I thought about drilling it out but sent it back since they shorted me a boot too.

Today I got everything done I wanted to except for the tie rods. However I did get the carpet in.

It was a nice 70+ degree day so I got the vinyl top out out of the box and into the sun to get the wrinkles out. Headliner is in but not glued yet. I've got to order new sailboards for it.

The rest of the buffing should be done tomorrow.

Any updates or did you start building a car and stopped being an automotive journalist.

Well its finally buffed out. SO I've been able to start getting stuff put on. Although between life and work, the Duster is slow going currently. I was hoping to get the stripes put on the side today but had to go set up a trail ride/drive course for work instead. I'm starting on the grille resto.. Seems fixing the cracks and such will be the easy part to do. I got the missing slat replaced already. Although I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to paint the 3 colors. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

First you'll need to call 3M and order a case of masking tape................

......Yes, 3M phone call. BTW, it's only two paint colors and in some cases only one. Look to see if your grill was molded in grey or black plastic (it's difficult to tell so be SURE). If it's grey then it was masked and painted silver, then masked again and the black accents were added. If it's molded in black it was only masked once and the silver paint was added. Before you strip it or paint it take A LOT of close up pics of the blend zones, you'll likely find the factory work quite sloppy/incomplete/ with fuzzy as opposed to sharp transitioning overlap edges.

Yes, I bought stock in 3M tape on Monday!
My grille was molded in grey. I already found a color thats a match for the grey. I'd love to see what the factory jig for the grille masking looked like. I remembered a thread from a few years back and it has some good tips about restoring the grille..
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...t=1#Post6001265

Another good thread:
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=4105378&an=0&page=0

I figure grey first, black, silver, then touch up the grey. I'm going to be extremely busy the next few months so its a good project to spend and hour here or there on.

All the delays caught up to me and its going set back the car a couple of months. I had planned to have it done by now, knowing I'd be really busy with work from now till July.
My new goal is 4th of July, or early August...

I always paint light colors before dark colors this way the black doesn't bleed through.

Yup life gets in the way of cars.

.......truely amazing job so far.

Wilson

Thanks Muscla!!

Stripes are done. I still have some small bubbles to pop. The stripes were an old set that came from Year One and were among the new boxed parts that came with the Duster. They were not very forgiving and hard to work with. If all the little bubbles don't come out then I may buy a new set and start over.

Headliner is started, but I'm waiting for the sail panels to arrive before applying any glue.

Brake & fuel lines are all in place.

The painter still has my decklid, grille support, interior panels, dash and scoops..

Grille resto is ongoing...

I'm always happy to have my little helpers around

It's actually muslca (musclecar)

my old 70 Challenger with the same plates....

My new plates now......

Sorry MUSLCA, I fat fingered my response. I went the vintage Nevada plate route on mine, especially because it has my initials.

Thats cool, the Dart's 72 NM plate has my Moms name, and my truck has the wifes intials.... "see it is my truck" ...."uh no, no it's not"

I love this car. It's going to look great done


Dibs on yer slots if you sell them

I did some cleaning and shuffling around the garage today. Thought it would be good for a picture. The 512 on the left goes to a friend and moparts member GB5andGY8 tomorrow so I thought lining it up next to the 340 would look cool. The driveline install isn't too far away..

Bob the slots are yours, just pay for shipping. They are 14x6 & 14x8 and I even have lug nuts. I'm going with 15" Wheel Vintiques Ralleys and BFG's. If I ever get serious about showing it I'll get a new hood, some 14" ralleys and some polyglas tires for it. Till then..

That's okay....I have fat fingers all the time.

Here are the year to date Ontario plates I have for the
Demon....some day.

Some more progress to report.
-Headliner is in and done.
-All parts, except for the decklid are back from the painters
-Grille blackout is painted
-Light wiring harness is done and installed
-Lots of little stuff is bolted on
-Package tray is in
-Rear metal panels and rear side windows are in

Had one set back..My grille was sitting out in the sun drying the last spot filler application before painting and a freak wind gust came up and tossed it off the stool into the garage door and the ground. all of the cracks I repaired broke again... The only good side was that it stayed in mostly one piece and didn't break in 2.