1974 Plymouth Duster Restomod

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Dustin The PcP

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Location
Sugar Land, Tx
A little about the project and Thomas Erickson (me). I bought the car to replace my 73 Duster which was stolen. It was later recovered after I bought the 74. But had issues with it. Since I had bought the 74 already I started working on it which started out as a rust free, 225 slant six (Had major issues with), sloppy suspension all around, and lots of little things here and there. Since this I have swapped the K-frames out in the cars, and put a freshly rebuilt 318 in it with weiand intake, holley 600cfm carb, hooker headers, and compression of right around 10.2:1. I have a mopar performance camshaft waiting to go in it with 284/284 duration 248 at .050 and .484/.484 lift. The front suspension was all redone with poly urethane bushings, except I forgot to switch lower control arms out so I did not put the sway bar back in it's on my "To do" list. Most of the body work I did late last year while attending automotive collision school. However I did not do a thorough job of it. I am now going back to re-do what needs it and do what wasn't done before. The trunk, interior, and underneath needs attending to, along with one rust area on bottom of driver quarter. The car doesn't need alot of work, just some dedicated time.The spare tire well is virtually non-existent, I am very surprised my gas tank has not fallen out. I would have the car already painted however, I had to spend the money on tires instead of paint. I am dearly grateful for now it would of been quite a disastrous thing had I gone ahead at the time. So we just found some paint mixed it together and shot it on.

My goals for the car in the long run are to modernize suspension with hotchkis suspension with a TVS system, modernized interior (Different seats, radio, and custom hints everywhere), 4spd manual tranny, and about 375-400rwhp. The paint will be the newer version of the classic Plum Crazy Purple, which is Plum Crazy Pearl. The car has stock srt-4 rims on it currently which I am going to paint parts of to match the car.

About Me: I'm 19 working at a restoration shop called "Johnny Hotrod" however I do not get paid currently (I want experience). So it takes me a while to get anything done that cost money. I am currently in school full time attending the Chrysler Automotive Program (C.A.P.) where I am at school for two months then internship at the shop for two months. I firmly believe in the slogan "Mopar or no car!", and "If it aint Mopar, It won't go far!".


I currently just finished up a patch panel I did just above the drive side tail light. Today I went in and gutted the interior to clean up the floorboards and prevent future damage to them I will be painting them soon. My next step is the spare tire well however, I will be cutting it out and welding a piece in flat.

I will post pictures of the body work I did as soon as I can get them from my phone to my computer, and post current ones as soon as I take some.

Here are a few pictures of the car from back in march:
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Here are some pictures of the rims I will be using, and the general idea of how I want to paint them.

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They need a bigger tire on them to fill the gap.

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And this is how I want to customize them, this was done quickly to a rim that was already sanded down.

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Bolt pattern will be wrong. Might get it to bolt up (looks like you already did) but they aren't right and you will break the wheel studs and potentially wreck your car if you drive it that way.

FWD Mopar is 5x100mm, RWD Mopar small bolt pattern is 5x4inch. 100mm = 3.937". Don't do it.

Just an FYI.
 
Bolt pattern will be wrong. Might get it to bolt up (looks like you already did) but they aren't right and you will break the wheel studs and potentially wreck your car if you drive it that way.

FWD Mopar is 5x100mm, RWD Mopar small bolt pattern is 5x4inch. 100mm = 3.937". Don't do it.

Just an FYI.

I have a 1" spacer with a 5X4.5 to 5X117(close to that) which is the correct lug pattern for both.
 
So I had an interview today to possibly become a painter at a dealership!!! It went pretty well, most likely going for paperwork and such tomorrow. And stopped by the shop today to work on my car. Got the floorboards pretty well cleaned up, going to finish it up tomorrow and prep for paint, hopefully get it all ready by this weekend!
 
I have a 1" spacer with a 5X4.5 to 5X117(close to that) which is the correct lug pattern for both.

You sure about that? Could have sworn the SRT-4 was 5x100, just like my PT Cruiser.

Your the one with the wheels in hand. Maybe I am wrong.

The 5x4.5 does make more sense though, for the year of car you have. I assumed it was a drum brake small bolt pattern car.
 
what r u going to do with your 73?still have it?show a pic of your 73 duster.i have 72 duster i have it since i was 17.now i'm 20.i agree with your sayin mopar or no car.i do like older fords,chevys,ponitacs 50s threw early 70s.
 
SRT-4 is 5X100MM. Here is a pic of one on my wifes old project.

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You sure about that? Could have sworn the SRT-4 was 5x100, just like my PT Cruiser.

Your the one with the wheels in hand. Maybe I am wrong.

The 5x4.5 does make more sense though, for the year of car you have. I assumed it was a drum brake small bolt pattern car.

They are 5X 100 my apologies, it was the 5X4.5 that came out close to 117



SRT-4 is 5X100MM. Here is a pic of one on my wifes old project.

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Yeah they don't look to bad on em surprisingly kind of make em look like a hot wheels car though....
 
what r u going to do with your 73?still have it?show a pic of your 73 duster.i have 72 duster i have it since i was 17.now i'm 20.i agree with your sayin mopar or no car.i do like older fords,chevys,ponitacs 50s threw early 70s.

Yes I still have the car, it has sadly been sitting since, it has a frame rail that needs to be replaced on it, and I just never got around to it. I have let it sit and rust )=. To much going on at once and they just sit.
I can take the cover off and take pictures of it probably tomorrow.
 
Here are some pictures of what I have been doing! Only got to work on it for a bit today, but I need to get the spare tire well fixed before I go much farther!


Driver side floor boards
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I didn't get to much done today it was raining out clod and windy. And I have to take everything out of the car to work on it, I had no place dry to put it. But I took a few pictures of the engine. It's quite filthy though...

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The weather cleared up a little today, so I was able to work on it some. I got the spare tire well all measured up the metal cut, and have 3/4 of the old one cut out... I had to run out to pick up my brother and his car. Tomorrow it should be all welded up with pictures!
 
So the spare tire well and gas tank straps are all welded up, with only some difficulty. Welded the gas tank straps to far back.. and I had to make the bolts for them out of all-thread because well i'm cheap. So the bolts I originally made were to short.. so I just welded some more all-thread to them and it worked like a charm. And while I had the gas tank out I went ahead and cleaned it up and painted it. Pictures will follow as soon as I can get them off my phone...
 
So I have got a little more work done, I found another rust hole which I went ahead and patched up. I don't have the final work of it just the precuts, and rough estimates of it. But I also have pictures of the spare tire well and patch that I will post!

Here is what the old one looked like

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The new one just set in

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Some pictures of the welds

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