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This is the first time I have seen this post...so here goes.
My name is Pat and I am a 23 year old Mechanical Engineer who lives in Farmington Hills, MI...originally from the Erie, PA area.
At the ripe old age of 14, I convinced my parents to allow me to buy this 1970 Plymouth Duster while on a vacation in Flordia. I purchased it from a guy who was 19 at the time and was having issues with it. The car had a very bad overcharging problem and many other electrical gremlins and a shot steering box. Other than that, it was your typical worn out car with 250,000 miles on it. 318, column shift auto, 7 1/4 2.76 open rear, radio delete...and white with green interior
With the speedometer broken at 110 and headlights not shut off, I got it shipped back to Pennsylvania. My dad and I cut out all the bad wiring that had melted and soldered in some new wiring. I fixed the many safety issues it had and we got it legal the same year...so my dad could drive it for me.
I then began modifying it. I first found a total loss 74 Duster in the local junkyard and took its disk brakes and 8 1/4 rear axle. I had the rear axle rebuilt with a 3.21 sure-grip and put it in the car with some new springs. Over the winter, I built the car up with the disk brakes, new front end components, added a factory sway bar. I then added some cragar street star wheels and some old 225/60R15 goodyears to it. Then came the headers and duals. I was looking really good there and drove the car all of the summer of 03 when it wasn't snowing. It was good to me.
Then, problems started to come...the oil pressure light started flickering. I put a gauge on it...and the car had only 4 psi of oil pressure hot. This wasn't good. I took it home and pulled the pan...metal everywhere and shot bearings. Time to yank it. I purchased an 89 318 from the scrap yard that ran good...cleaned it up, put a cam in it, edelbrock performer, holley 600...seemed like it would be good. Fired it up, broke in the cam...all seemed fine...then i started hearing a noise. It sounded like it was in the bellhousing...I thought it was the automatic...so I wanted to convert it to a 4-speed car.
About this time I went off to college...48 weeks a year in MI, 300+ miles from the car. I purchased a 4-speed setup and put it in...the noise was still there. Did a compression test...0 psi on #6....pulled the head. A screw from the holley baseplate had gone through the piston.
At this point i decided to yank it again...got some used pistons from a member in Ohio. Put it together...new bearings, swapped to magnum heads, etc. Used a crosswind intake (china)...car started, ran good. then it started tapping a bit. Wiped the rear cam lobe and got coolant in the oil. I replaced the cam and found the intake was defective. I put it back together for one more try...it started to seize on me (obvious damage had been done).
At that point I said enough was enough. I purchased a 1977 360 from a guy in detroit that I could look at the bores/bearings ahead of time. Brought it home and put my magnum heads, camshaft, and bought an edelbrock air gap intake for it. I put it in the car and it came to life right away. By this point, 4 years had passed since I had driven it last. This spring I spent a lot of time tuning it and finally got to enjoy it. I even swapped in an 8 3/4 rearend from a B-body for better fitment of the rear tires and more strength for my more powerful engine.
I still love this car more than I did from day one. Its kind of a unique car in the mopar circles as it has many modifications done to it that I get asked about constantly including the Fastlane West dash, Hydraulic Clutch setup, Magnum heads on an "LA" block, B-body 8 3/4, offset shackle kit, Side exit exhaust, and 74 disk brakes with rear mounted calipers.
The car has made the trip with me to my new home in Farmington Hills. I can't wait to take my trusty companion out on Woodward.
Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
great contest by the way! Thank you!
This is the first time I have seen this post...so here goes.
My name is Pat and I am a 23 year old Mechanical Engineer who lives in Farmington Hills, MI...originally from the Erie, PA area.
At the ripe old age of 14, I convinced my parents to allow me to buy this 1970 Plymouth Duster while on a vacation in Flordia. I purchased it from a guy who was 19 at the time and was having issues with it. The car had a very bad overcharging problem and many other electrical gremlins and a shot steering box. Other than that, it was your typical worn out car with 250,000 miles on it. 318, column shift auto, 7 1/4 2.76 open rear, radio delete...and white with green interior
With the speedometer broken at 110 and headlights not shut off, I got it shipped back to Pennsylvania. My dad and I cut out all the bad wiring that had melted and soldered in some new wiring. I fixed the many safety issues it had and we got it legal the same year...so my dad could drive it for me.
I then began modifying it. I first found a total loss 74 Duster in the local junkyard and took its disk brakes and 8 1/4 rear axle. I had the rear axle rebuilt with a 3.21 sure-grip and put it in the car with some new springs. Over the winter, I built the car up with the disk brakes, new front end components, added a factory sway bar. I then added some cragar street star wheels and some old 225/60R15 goodyears to it. Then came the headers and duals. I was looking really good there and drove the car all of the summer of 03 when it wasn't snowing. It was good to me.
Then, problems started to come...the oil pressure light started flickering. I put a gauge on it...and the car had only 4 psi of oil pressure hot. This wasn't good. I took it home and pulled the pan...metal everywhere and shot bearings. Time to yank it. I purchased an 89 318 from the scrap yard that ran good...cleaned it up, put a cam in it, edelbrock performer, holley 600...seemed like it would be good. Fired it up, broke in the cam...all seemed fine...then i started hearing a noise. It sounded like it was in the bellhousing...I thought it was the automatic...so I wanted to convert it to a 4-speed car.
About this time I went off to college...48 weeks a year in MI, 300+ miles from the car. I purchased a 4-speed setup and put it in...the noise was still there. Did a compression test...0 psi on #6....pulled the head. A screw from the holley baseplate had gone through the piston.
At this point i decided to yank it again...got some used pistons from a member in Ohio. Put it together...new bearings, swapped to magnum heads, etc. Used a crosswind intake (china)...car started, ran good. then it started tapping a bit. Wiped the rear cam lobe and got coolant in the oil. I replaced the cam and found the intake was defective. I put it back together for one more try...it started to seize on me (obvious damage had been done).
At that point I said enough was enough. I purchased a 1977 360 from a guy in detroit that I could look at the bores/bearings ahead of time. Brought it home and put my magnum heads, camshaft, and bought an edelbrock air gap intake for it. I put it in the car and it came to life right away. By this point, 4 years had passed since I had driven it last. This spring I spent a lot of time tuning it and finally got to enjoy it. I even swapped in an 8 3/4 rearend from a B-body for better fitment of the rear tires and more strength for my more powerful engine.
I still love this car more than I did from day one. Its kind of a unique car in the mopar circles as it has many modifications done to it that I get asked about constantly including the Fastlane West dash, Hydraulic Clutch setup, Magnum heads on an "LA" block, B-body 8 3/4, offset shackle kit, Side exit exhaust, and 74 disk brakes with rear mounted calipers.
The car has made the trip with me to my new home in Farmington Hills. I can't wait to take my trusty companion out on Woodward.
Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.
great contest by the way! Thank you!