1974 Plymouth Duster

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gwmax65

Magnum V8 Mopar
Joined
May 17, 2013
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Location
Utah
Bought a 1974 Plymouth Duster 3 days ago!! (12/30/2016). 318/904, power discs & steering, doug's headers, 2 - 1/2" dual exhaust, looks like an 8 - 1/4" to me, gotta get under and get a better look at it, hurst floor shifter, aftermarket seats, little rust, paid $1300. Trans is supposedly shot, a replacement 904 was included, no radiator, front discs locked up, aftermarket shifter's garbage, other than that, no problem!

This is a for sure project I'll be committed to restoring & keeping for a very long time. Had 2 of these in the past, first one was an early '74 like this one, found out shortly after I bought that one that the floor pans were GONE. So an opportunity showed up on a FB post about a '74 Gold Duster not too far from my place, went to see it, liked it, bought it. Used the first '74 Ruster as a parts car for the '74 Gold Duster, used a slant six drive train out of my '73 Valiant at the time to get it back in action since the previous owner forgot to put oil in one day, threw a rod right through the block next to the starter...

Time passed, the Gold Duster was running good, then had the opportunity to trade it for a 1966 Plymouth Barracuda 273 Commando, so traded it, kept the '66 for a couple years, got it up and running, drove it to work once, and then came along this '74 Duster, so now selling my '66 Barracuda. Funny thing, the previous owner always called it a '73 Duster, and that's all I knew it was till I took a look at the title a little more closely again to see it's a '74, what prompted me to check for that was the noticeable bigger ugly rear bumper design vs the 1970-1973 sleek style that sits flush with the body.

Plan on switching the rear bumper out in favor for the '70-'73 style and whole tail panel out for the '70-'71 tail light style. I'll for sure be keepin' y'all up to date on what happens with this Duster! Mopar or No Car.



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Sounds like you know what you are getting into. Have fun with the new project!
 
Got it fired up last Friday!! Sounds like it's got a mild cam in it, some strange lifter tick, hopefully that'll go away on an up coming oil change, might just have to switch over to adjustable rockers. Sounds real good, now just gotta get the calipers back on, brakes bled, inspect trans, cross fingers it'll work, and it should be driving by next week!! Here's a quick couple vids of the 4bbl Weiand Action Plus intake swap:

Part 1


Part 2
 
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Been a long time since I've posted, nearly 1 year later lol. Painted her last summer which was fun, gotta do the roof next, only thing that's holding me back is getting the shift shaft seal replaced, adjust bands, and see if I get reverse back so I can finally start driving it. Last year in August I bought a '73 Duster locally with a 318 as well, been working on that ever since and now finishing up my 4th Magnum Swap with a 360. I also bought my 440 back and intend to throw it in this '74. Possibly I might be trading the '73 Duster for a nearly restored '73 Dart, but debating on it right now, we'll see... Current Mopars, 2x '65 barracudas, '67 barracuda, '73 & '74 Duster and my Daily '01 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9L.

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I'll try to keep this thread updated as soon as I get back to work on the '74.
 
Here we go again haha......... If anyone's still looking at this thread I'm mainly posting about my cars on Instagram now, same username 'gwcuda65'. I'll comprise everything in a nutshell on what went on with the Duster this year. I made a post on instagram asking which out of 3 cars I should start working on over the next few months, the majority voted the Duster over the blue '65 Barracuda & '73 Scamp. So I basically grabbed a 318 Magnum I built late 2016 n swapped it in with a rebuilt HD 904 transmission in less than 2 months. Pulled the factory tired 318 n' 904 over the winter. The '73 Duster I traded for a brown '74 Scamp, and eventually sold that around fall 2018. Anywho, got new Vision Wheels swapped on the Duster, about to swap an Edelbrock AVS2 carb on, and finish some wiring/gauges up n' daily drive till snow hits. Will try to make a better effort to keep this thread updated.

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Got back from the tire store! Had them swap on 2x 275/60/15s on the Duster with new rims that have 3.75" backspacing instead of 4.50", match fronts so much better, taller & wider tire from the 245/60/15s, and now have new vision wheels swapped on the blue 383 Dart!!

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