1976 Duster Project DD

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JGC403

JGC403

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Baileyton, TN
I picked up a '76 Duster a couple of months ago with the plan to use it as a Daily Driver. Car originally had a slant backed by a 4 speed OD, but is now powered by a 360. I just finished rebuilding a non-OD 833 for the car and getting ready to install that.

Car is bare bones, no power brakes, no power steering, no AC. Love it.

There is a crack in the driver door on the side above the latch mechanism coming down from the window, I need to get a picture of it. But it causes the window to rattle. I'm not sure If I can try and clamp it and weld it or something. Something is stuck in the driver side key lock and I can't unlock the door with the key.

Engine runs good, but I found a couple issues (horsepower wise). It has a 318 single plane intake manifold. So that will be replaced some day. Seeing the 318 intake got me curious to see what heads are on it. But I haven't had a chance to remove the valve cover to check the casting numbers yet.

Needs blackout treatment behind the grill also.

Front brakes were in rough shape and were not working, so I purchased a set of reman calipers, organic pads, new rubber lines at the calipers and new slotted rotors.

Since the front end is this far apart I was thinking I might as well get new wheel bearings. Also was thinking about swapping the calipers around to the back of the wheel.

First question of many, when swapping the calipers to the back of the wheel, does the caliper brake line need to be longer or shorter than stock?

2nd question, I wanted to check all of the fluids in the car, when it was up on the lift I wanted to check the fluid in the rear axle. I found that there was no plug in the diff cover, so how do I check the fluid? Pretty sure its a 8.25 rear.





 
I have a set of braided SS brake lines that I had bought for my Jeep and never installed. Will these work on my car?

Bottom one is braided SS, Top one is a stock replacement one.



 
Well I was getting bored so I decided to paint my front calipers. I figured the new challenger look good with red ones so why not. And at the very least the paint will keep them from rusting. First coat of paint:

 
It looks like a great project, make sure you take lots of pics and post them!
 
bad440 said:
nice car,wish ihad a four speed....
Click to expand...

That was the deciding factor for this car.



Thanks. Right now I'm just getting all the parts together that I need (and some that I don't), before I go back over to my buddies garage who has a car lift. So nice having a lift to put the trans back in.
 
As for the checking the rear fluid, the 8.25 has a rubber plug you pull out.
Nice clean looking car.
 
Worked on the car a little today. Did the black out treatment, I think it looks a lot better.

Took the valve covers off, only one head had casting numbers on one of the intake runners. But they are 360 heads (well at least one is). Casting number is: 3769974, is this a good head?

So I have a 360 with 360 heads, but a single plane 318 Eddy intake, hmm.

Also after I learned a little but more about this car, it has an earlier duster grill and it doesn't fit right. There are only 4 screws holding it on because no other holes line up. So I'm going to have to figure out something for that. Either find the correct grill or figure out a way to make this .style work. I'm kind of torn because I like both styles of grills.

I checked the master cylinder for rust, when doing so when I pulled the cover off it looked like the cup/gasket thing was on upside down. Should the cups be in the fluid or against the lid? From what it said on the cup/gasket, the cups should be against the lid.

This is the crack that is in the driver side door, just under the rubber piece.


Before blackout treatment:


After:
 
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