My Son's 70 Duster

We picked this car up a couple of weeks ago. Originally a 318 3 speed EV2 Gold Duster. It still has a 318 but now its a 4 speed and we have a standard bore 340 block sitting on the dolly.

The plans are the following:

Break the front end apart and pull the motor/trans for media blasting and paint.

New brake lines, fuel lines and tank. Rebuild brake system.

Clean, seal and detail the 318 and back in she goes.

New wiring, heater box rebuild and DMT gaskets everywhere else.

Headliner, package tray, front seat cover and a radio by March.

He is going to be paying a $7K loan for the car and I will spring for the other work. Paint, other than the engine bay, will wait for another year and I told him to be ready to pony up half for that. Luckily a Mopar buddy is a paint guy but I am expecting it to be in the neighborhood of $5K for body and paint.





We had a good first day. Unfortunately I have to be gone for most of the weekend so the motor/tranny won't come out until next week.




That squirt can sitting where the battery goes is the "Magic Juice". half Acetone and half Transmission fluid. Good stuff.

Looks like an awesome project. Good to see the younger ones into the old cars!

I like it show us more

I had one once (well I've had a few), my first car. I had it 17 years

What do you use it for? Why is it magic?

Penetrating oil. Mixed 50/50, works great.

We got down to pulling the brake and fuel lines today. The only problem fittings are on the brake distribution block. I'm letting them soak overnight. The brake and fuel lines are in really good shape and I want to reuse them. After that we're taking to a buddy's place to blast the engine bay and hit it with some EV2.

I'm thinking of going with Dot 5. Our buddy's 70 Roadrunner had a loose master cylinder bail last week and ruined his beautifully painted engine bay.

Over-restored wiper motor. Too shiny but it's OK by me.

Before...




After...

After a 24 hour soak, Magic Juice 7 and brake lines 0. I'm stoked that the factory lines are in such good shape.

Cool project! Looks like a good bonding experience ahead.

We got a little greasy today...

Nice project. Keep up the good work

A little more progress...

Nice to see the younger guys showing interest...good job Dad!

Back on the ground. It's at my buddy's shop and it's raining today and probably tomorrow so we will more than likely get it home at the end of the week. Next the rear is coming out for detailing and new brake parts. Then the fuel tank and lines are going back in.

Heater box, grill and oh yea the engine are next on the list. Hope to have it driving by the end of March.

We've made some progress. The motor is back in with a mild cam and a 4 barrel.







We got a different dash frame and had it blasted and powder coated fo $100. It's a light texture satin and seems to closely match the plastic glove box lock surround .





There's a lot left to do beside the obvious but we should meet to goal of having it back on the road by the end of the month.


Here it is moving under its own power again. Disregard the unequal stance in the rear, the front ride height isn't set yet.


Under it's own power again...

Duster shakedown

Best thing about this thread is you and your son getting some quality time together. My son and I work together every day. Its Great!

It has been fun. Not too many hiccups but I can put up a post on Moparts and usually work it out in a couple of days.

Looks Great and I agree that it is Cool that you guys are doing it together. 1 thing I noticed is the radiator support needs some blackout on it. That red will really show thru the grill from the front.
Keep the photos coming.
David

I agree on the blackout. The plan is to tear it apart in the fall and repaint it over the winter. It needs a trunk floor and they cobbled a DS quarter panel patch in that is fairly ugly from the inside. The fenders are fairly rust free but there has been some work done above the DS headlight.

It's actually an EV2 Tor Red Gold Duster with a gold stripe. Not really sure about which graphics might end up on it, but that is a LONG way off.

We got the front clip back on yesterday afternoon.

Well it LOOKED like we were done thrashing for a while but we were wrong.

I set the front ride height and we had it aligned. The problem was that there was coolant bubbling out from under the PS valve cover, again. I thought that we had a problem before with coolant coming in from around the head to intake manifold port so it was resealed. When I reran the engine I left the thermostat out and we didn't have a leak. Problem solved. Last night I put the stat back in so that we could run it today.

We pulled the valve cover and found this. My machinist came over to take a look and I mentioned that there seemed to be fresh coolant below the valve springs of 4 and 6. I wondered if when he cut the spring pockets to fit my springs that maybe it got too thin. He has done this before to different heads. Well, after pressurizing the cooling system, water flowed out from under the 4 valve spring. These were a set of JY 714 heads.

I'm having a set of 360 heads done and we will get a different set of locks and retainers that will fit with the springs. No cutting on Mopar valve spring seats. Now I know.

Well after all of that, the motor was junk. Too much water went into the motor from the cracked head. I was waiting for the time that there was no oil pressure and it finally came.

We ended up building a 408 stroker based on a 360. It's been in the car for a couple of months now and we had a problem keeping the little beast cool. Spectra makes that factory looking 2 row radiator for these cars but it wasn't up to the task. We ended up getting a Champion 3 row and it solved the problem.

That's a slant 6 shroud that I turned upside down and it centers on the radiator perfectly. The Champion showed up in good shape and it mounted right to the car.

I had a short clutch that provided about 1/2" clearance from the radiator. Hayden makes a "Muscle car" clutch now that's shorter for just this application but luckily mine worked. It's the Hayden 2947.

The factory shroud leaves a gap at the top and bottom. I tried using some thick foam weatherstripping but it was not wanting to stay in place.

He is working on his A and P license now. That's his Airframe and Powerplant aircraft mechanics license and he should be done next August.

He's had it to the track a couple of times. His best was a 14.0 with a 1.0 Reaction time. That's with a 741 3.23 Suregrip rear end. I have a 4.56 742 rear sitting on the bench.

Here is the final product. He has been working at a pizza place for a while and occasionally has to make a delivery. He interviewed at AutoZone and is just waiting for a call. I told him that he needed to take the Duster to deliver at least one time.

I would imagine that more than a few pizzas have been delivered in a Duster, but it's probably been a few years.