1974 Duster

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Dash is back in the car- Column was cleaned, painted and detailed yesterday and I chased after parts.

Replaced a bad blend air door actuator for the defrost, repaired a broken section of the HVAC box, pulled out the aftermarket stereo wiring, made a bushing for the wiper linkage.

Raining out today, bleh.
 
Dash is 99% done, just have to tweak a few adjustments and install the stereo.

Will be cleaning up and laying carpet in a day or two!

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Clean out the car today, washed the floor pan and started installing panels!

Tonight I'm going to try and tuck insulation in the rear panels (there is none from the factory) in an effort to control road noise.

I have to run over to my buddies house and pick up the front seat and start re-skinning it, should take no more than an hour or two.
 
Working in the rear seat area tonight..

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Wow! You sure ain't wastin' time and it's looking darn good. I sure hope my project turns out good like yours.


John
 
j-miller said:
Wow! You sure ain't wastin' time and it's looking darn good. I sure hope my project turns out good like yours.


John
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I was going to paint the floorpan the same color of the car but will wait till January, easy enough to pull the carpet and seats back out then.

I'd like to get some driving time in this year.

Anyone have a picture of their Duster with folding year seat? I need to know if there is anything covering the top corner where the rear sail panel meets the package shelf and "door" panel.

Never mind, after working on it a few hours it is all sorted out.
 
All the back seat panels are in along with the top half of the folding rear seat.
 
Gary,

Great job!!! I so want to get going on mine . . .

What's left of the other car that came with the deal? How are the floor pans? My 73 340, "Dusty", recently a.k.a. "The Freddie Flintstone Mobile" is in dire need of floors and the toe kicks - only available items I can find new are partials and I'd prefer getting full floors if able to. Let me know if you still have the 73, if you're willing to let it go, what the condition is, and of course what you need for it.

I'm in Levittown, PA, so distance is not an issue.
 
Joe Mc said:
What's left of the other car that came with the deal? How are the floor pans?
Click to expand...

The car is in pretty good shape, but there is a deposit on it at the moment. If it falls through, I'll drop you a line.

So far all I have needed from the parts car has been a few odd screws, bolts and an inside door handle.
 
Windshield is in along with some other related hardware (stainless window trim clips & screws) a-pillar trim inside plus visors and rear view mirror.

Will take a few days for the sealer on the floor to set darn it, have to wait before I can drop the carpet in.

Front benchseat has one of the seat backs reskined, will do the other and base tomorrow.
 
Doing the windshield was nerve wracking, been about 20 years sice I did one last. How people popped these in while going down a line is beyond me.

I'm starting to get excited, the car could be drivable by Wednesday.
 
Rear seatbelts are in, stereo and ashtray is in, bottom of front seat repaired and reskinned.
 
Joe Mc said:
Did the car leave? Sorry, just anxious.
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Still here, will know by Saturday.

Major work tonight- Installed carpet, sill plates, kick panels, carpet retainers (next to rear seat on both sides) rear seat bottom and front bench seat aafter cleaning and painting the lower seat brackets.. Front bench was reworked with extra foam rubber, very comfortable.

Not impressed at all with Trim Parts carpet- I installed a Custom Auto Carpet years ago and it was a much higher quaility piece, I doubt I would purchase another Trim Parts carpet.

The fitment was poor, indents ill defined and required lots of work to even remotely look decent.

Tomorrow I'll finish the passenger seat back and install it, seat belts, paint the brake pedal, adjust the drivers and passengers window glass, install the door panels and pull handles. I'm going to leave the headrests and release buttons off the seat for now, going to let the skin settle a bit before doing that work.

Perhaps a road test tomorrow night!

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The sill plates are original BTW- I knocked out the dents and dings and polished them myself.
 
Work tonight- Cleaned and painted brake pedal, cleaned gas pedal, installed A to B pillar roof trim, reskinned passenger seat back & installed, installed correct green lamp for heater control, cleaned heater core case, adjusted glass on both doors, lubed all door mech, installed door plastic, panels, window cranks and other door pieces, applied tire inflation decal, installed wipers and road tested!

Car is too damn quiet and pulls to when side when braking.... other than that not a bad road test.. need to tweak the headlamps adjustment up and test the calipers (will just replace both I suspect)

Making good progress! Seat belts tomorrow, it has been a long day.

Gary

P.S. I have a Summit dual exhaust system for the car, will install soon.

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Man, the more I poke around this site the more cool stuff I find. Good to see you here Gary. Love your car. Top notch all the way. I have a 75 Scamp on the back burner that will be getting a 360 transplant by next summer. I'm sorry I got rid of my 68 GTX and can't wait to get back to a performance rear wheel car again. My CSX has been down for about a year now. I messed up my back, and then got a hernia. No working on it with those conditions. Recovered and called work witn my release from their doctor, and found out I had no job to go back to. I got a new job, but am now making about 27% less than before. The benefits are good though and it's steady days. The CSX should have the new engine in it over the winter. I'll be shooting for 11s in the quarter. It should be a fun ride, but like I said, I miss the feel of a rear wheel drive performance car. Good luck with your project. Hope it brings you tons of enjoyment.
Frank H.
CSX 452
www.dv-sdac.org
 
Amazing it has only been two months since I purchased the car.

A lot of elbow grease, the only work that wasn't done by me was the bodywork and paint, even then I stripped the body and interior before bringing it to the body shop. Door handles, locks, lights, the whole shooting match.

Thought you would like a few pictures, not done just yet so stay tuned ;-)

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Proper planning & the ability to focus is all it takes.

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Note- Yes the windshield trim, drivers side drip rail trim and A/C vents are not installed on car yet, for one reason or another but will be installed sometime in the next week.

Gary
 
gdonovan said:
Still here, will know by Saturday.


Perhaps a road test tomorrow night!
Click to expand...

Gary,

Man! Those are some sweet pictures!!! GREAT JOB!!! Hope that some day next year I can make the statement you made "Perhaps a road test tomorrow night!"

I'm heading off to Gettysburg for a Diesel truck event (a.k.a. Guy weekend:drinkers:) noonish Friday and probably won't be able to access a computer until I get home Sunday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed in hopes that I'll have some solid floors soon.:toothy10:
 
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