73 duster questions

[john123456]

hey hows it going pretty new here finally got an old mopar and had some questions . well first off its a 73 duster with a 360 has some kind of mild cam but i dont know what. it has a 727 auto and 8 3/4 rear with 323 gears i dont know what converter and an edelbrock 1406 carb. havent had a chance to get to the track but id guess 14-15 something and i wanted to get some opinions on what it would take to get one of these in high 12s -low 13s so thanks for any info

 

[j par]

Let's start at the rear and work our way forward shall we ?
#1- rear tires, cheater slicks
#2- rearend, 391 suregrip
#3- torque converter, stall/a good one (maybe a shift kit)
#4- cam & lifters, this you'll have to do a compression check
and talk to a professional or two.
#5- maybe a little bigger carburetor or a second one
#6- loose weight, through out anything thats not bolted down and then start on the stuff that is !
There's a hundred different ways you can go, just pick one and stay with it
my 2 cents . ...

 

[john123456]

well think im going to go to the last street night of the season tomorrow and see what it does so i have an idea

 

[bOb shingler]

Great idea!

 

[dodgetexan]

Low 13s in a 360 duster shouldn't be too difficult. I would recommend changing the rear gears first. Add a set of headers if it doesn't already have them, put a higher stall converter and then strip all of the excess weight off of the car. That would get you heading in the right direction.

 

[AJ/FormS]

A favorable,Power to weight ratio.
Or, failing that;
money, and tools, and friends, and a skilled machine shop,
and FABO, of course.
That's what it will take,To get the favorable P/W ratio.
Or you can just get the weight down to 2700 pounds. Then almost any 360 will get you there with favorable gears and some semblance of traction.But getting to 2700 race weight will be a trick, especially if 200 of it is in your pants, like mine is.

With an automatic and an unlimited chassis, a P/W of .089 is what it will take. That would be .089 x raceweight. or 300hp at 3370lbs/raceweight.
With a street suspension you might need 40 or 50 more HP.
If your car is a fat *** like my 68 Formula S and scales at 3650 race weight, you might need more than 350 hp with a street suspension.That's 3650 with me onboard,and thats 200 pounds of muscle and bone.
No really, that's relaxed muscle. Go ahead, honey give it all you got.

 

[doogievlg]

Check out the 12 second thread. There's loads of 360 build in there they are simple.

I second everything that the others said but I will add that you shouldn't skimp on the converter. A lot of guys say the car should revolve around the heads and flow numbers are important. In my opinion your converter and cam are the most important. They allow everything to work together. Good luck and go wear out that search button and go through dozens of pages in the small block section.