1972 duster to "feather trim" 1976 model

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Cartomato

Cartomato

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Sorry if this is the wrong section first off, I've been lurking around here for a few months and just made an account yesterday. I was wondering if anyone here has converted an early year Plymouth duster to a faux feather duster by adding on the aluminum feather duster parts. IS this possible as I can't find anything on the internet and it seems like most things different are pretty standard for install. The only reason I wouldn't grab a plain feather duster is because I'd like to build this as a present for my grandpa and I haven't seen any feather dusters lately and the ones I have are all floor shifter instead of 3 on the tree so the most reasonable thing I've had the idea for is to find a extremely similar 1972 and convert the panels to feather duster panels. Thanks for any help or advice.
 
I believe everything will swap over, BUT it was your title that grabbed my attention. "1792" :lol:

49088786328_485a01e966_b.jpg
 
Cartomato said:
Sorry if this is the wrong section first off, I've been lurking around here for a few months and just made an account yesterday. I was wondering if anyone here has converted an early year Plymouth duster to a faux feather duster by adding on the aluminum feather duster parts. IS this possible as I can't find anything on the internet and it seems like most things different are pretty standard for install. The only reason I wouldn't grab a plain feather duster is because I'd like to build this as a present for my grandpa and I haven't seen any feather dusters lately and the ones I have are all floor shifter instead of 3 on the tree so the most reasonable thing I've had the idea for is to find a extremely similar 1972 and convert the panels to feather duster panels. Thanks for any help or advice.
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You'll have to swap the entire front clip and include the lighter hood hinge springs because of the lighter hood (12-15 lbs lighter). The standard hood springs are too stiff and will try to bend the hood when trying to close it. You'll also have to modify the front frame to mount the "shock absorber" style bumper brackets. The original early rear bumpers are contoured similarly to the '76, but are tucked closer into the body. If you go with the '76 bumpers - more mounting modifications. You'll also have to cut out the taillight panel and replace it with a later version. The trunk is a simple bolt-on swap, but you'll need to reduce the tension on the springs because of the lighter weight (around 5-7lbs lighter).

* The hood and trunk are the only unique sheetmetal parts with the underside structures being aluminum.
* The bumpers save a lot of weight over standard "shock absorber" style bumpers because the reinforcement on the inside is aluminum instead of steel. But the mounting configuration is different than the earlier versions with standard bumpers. The standard front bumpers & brackets (1973 & 1974 rear) probably weigh the same or less than the Feather" versions.

Parts can be hard to find and may cost more if you don't find a whole car in decent shape to get them from. But if you don't have a magnet handy, an easy way to spot a Feather Duster hood is that the top steel sheetmetal and aluminum underside is crimped together around the perimeter as oppose to spot welded. You can see the little crimps about3/4" long & 3/16" wide on this Dart Lite hood.

Do a search on Plymouth Feather Duster. Most references have correct info.

You can probably get more details from the Slant 6 section of the forum.
Slant 6 Engines

I converted a '74 Duster into a 1975 Dart Sport using Dart Lite hood & trunk. But the front bumper remained the standard bracket version ('73-'74) while the rear bumper remained a steel "shock absorber" bracket version ('74-'76) with steel reinforcement for weight/traction.

Dart Lite hood 002.JPG
 
Locomotion said:
You'll have to swap the entire front clip and include the lighter hood hinge springs because of the lighter hood (12-15 lbs lighter). The standard hood springs are too stiff and will try to bend the hood when trying to close it. You'll also have to modify the front frame to mount the "shock absorber" style bumper brackets. The original early rear bumpers are contoured similarly to the '76, but are tucked closer into the body. If you go with the '76 bumpers - more mounting modifications. You'll also have to cut out the taillight panel and replace it with a later version. The trunk is a simple bolt-on swap, but you'll need to reduce the tension on the springs because of the lighter weight (around 5-7lbs lighter).

* The hood and trunk are the only unique sheetmetal parts with the underside structures being aluminum.
* The bumpers save a lot of weight over standard "shock absorber" style bumpers because the reinforcement on the inside is aluminum instead of steel. But the mounting configuration is different than the earlier versions with standard bumpers. The standard front bumpers & brackets (1973 & 1974 rear) probably weigh the same or less than the Feather" versions.

Parts can be hard to find and may cost more if you don't find a whole car in decent shape to get them from. But if you don't have a magnet handy, an easy way to spot a Feather Duster hood is that the top steel sheetmetal and aluminum underside is crimped together around the perimeter as oppose to spot welded. You can see the little crimps about3/4" long & 3/16" wide on this Dart Lite hood.

Do a search on Plymouth Feather Duster. Most references have correct info.

You can probably get more details from the Slant 6 section of the forum.
Slant 6 Engines

I converted a '74 Duster into a 1975 Dart Sport using Dart Lite hood & trunk. But the front bumper remained the standard bracket version ('73-'74) while the rear bumper remained a steel "shock absorber" bracket version ('74-'76) with steel reinforcement for weight/traction.

View attachment 1715798192
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Got it thanks for the advice. Looks like I'll just keep looking for a plain feather duster then because this I Think would probably take to long for me to do and way out of my basic welding skills. Thanks for the info.
 
If the goal is making the car lighter, the ‘72 is already lighter. Even with aluminum reinforcement and bumper brackets the ‘76 front and rear bumpers are heavier than the ‘72’s.

The only thing worthwhile to swap would be the trunk lid with the aluminum inner panel. But even that doesn’t actually save that much weight.

And yeah, making the ‘76 hood fit would mean swapping most of the front clip and modifying the frame rails.

If you had a ‘73 it might be worth doing. Swapping a ‘72 to ‘76 parts is going backwards.
 
72bluNblu said:
If the goal is making the car lighter, the ‘72 is already lighter. Even with aluminum reinforcement and bumper brackets the ‘76 front and rear bumpers are heavier than the ‘72’s.

The only thing worthwhile to swap would be the trunk lid with the aluminum inner panel. But even that doesn’t actually save that much weight.

And yeah, making the ‘76 hood fit would mean swapping most of the front clip and modifying the frame rails.

If you had a ‘73 it might be worth doing. Swapping a ‘72 to ‘76 parts is going backwards.
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Yeah I'm not trying to swap for weight just would be trying to recreate the same Feather duster that my grandpa had as a birthday present for him as the closest car I've shown him to his original is a maroon red 72 I found. It wouldn't be a daily driver either more of for just plain nostalgia of loosing a good car and getting something back to replace it that is as close as I could get him.
 
Thanks for the help everyone. From what I'm understanding the reason why I can't find any examples is because it is an inefficient swap that is fairly pointless. Looks like its back to stalking craigslist.
 
They made a lot more 73-76 Dusters than ‘70-‘72. The later cars are easier to find and usually quite a bit less expensive. The feather dusters were a pretty small number, but anything ‘73-76 would look very similar. And anything ‘74+ would be easier to convert to the feather duster options.

You might try looking on Facebook, there are lots of Mopar groups and Marketplace seems to be overtaking Craigslist as a selling platform.
 
72bluNblu said:
They made a lot more 73-76 Dusters than ‘70-‘72. The later cars are easier to find and usually quite a bit less expensive. The feather dusters were a pretty small number, but anything ‘73-76 would look very similar. And anything ‘74+ would be easier to convert to the feather duster options.

You might try looking on Facebook, there are lots of Mopar groups and Marketplace seems to be overtaking Craigslist as a selling platform.
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yeah I've recently also tried looking through marketplace but it always gives me no to very few results if I am particular with my search and when I'm broad so it might give me some options it takes a good few hours just to get through a decent amount of 1 search term. Only reason why I would use the 72 is because at first when showing him the ad he though it was his old feather and didn't realize it wasn't until I showed him the identification plate and missing feather emblem.
 
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