72 Duster build - Pro touring slant six
Thought I'd post up my 1972 Plymouth Duster build I am working on. Wanted a project that could be used while rebuilding it and this car fit the bill. It started life with a 225 slant six, 904 auto trans, 7.25 rear end, a/c, power steering, and manual drum brakes. Car fired right up and drove pretty decent but the tires were well beyond any usefulness and the brakes were nonexistent. Interior was a mess, had the funk of mice living inside but it was just about all there. Suspension was toast, nothing had been replaced in many years but I was ok with that as I like to add newer parts where needed.
To start off I cleaned and then cleaned some more. Pressure washed everything a few times just to clean off the grime and added some paint and undercoating to the undercarriage for protection. The floors were almost perfect, aside from a 3” spot on the driver floorboard there was no rust at all. It took a while to clean out the mice nests but it cleaned up enough that you could actually sit in it and breathe. Anything that looked like the start of surface rust got covered in rust encapsulator so I shouldn’t have any issues pop up down the line.
To get it on the road it first needed new tires. I didn’t want to just throw new tires on the 14 inch rims so I Got a cheap set of 18x7’s and 18x8’s as a temporary solution. The plan was to swap over to the large bolt pattern, front is an easy fix with new brakes but the rear was a problem with the small bolt pattern 7.25 rear so I used some adapters to get by. I liked the style but the rears didn’t fit properly but they worked to get the car drivable.
Thought I'd post up my 1972 Plymouth Duster build I am working on. Wanted a project that could be used while rebuilding it and this car fit the bill. It started life with a 225 slant six, 904 auto trans, 7.25 rear end, a/c, power steering, and manual drum brakes. Car fired right up and drove pretty decent but the tires were well beyond any usefulness and the brakes were nonexistent. Interior was a mess, had the funk of mice living inside but it was just about all there. Suspension was toast, nothing had been replaced in many years but I was ok with that as I like to add newer parts where needed.
To start off I cleaned and then cleaned some more. Pressure washed everything a few times just to clean off the grime and added some paint and undercoating to the undercarriage for protection. The floors were almost perfect, aside from a 3” spot on the driver floorboard there was no rust at all. It took a while to clean out the mice nests but it cleaned up enough that you could actually sit in it and breathe. Anything that looked like the start of surface rust got covered in rust encapsulator so I shouldn’t have any issues pop up down the line.
To get it on the road it first needed new tires. I didn’t want to just throw new tires on the 14 inch rims so I Got a cheap set of 18x7’s and 18x8’s as a temporary solution. The plan was to swap over to the large bolt pattern, front is an easy fix with new brakes but the rear was a problem with the small bolt pattern 7.25 rear so I used some adapters to get by. I liked the style but the rears didn’t fit properly but they worked to get the car drivable.
