71 V24 Duster rebuild to redo

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kanders

kanders

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2009
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Location
St.Albert, Alberta
I've posted a lot of questions and started threads about specific aspects of my car (mostly about race mods) but haven't done a proper build thread with photo's of the car so after a few requests from members here it is. I purchased the car off of fleabay and drove down to Seattle area to pick it up and found the car to be pretty much as described. It didn't come with an engine and needed some other things but had been a project more than 10 years ago and then abandoned. The car is a 340 auto with some good options but the most appealing to me was it was a V24 (340 wedge decal and black hood treatment) and I had owned one back in 1978 in high school so the nostalgia aspect made it irresistable to me. The car is hemi orange and the new parts were : all front and rear suspension and brakes /8 3/4 posi with 4:30 gears and yukon axles / new legendary interior minus carpet /all new brake and fuel lines/ year one complete wiring harness etc.
The car was converted to 4spd , I'll be leaving it a manual just for fun factor. Hope this hasn't bored anyone to sleep yet. I am including pics of the car the way it was when I got it. Kev

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Since I got the car for cruising but also to get back into drag racing, I had to decide what to put into it for a power plant. When I purchased the car the fellow wouldn't sell the engine that had been in it (a healthy 340) so I started asking the good members of this site for help and got some good advice but a couple of weeks after I got the car the engine became available and I purchased it and had it shipped. The vinyl roof had been removed and paint and glue ground off and black primer applied to protect the bare metal. Every time I walked past the car I thought, that doesn't look so bad and decided on a non factory paint scheme with orange below and under the side stripes and black completely on top meeting an orange border just above the stripe. There were some small bubbles in a couple of places on the car so I decided to strip it down to metal and start frome scratch. My intentions were to finish the car and race it before our local drag strip shuts down for the season but I just found out that the 4 spd trans which came with the car was actually a cast iron 3spd OD trans so that put a stop to that idea. I'm now going to continue working on this car as a winter project with the possibility of the installation of a viper 6spd trans. The following pics are the engine, the car stripped and now sealed with epoxy primer. I will be updating with any progress. Kev

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Hey Kevin, if that booth is at your house that is totally awesome man! you started with a pretty nice car and it seems like its going to be even nicer with the work youve done so far! you have my vote for putting the 6speed in it, as long as you dont make it a pro touring car lol...keep us posted on progress man!
 
I'm not bored, I love it!, what was the original color?
 
mshred said:
Hey Kevin, if that booth is at your house that is totally awesome man! you started with a pretty nice car and it seems like its going to be even nicer with the work youve done so far! you have my vote for putting the 6speed in it, as long as you dont make it a pro touring car lol...keep us posted on progress man!
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Thanks, I built that booth at my shop for painting the machines my company used to manufacture(machines were smaller but I knew it would have to fit cars) but since selling the company it was sitting empty so it's a great place to build a car. I have to rent the space out soon so the booth will be moved to a new garage I'm building at my house. Will keep you posted on the 6spd updates. Kev
 
340wedge said:
I'm not bored, I love it!, what was the original color?
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340 Wedge, the car was originally EV2 hemi orange with a black interior although it came from the factory with a cloth bench seat and column shift 727 trans (exactly the same as my plum crazy Duster 31 years ago). Is your car an original V24 also?
 
Wow,wish mine was that far along while it is original paint it needs paint and down to the metal is the way to go,did you use aircraft stripper?looks solid wish I had mine here to work on,sucks when it's at the other end of the country.
 
Cool car, I almost bid on it when it was on ebay but didnt want to pay for shipping it all the way to Maine. Looks like your doing a very nice job on it. Make sure to keep us posted on how it comes along.
 
kind of freaky how the thermostat housing is still on the hose, sure it was not the invisible mans car or something?? lol you are going to have an outstanding car when you are done.....keep the pictures coming please...
 
71/340wedge said:
Cool car, I almost bid on it when it was on ebay but didnt want to pay for shipping it all the way to Maine. Looks like your doing a very nice job on it. Make sure to keep us posted on how it comes along.
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What took you so long LOL. I've been waiting for someone to mention they saw it on Ebay. Since nobody bid on it I assumed I paid too much. Will update any progress but it could be a while, I just rented the bay out today and have to be out in a week. Damn, I knew that would happen when I put that sign out front. I better fast track the garage. Kev
 
Kev there is a guy I got an old formula mx from last winter in St.Albert(Calahoo)maybe you know him Andy possibly,lots of B body/engine stuff.I think he worked at Martin's seemed like a good guy.BTW let me know how to recognize you at Red Deer or did you name with a face,we did today.
 
bigdemo1 said:
Kev there is a guy I got an old formula mx from last winter in St.Albert(Calahoo)maybe you know him Andy possibly,lots of B body/engine stuff.I think he worked at Martin's seemed like a good guy.BTW let me know how to recognize you at Red Deer or did you name with a face,we did today.
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Hey Sid, I heard about him but never met him. I end up out that way once in a while since a friend of mine built a house just a little west of Calahoo. I didn't do the name with a face since I'm usually the guy behind the camera. I'll check yours out and see if my wife has one on holiday pics that won't break the computer screen LOL. What day are you going to the meet? Kev
 
Probably Sat I,m off Thurs,to Tues and Daughter is out of school so we will go to Edtn. Thurs.for appointment Fri. morning nothing written in stone plus Tanya is 4 1/2 months pregnant so it depends how long she feels like sitting in that piece crap she picked out last year.
 
inkjunkie said:
kind of freaky how the thermostat housing is still on the hose, sure it was not the invisible mans car or something?? lol you are going to have an outstanding car when you are done.....keep the pictures coming please...
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Thanks inkjunkie but can't you see the engine attached to that housing? It's one of those ones from the seventies that gets 100 MPG but the oil companies keep stopping them from making it to market LOL. Kev
 
Kevin my wife says we can't play together because I'll spend to much money LOL but seriously your stuff looks great let me know how you make out with your table one off custom stuff is always interesting custom machining has always been an interest,Last summer I picked up an atlas/sears lathe, also like collecting old tools when I get a bigger shop I will pick up a larger lathe and a universal mill and do more custom stuff.
 
bigdemo1 said:
Kevin my wife says we can't play together because I'll spend to much money LOL but seriously your stuff looks great let me know how you make out with your table one off custom stuff is always interesting custom machining has always been an interest,Last summer I picked up an atlas/sears lathe, also like collecting old tools when I get a bigger shop I will pick up a larger lathe and a universal mill and do more custom stuff.
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Maybe next time you're in E-town come on down and I'll show you some other stuff you might like (tell your wife you're just window shopping). If you need any help with lathe tooling let me know, I'd be glad to help. I think I might actually have some brazed carbide tools for your lathe you can have since my little Atlas lathe went with the company. Kev
 
It's just my opinion but I think the car would look great just the way it came from the factory(black vinyl top and the rest orange and the v24 blacked out hood treatment and decal) and keep the 4 speed in it, the 4 speed will actually help it value. It's a rare car being a v24 car and I think doing it up any other way would hurt the value. Also the hood scoop needs to go, I can't stand it when put the hood scoop on it and the 340 decal, sorry for any one that has one like that it just my opinion.
 
71/340wedge said:
It's just my opinion but I think the car would look great just the way it came from the factory(black vinyl top and the rest orange and the v24 blacked out hood treatment and decal) and keep the 4 speed in it, the 4 speed will actually help it value. It's a rare car being a v24 car and I think doing it up any other way would hurt the value. Also the hood scoop needs to go, I can't stand it when put the hood scoop on it and the 340 decal, sorry for any one that has one like that it just my opinion.
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I understand what you're saying since that was my intention when I first got the car to have a stock look, rallyes and all but then I realized that it really needed a rotisserie restoration and I'm not into the time commitment right now for that and I really wanted to drag race it so I changed directions and I'm gonna have some fun with it first and then in a few years strip it all down and do it right. I'm not doing anything to the car that isn't easily reversible.
Opinion duly noted. BTW I know the hood looks a little cluttered with the scoop and the decal but a race cars gotta have a scoop! Kev
 
340 Wedge, the car was originally EV2 hemi orange with a black interior although it came from the factory with a cloth bench seat and column shift 727 trans (exactly the same as my plum crazy Duster 31 years ago). Is your car an original V24 also?

Yeah it's a V24 car, Sassy Grass, Go-wing, has the auto on the column and has the split bench with folding arm rest.
 
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