1974 Plymouth Duster Restomod

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Well I went up to work today to try and put my new rear shocks on, but ended up not being able to. The diameter of the bushing hole was to small, so I am sending them back, and hoping to get the right ones this time! But here is a little bit of what I have to do for the suspension =)!

Front sway bar 1" diameter, Rear sway bar 7/8" diameter, Traction bars, Coil over shocks with 1200lb springs, and I just added some edelbrock classic IAS shocks to the front.

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I found some cheap 1.14" torsion bars A-body length that I am drooling over, they are 102$ with less than a day to go. If only I had the money!!!!

But the next couple of things I want to do with the car are.
- Get it running first and foremost, but that is a hurry up and wait situation parts are coming in.
- Get some bigger tires for it preferably some 235/50/17's for now
- Make some sub-frame connectors, and brace and support other areas of the car as well
- Get some 1"+ torsion bars
- Get some hotchkis leaf springs for the rear
- Get some better gearing for my 8 3/4 rear end preferably some 3.2X to 3.5X sure grip.
- Rear disc brakes for the 8 3/4
- Put in 8 3/4 rear end!!

Those are my main concerns at the moment, but I will also be doing things in the mean time that do not cost much money like...
- Mini-tub and MAYBE move springs inboard.
- Finish out the driver side rear quarter panel.
- Re-check car for any dents fix any found
- Spray car in a flat black primer for a couple reasons.
1. It would look bad ***.
2. It would show any imperfections anywhere in the car.
3. It will be a nice base coat for my Plum Crazy Pearl Paint.
 
Well I went and picked up my new vacuum advance today and put it on, will re-tune the carburetter tomorrow. I also got the new rear shocks put in, and I can't wait to see how they handle. I am waiting for the clutch fork to come in hopefully later today then maybe I can start driving it again! I do need new shift rods for the car, but what I have right now will do for the time being. I have 1-4, but no reverse and third gear and fourth gear are swapped in places because the way I had to hook it up due to incorrect rods. However I have a grand total of 16$ in my bank account to live off of for the next month... I can't afford any more parts, or even to go to work (Where I don't get paid) due to gas money. Hopefully I can find some side job or sell something to get a little bit of money.
 
Well I put the 750DP on it, but never could get it to run right, no matter how much I tried it would always backfire. So after much stress I had almost given up, well then one day I decided to do a compression test for the hell of it. Turns out cylinder #1 had no compression. Turns out it wasn't the carburetter after all. So I pulled the head and had a bent exhaust valve, and a little nick in the piston where it hit. So currently I am awaiting a new exhaust valve.
 
Very nice project! Good to see another young student working on an A-body. I am 19 and about to get my AAS in Mechanical Engineering technology and go on for my BS. I have two 72 dusters but they have pretty much come to a standstill because of the same reason yours has. Parts sourcing. I'm about to do a lot of work to one of them though. Keep going and don't get discouraged!
 
bjkadron said:
Very nice project! Good to see another young student working on an A-body. I am 19 and about to get my AAS in Mechanical Engineering technology and go on for my BS. I have two 72 dusters but they have pretty much come to a standstill because of the same reason yours has. Parts sourcing. I'm about to do a lot of work to one of them though. Keep going and don't get discouraged!
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Thank you, always good to hear other young guns goin at it!
 
Right well it has been quite a while since I have updated anything on this. Lets start out by saying it is back together and running nicely the engine is at least. When I shift the car from 1st into 2nd I get grinding not terrible, but enough to make the hairs on the back of your neck raise up. I have to shift the car into neutral from 1st wait about two seconds then I can shift it into 2nd gear. I do not have the correct shift rods on it, and they hit the tranny hump slightly. So I am getting the correct shift rods and hoping it fixes it... If not I am getting a new 1-2 syncro. I have also bought a new air intake for it which I got dirt cheap and will look fantastic. I have also just bought a tachometer for it which I am quite excited about. But even more excited about is the tires I just bought! I am ditching the 17" rims that are on the car because they are only 6" wide and they give me to much bump steer. So I am going back to the original rally rims the car had with some very nice rubber to put on. I got an amazing deal on some 225/50/14 inch tires, which may not seem like much, but it is actually quite a lot. The tires are Toyo Proxes R888 which are a street legal competition tire. They won't last but 7,000 miles and can't really be driven in the rain, but I don't drive the car in the rain and have had the car for three years and have yet to put 7,000 miles on the car. So I will take them especially since they were so cheap.
 
The air intake came in today and it is a lot bigger than I expected. It has 4" pipes on it, but it fits quite nicely. I will take pictures and post them tomorrow.
 
Nice tire set-up! I considered going with a tire set-up similar to that just to baffle people. Also, watch your tire temps as they are made for somewhat lighter vehicles so they will heat up more.
 
bjkadron said:
Nice tire set-up! I considered going with a tire set-up similar to that just to baffle people. Also, watch your tire temps as they are made for somewhat lighter vehicles so they will heat up more.
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Thank you, and I will. I don't think I should have a problem with it though, the car is pretty well stripped at the moment.
 
bjkadron said:
I don't think it will either.. just something to watch for.

Nice intake! Any clearance problems?
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I wanted to route both the air intakes straight towards the front of the car, but the driver side one hit the radiator hose. So I routed them side ways, and it is really a close fit with the master cylinder, but it fits and doesn't hit or rub.
 
Well it has been a long time since I updated this thread. Life has been very busy for me, and I have not been able to do much to the car. My camera still does not like to load photos to my computer so pictures will be few and far between.
A few things that I have done to the car since I last updated are
Installed new 1.03" torsion bars
Installed new 1 1/4 front sway bar
Made and welded in patch for driver side floor board
Switched back to rally rims but painted black
Took out engine and transmission
- making bigger valve reliefs in pistons
- rebuilding transmission synchronisers and bearings
- Porting my heads
 
Well I have bad news for the engine. I have intake valves hitting on every one of the pistons. Thankfully however, none of the valves were bent. But on a bright side this means I get to buy new pistons for it! Pistons I actually get to choose the compression ratio on, so I don't have to use a really thin head gasket and run milled heads! They will also have the correct valve reliefs as well, so I will not run into the same problem.
I thought about cutting new bigger valve reliefs in the pistons that I have, but I got to thinking that, that would throw off the balance of the pistons and make it wear faster.

I am stuck however on whether or not I should go ahead and buy new piston rods as well. I think that I might just reuse the ones that I have and save the money for something else.
 
Hey where did you get your rear coil overs from? were they pretty stiff ?I'm looking to stiffen up my 74 we almost have the same set up suspension wise do u have a part number or link thanks diggin the build just got done with my 410 stroker 4speed love it . Keep up the good work glad to see the young guns like myself go at these abodies
 
Dustin The PcP said:
Well I have bad news for the engine. I have intake valves hitting on every one of the pistons. Thankfully however, none of the valves were bent. But on a bright side this means I get to buy new pistons for it! Pistons I actually get to choose the compression ratio on, so I don't have to use a really thin head gasket and run milled heads! They will also have the correct valve reliefs as well, so I will not run into the same problem.
I thought about cutting new bigger valve reliefs in the pistons that I have, but I got to thinking that, that would throw off the balance of the pistons and make it wear faster.

I am stuck however on whether or not I should go ahead and buy new piston rods as well. I think that I might just reuse the ones that I have and save the money for something else.
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Any good machine shop can fly cut your pistons for the proper clearance required for your cam lift, and could balance the piston. For higher compression you can mill the head. Your project is coming along very well, keep up the good work!
 
Not to be the barer of bad news.....but:

That intake is not going to add any power over a 14x3 round one......saturated 210*f+ air is no bueno....and sucking air off the top of the headers is not the place to be taking in fresh air for a Hot Rod engine....fact.

nice build so far.
 
Prine said:
Not to be the barer of bad news.....but:

That intake is not going to add any power over a 14x3 round one......saturated 210*f+ air is no bueno....and sucking air off the top of the headers is not the place to be taking in fresh air for a Hot Rod engine....fact.

nice build so far.
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I didn't really expect it to help add any horsepower at this point, it is more for the "wow" factor right now. However I do have plans to run it to pick up fresh air at one point. And when the headers go back in the car this time they will be wrapped to help keep under hood temperatures down.
 
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