New from Florida w/questions

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CE69

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Hi all,

Long time Camaro guy looking to go to Mopar.
Will be going to look at a 70 Duster tomorrow! Anything special I should be looking for? Will be posting what I find and probably asking some more questions, If you guys don't mind.

Thanks in advance.
Chad
 
I always start by checking the V.I.N on the dash and fender tag to see what it's supposed to be, then start looking for things already in place for what you intend to do with it. It would be nice if it already had things like a V-8, and 8 3/4 rear end and the like. I will usually shy away from a car that looks too cobbled up to go forward with, unless it is a really good deal. Check the torsion bar mounts, where the torsion bars go into the crossmember that also holds the trans mount, and check the framerails from the hump over the axle to the rear of the car where the bumper mounts. These are a couple area where Mopars like to rust out and increase your work and stress load significantly. Also, check the front frame rails where the upper A arm mounts too. Check the floor pans from underneath the car if possible, you'd hate to start off with replacing the floors. If you have time to make a pencil rubbing of the fender tag and check the codes before you buy it, that could be helpful. Good luck and post any information here on FABO, there are a lot of good people here who can help sift through what you find so you can make an informed decision. Geof
 
The trunk likes to rust from the inside; check around the rear quarters, on the inside, and from the ground.
 
Thanks for the heads up.
Went to look at the duster today, no pics yet, sorry.
The car looks fairly decent I think. Let me try to list what it has: the motor is a mild (small cam, headers, ect) 360 that does run, 4 speed with a 8 3/4 posi rearend with 391 gears. The car must have been a automatic at one point because you can see where the floor was cut out for the shifter. It has front dics brakes with the bigger bolt pattern on the front and rear, I was told.

The interior needs to be gone through, seat covers, dash pad, carpet, ect... but is all there. It does have front bucket seats, no console. It has a 150mph ralley dash, I assume.

The body is not that bad that I can see, you know how that goes. Panels are very straight and I used a small magnet all the way around the car and couldn't find much filler. The left front fender has been replaced and the right rear quarter panel has also been replaced at some point, decent job though. Looked up under the car and also couldn't find any rust. The floor pans are in excellent condition. Found two patch panels in the trunk, needs to be redone, and the spare tire carrier bottom has been replaced. He said the car was painted 5 to 6 years ago. It does need to be painted again, paint has some chipping and flaking going on. There is no bubbling of paint so I'm thinking that it had poor prep work before going to paint. Hard to find bodies like this down here in Florida.

Now for the interesting part. There is no trim tag on the car, he said it was gone before he got the car. I did run the vin on the decoder here and found out that it is a 70 Duster 2 door sport coupe. It said it was "special price class" (what ever that means), Duster 340. Ofcoarse, I guess it originally came with a 340/275 hp.
The vin tag on the dash does match the vin on the title. The interesting part is when I was going around the car I found a partial vin # on the top of the core support. I bounced it up with the dash vin and it didn't match. Does it supposed to? I have heard that on some Mopars you can replace the entire dash without removing the vin tag. I think I read this somewhere as being a "rebody"?? I know on the first gen Camaro's if the "hidden" vin didn't match, you stayed away from the car. Is this the same on Mopars? I don't really care at this point since its only going to be a driver but if I ever go to sell it, will I have a problem? The owner didn't have a clue that there was even a vin # on the core support. I do have to say he is being upfront with me and that the car doesn't have the correct motor or trans in the car and he is not trying to con anyone.

My question is (I told you I would have alot). Is there a problem with the vin #'s? Will I have a problem trying to sell this car , if I ever wanted to? And last but not least how much should I be spending on this car?

Sorry for being long winded but Im famillar with Camaro's and not so much on Mopars.
Thanks again for your comments.
 
welcome i see ur in brevard county i am also, im in cocoa i also have a duster or 2. on those cars the typical places for rust are trunk/spare tire well, drivers side frame rail usally from drivers seat forward, quarters, and floor pans.. on the core support it should be the last half of what the vin is example VS29H1B12345 it will be 1B12345 on the core. if the 5th digit in vin has a H then it is a 340 car, becarefull he could be trying to sell it as a 340 H code car, to me if the core and vin didnt match then to me it sounds like the whole dash frame was replace from a 340 car when it was painted because if it also has the rally 150 gauges then that is from a 340 car
 
Thanks Ryan426 for your reply! Once I get a Mopar we should hook up, your not to far away. My brother-in-law has a 68 RoadRunner and goes up to some of the show in Merritt Island.
I don't believe he's trying to sell the car as anything special. Just wanted to know wether the vin's will be a problem down the road? And also how much should this car be worth?

Was wondering if I can move this thread to the Mopar General Discussion section to see if I can get any more respones (before he sells the car)?? And if I'm allowed, how do I do it?
 
yea cool man, yea they got a show at the dogs R us in merritt and usally a big one the 1st sat. of every odd month in titusville, as a problem im not to sure the dmv i think just check the dash, just make sure the vin matches wut the title says!!! as in selling it later no problem as a driver car as in worth really hard to say condition and motor upgrades my GUESS 3-6k
 
Thanks, thats rite in the ball park of what he wants.
 
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