1972 Duster Build

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Happy Fathers Day to all you FABO Family Dads out there! Spent most of my day doing what I love the most, working around the shop. Got up early to take advantage of the cool weather and pulled the Ski Boat out of the shop. Moved the Ram Charger around and organized a bit. Put the Duster on the trailer and took her to the shop. She's no longer a driveway project, she's graduated to the shop for now.

Hope to get the rear end in place and weld up the brackets for the ladder bars and coil over soon. Gonna drop the motor and trans in about a week and set the ride height so we can level her up and do some welding. Then it's back to body work and electrical...
 

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This last month or so has been a busy one for me and haven't really had much shop/car time. Priorities have dictated I spend more time away from the Duster. I have picked up a few items I needed recently, intake gasket, plugs, new lines for the dual oil filter remote setup, wheel bearings and seals, etc. Went to the Sacramento Swap Meet yesterday with my friend Brian and found some good deals... Picked up some 15x10 rear wheels (black steelies) and a Rocket in a Coffin grill emblem... Brian got some used 31" rear tires for the mock up on his Challenger...

Another friend will be donating some parts for projects next week, getting a running 273, an extra a904, a C Body 8-3/4 rear housing and axles and a build able 383 Long block. We've got plans for the rearend but everything else will be stored until we need them for a project or used for bartering on parts we need.

Speaking of that we have a set of '78 Ram Charger bucket seats and rear bench we need to unload to make room in the shop if anyone in Nor Cal is looking!

I also have the stock front spindles/drum assemblies off the 72 still laying around if anyone is looking for that stuff as well.
 
Good day. Went out to my buddies place and picked up a complete 273 runner with original AFB 4bbl out of a 67 Cuda, an extra 904 and a 8-3/4 housing with axels. Also made a trip to another friends place where we grabbed the front bumper including brackets and a donor drive shaft I can shorten for the Duster. Bumpers got a few wows in it but worth taking it and my rear bumper to the local shop for blasting and straightening. Will prep them for body color later.

If they think they're too far gone to straighten at least I have some good cores for later on.

Working on a deal for a 383 rebuildable long block and possibly picking up a 413 Max wedge with the long cross over dual 4bbl intake and a couple sets of heads.
Gonna have too many motors laying around and not enough projects to put them in!
 
Played around a bit at the shop today. Got my intake bolted on, plugged up the extra vacuum holes, mounted the fuel pump and TransDapt engine mounts. Took off the oil filter and installed the adapter for the remote twin oil filter setup.

Need to make an adapter for my slide hammer so I can get the bearings pulled out off the 8-3/4 rear and install new bearings and seals. Then to reassemble the backing plates and caliper brackets... Little steps forward.
 

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Nice, still haven't decided if I'm ditching my old gas tank yet or not. Did manage to order the wrong (smaller) sending unit though.
 
Just read thru your build, very nice! I am currently doing a Sassy Grass/360 conversion to my 74' Duster. Enjoyed your thread...Keep on building!

Alex

I think you did such a nice job with this...That I will be doing mine similar to this!

image by Alexl5280, on Flickr
 
Deceus said:
Nice, still haven't decided if I'm ditching my old gas tank yet or not. Did manage to order the wrong (smaller) sending unit though.
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Yeah, I didn't really have a choice since its been "Back Halfed" stock tank not an option and the steel universals I looked at wouldn't fit without interfering with the coil over mounting position. I did get a great deal on this Fuel Cell through Amazon, $195 including the Chrysler sending unit, sump pickup style and foam. Would have been around $300 elsewhere. They did screw up and didn't include the foam in the shipment. When I contacted them they offered a 20% refund so it ended up costing me around $160. I can find foam locally for that price!
 
Alex5280 said:
Just read thru your build, very nice! I am currently doing a Sassy Grass/360 conversion to my 74' Duster. Enjoyed your thread...Keep on building!

Alex
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm hoping to pick up some steam on it in the next few weeks! Got tons of parts ready to install and ready to drop the 318 in... Just gotta find the time!

Jerry
 
Got my gage cluster cleaned up, fresh coat of SEM Trim Black on the bezel and heater control bezel. Repainted the lettering on the heater plate.
 

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The PO cut a random hole in the dash, I made it slightly bigger and used it for a USB charger...
 

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Bit of a setback tonight. Had plans to work on the steering shaft and coupler tomorrow so I could be done with the column and get ready to drop the drivetrain in. Got to the shop to drop off some tools and saw gear oil under the Duster. Looks like I gotta put off the other stuff until I yank the box out and replace some seals.
 

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Got a new seal for the pitman arm shaft earlier this week. Got it installed today and put the pitman arm back on and reinstalled the steering box. Last week I was able to reassemble the 8.8 rear end and get the caliper brackets and emergency brake backing plates back on after I installed new bearings and seals. Axles are back in and calipers are installed!

I also tried recovering my dash pad last weekend, worst upholstery job I've ever done. Ripped off the vinyl and ordered a new dash cap from Parts Train... Got a good deal at $85 shipped. It arrived yesterday so I might work on it this weekend if time allows.

Close to being ready to drop the engine and trans in the car, need to get that done so I can set the car at ride hieght in the front and roll the new rear under it and tack the ladder bars and coil over mounts. Getting excited to get the drive train done so I can focus on the body and detail work.
 

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Jhenry70 said:
Got my gage cluster cleaned up, fresh coat of SEM Trim Black on the bezel and heater control bezel. Repainted the lettering on the heater plate.
Click to expand...

Ya know, this is the second stock cluster I've seen painted black and I dig it! That's going to look good with my red and black obession I have going on with my project, not to mention keep my budget in line!
Anxious to see how you make out with the dash cap. I've seen a few of them turn out great. Good luck and let us know how it goes....
 
DusterDaddy said:
Ya know, this is the second stock cluster I've seen painted black and I dig it! That's going to look good with my red and black obession I have going on with my project, not to mention keep my budget in line!
Anxious to see how you make out with the dash cap. I've seen a few of them turn out great. Good luck and let us know how it goes....
Click to expand...

Thanks! I like the black out cluster, turned out better than I thought. Later on I may go with newer gauges but for now the stock ones will have to do. Still haven't had a chance to spend time fitting the dash cap. Hopefully soon. I'll have to spend a few hours reading through your build, sweet ride ya got there! Wish my son would be a bit more interested in wrenching, he loves the process just don't like getting his hands dirty. good thing he has many other good qualities or I'd be worried about him. :)
 
It was a couple of hours of scrubbing, scraping, and cleaning but the results were worth it. Got my kick panels, pillar trim and column trim painted with some fresh coats of SEM Trim Black. Also started test fitting my dash cover, got it pretty close, might glue it in place tomorrow.
 

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Cleaned up the 72 am radio I got from Steve here on FABO... Took it apart cleaned it out and gave it a good dusting of tuner cleaner. Removed the display window and tuner back plate and cleaned them up. Cleaned up the bezel and painted the silver trim. Haven't bench tested yet but it's really just a display piece in the dash I'll be putting in a modern stereo later in a under dash console. I also got the dash cap fitted and bonded to the original, it's currently curing with clamps and blue tape holding it in place.

Also cleaned up my tail light buckets and lenses and shot some fresh Trim Black on them, looking good.
 

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