'73 Duster "Pandora"

[Not A Nova]

Guess it's about time I brought the percentage of 73-76 Duster builds from .9% to 1%!

Starting from the beginning...

$500, with a non running 318, interior nowhere to be found, and crashed at some point, evidenced by multicolor body panels. A bit of roof rust, and quarter panel rust, pieces of the two build sheets lying about here and there... Yep, she's a rescue dog.

I got the motor to run, the car went through a flat black stage in life, Then blue -


then I finally happened upon this -

Which turned into that.

Then this -


And finally this -




Then I got this crazy idea to make it more than just a rescue... Enter Pro-Touring.com, along with some other spots...

[Not A Nova]

At this point, I figured I needed to do some reading on parts selection. So I did. And I ordered some of these -


And also a set of 1" torsion bars, which I can't seem to find a picture of.

And so these resulted in this -


Then I came upon a cheap set of seats -


And all was well with the world. Until...

Pop. -


So, what better excuse to try out a new set of wheels could you possibly want? -


So now we're all caught up...

[NovaPilot]

cool ride!

[Not A Nova]

Thanks!

[mmosley]

1 of 3... guess mine is 1 of 1. My K-frame, LCAs, spindles are '75 A-body. My car is kind of like an older 2nd cousin.

[Not A Nova]

I wouldn't doubt it - Not a lot of protouring A Body Mopars at all, it seems like.

Seems to me like the 73-up front end setup is a lot easier to find and run disks on - What are you planning on brake-wise?

Always nice to see someone with some Mopar love!

[mmosley]

Brakes? Cass at http://www.doctordiff.com/

Most likely go with the 13" four piston "brembo style" kit he sells, probably use his matching 11.7" kit in the rear.

[slotto]

This thread is giving me hope for my A-body. Great mancave, I see those amps in the back ground.

Steve
http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/...d.php?t=223702

[slotto]

Did you recover or paint your door panels? I have yellow panels that I want to make black real bad!
Everything looks good so far!

[Not A Nova]

I just painted them for now - I want to recover them or maybe just do a custom set, but the paint came out alright.

[Not A Nova]

So I've been busy...







And then, I finally spun a rod bearing in the original bottom end 1986 360, so I pulled the engine to build a stroker. Obviously now is also the perfect time to do a 5 speed swap, so I started looking harder, and for a NV3500 out of a 98 ram that will work it I can get to it first. Also while the engine is out, I've been doing frame and sheet metal repair. May as well rewire things too... And re-arrange things in the engine bay... And paint...

[72BBSwinger]

Keep it up!

[Not A Nova]

Well, I was hoping to get back under the car and finish the frame work this weekend, but fickle Florida decided that it's supposed to rain Saturday, so no outside welding tomorrow... I may re-do my center gauge cluster and build a box for the glovebox instead. I didnt have my welder around when I did the center gauges the first time. I'll also be making some calls about a 5 speed transmission. Sunday, hopefully it'll be dry enough to at least start cutting and welding on the frame rail, if not actually finish it.

[mmosley]

but fickle Florida decided that it's supposed to rain Saturday

I thought it rained every afternoon at about 3pm? Seemed that way when I visited Orlando.

[Not A Nova]

I thought it rained every afternoon at about 3pm? Seemed that way when I visited Orlando.

Haha - Down south where it's actually warm it sure does - up here in "South Alabama", I woke up to 13 degrees and frozen pipes on Monday morning! I haven't had frozen pipes since I lived in Colorado! The weather stayed that way til Wednesday too... As did my pipes(I'm sure everyone was happy that we've got showers at work). Up here it doesn't really rain nearly as much, even though we're right on the Gulf. Im about an eighth mile from the water at home, and you can see the beach from our hangar at work - I did expect it to rain more, but nope.

[Not A Nova]

Keep it up!

Thanks!

[mmosley]

up here in "South Alabama"

Folks I know in the panhandle call it L.A. and say things like, yes, I am from LA. (Lower Alabama)

[Not A Nova]

Folks I know in the panhandle call it L.A. and say things like, yes, I am from LA. (Lower Alabama)

That does seem to be pretty common, actually... I guess it's not just my imagination!

[Not A Nova]

So plans change. I managed to completely fail to work on the glove box, decided to re-do the center cluster entirely, and the rain stopped before noon, so I got the last frame section formed, and ready to weld in in the morning. The transmission I was planning on picking up got snapped up yesterday, so I'm looking at another of the same model, freshly rebuilt. Frame should finally be finished tomorrow.

[SPDMETL]

Love me some Duster...had two. The first, a 1970 six cylinder that someone had thrown a paint bomb at, and the next was a 1972 340/4 speed/posi. Some old hag from a couple of blocks away creamed it at 8 a.m. in front of my house. Did I mention that she lived a couple of blocks away, and must have driven by it every day? Your car looks good, but please lose the hood scoop