Florida "Key Lime" 76 Duster Build

[pastortom1]

Last year, I picked up a Lime 76 Duster with a 318, 904 and Sunroof. It's an A/C car as well, so it's a candidate for a direct install Classic Air at some point.

The car ran OK, and the tranny seemed sound.....BUT, it's got a 7-1/4 toy rearend in there, so I'll have to be careful as I go.....I'll probably change that out last.

I'm gonna post running totals on the costs of this build to demonstrate that you can still build a nice lookin' and runnin' A-Body without breakin' the bank......and that when you're finished, you can actually still PROFIT from a sale. I've built 3 A's now, and one is my driver (the 67 Cuda)......Both sales went very well, and I expect the Cuda to do the same. I never went overboard on parts that would increase my 1/4 mile slip by a couple hundredths (stuck to reliability, and very mild mods if at all)......Never overspent on labor costs, doing most of the work myself, even if it meant learning it from the ground up. AND, I picked the brains of the guys here at FABO when I got stuck, instead of relying on a mechanic to do it all......Sometimes I still had to pay, BUT I shopped and learned who to trust, and who would "rip" me.

I believe this Duster is gonna surprise some of you'se guys when it's finished.....It won't be everyone's cup o' tea, but I'm gonna design and finish it, inside and out, according to what I KNOW will "turn heads" and get people's attention wherever it goes. That's why I bought one in Lime....High impact....it's orange peeled, but it's 2K urethane and takes sanding and buffing nicely.......I picked up the car for $3200. as it sits. We'll see how it goes as I start the "enthusiast's resto" on this gem.

 

[Bulldozer]

i love the green/white interior combo. i am a firm believer in doing it yourself, you can build it the way you want and for a fraction of the cost to pay someone. i do everything myself. great project, i will be watching this one.

 

[superchargeddrt]

Nice car and GREAT idea for a thread! I'll be watching your progress. Good Luck

Last year, I picked up a Lime 76 Duster with a 318, 904 and Sunroof. It's an A/C car as well, so it's a candidate for a direct install Classic Air at some point.

The car ran OK, and the tranny seemed sound.....BUT, it's got a 7-1/4 toy rearend in there, so I'll have to be careful as I go.....I'll probably change that out last.

I'm gonna post running totals on the costs of this build to demonstrate that you can still build a nice lookin' and runnin' A-Body without breakin' the bank......and that when you're finished, you can actually still PROFIT from a sale. I've built 3 A's now, and one is my driver (the 67 Cuda)......Both sales went very well, and I expect the Cuda to do the same. I never went overboard on parts that would increase my 1/4 mile slip by a couple hundredths (stuck to reliability, and very mild mods if at all)......Never overspent on labor costs, doing most of the work myself, even if it meant learning it from the ground up. AND, I picked the brains of the guys here at FABO when I got stuck, instead of relying on a mechanic to do it all......Sometimes I still had to pay, BUT I shopped and learned who to trust, and who would "rip" me.

I believe this Duster is gonna surprise some of you'se guys when it's finished.....It won't be everyone's cup o' tea, but I'm gonna design and finish it, inside and out, according to what I KNOW will "turn heads" and get people's attention wherever it goes. That's why I bought one in Lime....High impact....it's orange peeled, but it's 2K urethane and takes sanding and buffing nicely.......I picked up the car for $3200. as it sits. We'll see how it goes as I start the "enthusiast's resto" on this gem.

 

[Burntorange70]

Looks like a nice starting point. Good luck on the build.

 

[pastortom1]

I want to show 3 reasons WHY I picked this particular car to purchase, keeping in mind that I don't want too big a project due to limited finances.

First, the BRAKES and shocks were just overhauled....A BIG expense for the everyday Joe that can't (or won't) do them himself.

Second, the Vinyl Top and Sunroof were just overhauled! All they need is a cleaning to look brand new. Another big expense saved.

.and Third, the paint (though not in the door-jambs or the trunk area) was just redone....a backyard job, to be sure...BUT, as I said, it's 2K Urethane colorcoat.....easy wet sanding and buffing to get out the orange peel and rid it of imperfections..... The door jambs are EASY with some "fine" Scotchbrite pads, some prep solvent, a can of Lime spray bomb basecoat (available online), and a can of 2K clear spray bomb.....No equipment needed....as a matter of fact, I'm doing them right now.....I'll show you the results as the thread goes on.

 

[AdamR]

Looks like a fun project. I'll be watching.

 

[swisswill]

What are your plans for the project?

 

[pastortom1]

If you take a look at my Dart Sport, you'll have some clues........

.......and when it's done, it's gonna be sold for our Church Building Fund.

 

[swisswill]

Is it bought with church funds as well and intended to be sold for profit, or bought with personal funds with proceeds going to the church? Not my business, but curious. I am tossing around the idea of building a car with my youth group, a 1974 Opel Manta track car, "The Praying Manta". Hope it goes well for you.

 

[pastortom1]

No Church funds involved at all. All personal.

 

[pastortom1]

To demonstrate how an enthusiast can do some of the harder work himself, I used actual "spray bombs" for the door jambs......Pictured below, with manufacturers labels clearly seen in the shot. This stuff is the same paint used by the pro's, and with a little experience in spraying smoothly, you can do a heck of a job by yourself.

I prepped the jambs with sanding pads (320 grit...one shot shows the general shape the paint was in), cleaned thoroughly with prep solvent, a quick spray of a non-sanding light grey sealer (available at auto parts stores) to even the color, and then the basecoat color. let it dry for about 15 minutes, wiped it with a tack rag to pick up the overspray, and hit it with the 2K clearcoat.....2 light coats. What you see is what you get. (those are EXTREME close-ups....like using a magnifying glass....trust me when I say that the jambs look great by the naked eye....I'll take area pics later).

 

[Toluene56]

nice... I'm doing the same thing with mine.. only with black.

 

[OneOfMany]

I really like the color/interior combo. A nice candidate for detailing, going to look sharp when it is done.

I sprayed a couple of engine bays with bombs, mixed single stage enamels, and they turned out great, and lasted. The base/clear looks even better.

Grant

 

[pastortom1]

I removed the old Magnum 500 rims and white outline tires and put on my set of Keystone Klassic gold anodized wheels with BF's that I took off the 67 Cuda. I paid $400. for the complete set about 8 years ago (used, from a guy in Tennessee) and put about 3000 miles on 'em since then.

They look a LOT better than the old stuff that was on there.......and while I had the backs off, I painted the rear drums (you can see 'em through the Keystones). I'll do the springs and other stuff when I swap out the rear later on. Probably gonna pick-up a decent used 8-1/4 for it.

 

[Thunder]

Looks like a good start. I'll be checking in on this one.:coffee2:

 

[pastortom1]

Well, I finally got the seats stripped, and the foams look good......that's a BIG expense if they were torn up.......All they need is new covers.

I brushed and cleaned the lower seat frames, baked 'em in the sun, and hit them thoroughly with "rust cap" hammered enamel.......Baked it on in the sun, and it's a clean hard finish. Did the same with the seat tracks.

 

[V-100]

Hey Tom, that is a cool Duster. I like the options and the bright color combo works with the car. I think your church fund will get a boost from the sale when you are done

 

[R4Sedan]

I like the car, and unless you plan going radical on the engine or unless you just happen to have a 8 1/4 or 8 3/4 sitting around I would leave the 7 1/4 be.

 

[pastortom1]

When they painted this car a few years back, they didn't paint the door jambs or trunk, etc......a real back yard buck savin' mess fer' sure.

I painted and cleared the jambs previously, and today, I finished around the trunk lid area.........new weatherstrip'll go on tomorrow.........I did base/clear as before. The inside of the trunk floor and well has been prepped, and it's ready for paint.......but it ain't gettin' lime green.....instead, it will get semi-g black base after some rust preventive (not undercoating).....that way, any subsequent owner who wants to restore that area has an easy fix. When it's finished, it'll get a "tip-up" wood floor-board and wall to wall carpet to match the load deck.

 

[pastortom1]

Both the trunk lid and the hood were different colors inside......The hood came from a black car, and the trunk from a bronze........To save cash (remember, this thread is about saving money and still doing a nice job on an enthusiasts resto in your4 back yard or garage), the inside surfaces were sanded (320) and cleaned with prep solvent, blown out thoroughly with air, and then given a coat of Dupli-Color universal black metallic....It's a lacquer base, so it grabs hold nicely and dries fast....looks like a "hot rod black", but with a "sheen" from the metallic. Since this car will have semi-gloss black accents, it'll do nicely for these surfaces.....and it's very forgiving on scratched or uneven surfaces.

The trunk lid is then laid out with proper templates for the new spoiler bracket mounting holes....This is one area where you want to be accurate, so I keep a pair of these templates on the wall.

 

[Robj]

Great idea for a fundraising donation. Good luck on it!

 

[pastortom1]

I traced the cutouts with a sharpie silver marker....great on dark surfaces....Cut the holes with a Dremel Quik-Lok metal cutting wheel so they were accurate with no mess......Ground down the edges and cleaned them up with the Dremel, and painted inside the holes as far as it would reach...touched up around the holes, and we're ready for the exact final measurements for the bolt holes. After they're marked and drilled, on goes the Go-Wing.

 

[pastortom1]

Mounted the trunk lid and the hood today after painting the undersides. I lined up the body lines without much trouble because I LEFT the imprints of the original washers......More often than not, lining up the previous marks (in other words, NOT sanding the marks completely off when you refinish the trunk lid underside and/or the hood hinge) will put you almost dead on. I had to tweak the hood about an 8th of an inch after the initial tightening.

I circled a few small dents to take care of, and set the hood scoop in place so I could determine the amount of shaving needed to match the slight "V" in the center of the Dusters hood......Piece of cake with a sanding block and some 80 grit......after that, I'll lay out my template for the air inlets and scoop mounting bolts.

 

[smalblokmopar]

I have a 73 sunroof car from what I found there where only 713 made with sunroofs mine is missing so many parts Im gonna build it my way but yours looks pretty complete

 

[pastortom1]

Yep, it is complete......but I'll be honest, I'm a little hesitant to open the dang sunroof.......They put in new seals and vinyl and such, along with a nice new headliner......BUT, the previous owner said they didn't renew the mechanism.......that scares me.......so I haven't opened it.......:banghead: