Greg A-M
Active Member
Hello FABO!
I've posted a few threads here and there about stuff I've been working on but it's high time I start asking the big questions and garner the sage wisdom of the Mopar Elders. I'm planning to embark on something that could only be possible when you're in your mid twenties and have nothing tying you down.
My plan for next spring is to drive with a friend from California through the center of the USA to see the great paleontological sites before swinging north to Canada to drive the length of the AlCan into Alaska. From there we're going to come down the west coast of North America back down into the lower 48 and along the coast again back to the SF bay in California.
To accomplish this journey I want to drive an American car - one made between 1960 and 1975. Taking the journey in an American car is as important to me as the trip itself - there can be no one without the other. This American car would also need a few features: an engine with good fuel economy, and a manual transmission.
After a few months of craigslist surfing we came across what we thought was the right match - a '74 Duster with a 225 slant six. The only box not ticked by this car was the automatic gearbox with a three speed column shift. The Duster body style is among my favorites, especially the 70-72. She had the look of being rough-and-ready with a rattle can primer paint-job and a few small spots of rust, the drip rails and a spot at the base of the drivers side A pillar other than that she was nice and solid. The interior was chewed up but wasn't trashed. It was far cheaper than a lot of the other Dusters, Demons, Mavericks, six-cyl Novas, Valiants, Hornets, and other small six cylinder cars of the era we'd found and when I went to take a look at it in person it appeared to be a good specimen. After all, we'd seen rolling bodies with rust in worse places for twice what the asking price of this car was. As a bonus the car came with "ran last time I turned it on" factory A/C! It had also been running/driving about a month before it was sold to us and the engine fired up but had a hard time staying running. I didn't worry too much about it as I knew I was going to need to rebuild the carb, change plugs, and do a number of basic things any way. I'd have time to diagnose anything that was a problem now.
Inadvertently, my traveling companion gave this car the name of 'Pinkie'.
Now's the part where you come in FOBA, I want to take this Duster from it's heapish state into something a little less heapish but completely capable of getting my buddy and I to Alaska and back with only a few disasters in between. No cosmetics, limited creature comforts, just a strong American machine to cruise the highways of our nation with determination and diligence.
So, FABO: What would you do to prepare a 74 Duster with a 225 slant six for an extended journey on the roads from California to Alaska in the months of April to June? What is the essential work that would need to be done now and preemptively for a car that's going to travel long distances at economy speeds (55-70 mph)? Help me make a list of tasks to complete that I should know to do and others I wouldn't have otherwise known to do.
I'll post some pictures of what I'm working with as soon as I can as it's going to be raining today/tomorrow.
Thank you FABO!
I've posted a few threads here and there about stuff I've been working on but it's high time I start asking the big questions and garner the sage wisdom of the Mopar Elders. I'm planning to embark on something that could only be possible when you're in your mid twenties and have nothing tying you down.
My plan for next spring is to drive with a friend from California through the center of the USA to see the great paleontological sites before swinging north to Canada to drive the length of the AlCan into Alaska. From there we're going to come down the west coast of North America back down into the lower 48 and along the coast again back to the SF bay in California.
To accomplish this journey I want to drive an American car - one made between 1960 and 1975. Taking the journey in an American car is as important to me as the trip itself - there can be no one without the other. This American car would also need a few features: an engine with good fuel economy, and a manual transmission.
After a few months of craigslist surfing we came across what we thought was the right match - a '74 Duster with a 225 slant six. The only box not ticked by this car was the automatic gearbox with a three speed column shift. The Duster body style is among my favorites, especially the 70-72. She had the look of being rough-and-ready with a rattle can primer paint-job and a few small spots of rust, the drip rails and a spot at the base of the drivers side A pillar other than that she was nice and solid. The interior was chewed up but wasn't trashed. It was far cheaper than a lot of the other Dusters, Demons, Mavericks, six-cyl Novas, Valiants, Hornets, and other small six cylinder cars of the era we'd found and when I went to take a look at it in person it appeared to be a good specimen. After all, we'd seen rolling bodies with rust in worse places for twice what the asking price of this car was. As a bonus the car came with "ran last time I turned it on" factory A/C! It had also been running/driving about a month before it was sold to us and the engine fired up but had a hard time staying running. I didn't worry too much about it as I knew I was going to need to rebuild the carb, change plugs, and do a number of basic things any way. I'd have time to diagnose anything that was a problem now.
Inadvertently, my traveling companion gave this car the name of 'Pinkie'.
Now's the part where you come in FOBA, I want to take this Duster from it's heapish state into something a little less heapish but completely capable of getting my buddy and I to Alaska and back with only a few disasters in between. No cosmetics, limited creature comforts, just a strong American machine to cruise the highways of our nation with determination and diligence.
So, FABO: What would you do to prepare a 74 Duster with a 225 slant six for an extended journey on the roads from California to Alaska in the months of April to June? What is the essential work that would need to be done now and preemptively for a car that's going to travel long distances at economy speeds (55-70 mph)? Help me make a list of tasks to complete that I should know to do and others I wouldn't have otherwise known to do.
I'll post some pictures of what I'm working with as soon as I can as it's going to be raining today/tomorrow.
Thank you FABO!
