This car has been sitting in my shop for the past 5 years gathering dust. I had it for sale for $4900 but didn't get any offers so I figured maybe I'll just put it together. I have the Car Craft 470 engine sitting on the stand (700 hp, pump gas) and I have a 727 trans. The car has a new S60 rearend with Ford disc brakes, split mono leafs and Cal tracs.

After dusting off that Duster and getting it breathing again, the offers may start to pour in. But then again, you just might be having too much fun with 700 horses in a A Team body like that to be worth trying to get rid of it.

I give you credit Andy as you still have the get up and go. I wish I could find some. Can't wait to follow your progress on this one.

I would have love to buy it but I'm on the wrong side of the planet these days

Very cool project

That is a very nice looking ride. Nice to see that 470 going to use. Please keep us in the loop. I enjoy all your posts.

The car is completely gutted so it would be a big chore to put it back together. That guy I got the car from had just started to build a race car when he ran into some personal problems and had to sell everything. Since I didn't take it apart I'm kind of lost in some areas.

But I figure it doesn't all have to go back together anyway. I'm just going to put it together enough to get it running. It will be very unfinished when I'm finished with it!

I guarantee it will be back up for sale in the future. I don't really have the room (or time) for multiple car projects so once I get this thing running and driving I'll need to sell it.

Nice lookin A-Body Andy.............

What kind of inspiration did you get to start again? I'm 3/4s done on my 70 Duster and can't seem to get motivated either, maybe it's the heat and humidity. I just sat and looked at it for about a hour yesterday then went back in the house. Do we all go thru this as we get older? My hats off to you.

Sitting and looking is actually building in your mind. By that I mean, you are rehearsing the procedures and time line to start the project.
I call it a STUDY. A study is usually created in mind or on paper/canvas as a template for the actual painting that is to come.
Yes, being older does not have the urgency to things that a rambunctious youth is compelled to do. If anything, older individuals should be the ones in a hurry to finish off projects with limited time left. LOL.

I had been getting burned out with my project, but then a friend said he wants to see it ready this time next year, so lately I've been working my tail off to get stuff done. A deadline helps the motivation.

Nice ride Andy. Like the color on that car.

NICE

Cool beans. I forgot you had that!

It is a long story but the short version is that I need to get some projects finished or sold so I can downsize in the near future. The city is going to annex our property and I'll lose my shop. So if I'm going to get stuff done I need to get rolling on it now. I hauled a couple of pickup loads of stuff to the swap meet at Woodburn yesterday and sold most of it so that frees up some space and some money. I'll recycle that money into the Duster to finish it up so I can sell it before I lose the shop.

I was just going to sell the Duster but it is gutted and incomplete so most folks are scared off by a project that big. I'm pretty sure that if I hit it full time I can have it running within a few weeks and then it will be easier to deal with.

I was really, really, REALLY tempted but don't have the room without infringing on some friends shop space. When you took the ad down, I thought "Good, the temptation is gone". Gutted or no, seems like a good deal for $4900!

How come the windshield bars are cut? Just curious...

I prefer drag type street cars anyway. I was also tempted.

I like it, looks all business.

The guy that did the cage screwed up the front bars and made the car really difficult to work on. They were too far back and got in the way of everything. It was kind of the last straw for the guy who sold the car to me. He had saved up his money to build a race car but the guy who did the cage ruined the car. So his money was gone and his car was worse off than before. He just gave up and sold out.

I'll have to fix the bar somehow. I haven't figured it all out yet but I think I can cut off the front bars and just run the rear 6 point cage and be legal at 10 seconds. I need to research it a bit more to know for sure. Worst case is the entire cage needs to meet the whiz wheel and I start over with a new 6 point setup. I do not intend to make it 9 second legal.

Just to get a starting point I put the car up on the scales. Obviously the car isn't complete so I added weight to estimate where I'd end up. I put a battery in the trunk as well as the fuel pumps and then added 35 lbs of ballast for the fuel. I put weight in the driver seat for a driver and I put the starter, water pump and stuff like that in a box on the front fender. The radiator is in place but it is dry. The car is missing a driveshaft and the torque convertor so I'm light there.

Anyway it comes out to 2800 lbs as is so I'm thinking I should be able to go down the track at less than 3000 lbs. I need to add wiring and plumbing and a front windshield so I know I'm light, but I don't think I'm more than 200 lbs light.

Interesting thing was the weight distribution. Looks almost perfectly square front to back and side to side. I'll keep an eye on the corner weights as I build the car. Love to see it go down the track with a 50/50 weight distribution. That should help it hook......

An honest 700 HP @ 3,000#
You may as well put the 10 point in and get it over with....

Yep your gonna have to slow that down by around .5 sec to get into the 10's

Looks like a fun project!!

After reading comments about downsizing and losing the shop over the last couple months, it's good to know what you were talking about. Really sounds like a sticky situation and I hope it comes out in your favor!

Just like mine, 10.80s no quicker. Cut out the halo and front down bars. Do you have X side bars? I tied the front frame bar into those. If tens are doable then the down bars can always be put in rather easily. Can you really tell the difference between a 10.20 and a 9.70? Keep it slow and fun to get in and out of, no net, no cert.

Yeah but I'm sure the 727 and Dana 60 are going to suck up a bunch of power and the 700 hp was with cold air for the carb and dyno headers dumping into a very low restriction muffler system.

I also plan on driving the car to the track so that means street legal rear tires and the front suspension has to be up in the air a bit more than a pure drag car.

But yeah, if it ends up around 3000 lbs wet with driver even 600 hp will push it right to the 10.00 line. The car has 4.56 gears with 345/55-15 tires so it will go thru the lights at around 135 mph at 7000 rpm. Should be a fun ride if it all works out. We dyno tested the engine to 7000 rpm so it will pull it. The peak power was around 6800 rpm so it should pull to the stripe. Guess some of it depends on how good the converter is. I don't know much about torque converter so I'll have to study up on them.

Please tell me the overhead crane is staying!

Time to move farther out of town I guess.

The duster looks nice, I like white.

Sorry to hear you are losing space your shop always impressed me in various pictures over the years.

I'm thinking the duster needs a stick!

It is a manual shift car with the manual shift pedals. I suppose I could pull the Doug Nash out of my Coronet and put it in the Duster!

The Doug Nash is kind of a crude tranny for a street car anyway. But I think that is way more work that I'm interested in. I'll just swap out the 4 speed pedal box for an auto pedal box and be done with it. Besides, if I put the Doug Nash in the Duster I'm sure I'd be busting parts right and left.

A Lenco would be cool but not really in scope.

I have a brand new ST1200 4-speed here for my black Charger...bucket list material for sure.

Something about an appliance white, big tire, 4-speed street-strip Duster speaks to me.

Why do you say the Nash is crude for a street trans? Straight cut gears?

Very cool Duster Andy...just sold mine last month, but I am in the works
right now to possibly get another one (72) this time!

Youll get the fever for a lenco after watching steve clukey's duster on youtube. Its a ladder bar car with mostly stock suspension except the chassis engineering shocks. Runs a n/a sb thats close to 800hp now. Car has been in the 8's. Check it out.

You just can't go wrong with a Duster.

Sounds like every project car I've ever owned!!

One thing to remember about a roll bar vs roll cage is tubing diameter. With a 6 pt bar the bars (atleast the main hoop) is required to be larger in diameter than if you have a entire cage. I forget the actual tubing size, but if the cage was a kit for a 10 pt cage than cutting out the bars may not make the 6 pt portion legal.

I was thinking that too, 1 3/4 min OD for roll bar tubing, 1 5/8 for cages, so if the cage is 1 5/8, it will not be legal as a 6 point.

Real nice lookin Duster Andy, very cool.

Keep us updated with your progress (y)

my best friend always says : "our hourglass is quickly running out of sand....." how true, how true. then, he goes on to distract me from my projects to his ! but that's what friends are for, right ?

Might be wrong, don't have rule book in hand right now. Mild steel 1-5/8 x.120 dom, CM .083 x 1-5/8, welded seam type 1-3/4 x .134 wall. Side bars, if X, then 1-1/2 x .065, if single, same as hoop, seat bar 1/14 x .065

As far as I can tell if you have a 5 point (or 6 point) roll bar then the main hoop needs to be 1 3/4. That is good to 10.00.

The 8 point cage can be 1 5/8 mtl and is required if you get into the 9's.

The main hoop on this cage is 1 5/8 so I think I'm just going to cut the whole thing out and start over.

Any recommendations for a roll bar kit? I see that Jeg's has them, Art Morrison, Comp Engineering, etc. From what I can tell all of the kits are really crude with no fishmouthing on the tubes or anything like that. It is basically just a bunch of straight tubes in a box plus the main hoop. The rest is DIY.

I have put 2 of Chris Alston Chassisworks kits in A-bodies. I think they do a good job for a decent fit especially the main hoop AND side door-bar fit. I have helped install a Jeg's kit in an A-body...it fit poorly. It would be nice and package easier (save time with tin) if you had the rear bars bent to go thru the speaker package tray and weld them down near where a shock crossmember could be intersected. For future owner of course. Call BondoBob...I'd bet he would bend and pre-fit a cage and drop it in the mail..worth a call anyway.

Used a Chris Alston kit in my cuda. Fit pretty good. The chassis shop I used said those kits fit the best out of the pre bent kits you can buy.

I have use Alston CHassisworks kits in three A bodies. They fit decent but I had the rear bars bent to go through package tray, which required buying longer rear bars. Also had the front bars bent to better fit the door opening. My goal is to try and hide the cage as much as possible and I am fairly tall so I end up putting the main hoop back a ways too.

Thanks guys, sounds like I'll give Alston a call. They are west coast so that helps. I called Art Morrison the other day but they kind of blew me off so I'll move on.

I think I'm going to get the car running first and then I'll worry about the rollbar after I've figured out some other things. I need to get the seat mounted and sort out the steering wheel placement and the dash and then I'll know where to put the new roll bar.

Buddy of nine has installed several S&W kits and likes them over anything else for A body.

I used a 12 pt kit for my Duster back in 06 from Jegs. The 1st main hoop I got wasn't bend correctly. When laid flat on the garage floor the one side was 4"+ off the floor. I contacted them and they sent me another. It still wasn't perfect, but was workable. I got a 10 pt kit for my wife's falcon a few years ago from S&W and everything went together fairly well.

I have a S&W kit in mine as well. Installer never complained.

This car sits ready wit to me with a nice size tire at that. I would bet it to be an excellent starting platform for whom ever gets it.
Looking at the Coronet in the background, one may wonder what kind of animal that will be.

Finally got some stuff cleared out and blew away the cobwebs so I could shoot a picture of the interior. Like I said, this car is gutted!

I'm not going to put much back in the car. Pedals obviously and a steering column and the top part of the dash with the dash pad and the VIN. That is about it, bare bones.

Good thing is that it is fairly clean. No rust problems to speak off and nothing has been hit or tore up. Just a few extra holes in the firewall that people drilled over the years but that is not a big deal.

I need to figure out a steering column for this thing. I looked around and Jegs has a simple tube with bearings and a steering shaft. The shaft is set up for a quick release steering wheel on the driver side, can't really tell what is going on on the other end.

Anyone have a race type steering column that they used and liked? I'm guessing that I'll need to weld a Mopar spline adapter on to the box end then shorten the shaft to length and weld the quick release on the driver end?

I'll need turn signals but maybe I need to mount up an old time box on the column. I suppose you can still buy those old turn signal switch boxes.

Andy, thats the same column kit I put in my car last winter and I like it, plenty of material to set the wheel where you want,also comes with a short piece of moly tube and a smooth bore universal so it can work with a rack and pinion steer, I also had to order the mopar spline universal to attach the column to the stock gear box, the steering wheel hub is the multi spline set-up and not the hex style.

I was curious just what I was working with so I pulled out GG's book and decoded the fender tag.

1972 Duster with 225 engine and 3 speed manual with floor shift.
B1 paint code (Blue Sky) exterior with B5 (medium blue) interior
Bench seat, 2 watt AM radio with drip trough moldings

All of that I understand and can see evidence of here or there.

Then the interesting stuff:
A64 - Gold Duster package?
V4X - Black vinyl roof (Halo)?
V5X - Black body side moldings?

I do not see any evidence of the vinyl roof or the body side moldings so that stuff must have been taken off a long time ago and holes filled or something.

Might have been a nice looking car with the light blue paint and a black vinyl roof. I'll have to search around, I'm not sure I know what a Halo vinyl roof looks like but I'm sure I can find pictures.

Halo = half (partial) of the top
I've seen and possibly owned one as a parts car

It's so awesome starting with a clean base project. Seeing that pic makes me have "non-buyers" regret...

With the dash and all the interior out of the car I would suggest you put a cage in the car, not just a roll bar. Then you could have more options.

Looks like a good excuse to buy a bender. I am sure you can find other parts to make with it.

It was a good deal at $4900 since it came with a bunch of spare parts. But I'm having fun working on it myself and I'm learning a bunch.

Since I didn't take the car apart it is a bit of an Easter Egg hunt putting it back together.

If you don't mind me asking, how much do those digital scales cost, looking to invest in a set like it.
On the roll bar, I found out mine are too small, now ill have to do the full cage( 2 down bars and a halo) anyway they say it'll be better for resale.

Andy, just curious if you had any issues with your cross link bar hitting outer edges of your oil pan when turning the wheel?

My digital scales set me back about $700 beans.

I think I paid around $500 for them but I might not remember correctly since they now cost around $1000. But then again, I think I bought these scales more than 10 years ago so perhaps the price has doubled over time.

Yes, very common with BB A body oil pans. You need one of the pans that has the relief area for the idler arm or you modify the pan like this.

Yes. That pan would make things alot easier. It would have to be notched on both sides thou as my cross link hits pan at the bend on each end of the cl bar.

I need that pan also, my drag link just hits on the passenger side when turning right. I used a big socket and a big hammer, I was afraid I was gonna split the pan open as I had to really hit it a lot.

If i remove the cross link i could do the same, but im afraid of putting a hole in the pan too. Ill figure this out later. Need to drive it first.

Hahaha...... cant help it. Gotta laugh at you guys putting big blocks in your A bodies, when a 4 inch plus arm small block will likely run just as good and be a 1/10 the hassle, especially when building a high 9 sec or slower car most likely.

Rant over .... lol😀😀😀

A 408 with old school w2s will go low 10s. But I also have built a big block Dart. I loved it, then sold it

Starting to get some parts for the Duster. New radiator support from US Car Tool and some cool EFI goodies from Holley.

I didn't have any small bolt pattern jack stands so I had to take a break from the car to build a set. I like using the bolt on jack stands since it frees up some room to work. You don't have to fight to get around the tire.

Those are great. You are a master for sure.

The brackets that Kirkey make didn't come close to fitting this car (looks like they are designed for a flat floor type of car) so I took a shot at making my own brackets. This is the first attempt and it works but I'm going to do a slight redesign. I used 10 ga stainless rather than aluminum and I can feel the difference. Feels nice and solid when I sit in it.

I also got the EFI harness all laid out so I could start planning the install. This is a universal harness with COP so I can run 8 coils. I sent the intake to Wilson (hopefully their shop isn't destroyed by Irma). Once the intake is back I'll get the engine buttoned up and start the wiring and plumbing for the EFI system.

But you are going to use your cam-sync and crank trigger instead of the distributor, right? And I would suggest using two O2s.

Andy, is this going to be a street car only or street and strip?

Yes, I'll use the crank trigger and cam sync setup on this engine rather than distributor.

I probably will add a second O2 sensor since the Dominator allows me to. Just have to buy the extra harness and a second sensor.

I think it is going to end being a hard core street/strip car. No heater, no defrost, no AC, manual steering, manual brakes. Not sure about carpeting. No back seat, no passenger seat, it does have a headliner in it. No wipers but it should have working lights. No horn. So not really 100% street legal but might be able to cruise it without hassle as long as I'm not making a scene.

Nothing says the next owner can't add some creature comforts back to it but right now the car is gutted and it isn't a high priority for me to add stuff like that.

Car Craft article: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/project-car-intro-the-dustbin-duster-part-1/

Nice article ... and there's another good use for the gantry crane!! Have you ever thought about suspending a whole car from the crane so you could move it to wherever you need it in the shop? Who needs GoJaks when you have a crane like that!

I thought Wilson Manifolds was in Cali but they're in Fort Lauderdale ... Bummer.

On 9/12 they posted on FB:

We're Open!

After a long and stormy weekend, we made it through Irma and are back on track!
Thank you to all who reached out to us during and after the hurricane. We are grateful to have not sustained any damage and to have power today.
We wish all of Florida a speedy recovery during this time.
#FloridaStrong

Please bear with us as we are experiencing technical difficulties with our phone lines currently.

*Call / Email / reach us HERE on FB for any inquiries or orders!*
(954)-771-6216
Wilsonmanifolds.com

andy are those front spring hanger brackets in the trunk? you planning to redo that?

I am planning to cut out the existing front hangers and to replace them with hangers that I made. I don't like the front hangers that are on the car right now. Problem is that I don't think I can do that job myself so I need to get the car over to a chassis shop so they can help me do the heavy work. I'm more of an engine guy than a chassis guy so I don't have all of the big tools to cut, grind and weld a frame.

I pulled the cover off the S60 rearend to check it out. This is a brand new rear end that DoctorDiff built about 6 or 7 years ago. Never any lube in the rearend so the setup marks can still be seen. 4.56 gears with a Detroit Locker. Should be a fun ride once I get it going.

I agree that a CM cage should be installed from the start."J" bars and a mid plate too.That way it's DONE and the next caretaker can go right to 8.5 with it.
I saw a car with the truck directional switch and I didn't like it.Might consider a stock column gutted like Doug.

I think I have the alternator mount figured out so one more item to check off the list. Oil pump, oil pan, filter all seem to fit also so that is good.

I think I have the transmission all sorted out too. Turbo Action built a torque converter for me and I picked up a SFI flex plate from B&M. Everything seems to fit together once I pawed thru my bolt drawer and found the correct bolts. I don't usually do run an automatic so I had to dig around a bit to find flex plate bolts.

I cut the column down and installed a Flaming River u-joint. I think I have the steering wheel position close enough for now. The seat can be adjusted so I'll just have to try it and see if everything feels right.

Next project is to locate the shifter and get it hooked up. Takes a lot of work when you build these things from the ground up! Not the same as just bolting them back together.....

Keep in mind that the factory coupling is a slip-joint put in place to allow the front of the car to flex around without jamming the steering column all to heck. It might be possible to build in that degree of freedom under the dash or just let the shaft 'telescope' to allow for it.

Andy is your coupler welded to the shaft or just pinned ? Gary

The Flaming River u-joint is held on with a roll pin.

Andy,

Looking good, thanks for sharing the build.

Could your seat brackets be a possible product?

That "Pivot Plate" looks neat, never seen one before.

Bill

I can make more seat brackets if people want them. I don't think I'll make the rails though since I'm not sure what all they would fit. The brackets would fit on any flat floor.

If you have a stock floor then you need to make it flat somehow. I made rails from aluminum bar stock and bolted the rails to floor. The rails gave me two flat areas to bolt the brackets to.

Yeah the Pivot Plate is a nice tool. It only takes me a few minutes to install the engine and trans using that pivot plate. You just tilt the whole assembly down to go in and then slowing rotate it back to level as you clear the K frame and tie rod. The engine and trans can then be raised just enough to install the motor plate and transmission crossmember and then you drop it in place and tighten up the bolts. I think it took me less than 5 minutes to slide the engine and trans into place last time.

Check out

American Autowire 500148 Turn Signal Toggle Switch

Thats what I used for my car. Didn't want the old turn signal box switch on side of the column

The intake is back from Wilson so now I can start installing the EFI system.

Driveshaft from Doctor Diff showed up the other day. Super high quality setup, looks great.

thats a thing of beauty!

Do you have manifold vacuum(KPA) vs barometer KPA readings from your dyno pulls? My 416 pulls some vacuum on that same throttle body. Its about 4-6 KPA and some people say its worth nothing and some people say they picked up 30HP swapping to a larger throttle body when seeing vacuum.

Looks like Wilson did a nice job on the manifold.

Not on this engine. Not sure if I'll run this engine on the dyno or not, might just fire it up in the car and go from there. This engine has been on the dyno before but not with the EFI setup. On my 514 there was a little bit of manifold vacuum even with a 2000 cfm throttle body. I'm not going to worry about it on the Duster though since it probably has enough beans to run 9's and I'm only putting a rollbar in it. I'll most likely have to throttle stop this engine to stay legal at the track.

I've been trying to figure out the rear shock mounts since I got the car. The car came with Rancho shocks but they were about 6 inches too long to fit. I bought the shorter shocks from Calvert but they were still too long. Finally decided to build my own shock plates to make it work. While I was designing the plate I decided to change the lower shock mount to a double shear rather than the cantilever pin. The double shear is stronger and easier to put together. Just push the bolt thru the bracket rather than trying to twist the shock on over the upper and lower pins. Here are a couple of pictures of the first prototype. I think this design will work so now I just need to refine it and make some more.

Had to build my own throttle bracket to clear the EFI rails. Not too tough of a job for me since I've been making throttle brackets for the last 20 years....

I'm enjoying your threads. Thanks for taking the time to post and upload pics

No problem, glad you are enjoying the thread. I'm working a few hours a day on the Duster so it just keeps moving along. The work isn't going super fast but I'm making progress every day.

Here are a couple more shots of the rear shock plates. I put the lower eye bolt in a location that gave me more than an inch of extension left at full droop and roughly 2.5 inches of compression at ride height. This should be close enough for now and I can tweak it once I get the car running.

Some pretty sharp looking brackets, are those laser cut and cnc formed? we have those machines where I work and they do an awesome job and spot on accurate.

Andy,

do you still have the Hemi billet timing covers?

Thanks

I get all of my stuff laser cut but I bend on a manual brake. I don't have the money to afford a CNC brake press.

Yes, standard product on the shelf. Mancini Racing or Hughes Engines should be able to get you one

Are you going to reinforce the upper mount?

LPW makes some nice stuff!

Second article is posted on the Hot Rod website: http://www.hotrod.com/articles/the-dustb...-marker-lights/

The fenderwells are cut out on this car for headers so I made a small patch panel to hold the coils. Not sure if I'm going this way or not but I might. It seems like it will work.

I also made a two piece cover for the heater hole. That way I could put a grommet in it and hold the bundle of cables for the EFI box. This seems like it will tidy things up and cover up the big hole in the firewall at the same time.

Looks great Andy! Just a thought. You might want those coils mounted low as most BB's have the plug wires happier going from the bottom up.

Yeah I thought about putting them on the frame rail but there are problems with that also. I'm going to wait until after I get some headers to make a final decision on coil mounting.

Headers are here from TTI. Not sure these suckers are going to fit! This is what TTI wanted me to run on the car so I'll see if I can get them on there.

Great idea fender mounting those coil packs

Thanks for that tip, 27$ at summit. Could mount the switch on the column as well

I'm mocking up the coil packs with the TTi headers and for the passenger side it looks like the cleanest solution appears to be if I mount the coils on the valve cover and then loop short plug wires down between the tubes.

The driver side might not be as simple........

Might be a pain to check lash. You could mount the packs on that huge motor plate and maybe profile the plate to the coils? I have those headers on a low deck A-body and they are no fun. Makes things ultra difficult to work on. The starter was the least of it. Save yourself some time and keep the engine and trans. bolted up before you install in the car then let the heartache begin. I couldn't drop the motor in from the top with the headers on it on mine. I think I left the drivers side loose and married the pass. side as it went in. Your cut out core support may allow you to get lucky there.

Yeah I can see that these headers will be painful for any sort of maintenance. Replacing the starter is probably a half day job with these headers in the way. And it looks like pulling the trans out of the car will require moving the headers out of the way.

I'll keep looking at different options for the coil packs but right now I'm leaning towards putting them on the valve covers. Pulling the covers isn't that bad, just unclick the connectors and the plug wires and then pull the cover off. The coils come with the cover so you don't have to mess with them.

I don't know Andy? That #1 exhaust pipe isn't going to cooperate too well with the wires on that side...

I suggest removing the torsion bars for the install, no big deal, keep the bars lubed up for easy removal by hand. Make a pigtail battery cable connection for starter so you can have it wired to starter when installing headers. I use studs on the outer bolt holes for the headers and loosen up all bolts and can get tranny out without completely removing headers.