My "new" '74 Duster- or why I need a project like a hole in the head
Two questions!
#1, where can one find these rallye dash frames/ dashes. Is a junk yard the best place to look? Or does someone repop?
#2, would you mind taking a picture of /exactly/ where you had to go, what you had to remove/open/etc to get to your cowl to clean it out?
Thanks!
#1- You can get the dashes and frames from just about anywhere. The bezels are re-popped by B/E&A, but they cost like $500. Which is why I'm restoring mine. You can get woodgrain or carbon overlays to repair the stock woodgrain sections from Detroit Muscle Technologies, they're pretty slick. And I've been working with them to make lower overlays too, so it should make restoring the old bezels MUCH easier.
Anyway, the rallye dashes and frames came in all the A body Barracuda's from 67-69, and mostly from Dusters and Demons from '70-71. A few came in Darts and Valiants too, but they're hard to find. Most of mine came out of Barracuda's. I've bought a few on eBay, and found a few locally on C-list or the local swap meets, an just recently bought one here in the for sale section. If you don't mind doing some epoxying and refinishing, the bezels that have been cut/damaged are much cheaper. Kind of a buy a few and put them together kind of proposition.
The dash frames are the same way, I bought one on eBay, found one locally, that sort of thing. And I converted the one in my Duster, but as I said above that's not as simple as it looks. If you have some sheet metal skills and some welding ability you can try it, but its easier to just find a frame and install it.
#2-To clean out the cowl on my non-AC car, I first opened up the fresh air vent doors and scooped that stuff out. Then, I actually removed both of the fresh air vent boxes so I could get my arm up into the cowl. I had the front cover off my air box at the time as well. I'll get some pictures up in a bit.