My 1972 Plymouth Duster build

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Well I figured I post up my build that I've been working on for the last year and a half for anyone who wants to see it. I'd been wanting another project for a while (so I'd stop pulling apart the Charger   ) to work on with my nephew that I could use around town and make a nice beater out of it. I wanted to get something that was presentable but something that I wouldn't worry about leaving in a crowded parking lot. I have always planned to get a 68 Charger but as we all know the prices right now are ridiculous. So, I started looking at other models, 2nd choice was a 70 Plymouth B body but there aren't too many around here and the prices are up there. E bodies are getting crazy prices as well so those were out. So, I decided to look at 1970-72 Dusters. I always liked the body style and prices are low. Also, nobody really cares about modifying them so the search was on.

Looked at a few around locally but nothing jumped out at me. Found one that looked decent and I ended up throwing a low ball offer on a car out of state. It was a green 72 with a 225 in it. No major rust but needed to be entirely gone over but it was a driver so that was a big plus. I don't have the room to park something for months so having it movable was great. Paint was about 15 years old, not flaking or peeling but not shining either. Didn't think I'd get it but apparently nobody else had asked about it so the seller took it.

Now I did everything the wrong way on this purchase. Never went to go see it in person, didn't have anyone look at it, and mailed a check without any proof the car was there. But I got lucky and it worked out. It also helped that I was buying a project. If it was a finished car, I would have flown out there but I knew I'd be taking it all apart and redoing it my way so I was ok with not checking it out first. Plus it was cheap enough that I could easily get my money back parting it out if it turned out bad. The owner was super cool and sent me tons of photos and answered all the questions I had. He went over what was needed, what has been done, and helped out with shipping. A week later had the car delivered (Reliable Carriers was excellent! Nice and easy process with them) and it was just about exactly as described...except for the smell.

Here's what $2,000 bought. A 1972 Plymouth Duster with a 225 slant six, 904 auto trans, 7.25 rear end, a/c, power steering, and manual drum brakes. Car fired right up and drove pretty decent but the tires were well beyond any usefulness and the brakes were nonexistent. Interior was a mess, had the funk of mice living inside but it was just about all there. Suspension was toast, nothing had been replaced in many years but I was ok with that as I like to add newer parts where needed.

To start off I cleaned and then cleaned some more. Pressure washed everything a few times just to clean off the grime and added some paint and undercoating to the undercarriage for protection. The floors were almost perfect, aside from a 3" spot on the driver floorboard there was no rust at all. It took a while to clean out the mice nests but it cleaned up enough that you could actually sit in it and breathe. Anything that looked like the start of surface rust got covered in rust encapsulator so I shouldn't have any issues pop up down the line.

To get it on the road it first needed new tires. I didn't want to just throw new tires on the 14 inch rims so I Got a cheap set of 18x7's and 18x8's as a temporary solution. The plan was to swap over to the large bolt pattern, front is an easy fix with new brakes but the rear was a problem with the small bolt pattern 7.25 rear so I used some adapters to get by. I liked the style but the rears didn't fit properly but they worked to get the car drivable.

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Now it was suspension time, this is probably my favorite part to work on especially when adding nice new shiny parts. The main goal with the new parts was to make the car comfortable to drive and not a stiff race car feel but also something that is not going to get out handled by a minivan. I tore the whole front end apart and added QA1 upper control arms, QA1 strut rods, QA1 steering rods, hotchkis front sway bar, hotchkis/fox shocks, Dr. Diff cobra style 13" brakes, new master cylinder, brake lines, new pitman, idler arm, and lower control arm bushings. Also boxed the lower arms while they were off.

I did add a set of 1.03 torsion bars but they made the car sit like a 4x4. No matter how I installed them (arm at full drop/ride height/and even up) I couldn't get the car to sit properly so they came off and the stock slant six bars went back in for now. I think the clocking is wrong but I'll get a proper set from Firm Feel eventually. I also have a set of Hotchkis subframe connectors that need to go in.

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Next was to clean up the engine bay. I did a compression test on the motor and it turned out to be in great shape so for now it is staying in the car. No smoke, no leaks, and it ran smooth. Had absolutely no power but it is kinda fun to work on. So, I started pulling off parts to clean up and paint. Removed all the a/c parts since they didn't work and removed everything else that wasn't used to clean it up. I tried to match the color in the engine bay but it came out a little darker than expected but I can live with it. Painted the motor and intake while it was apart and the engine bay started looking sanitary.

New gaskets all around, changed all fluids, adjusted the valves, cleaned up the carb, new valve cover, new ignition parts, and it was running smooth. The radiator fell apart while removing it so a new Champion aluminum radiator went in its place. Bummer here is the new radiator is a little thicker so the stock mechanical fan didn't fit with the clutch. So I added an electric fan up front and it has been cooling nicely.

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Then I tackled the paint. A full repaint was out of the question so I wet sanded it first and then went to town with the DA polisher. Paint came out pretty good and brought some of the shine back. The problem is when I got it I painted the rear quarters to fix some bad paint. it looked fine when it was faded but once it was shined up you could really tell the paint doesn't match. Eventually it will be corrected but for now it will be mismatched.

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The interior was a mess so everything came out and went and all new stuff went in. Seats, carpet, headliner, dash pad, steering wheel, door panels, stereo, dynamat all around and a bunch of other smaller parts went in. I didn't see the point in recovering the bench seat so I went with a set of Corbeau Sport seats in leather for a more comfortable ride. And the rear seat got new foam and a cover from Legendary.

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The style of the stock gauges are something I'm not thrilled about. The speedo worked but nothing else did. I bought a new circuit board and the gauges all worked but never trusted their accuracy. I'm also not a fan of the cheap woodgrain in any of the cars of this era so I added some decals to clean up the look.

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About six months later I decided I was done with the stock gauges and went with a set from Speedhut. I really like these gauges. You can pick any color combo you want and they are easy to install. I went with a grey/white set that light up blue at night. I like that you can set warning lights and the fuel gauge can be calibrated to any sender so no more issues with the repro sending units.

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I also knew I wanted a console with cupholders. The stock console aside from being expensive doesn't really have the look I wanted. So I looked at newer cars and got a 2017 Challenger console and threw it in there. Fit almost perfect so I welded in some mounts and in it went. The only issue with it was the front of it housed the heater controls which I wasn't using. So I filled in the area with ABS plastic and then mounted a clock, a/f gauge, and a trans temp gauge from Speedhut. These gauges are thin so they fit inside perfectly. I added in a Hurst shifter and made a cover so it looks right at home. Still need to pull the column and replace the collars so I can get rid of the column shift look.

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As the new parts went in the old wiring was showing its faults. I installed an American Autowire kit in the Charger and really liked it so another kit from them was on order. With the kit I had to get a new one wire alternator but the install was smooth and everything worked out great. While working on the electrical I added all new LED lights all the way around, HID headlights, and swapped in a sharktooth grill.

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Then I started having carb issues. It was dumping gas into the engine and I couldn't find rebuild kits for it. Rebuilt carbs were a couple hundred bucks so I decided to go with a 4 barrel carb so I could get replacement parts easily. With the new Quickfuel carb I had to get a new intake from Offenhauser and kickdown linkage from Bouchilon Performance. Carb is way to big but it did give the throttle response a much better feel. Also the repro mopar ignition module crapped out so I installed an MSD box I'd been holding onto.

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Next was the rear end. The 7.25 stock rear was garbage along with the leaf springs. So a new setup was built. Got a Sure Trac center section with 3.23 gears, axles, the housing, rear brakes, and brake lines from Dr. Diff. Cass has been great to work with and everything has been top notch. Also got a set of Hotchkis leaf springs and the new rear went in. Had a local shop build a new driveshaft and it all went in nice and easy.

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Now that I had the rear end finished, I could order a wider set of wheels that fill out the back better. Duster's have a huge lip on the rear so I trimmed about ½" and rolled the front lips to fit as much tire as possible. 

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While the wheels were on order, I decided that I like being broke and replacing perfectly good parts so I bought a set of Viper calipers for the front. The car stopped fine but now should be on another level.

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Ended up fitting 18 x 9's up front and 18 x 9.5's out back with 275's on all 4 corners. I've always liked trans am styled cars so I went with a mini lite style wheel from a local company here in the bay area.

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I still have a few things in the works but here is the car as of now. I have a new exhaust, rear sway bar, gas tank and lines, hoodscoop, and subframe connectors to install. I also need to have the quarters repainted. I can't get a good match on my own so I need to take it to a shop to have it professionally done. I also have 2 sets of stripes, one is the stock solid stripe and the other is a Cuda T/A style stripe. Not sure which one but I'm leaning towards the T/A stripe which will go on after the paint gets fixed. The plan is to drive it as is for a couple years to save up and then take it to the next step... 408 stroker small block or 6.4 Hemi with side exit exhaust to complete the trans am look. Or Torquestorm has a supercharger kit for the slant six. Might be cool   

[Kern Dog]

I am amazed that you got all that done in a day. Great work!

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   Thanks Kern Dog.  I work fast   

[Kern Dog]

Good, you got the joke!
Most of my stuff comes across so dry, few people get it.
I absolutely LOVE the Duster cars! I have had several, I have one up the hill awaiting a '71 Duster 340" treatment.
Yours looks great. I wish the forum had a L I K E button, I would have clicked on every post. I usually dismiss green but the car looks great with it. Those W H E E L S !! Holy crap...They are fantastic. The 2015 Challenger was supposed to be available with those and I was set to get them when the Wife and I ordered ours but they were advertised then not available. To me, they look great on just about everything.

[Kern Dog]

I like the gauges and especially like the use of the Challenger console. You have me curious about that now for my BIL's 72 Duster as well as my own '70 Charger. The old car console sits so low, it is hard to use as an armrest. Maybe if I added a padded top and hinged mine at the rear it would be an improvement. You do get used to cup holders in late model cars though!
Great work. Thank you for posting everything.

PS:
The torsion bars:
Peter Bergman at Bergman Auto Craft told me a trick when installing my 1.15 TBs in the Charger.
On a car lift, set the bar in the rear, move it forward to the control arm but don't slam it in....set the adjustment lever in the control arm (The "finger" that the adjustment screw/bolt presses against) to sit true horizontal. Slide the Tb in while clocking the "finger" slightly. If the hex is nowhere close, the clocking is not correct.

[BSB67]

That is really cool.  Thanks for sharing.

[timmycharger]

Amazing job!!  Love the green!

[tan top]

 

[moparstuart]

fantastic  ,  work   turned a grandma beater in to a beauty   

[RallyeMike]

Great project