Add me to the Duster owners

I'm picking this up in a few weeks:

1975 Plymouth Duster. My uncle picked it up a few years ago and restored it with my cousin. My cousin managed to blow the original 225 in it right after the transmission was rebuilt. My uncle had the engine rebuilt, my cousin bought a Honda Accord, so now the car went back to my uncle. It has been sitting since my aunt passed away two years ago. Working A/C, fantastic paint, NO RUST, 14" Rallye wheels, and a lot of resto work done. I'm going to add 17" black Bullitt Mustang wheels, drop it 2", and drive it every day.

It does need a bumper. If anyone has one or knows of one let me know. Otherwise I'm going to get a fiberglass bumper and hope nobody hits me.

Bugger, double post. Delete me this one por favor. Canoe.

I dub thee....

"Al."

"Big 'Uns"

hehehe

You guys SUCK! I want a dart/duster slant 6 car something fierce. Oh well, too many projects to cry right now, gotta keep working only 269 day's till the challenge rolls around again. Why did I take on 2 challengers again?

wait a sec......Your cousin killed a slant 6? HOW? that's nuts.

Spinout007 wrote: wait a sec......Your cousin killed a slant 6? HOW? that's nuts.

My uncle is so tired of hearing that. He just replies "I know, I know, but he still managed to do it". My cousin had previously killed another car in the same manner. Apparently my cousin does not know what a dip stick is or how to read one.

Nice! duster is on the list of "oportunity cars", that is, I will pick one up as they become avaiable to me.

Spinout007 wrote: wait a sec......Your cousin killed a slant 6? HOW? that's nuts.

I was once party to trying to kill a slant 6 in advance of dropping a 340 in a Barracuda. We drove it in first gear (3 on the tree) at WOT, spinning the motor as fast as the internal friction would allow for 30 minutes or so, and it would not blow. A well used engine too. I was impressed.

Shaun wrote: I was once party to trying to kill a slant 6 ...

Barbarian.

In reply to slantvaliant:

It felt wrong at the time. However, the slant 6 won.

Kill a slant six??? surely you jest...

I knew someone with an aspen that was completely rusted out, bad and they had turned the odo over at least twice, maybe more. the body looked like someone had dug it up from a field. the six still ran like new...

My wife killed mine years ago. I'm not quite sure how.

The Slant Six is the zombie engine of choice.

I hate you. Second post on here today about getting a slant 6 A-body.

I want one

There is a white one sitting on the side of the road not far from me that I keep trying to avoid because I REALLY want to drag it home for my next project and the Olds is barely getting under way as it is.

slantvaliant wrote: The Slant Six is the zombie engine of choice.

^ Print material.

Well this thread made me finally call on that one around here. Called up an old lady answered said it runs and drives but the brakes are shot. Hasn't really been driven for 10 years or so. Ok so far so good I ask price she responds that she wants $3500 . I'm sorry but the car is FAR from being worth that.

She says she isn't planning on selling it locally that she plans on selling it to someone from out of town that "knows what these cars are". I could see someone asking that kind of money for an early one, you know the ones people actually want cause they are the muscle cars, not the Bundymobile.

Just means I can stay focused on the Olds and get it moving and done. Another Duster will come around at some point that doesn't have a delusional owner.

Cool! Back in 1978 I was stationed in Spain and while there traded my 1974 Toyota Hilux pickup straight-up for a 1974, 318ci, 3 on the floor Duster in the "Gold Duster" trim. It was an absolute blast tearing across Europe in it. I brought it back to the states and ended up giving it to my brother in 1984.

I had forgotten about those crazy-shaped three spoke wheels. Ah the (repressed?) memories.

There's a Valiant, not a Duster, within an hour of me that has been on Craigs twice. It's a '73 4 door sedan (two-tone) and they are asking $3000. That's sort of highish, but the car looks almost like new (at least in the pix) and it even has A/C that is supposedly working.

I once had a '69 Valiant Signet with the slant 6 and auto. I nearly killed it by overheating the engine. How? It apparently had not had the air cleaner changed in.......who knows? and I didn't look all that closely/often, under the hood. It got so bad the car stalled if it wasn't driven at near WOT. I finally figured out what the problem was, man, what a difference.

A fastback variation of the Green Brick '69 Valiant would be cool.

Stroker 408, EFI, NOS, serious brakes and suspension, did well in the One Lap.

Hey Slefain,

Nice Duster! Loose the firestarter air cleaner though.

Other than different bumper guards, I'm pretty sure all the Duster/Valiant/Scamp front bumpers are the same from '73-76. The Dart one from the same years is different. It will bolt up, but has a more pronounced point in the center and will look wrong.

If you wanted swap the hood & grill you could go with a '70-72 front bumper (or '67-72 Valiant) with the matching brackets. The '70-72 rear bumper is thinner as well and mounts closer to the body.

There's a place in FL that makes really nice fiberglass for Mopars. I have all their 'glass on my '72 Duster. If you want to stay steel and get a rechromed one, there's a place in TN that I get my rechromed bumpers from. PM me for the names if you're interested.

What rear is in the car? The stock A-body rear is too narrow to run the Mustang Bullitt wheels without a spacer. The tire will hit the inner wheel well. If you need to put a rear in it, get one from a '68-70 B-body Mopar. It's a little wider and will allow the wheels to fit like they were born there.

The OEM Ford wheels have a slightly smaller diameter center register than what Mopar uses. The aftermarket knockoff Bullitts have a larger center register. On the front you'll need to get creative with the hub's grease cap, but that's not a killer. Also take a look at the upper ball joint. The flat top ones will clear the Bullitt wheel, but the domed top ones will interfere.

Good luck with the project!

-Rob

I've got a 1975 Duster for sale if you can get to Macon. It needs a wiper motor and a set of tires. Only 41,000 miles!

Much cheaper than 3 grand! Look it over, make an offer.

Bucky

Well the Duster in sitting in my driveway now. I need to open up the Carter BBD carb and clean the idle tubes (it dies at stoplights, doh). It also has manual disc brakes. That isn't going to fly on 285 stop and go traffic. I'm going to look into a power brake booster swap, hope it isn't too bad a swap.

My wife vetoed my initial name for the car: "Duster Rhodes".

NYG95GA wrote: I've got a 1975 Duster for sale if you can get to Macon. It needs a wiper motor and a set of tires. Only 41,000 miles! Much cheaper than 3 grand! Look it over, make an offer. Bucky

I think my GF would kill me for going on that far of a trip to pick up another project car. Though the other day we saw a nice red Duster in a parking lot and she thought it was a cool looking car.