plate and added slots for the B&M top plate to snap to the original top. The shifter mechanism itself is bolted directly to the original top plate and the B&M cover fits nicely over and snaps into place. I'll now have to focus on cleaning the rust bubbles off the console plates and prep them for paint.

Plans are to make a sheet metal box that will fit under the ash tray hole and line it with felt. It will double as a cup/phone holder when completed.

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Made it to the shop a couple of days over the last week or so. Took my console and shifter down and was able to make new brackets for the console and for the shifter mount. Now that it's been test fit to the car I brought the console back home so I can start repairing it and getting it painted.

I mounted the shifter on the tunnel with the new brackets, soon I'll start work on the cable and getting it operational in the car. The seats have been test fit in the car with the new rails mounted to the sliders. I have two more holes to drill for the seat mounts and still have to cut the reinforcing plates to weld to the floor for the bucket seats.

I also cut the last piece for the trunk floor between the roll bars and the tail panel. I didn't rivet it yet because I've got some cleanup on surface rust on some of the floor panels and the panels between the tubs over the sub frame as well as some supports to make for strengthening the package tray and trunk hinges. Being able to remove the last floor panel lets me climb into the trunk easier to do the fitting and the welding.

I also finished drilling the mounts for my rails that elevates the fuel cell off the floor and clears the roll bar. These rails also have the fittings welded into the ends for the fuel cell straps I made on the bender.

All pics are pretty much of the stuff mentioned above being test fit into place.

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That B&M shifter is going to look nice in the original console between those new seats! It's great when things come together so nicely. Great job!
I hope my B&M works out well once properly placed and elevated to be used in my Duster with the factory bench seat...
 
DusterDaddy said:
That B&M shifter is going to look nice in the original console between those new seats! It's great when things come together so nicely. Great job!
I hope my B&M works out well once properly placed and elevated to be used in my Duster with the factory bench seat...
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Thanks! I really hope it does turn out good, I've got my work cut out for me to bring that console back to life.
 
Jhenry70 said:
Thanks! I really hope it does turn out good, I've got my work cut out for me to bring that console back to life.
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Someone had a nice Console in my local Clist with a B&M Shifter..... It sold pretty quick and was a nice one. I thought it would trigger someone buying my Bucket Seats I have for sale lol....

JW
 
Soooooo.... This is what I've been doing the last couple of days.

I had a bit of a bad spill on New Years Eve morning, drinking my morning coffee while sitting in the garage and took a big drink that went down the wrong way... Went into a bad coughing fit and stood up too quick. Ended up blacking out and landing chest/face down on the concrete. Got a nasty bruise on my chin and ended up bruising a couple of ribs. I'm ok, but pretty banged up... Tried doing some light stuff in the shop the next day and ended up overdoing it...

Now, sore as hell and can't do much other than relax or sit at the table... Figured it was a good idea to work on one of my models to take my mind off the pain.

Happy New Year to me!!!!!

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'Cuda_ragtop said:
Just went through all 9 pages. Very vice build! :thumbsup:
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gts4fuji said:
Coming along, looking good. Your gonna have some fun showing that Duster off when finished.
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Thanks guys! Haven't made a whole lot of progress lately, life has been throwing curveballs at me since the beginning of the year. I'm hoping to get back at it by next month. Just an update, I removed the sheet metal from the trunk that the previous owner had riveted in around the tubs and back to the tail panel and found some areas of rust that needed to be cut out. I've got most of that cut out and patched and I have the passenger rear quarter "below the body line" cut out, cleaned up and flanged. Just need to get back in there to trim up the patch panel and get it welded in.
 
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