1974 duster project

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lvchris

lvchris

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Henderson Nevada
Ok so for the past few days I have been reading thru all these great threads and figured it was time to start one. This is my first time ever attempting to do anything with a car. I have always loved mopars and have owned a couple in the past but never did anything hands on. I guess i have always just been so busy with work and family i could never find time. I recently cut down alot of hours at work since it is so slow and and found myself with alot of free time so i figured this would be a great time to start learning something new. So with that said have patience with me, i am sure i will have a ton of questions for you guys and i am really glad i found this board.

I picked up this duster a few days ago it was sitting in this guys yard around the corner so i talked to him and ended up getting it for 1000 dollars (not sure if that was a good deal, but the price seemed right to me ). It has a clean title and has been sitting for 8 years. He told me it ran when he parked it but the transmission was going bad. I havent tried to start it yet as i figured I would get out the interior and see how bad the rust was first.
 
pictures
 

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played with some bondo brand rust remover yesterday on the roof (seemed to work fairly decent) also took out the vinyl flooring and the seats. Replaced the driverside fender.
 

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today i am going to try to get the dash pad out. I have read thru a few post on how to do it so i guess well see what happens. On the floor do you suggest just sanding down all the surface rust and putting on some POR-15 or is there a better way to do the floor?
 
Wow, that Dash pad is roached!!! Looks like a good project, good luck :glasses7:
 
I took one of those wire disk on a drill and went to town. came out really good. I primed mine and put dynomat down. POR-15 would be good to
 
well, the dash pad was stubborn but finally got it out. Boy its in really horrible shape. Is there somewhere that sells new dash pads with new metal etc? I dont think this one is even salvageable.
 

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Looks like a good find there. Definitely a good start. What are your plans for the car? As far as help and questions, you're at the right place. Lots of good people here willing to help out. Post up some good side shots. Jump right on in there, Enjoy!:coffee2:
 
Thunder said:
Looks like a good find there. Definitely a good start. What are your plans for the car? As far as help and questions, you're at the right place. Lots of good people here willing to help out. Post up some good side shots. Jump right on in there, Enjoy!:coffee2:
Click to expand...

thanks buddy, just planing on learning the basics with this car, get the iterior done a decent paint job and give it to my youngest son when he turns 16 (hes 13 now) :)
 
so its been a few weeks now, and we have made a little progress. I have actually spent more time reading manuals and post here than actually working on the car but im starting to understand things. We managed to get the car to start up after a little pokin around in the under dash wiring and fixing lose connections and puting a new starter and new battery cables.We got alot of the surface rust out of the trunk and there was also some tar that had been spilled back there that i just took a heat gun and a scraper to. We pulled out the motor and transmission so we could rebuild the motor and get some very needed cleaning done.
 

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Potentially rot free V8 3 speed for $1k? That would be a criminally good deal in the northeast. You can probably sell the buckets and console (since they are from an earlier, automatic car) for half or more of what you paid for the whole thing. My dash pad was about the same as yours when I got my car, and my (green) carpet was bleached white where the sun hit it.
This is going to be a sweet ride, and it looks like you are off to a good start!
 
Finally have a update :) got the motor back from the machine shop heres some pictures.
 

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can anyone recommend a good fitting replacement oil pan? Also, I have been looking at pushrods and noticed they come in different sizes (remember total noob here) and i am having a hard time figuring out what set to order. The cam that was put in is a edelbrock performer plus camshaft kit # 2177 (not sure if that makes a difference).. Thanks for any input, been reading up on this for a little while and im getting nowhere.
 
you can get a rod measurement tool from most places have them send you one so you can double check before buying any
 
Nice progress here. On the push rods, call Edelbrocks tech line. They can help you out. Keep up the good work.:coffee2:
 
Just wondering, what does this thing have for a trans? I notice it has an auto console, and auto trans tunnel but then there is clutch pedals and a clutch and flywheel on the motor. Is it a column shift 3 speed or something?


Looks like a great car for $1000. maybe for your area it seems a bit rusty but on the east coast that would be considered minimal rust.
 
so i have been thinking about changing the car from a column shift 3 speed to an floor shift for a couple weeks as almost everyone i have talked to about the column shift is pretty sure i will hate it ( i have never driven a column shift car before) it looked pretty interesting to me in the beginning but now that im really thinking about it it my just be a huge pita especially considering I plan on teaching my youngest son to drive in it and eventually giving it to him. I have searched around a bit for detailed info on the conversion and haven't had alot of luck. If anyone has a link to a informative post i would appreciate it. Thanks for the help :)
 
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