1972 Duster, 340/4, black on black (the endgame)
Was reading through the Barn Find 72 340 Duster thread and as I neared the end I noticed the dates didn't really correspond with the posts remaining and was wondering why while not wanting to admit what I already knew... Godspeed Tim and glad your devil found a good home.
Had my own mortality slap me in the face a couple years ago when my eating habits of a 16 year old caught up to me and one of the arteries returning blood from my lungs decided that was enough of the saturated fat and shut down (95% clogged). One stent and 2 days in recovery later to consider my life's choices and just how close that was, the pressing item that made the top of the to-do list when I got home was getting this. *******. car. DONE. The 20th marks 39 years I've been nibbling away at this and the past couple of years has been an attempt to achieve a level of perfection that would have pissed off any of my restoration shop bosses of old. Enough was enough-I fixed a couple of obvious issues, primed the quarters, blocked them out, reprimed them, final sanded the car in 600 and hit the wall looking for a place to spray paint. I don't have a window in my workshop here so there's no ventilation-certainly not enough for urethane basecoat/clearcoat in an apartment building full of sensitive elder tenants. I can barely get away with the priming I've been doing or spraypainting parts in my role here as the building maintenance guy. A friend of a friend of the building's owner has a body shop not far from here and after meeting with him came to a deal for me to paint it in his booth over Memorial Day weekend. I called him the weekend before to touch base and he backed out (don't have time...nope-don't have time. Too busy). I then got to the point where I was willing to pay someone else to do it just to get it done and the only shop in the area that would tackle something that's not insurance work was 2 years out... I was lamenting the fact at work one night that I just need a place to spray paint to get this done when a co-worker piped up and said "bring it over-we have a garage". One car insulated attached garage at a house on the edge of Bozeman rented by a couple of guys I work with on the night shift at Gibson.
(sprayed the ***** Labor Day Saturday)
A coat of sealer, two coats of Tamco TX9 Basecoat (had to have them find a formula for it as they didn't list it on their site) and three coats of their high solids Euro Clearcoat through a 1.4 tip (two coats and a 1.2 tip was their recommendation but I'm not buying another spray gun...) and it's DONE.
Wetsanded the roof Saturday and will hit it with the buffer Sunday.
Meanwhile, the motor is at this stage:
The headers are just hanging there for effect-they still need a coating. Also still need a carb, new water and fuel pump and a clutch plate and it's ready to drop in. Once the buffing is done I'll get the brake and fuel lines in (new tank is already in) and the wire harness in the engine compartment. Would also like to replace the bearings & seals in the transmission before it goes together and ideally, find someone with a dyno willing to do the cam break-in and give it a couple pulls to see what it can do. The machine shop that reconditioned the block closed and sold their equipment to someone who ONLY does diesels and won't touch this so the search is on.
Meanwhile, there's plenty to do. It's finally going together.
Was reading through the Barn Find 72 340 Duster thread and as I neared the end I noticed the dates didn't really correspond with the posts remaining and was wondering why while not wanting to admit what I already knew... Godspeed Tim and glad your devil found a good home.
Had my own mortality slap me in the face a couple years ago when my eating habits of a 16 year old caught up to me and one of the arteries returning blood from my lungs decided that was enough of the saturated fat and shut down (95% clogged). One stent and 2 days in recovery later to consider my life's choices and just how close that was, the pressing item that made the top of the to-do list when I got home was getting this. *******. car. DONE. The 20th marks 39 years I've been nibbling away at this and the past couple of years has been an attempt to achieve a level of perfection that would have pissed off any of my restoration shop bosses of old. Enough was enough-I fixed a couple of obvious issues, primed the quarters, blocked them out, reprimed them, final sanded the car in 600 and hit the wall looking for a place to spray paint. I don't have a window in my workshop here so there's no ventilation-certainly not enough for urethane basecoat/clearcoat in an apartment building full of sensitive elder tenants. I can barely get away with the priming I've been doing or spraypainting parts in my role here as the building maintenance guy. A friend of a friend of the building's owner has a body shop not far from here and after meeting with him came to a deal for me to paint it in his booth over Memorial Day weekend. I called him the weekend before to touch base and he backed out (don't have time...nope-don't have time. Too busy). I then got to the point where I was willing to pay someone else to do it just to get it done and the only shop in the area that would tackle something that's not insurance work was 2 years out... I was lamenting the fact at work one night that I just need a place to spray paint to get this done when a co-worker piped up and said "bring it over-we have a garage". One car insulated attached garage at a house on the edge of Bozeman rented by a couple of guys I work with on the night shift at Gibson.
(sprayed the ***** Labor Day Saturday)
A coat of sealer, two coats of Tamco TX9 Basecoat (had to have them find a formula for it as they didn't list it on their site) and three coats of their high solids Euro Clearcoat through a 1.4 tip (two coats and a 1.2 tip was their recommendation but I'm not buying another spray gun...) and it's DONE.
Wetsanded the roof Saturday and will hit it with the buffer Sunday.
Meanwhile, the motor is at this stage:
The headers are just hanging there for effect-they still need a coating. Also still need a carb, new water and fuel pump and a clutch plate and it's ready to drop in. Once the buffing is done I'll get the brake and fuel lines in (new tank is already in) and the wire harness in the engine compartment. Would also like to replace the bearings & seals in the transmission before it goes together and ideally, find someone with a dyno willing to do the cam break-in and give it a couple pulls to see what it can do. The machine shop that reconditioned the block closed and sold their equipment to someone who ONLY does diesels and won't touch this so the search is on.
Meanwhile, there's plenty to do. It's finally going together.