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Well, since it has been nearly a year (May 3rd) since I drove my baby home, I'll post up my story!
About me: I'm a freshman (almost a sophomore, woohoo!) in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois. I've been a big Illini fan my whole life as I was born and raised here in Champaign, and I also spend a lot of time in music and am really interested in entrepreneurship as well. My parents didn't work on cars or anything, so I'm not sure where I got the itch to, but I've liked NASCAR for a long time and I guess I just always had a thing for cars. I don't know what it is, but I'd take a weekend hanging with friends, throwing the football around, making some bbq, and wrenching on a classic car over almost anything in the world.
The story of me and my 73 Duster started a few years ago when my two friends and I had the dream of having muscle cars. My friend Evan was the first to get one, he's a couple years older than me and got a 72 Mustang Mach 1. That summer we took it on the Hot Rod Power Tour (07). That got me thinking I could really pull this off and have my own muscle. I used to want a mustang but slowly as time went on I realized I was a fan of MOPAR muscle. Just love the look of them I guess, and the rarity compared to all the Chevelles and Camaros at the Power Tour that year really stuck out in my mind. Not to mention the legend that is the HEMI engine (when I graduated high school, I taped the word HEMI on the top of my mortar board!). So, next my friend got his 77 Corvette during the winter of 08-09 and I knew it was my turn to step up. I decided on a Duster (wish I could go for a Challenger or Cuda, but no way is that in an 18 year old's price range). Found a really nice one up in Wisconsin, but I missed out on it because my dad wouldn't let me buy it yet and then it wasn't for sale anymore. But, he came around to it being okay, we both went in for half the cost (as had been the agreement for a while) and this May, I picked up my 73 Duster near Louisville.
Specs (when I got it):
360 engine out of a '75
Comp Cams Magnum 280H (.480 lift, .280 duration).
340 HP exhaust manifolds
Exhaust ends under the car with what I think are just resonators
Thermoquad Carb
Power Steering, No Power Brakes
Originally a Slant Six with AC, not sure what other options (fender tag is from a different car)
Hemi Orange
Here's a little about the car, and what I've done with it so far:
- Got an alignment: The 5 hour drive home from Louisville wore the tires, which were nearly new, down to completely bald. The previous owner was nice enough to supply 2 new front tires for me with the car when I bought it knowing it was badly out of alignment.
- Replaced heater core: About a week later, the heater core (which I had been told "needed replaced") started to leak all over the carpet. I pulled the carpet out and changed the core with one the previous owner sold with the car (not a job for the weak of heart!)
- Fixed electrical gremlins (my least favorite): Car wouldn't start, cranking the engine caused smoking and crackling in the engine compartment. It turns out the big wire for the starter had been rubbing against the steering column which had worn all the way through the insulation down to the metal and was shorting out. In the process of fixing that, I inadvertently screwed one of my instrument cluster screws through the wiring harness. This gave me weird symptoms where I could run the car but not start it, and only with a certain fuse out. It took me a couple of months to finally fix this and needless to say I was very very glad to have FABO to help me out!
- Got tranny resealed: It leaked a decent amount and in multiple spots so I ended up taking her in to get a full re-seal job, doing pretty good now but the power steering still leaks some.
- New Holley 670 CFM Street Avenger: The car had problems with the fuel mixture, the thermoquad on there would stutter and die on full throttle, and it took a long time to start when it had run for a while and then sat for an hour or two. Finally got fed up with a carb too complicated for a beginner, and this March I got a new Holley 670 CFM Street avenger, put it on there with an adapter for the spreadbore intake. Took a while to get her to stop leaking but with friends and time we got it. Runs like new now, very happy I went with the new carb. Also put in new plugs since the old ones were pretty badly fouled.
- Added the stripes (see pics below)
Some other stuff I've worked on with my car friends (now and upcoming)
- Rewired the Mach 1 (good experience to re-wire a car from scratch, this was the second time we had to do it since the first was a disaster)
- Full new suspension on the Mach 1
- This summer we're putting new heads and a new intake manifold on the 'vette.
- On my daily driver (5-speed Mazda Protege) I've put in a new stereo and full sound system, painted up the rims, got my first taste of bondo-ing up a rusty wheel well, and a while ago I added a dixie horn. :cheers: That's the car I learned to drive and to drive stick on and it's my other baby even if it gets stuck in the Duster's shadow. It's still going strong and at 185k miles, and somehow on the ORIGINAL clutch, so I can't complain! Plus it's the same year as me! :thumbrig:
Next up:
- New suspension with 1" torsion bars, KYB shocks all around, and ESPO 6 leaf 1" above stock springs in the back.
- Finish the exhaust
- Get a stereo in there for cruising
- Fix power steering leak
- I have a duckbill spoiler to go on the back
- Either fix the paint or re-chrome the bumpers
- 8-3/4 rear end
- split bench with armrest
I have a lot of projects to keep me busy! I'm looking forward to sharing all my progress with you guys, I think the next thing I'm going to do is the suspension. I ultimately want to build a big-block cruiser (thinking a stroked 440 with low compression) but I may keep the Duster how it is and look in to another car that I could go ground-up on when I'm out of school and have the space. This summer my two friends and I will be on the Power Tour for a few days! I am thinking of making a poster for our three cars and if I do I will be sure to stick a FABO sticker on there somewhere :-D.
Here's a link to an album of photos of the Duster (and one of my friends' cars). Clicking on the photo should go to the album, I think, sorry if the photo is huge!
Well, since it has been nearly a year (May 3rd) since I drove my baby home, I'll post up my story!
About me: I'm a freshman (almost a sophomore, woohoo!) in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois. I've been a big Illini fan my whole life as I was born and raised here in Champaign, and I also spend a lot of time in music and am really interested in entrepreneurship as well. My parents didn't work on cars or anything, so I'm not sure where I got the itch to, but I've liked NASCAR for a long time and I guess I just always had a thing for cars. I don't know what it is, but I'd take a weekend hanging with friends, throwing the football around, making some bbq, and wrenching on a classic car over almost anything in the world.
The story of me and my 73 Duster started a few years ago when my two friends and I had the dream of having muscle cars. My friend Evan was the first to get one, he's a couple years older than me and got a 72 Mustang Mach 1. That summer we took it on the Hot Rod Power Tour (07). That got me thinking I could really pull this off and have my own muscle. I used to want a mustang but slowly as time went on I realized I was a fan of MOPAR muscle. Just love the look of them I guess, and the rarity compared to all the Chevelles and Camaros at the Power Tour that year really stuck out in my mind. Not to mention the legend that is the HEMI engine (when I graduated high school, I taped the word HEMI on the top of my mortar board!). So, next my friend got his 77 Corvette during the winter of 08-09 and I knew it was my turn to step up. I decided on a Duster (wish I could go for a Challenger or Cuda, but no way is that in an 18 year old's price range). Found a really nice one up in Wisconsin, but I missed out on it because my dad wouldn't let me buy it yet and then it wasn't for sale anymore. But, he came around to it being okay, we both went in for half the cost (as had been the agreement for a while) and this May, I picked up my 73 Duster near Louisville.
Specs (when I got it):
360 engine out of a '75
Comp Cams Magnum 280H (.480 lift, .280 duration).
340 HP exhaust manifolds
Exhaust ends under the car with what I think are just resonators
Thermoquad Carb
Power Steering, No Power Brakes
Originally a Slant Six with AC, not sure what other options (fender tag is from a different car)
Hemi Orange
Here's a little about the car, and what I've done with it so far:
- Got an alignment: The 5 hour drive home from Louisville wore the tires, which were nearly new, down to completely bald. The previous owner was nice enough to supply 2 new front tires for me with the car when I bought it knowing it was badly out of alignment.
- Replaced heater core: About a week later, the heater core (which I had been told "needed replaced") started to leak all over the carpet. I pulled the carpet out and changed the core with one the previous owner sold with the car (not a job for the weak of heart!)
- Fixed electrical gremlins (my least favorite): Car wouldn't start, cranking the engine caused smoking and crackling in the engine compartment. It turns out the big wire for the starter had been rubbing against the steering column which had worn all the way through the insulation down to the metal and was shorting out. In the process of fixing that, I inadvertently screwed one of my instrument cluster screws through the wiring harness. This gave me weird symptoms where I could run the car but not start it, and only with a certain fuse out. It took me a couple of months to finally fix this and needless to say I was very very glad to have FABO to help me out!
- Got tranny resealed: It leaked a decent amount and in multiple spots so I ended up taking her in to get a full re-seal job, doing pretty good now but the power steering still leaks some.
- New Holley 670 CFM Street Avenger: The car had problems with the fuel mixture, the thermoquad on there would stutter and die on full throttle, and it took a long time to start when it had run for a while and then sat for an hour or two. Finally got fed up with a carb too complicated for a beginner, and this March I got a new Holley 670 CFM Street avenger, put it on there with an adapter for the spreadbore intake. Took a while to get her to stop leaking but with friends and time we got it. Runs like new now, very happy I went with the new carb. Also put in new plugs since the old ones were pretty badly fouled.
- Added the stripes (see pics below)
Some other stuff I've worked on with my car friends (now and upcoming)
- Rewired the Mach 1 (good experience to re-wire a car from scratch, this was the second time we had to do it since the first was a disaster)
- Full new suspension on the Mach 1
- This summer we're putting new heads and a new intake manifold on the 'vette.
- On my daily driver (5-speed Mazda Protege) I've put in a new stereo and full sound system, painted up the rims, got my first taste of bondo-ing up a rusty wheel well, and a while ago I added a dixie horn. :cheers: That's the car I learned to drive and to drive stick on and it's my other baby even if it gets stuck in the Duster's shadow. It's still going strong and at 185k miles, and somehow on the ORIGINAL clutch, so I can't complain! Plus it's the same year as me! :thumbrig:
Next up:
- New suspension with 1" torsion bars, KYB shocks all around, and ESPO 6 leaf 1" above stock springs in the back.
- Finish the exhaust
- Get a stereo in there for cruising
- Fix power steering leak
- I have a duckbill spoiler to go on the back
- Either fix the paint or re-chrome the bumpers
- 8-3/4 rear end
- split bench with armrest
I have a lot of projects to keep me busy! I'm looking forward to sharing all my progress with you guys, I think the next thing I'm going to do is the suspension. I ultimately want to build a big-block cruiser (thinking a stroked 440 with low compression) but I may keep the Duster how it is and look in to another car that I could go ground-up on when I'm out of school and have the space. This summer my two friends and I will be on the Power Tour for a few days! I am thinking of making a poster for our three cars and if I do I will be sure to stick a FABO sticker on there somewhere :-D.
Here's a link to an album of photos of the Duster (and one of my friends' cars). Clicking on the photo should go to the album, I think, sorry if the photo is huge!