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rapidtransitric

rapidtransitric

LX/LC platform a body swap pioneer
Joined
Jun 22, 2008
Messages
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Location
richmond illinois
Well i have been holding off and holding off on this one because it holds all the memories of my youth and i wanted to resurrect it in a certain way.But with everything else, thr opportunity has not been there. well now my 40th reunion is coming up My lunacy brain storm is to drive it to my reunion Well here is where it begins. and this is my 1974 duster that i bought from bagging groceries in that same year.

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And your reunion is when?
Next month? :D

Whoa, a sunroof too.
 
Today the duster returned from the media blaster.The street fighter of past decades now bares her wounds. But only temporarily.

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The week has come to it's end. for now customer cars have been put to rest as for tomorrow the thrash begins the floor is where it starts.

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The labors of love......and a drill /spot weld cutter.

We share our pasts....bought my first one (69 GTX /440/Dana) at 16....with money from bagging groceries. I bet we could share some great stories.
In the summer, I got to do "night stock" (10pm to done). Got in trouble for leaving rubber in the produce isle. It started raining so I brought my Kawasaki F7 inside. My fingers must have slipped off the clutch lever.....due to the wetness. That was my story anyways.
 
HemiDenny said:
The labors of love......and a drill /spot weld cutter.

We share our pasts....bought my first one (69 GTX /440/Dana) at 16....with money from bagging groceries. I bet we could share some great stories.
In the summer, I got to do "night stock" (10pm to done). Got in trouble for leaving rubber in the produce isle. It started raining so I brought my Kawasaki F7 inside. My fingers must have slipped off the clutch lever.....due to the wetness. That was my story anyways.
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Amazing what you could do with bagging groceries. Right Denny
 
That's actually pretty damn clean. For around here at least. Looks like you got some good old fashioned work ahead of yah. Hope it goes well.

Any clues as to what engine/transmission/rear end you plan on running? Curious minds inquire.
 
Lustle said:
That's actually pretty damn clean. For around here at least. Looks like you got some good old fashioned work ahead of yah. Hope it goes well.

Any clues as to what engine/transmission/rear end you plan on running? Curious minds inquire.
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It's pretty decent for the great lakes area period. it saw plenty salt filled winter roads in it's lifetime
 
Before you button the floors back up, I would re-weld the torsion bar anchors. Looks like yours got the bubble gum weld treatment from the factory. Easier to do it now with the floors out, and it's a lot easier to do before the torsion bar anchor breaks loose and you have to figure out how to clock it properly. A gusset wouldn't be a bad idea if you intend to run larger than stock torsion bars, but at the very least I would go over those welds.
 
rapidtransitric said:
Amazing what you could do with bagging groceries. Right Denny
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Better not even ask me about while filling in for produce dept one day I plastic wrapped a large cucumber with the words "ladies home companion" written on the styrofoam and presented it as a bridal gift to a very pretty .....but snotty 26 year old co-worker about to marry one of my neighbors.

Most laughed....but with her, went over like a turd in a punchbowl. She never spoke to me after that....BFD.

Sorry bout the hi jack.....just a little grocery store humor. It was fun.
 
That would be awesome to drive your car to sure an event. Imagine all of the jealous guys, and all of the memories that you will bring back. I have never been to a high school reunion, graduated in 72. Now I'm thinking about driving my 65 Barracuda Formula S next year.
Thanks for sharing, good luck with your project
 
Check the closest unless your wife gets rid of stuff like mine. She subscribes to the good will commercial " if you haven't worn it in a year it must be donated" her philosophy is I need to get new things
 
it was a full weekend. the trunk floor area is now trimmed out aswell as the passenger floor pre-drilled all my spot weld holes in the new trunk pan. now its time to do the same on the main floor.

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Did you weld up those torsion bar anchors? Because you definitely don't want those tearing out...
 
72bluNblu said:
Did you weld up those torsion bar anchors? Because you definitely don't want those tearing out...
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no i did not the car did fine in it's early life with 11 second runs. and healthy horsepowered engines. it won't see that kind of thrashing again. having decades of collision and restoration knowledge and experience, i learned early on not to over engineer.not one less weld and not one more weld. only the same amount of spot welds that the manufacturer put in the car. put a spot weld where there was a spot weld and not to replace it with a stitch weld. if i was building a race car or..... then it might be different. thanks for the concern
 
rapidtransitric said:
no i did not the car did fine in it's early life with 11 second runs. and healthy horsepowered engines. it won't see that kind of thrashing again. having decades of collision and restoration knowledge and experience, i learned early on not to over engineer.not one less weld and not one more weld. only the same amount of spot welds that the manufacturer put in the car. put a spot weld where there was a spot weld and not to replace it with a stitch weld. if i was building a race car or..... then it might be different. thanks for the concern
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Just trying to help. Plenty of guys have had torsion bar anchors rip out of their cars just driving down the street, and A-body's for some reason seem to have gotten less attention from the factory welder than some of the other models. My B and E body cars have great factory welds on the anchors. So does my '71 Dart, but the welds on the anchors of my '74 Duster left something to be desired. I understand not changing stuff, the chassis was engineered a certain way and when you start changing and reinforcing things it can have unintended consequences. But, having briefly spent time in the engineering world, I can also say that what was designed by the engineers and what was built on the assembly line are two different things. Some of the imperfections of the manufacturing process are taken into account, some aren't. Some of the factory "welds" I've seen couldn't possibly have been accounted for on the design side.

But it's your car, and if you're happy with it that's what matters. :thumbsup:
 
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