My 70 340 Duster Resto

[70DusterDev]

Intro: I was a at my grandmothers birthday party talking to my uncle who was going through a divorce which was making him move out of his house. He had a 69 Stingray and a #s matching 70 Duster 340. He was talking about listing the Duster for around $8k and I was like man I'd love to have that car. He had already pulled the motor and primed the engine compartment for the start of a resto but then the car had sat in a storage facility for 10 years. He said "Well I'll tell you what, if you come down for a weekend with your pickup truck and car trailer and help me move my stuff and the stingray to my new house you can have the Plymouth for $1000"! So i was like you name the date! So I bought the car from him as a basket case with almost perfect sheet metal besides the rear quarters and driver side door, that my dad had fixed for him the first time it was restored in the 80's, and MINT interior. It has bucket seats and center console shift with a Torqueflite 727 with a shift kit and stall converter. Now my dad, his friend and I are restoring her. Its a slow moving project but now since i just graduated college and got a good job we should be able to move forward. This was also my very first motor rebuild i did and to my surprise she runs awesome! We have now finished our paint booth so the cars in there now and have started putting the rear quarters on.

Rebuild Specs:
Comp Cam and Lifter Kit Duration 270/270, Lift .470/.470
Hooker long tube headers
Edelbrock Performer RPM Airgap intake
Carter 750 CFM Carb
Forged Crank, Rods, Pistons .030 over
Accel Super Coil
Duel Point Distributor
High volume oil pump
Valve Job/heads machined

The Car:

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[Sly Fox Racing]

Looks like you moving right along. Motor looks good and I like the color in the engine bay. Is that going to be the color for the car or will be something else? I have an uncle with a 72 340 Duster. Dusters have always been one of my favorite cars. Welcome to FABO.

 

[mopardude318]

nice!! i like it. good job!!

 

[70DusterDev]

thanks! Yeah that is going to be the color of the car with a black vinyl top and black stripes. My cousin and girlfriend are fighting me to not put the vinyl back on but i think it will look good with the black stripes.

 

[PanGasket]

Looking good man! Subscribed!

 

[OneOfMany]

Nice project.. I like the vinyl myself, and think it looks great with the blue.. Keep us posted.

Grant

 

[Burntorange70]

Nice score. Good luck on the build.

 

[70DusterDev]

thanks! Also I have been looking for either door skins or shells for the duster and I can't seem to find them ANYWERE! I have browsed the web for days! I found fiberglass doors but not real sure i wanna go the route. Anyone know of anyplace? Or happen to have a spare driver side door in good shape? Also what years were the doors the same? 70-72? and were 70-74 skins the same?

 

[70DusterDev]

Well i figured id give a list of what we've got done so far:
Engine and trany in, front suspension back together, brakes and brake lines bent and in, cross member up and torsion bars in, driveshaft is in, all the trim and glass out, interior out (felt like we were going backwards because all the interior was in place and MINT), driverside rear quarter on, just located a pair of original 340 doors all intact for $400 yesterday, set up a wishlist for the 15" crager wheels,tires, new carpet, trunk pad/carpet. Sorry for no pictures, thats been scattered out over the last year but now was we move forward i'll keep the pictures coming.

 

[Burntorange70]

Things started to change in the doors around 73 or 74. Doors are some what the same but the window tracks and door glass is different and will not line up with the window trim from the earlyer cars..

I would try to get ones from 70-72 Dusters or 71-72 Demons

 

[Burntorange70]

How did this thread wind up going so far to the right? Hard to read like this. LOL

 

[bkd]

Man just found this, I swear every day I find a new thread I must subscribe to lol. Great job so far keep pics coming and good job

 

[70DusterDev]

thanks! yeah the door is to a 71 Duster. Also a little background about myself, just graduated college in may with an electro-mechanical engineering bachelors of science and am 21. This is my first muscle car resto. Over the winter i did a frame up 79 CJ7 with a worked 360 with my old man. I've been into mechanics my whole life but body work is a whooole different ball game and my dad used to have a body shop so he is teaching me the ropes in this project. Im pretty pumped! And idk about the page size lol maybe because the pictures are too big? This is her after the resto if your curious. I know its not Mopar until 87 but hey.

 

[70DusterDev]

Also a quick little story. When i got the torsion bars in and the paint booth done i had to drive the duster to the paint booth from the barn/shop. They are right next to eachother but the easiest route is up the main road for maybe 50ft and then up a work road. It was 12:30AM and i had no rear quarters (so i was very careful cause i didnt wanna tweak anything), no hood, no fenders, no seats, i was on a milk crate and my buddy was on a 5 gallon bucket holding a flashlight out the window in one hand and a beer in the other... we pulled up to the main road about to leave the drive way and SHURE enough a state trooper drives by #-o.... he hits his brakes and slows down but then speeds back up again .. FEW! I wonder what was going through his head after that haha but thank god I wasn't on the road yet! This is what she looked like before we pulled out!

 

[70DusterDev]

I was planning on going with a 255/60R15 tire on the rear and a 225/60R15 on the Front with 15x8's and 15x7s. Will this fit in the stock wheel wells of my Duster? There is a 4.25" backspacing on the wheels on the rear.

 

[70DusterDev]

Just picked up a set of original 71 340 doors for $350! Same guy has a 4spd o/d(low miles, no noises, so he says), driveshaft, bell housing, linkage, pedal assembly, and shifter for me as well for $350! Mopar gold mine! Looks like I'm making another trip up next weekend!

 

[bremereric]

Looks good so far...keep it coming...one question...are you running a deep 7 quart pan? If not why the HV oil pump...I can tell you a long story of what happened to me and was a learning curve..

 

[70DusterDev]

Well see, its a kit my uncle put in the stock pump and something went wrong because I have 100psi of oil pressure at cold idle so I'm gonna buy a stock one from summit but just kinda discouraged because I have to lift the motor back up, which is done and running, but I suppose ill just do it when i take the 727 off the put the 833 in. And it is a stock pan.

 

[70DusterDev]

This weekends progress on the duster. Everything started off great! Once we fixed inner and outer rocker, inner rear quarter/splash guard, it came time to fit the quarter on and we battled it for 4 hours and couldnt get all the lines to fit right :banghead: so at 7:30 sunday afternoon we walked away before getting to aggravated and we are gonna try again soon with a clear head :thebirdm:

Me cleaning up the supports to spray weldable primer

 

[70DusterDev]

Now my dad taking the (i think its called splash guard?) or inner quarter off with the air chisel.

 

[70DusterDev]

Now onto the rocker panel

And finally the battle with the quarter... its on.. but still needs much work lol

Soooo close to being done with the body work. Then on to prep and paint! :cheers:

 

[Tnplumber]

Man great pics and thread. You all have some serious skills.

 

[mopardude318]

awesome skills man!! very nice for sure....

 

[70DusterDev]

Thanks! My dad and his buddy are the real body guys, its a whole new world for me compared to mechanics so I'm learning slowly.

 

[dustermaniac]

I will bring you my Duster and you can do the same body work for me!!! Great Job!!!!!