Project Eh-Body - 1976 Plymouth Duster.

[Riddler]

I'm starting this thread to show you guys what I've been working on. I'm pretty slow on my build but it's coming along. I started the build back in Sep2009 and will post all the updates from another forum I have my build on. If it's too much, please let me know.

Thanks

Riddler

[Riddler]

It's a 1976 Plymouth Duster that my wife bought me. Yeah that right, my WIFe bought this car for me for my birthday. No she's mine and no she doesn't have a sister! LOL

This is what the car looks like when we brought it home...








Overall a solid car from the USA. I'll be adding to this project long as time goes on.

Riddler

[Riddler]

First things first. The interior smelled like Moth Balls. It was used to get the mice out of the car since it was stored in a barn. The entire interior was removed.

One Seat removed


Both Seats removed


Rear Seat and Carpet Removed


The only rust I've found so far. Also note the center hump has had another hump installed over it with screws and seam sealer.


Driver's Side Rust



Well the interior is out, I've located and purchased a set of floor pans. Not sure I'll need them since it's mostly surface rust. I can prolly make due just patching with some small sheet metal cutouts for the holes.

Total dead mice found - 4

The plan is have the entire car blasted.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well I've started to disassemble the car down so that I can get it blasted.




Front end gettig stripped down first.


Fenders came off once we found all the nuts.



Only surface rust. Woohoo!



Riddler

[Riddler]

Well the disassembly continues. This time I went to the back of the car and started to remove everything.




The gas tank was brand new. At least that's what I've been told.




This is going to be a larger job. Someone in the past has screwed down another (Volare/Aspen) center hump over the stock hump. Then they seam sealed it. Gonna have to grind the screw heads off a peel this center section off.


This concludes this disassembly installment.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well I got alot more done this weekend. I'm also finally up to date on the pictures. This is how the car is currently sitting...

Look ma, no glass...





Pictures of the glass out of the car.
Front:

Rear:


So this was my goal this weekend, to get the glass out. After about an hour I had it all out. So I went for bonus removal on items.

Started with the dash now since I could get to those bolts.



I figured the column would be very troublesome to get out. Nope the old owner had taken all the bolts, pins etc out and left them out. Just a quick pull and it came.



Now this this was all removed, we went to remove the brake booster and resivoir.


Not much left to remove. Engine and tranny will come out when I can get a hoist. The rear end can come out anytime now.



While taking out the rear quarter glass I found something strange. The driver's side has an extra piece of metal. How odd!
DRIVER'S:


PASSENGER'S:


This had to be a factory error. The piece of metal was not cut out unless god himself removed it. No evidence of cutting or anything.

Finally I've been asked how I keep track of all the parts. Everything goes into bags and bins!



Riddler

[Riddler]

Well I jumped back on the disassembly of the Duster this weekend. I decided I finally wanted the Volare/Aspen center hump and shifter removed to see what is under it.

Here's me grinding the screws and seam sealer off.


I went from this....


To this....


I then decided to remove the white peice of tin.


Yes that is a piece of a My Little Pony lunch pail! LOL

After this was all done I had some more spare time, so I figured I'd empty out the doors.




Finally both doors are ready for blasting.




On Saturday 31OCT2009 I got a call about a motor. I jumped in my truck with my brother in law Jim and purchased that motor.

Here's a small teaser for now....


Riddler

[Riddler]

Without further ado.....

2005 5.7L 345CI Hemi. This elephant weighs prolly 600-750lbs. Thank to Jim for the help geting her home.






I'm hoping to find a 545RFE or something similar for behind this. I'm going to keep it automatic so my Wife can drive it also.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Haven't worked much on the car but I have been buying items.

Here's a factory correct console....



I've also sourced a set of tail light from a gent in Texas.




Last but not least is a complete rear suspension. Gone will be the old leaf spring suspension. This is an RMS Street Lynx kit.





That's all for now.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well here's the latest update. Not much has happened since the last update due to the fact I up'd and moved on Jan 26 and my wife and I have been working on getting settled. But things have to get moving if I ever want to see this project completed.

First thing was to start making more room for things. So I cleared all the parts out and made room for more dissassembly.

Here'e my 8 3/4" E body rear end with a 489 center section.


With my brother in law away I had to recruite the help of my dad. Never had a chance to work with my dad on cars, but man it felt good, talking cars and about missed times...

Here's the 318 he helped my yank out.



After this out I could see the full extent of the k frame and steering box. The steering box must weigh a metric ton. Looks big and heavy!



After this was done I set up the rotisserie. I still need to get the car higher in the air and bolt it onto the rotisserie, but it's set-up and ready to go.




Well until the next update....

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well I've been working on Project "Eh" body.

Since the last update of setting up the rotisserie, I've removed all the suspension, body plugs, clips, etc etc. This was done with the help of Keith Zimmer. Truely one of the car gods. Thanks Keith!

Rear suspension


Front suspension and old brake lines


So to complete the removal of all the body plugs, clips, etc we got to play whirl the Duster around!




Well since everything was off it and Keith's blasting it for me, we decided to just take the car over there today.




The truck showed up and it's loaded. Nice to see another Mopar hauling my Mopar!




When the car come back next week it'll be blasted and epoxy coated. Then I'll start the metal work.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well today I made it over to the media blaster's. He warned me that the fender's were no good. I was heart broken since I knew the car was practically rust free.

The fender's turned out to be not bad at all. Just has some minor waves in the driver's side and the passenger has a small hit in the front.

Passenger Side:


I should be able to tap these out....

Driver's side:

You can still see where the bondo is. He's going to finish up blasting the fenders of bondo and then I should be able to bang them back into shape.

He then showed me the hood and trunk lid. He said these are some of the best parts he's ever blasted. Barely any paint on them and they had practically no rust.

Hood:


Trunk Lid:



The last picture is of the car on the rotisserie waiting until all the smaller parts are done.



Well that's all for now....stay tuned...

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well I started working some on the Hemi 5.7L to get it cleaned up and converted to a car LX motor.

I started by removing the truck manifolds, accessories and motor mounts.



While trying to get the pulley bolt out, I broke it. WTF?



Right now I'm at the point of getting a smaller puller 3 jaw puller. Once I get the pulley off, I'm hoping to be able to get at the bolt.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well after waiting 8 long weeks, the Duster has arrived home. I'm eager to dig in on metal work but I know it's going to be a long slow process. I don't have an end date in mind, and honestly I see this as a project for a few years. Money permitting.

Here's what I have to work with after media blast and epoxy primer. The car has been hit on both sides very lightly. Both quarter's need work. The front floor pans are also pretty much shot. I have new one to put down anyway! Onto the pictures....

Full car shot on rotisserie


Driver's side quarter with slide tool holes.


Driver's rear seat belt mount. Both are sides are gone.


Driver's front floor pan or whats left of it.


Driver's front A pillar. The lead from the factory came out during media blast.


Engine bay


Passenger side front floor.


Passenger side rear seat belt mount.


Passenger side rear quarter. The only rust to the outside body panels. Small patch will fix this.


Passenger side trunk extension. It looks like the previous owner jacked the car from that pinch weld.


Trunk area clean


and finally the roof with very slight dents.


Now that I have the car back the plan is to work a small amount each day on it. I have to return the rotisserie so the plan is to make some stands with casters that bolt to the bumper bolt locations.

Riddler

[Riddler]

I haven't really done much since I've been parting out my Neon. But I have made some purchases.

This is a fuel door pocket off a newer challenger with the Retro look fuel door.





The plan is to replace the stock Duster fuel door with this one.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well as I'm sure you can tell, I haven't really started cutting metal and such. I have however saved up and bought some more parts.

Here's my front RMS Alterktion.






Then since I went to a different spindle I needed new brakes. Wilwood had some really nice 4 piston Dynalites with 12.19" rotors.






I'm hoping to be cutting metal soon. I've got alot to do. My goal is to have rolling chassis by xmas.

Riddler

[Riddler]

I started working on a few things. The first thing is cleaning up and fixing on the grill attachment points on my 75/76 Grill. I like this grill better than the 73/74 one.



I also wanted to check out Evaporust. So I decided to soak the K-frame bolts to see how well they clean up. This is a picture of the bolts before.


This picture shows the bolts in Evaporust.



Stay tuned for more.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Picked up some more parts. I know I know, try and get some work done! LOL

Here's the front brace from XV Motorsports.


I also sources a VERY RARE set of NOS 73-76 Duster tail light lenses.


Riddler

[Riddler]

I bought some more parts, something new, something old, something shiny!

Lets start off with some more NOS parts. I found a set of 75/76 Duster Bezels and also the top trim.




I then was walking around MoparFest and found these items both from the same vendor. Not a bad haul for $60cdn.

The other one I had wasn't flawless so I seold it on ebay for double what I bought this brand new one for.




Since I wasn't able to find any parts worth paying for at the MoparFest swap meet I decided to take a look at a couple of the hardware vendors. I found PENSTAR Reproductions (http://www.penstar.net) and the owner James really helped me find everything he had in stock for my car. Since he was from the states and I had US greenbacks I paid all in US and he cut me a huge deal.



What you see in this pictures is:

Body Plug Set
Door Plug Set
2 OEM Chrysler ignition keys
2 OEM Chrysler trunk keys
2 Door pins
Front and Rear windshield clips
and the large package is a complete interior screw set.

I'll be ordering more from him to finish the car.

Riddler

[Riddler]

I haven't had alot of time to work on the car but tonight I found a couple of hours. Although it was used to clean up the garage some I did find the time to cut out my Challenger fuel door body mount and get it ready for welding.




I'm hoping to clean up the garage more and mock some things on the car.

Riddler