A tale of two Dusters
Well, here we go for dragging up a super old thread. I haven't made a real update to this thread since 2012. Life certainly gets in the way of our best laid plans but I wanted to provide an update as I hate it when threads just disappear.
So update: Both these cars have been essentially in cold storage since 2012. I ended up having to get rid of the Dirt track car I was going to use for the Green Duster. I have moved several times since I updated and lost parts etc over time. Late summer was the first time these cars have even been at the same location as me. After going over both and sitting down and realistically looking at the list of parts and time that would be required (Yes, I'm still an engineer so there was an excel sheet involved :rolleyes:) to get these going vs how much time I have with work and other commitments it was honestly depressing. I felt like I was never going to get anything going because my plans far outreached the budget and time I had to commit. I had to make some decisions about the direction I wanted to go with these. Do I keep building two cars? Do I rebuild the gold one stock-ish and use the green one as parts? Do I just cut my losses and sell both? A duster has always been my "achievable" dream car so how do I make this work? A lot of questions and very few good answers.
Well, after a couple months and going over the situation with my wife (buy-in is always important on stuff like this), there was a glimmer of hope. I found an 85 year old guy who, because of health reasons, was getting out of the hobby and he had a surprisingly good shape 1972 Plymouth Duster Drag car. It has been raced in various forms since almost new but was somehow in pretty good and largely original shape except for the drivetrain (more on that later). Well, we went back and forth for a little while but eventually a deal was struck that worked for everyone. Here is how it worked out. I now have a New to me Yellow 1972 Duster, The previous owner gets a fair price and the knowledge it is going to a good home, and my wife gets the promise that the two other Dusters (green and gold) will find new homes. So if anyone is looking for a a good project (or two) let me know as they will be listed soon.
So here is a quick overview of the new Yellow Duster and some pictures for those curious. I haven't decided If I'm going to start a new Thread for it or just continue with this existing one (open to input if you have any strong feelings on the matter). It is a 1972 Plymouth Duster in yellow, has 70 stripes currently and a sharktooth grille (I've always been a sucker for these). It is currently set up as a drag car which will change into a more streetable handling build over time. It has a stroked 360 Eagle crank & JE forged pistons with Edelbrock Performer rpm heads and a 750 proform race carb. It has a built 727 with a full manual valve body, somewhere around 3000 stall, 4:10 (?) 8 3/4", SBP all around and original Drum brakes (terrifying and will be the first thing to go). It's pretty rowdy currently and not particularly streetable. It will blow the 275/60R15 MT ET Street slicks off with just a punch of the throttle and it sounds amazing through a 2.5" X-pipe and Flowmasters with turndowns. I was told it did 10.80's with an 850 carb then they put the 750 on to slow it down so they wouldn't need a cage (I'll be honest, it is quick but I'm not sure I totally believe the 10:80s). Over the next couple weeks I'll be going through it to identify what exact parts it has and figuring out a plan to get it to where I want to be. I still want to manual swap it and make it handle pretty well but don't have exact performance targets currently.
I guess that is about all for now so enjoy the pictures. Excited to be back.
Well, here we go for dragging up a super old thread. I haven't made a real update to this thread since 2012. Life certainly gets in the way of our best laid plans but I wanted to provide an update as I hate it when threads just disappear.
So update: Both these cars have been essentially in cold storage since 2012. I ended up having to get rid of the Dirt track car I was going to use for the Green Duster. I have moved several times since I updated and lost parts etc over time. Late summer was the first time these cars have even been at the same location as me. After going over both and sitting down and realistically looking at the list of parts and time that would be required (Yes, I'm still an engineer so there was an excel sheet involved :rolleyes:) to get these going vs how much time I have with work and other commitments it was honestly depressing. I felt like I was never going to get anything going because my plans far outreached the budget and time I had to commit. I had to make some decisions about the direction I wanted to go with these. Do I keep building two cars? Do I rebuild the gold one stock-ish and use the green one as parts? Do I just cut my losses and sell both? A duster has always been my "achievable" dream car so how do I make this work? A lot of questions and very few good answers.
Well, after a couple months and going over the situation with my wife (buy-in is always important on stuff like this), there was a glimmer of hope. I found an 85 year old guy who, because of health reasons, was getting out of the hobby and he had a surprisingly good shape 1972 Plymouth Duster Drag car. It has been raced in various forms since almost new but was somehow in pretty good and largely original shape except for the drivetrain (more on that later). Well, we went back and forth for a little while but eventually a deal was struck that worked for everyone. Here is how it worked out. I now have a New to me Yellow 1972 Duster, The previous owner gets a fair price and the knowledge it is going to a good home, and my wife gets the promise that the two other Dusters (green and gold) will find new homes. So if anyone is looking for a a good project (or two) let me know as they will be listed soon.
So here is a quick overview of the new Yellow Duster and some pictures for those curious. I haven't decided If I'm going to start a new Thread for it or just continue with this existing one (open to input if you have any strong feelings on the matter). It is a 1972 Plymouth Duster in yellow, has 70 stripes currently and a sharktooth grille (I've always been a sucker for these). It is currently set up as a drag car which will change into a more streetable handling build over time. It has a stroked 360 Eagle crank & JE forged pistons with Edelbrock Performer rpm heads and a 750 proform race carb. It has a built 727 with a full manual valve body, somewhere around 3000 stall, 4:10 (?) 8 3/4", SBP all around and original Drum brakes (terrifying and will be the first thing to go). It's pretty rowdy currently and not particularly streetable. It will blow the 275/60R15 MT ET Street slicks off with just a punch of the throttle and it sounds amazing through a 2.5" X-pipe and Flowmasters with turndowns. I was told it did 10.80's with an 850 carb then they put the 750 on to slow it down so they wouldn't need a cage (I'll be honest, it is quick but I'm not sure I totally believe the 10:80s). Over the next couple weeks I'll be going through it to identify what exact parts it has and figuring out a plan to get it to where I want to be. I still want to manual swap it and make it handle pretty well but don't have exact performance targets currently.
I guess that is about all for now so enjoy the pictures. Excited to be back.