racerhog
RacerHog likes his Mopars
Really shaping up 
My 71 Duster Project
- Thread starter smartken22
- Start date
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smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Thanks all for the replies and motivation. I know that I said I was going to shoot primer today, but perfectionism has taken its toll. I was not happy with the body line on the passenger side so I decided to take the stud welder to it to get the body line back. It is good to go now. Unfortunately did not finish until late in the day so now I plan to shoot primer Sunday, color sand and shoot black Monday and then shoot blue tuesday. More to follow...Here are some pics
71dusterdan
Well-Known Member
Great thread and I love what you have done. However i have to ask you, why did you go with the front drum brakes? All the mods in the suspension and engine... It is gonna drive like a scalded cat, and then make you dump in your shorts when you have to stop. Your doing a great job, keep up the good work!
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Oh trust me I know what an eye booger they are and it is planned. Those are actually the factory drums on there and I do plan to convert everything to 4 wheel disc eventually. Money was starting to get tight. The problem with conversion though is the front drum is SBP. If I upgrade to BBP disc, then I would have to buy new rims and as you know, that is about $2500ish for the combo. It is gonna happen soon though! The rear has spacers for now to convert to BBP, but since the axles are shot I am putting in BBP forged axles as well as new gears.
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Well, I headed over to the shop around 8pm and was up till midnight last night shooting primer. It came out perfect! There is only a few spots that need a little work, but should be good for the black tonight. Today was spent wet sanding and fixing those spots. Here are some before and after pics of the primer. I am going to mask off and shoot black here in another hour or two. I will post up some pics later tonight.
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Here are some pictures of the black. It looks glossy now cause it was wet when I took the pics. I did not feel like waiting for the paint to dry, but it should tone down to a Matte finish when dry. I baked it for about two minutes and then turned the booth off so it can cure overnight. I will take more pictures tomorrow. I plan to shoot the B5 Blue tomorrow night...
dusterbd13
Well-Known Member
that iis gonna be sexy.....
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Well, here she is! The whole car came out awesome! I will take more pics once it is uncovered and out in the light. I just need to do a little touch up and thats it!
Dusterdude72
IN MOPAR MUSCLE MAGAZINE
that looks slick!
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Thanks guys! I can honestly breathe a sigh of relief for awhile now. I will be towing it back home on Saturday!
MoparDemon
Well-Known Member
Looks awesome! rayer:
rayer:dusterbd13
Well-Known Member
WOW......
i may have to reconsider my current paint job. that is incredible.
i may have to reconsider my current paint job. that is incredible.
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Thanks everyone for the comments! I am excited about it!
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Here are some pictures in the light. Just rolled it out of the booth. I saw a couple of runs so it is going to get some touch up tonight and then I will load it on the trailer in the morning. More pics coming tomorrow.
813Demon340
Well-Known Member
I'm guessing you're not going to get much sleep tonight...
Gotta love the feeling of seeing your car freshly painted.On one hand you're estatic to see it one shiny color, and on the other hand you're think holy crap do I have a lot of work to do now!!
Gotta love the feeling of seeing your car freshly painted.On one hand you're estatic to see it one shiny color, and on the other hand you're think holy crap do I have a lot of work to do now!!
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
I wish that I could say that I am going to be taking her home and start building it, but now I am getting ready to transfer to my next duty station so I am not going to have much time for the car. Talk about a bummer. I a so close now!
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Here are some pictures of the car on the trailer yesterday coming home from the booth. It really looks sharp! It is a little dusty and I was afraid to wipe it down so thats why the black is spotted. Now I am going to be focusing on the big move. The family and I are heading to Lemoore, Ca to head back to sea duty. The moving truck came and got all our stuff and I put the car in my buddys garage temporarily until we get the call for base housing. Looks like the only work I will be doing to the car now will be installing the motor when I get it back from the builder. Other than that I will be preparing to head overseas for deployment so I need to focus on getting the family some attention and prepped for me being gone. More to follow...
Looks great. Thank You for serving
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Thanks Cliff! How have you been doing? Hope things are getting better on your end!
71dusterdan
Well-Known Member
Ken, I just got that 73 parts car home...the one I told you I would donate the disc set up off of to you! Well lets just say when I got it out of the weeds and home...to say I was disappointed would be a major understatement. I was gonna have it hauled right to the boneyard! Alas my old Navy spirit and never quit attitude I got from BUD/S finally kicked in. So give me a week or so...I will be removing anything of value and cutting everything else up. If the spindles and disc set up appear to have survived without being a safety risk...the deal is still on...you pay for the ride and it is yours! I can assure you as of right now...the kframe is a goner! Later, Dan
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Thanks again Dan! That is awesome. Keep me posted.
Divenut
Well-Known Member
I Love It!
Pat
Pat
smartken22
U.S. Navy Senior Chief
Well, it has been very busy around here with the move, but we are semi settled for the moment. I started working on the car a little more. The new project has been the dash. I am still planning to restore the original dash and gauges, however, everything for that job is expensive, and time consuming. I also have to redo the whole instrument cluster since the circuit board is in bad shape. So with the help from some of the boys here we decided to try to make my own dash for now. We started working on this about a month ago and it is turning out pretty good so far! I picked up a brand new set of Auto Meter Phantom gauges from one of the guys here for $300 as he was going with a different gauge style. One thing that is nice about that is the speedo has zero miles on it so the mileage will be accurate once I get this baby running. I got the metal from Mogan and Slate in Lemoore, Ca. It is .090 aluminum. For the gauge cups, I used roll cage tubing and had them cut at work in the machine shop. I used the tig welder at work to weld them on since my welder is only a mig and does not weld aluminum. I ordered a custom wiring harness from Fast Lane West for these gauges and got them all wired up. The wiring kit also came with led turn signals, brake and hi beam lights as well and it integrates right into the Painless Wiring harness that I am putting in the whole car. Here are some pictures of the dash and gauges all wired up. I plan to go over to my buddys sometime this week to put the dash back in the car and I will take some pictures of that for ya.
racerhog
RacerHog likes his Mopars
Cool looking !!!!!!!!!!
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