'72 Demon Project

[element303]

Hey guys. I finally had time to pick up a '72 Demon I got for a really good price after spending some months in the Philippines.

Only about 70k miles, everything works, even A/C, still got the factory spare tire in the trunk. I never had a Dodge before and honestly never heard of the Demon before since I grew up in Europe. I knew about the Charger (oh yes!) and Challenger but had to educate myself on the Demon history before I bought it. I realized pretty quick that I have to buy it for the price I paid, even though I originally just went to the sellers house out of curiosity with no real intention to actually buy it. But when I saw this beauty when I drove into his driveway, I was already impressed.

So I ordered a gallon of good body filler and tons of sanding paper and started working on the body, really the only thing that have to be done on the car.

Its a 318 with 3 speed automatic but the same owner have '73 340 with 4 speed transmission which I would love to get later on. Lets see.

I will post some pics of the project for you guys and myself.

The day I got to pick it up.

First day of working on it:

 

[element303]

I started with the front fender. The car used to be ugly green from factory and the first owner who had the car until he died painted it yellow. The paint shop I was talking to told me it would be best to start over from bare metal, so I started sanding, realizing it would take forever to get the paint off.

So I did some research and decided to try chemicals.

I finished the fender but came to the conclusion that working with acid is too much of a mess. In the meantime I also decided I will wrap the car myself, so getting it clean and smooth with body filler instead of going all the way to the metal is fine.

I am currently waiting for the samples from 3M but I am leaning towards matte gray with black stripes and orange lines and orange interior details or orange wrap with black details again. Lets see. But I wouldnt hate going into a more aggressive color as this:

The fender is pretty much done, next panels are drivers door, hood and front lip. The right door have one of 3 bigger rust issues so I will see what I do there as you can see on the very first pic.

 

[element303]

Some new pics

I removed the fender signal and closed the hole. Now im working on the hood and prepare for the original hood scoop that I got new for $99 and open the hood so it can actually serve are intake.

 

[turtleheadjoe]

I want your car. I've got a 72 duster, the early 70s a bodies are my favorite

 

[element303]

I agree. I dont like the 73 bodies. The tail lights are much cooler until 72 on both Duster and Demon

 

[Princess Valiant]

I love your car because it's yellow.

I also have a 72 demon that is almost the same car except mine was originally B1 baby blue.....but i am changing the color to yellow

 

[element303]

Thank you but the yellow is the paint im removing. It used to be in a horrible green from factory and the first owner painted it yellow. Just not much left of it. I gonna either get it in the matte grey metallic or orange. Not sure yet. I love them both

 

[element303]

Repaired and painted the grill semi-flat black and fixed the orange lights with new wiring. The headlights will also be blackened out so the entire grill is black. I am considering making a custom cover in charger style to cover it all up. But for now im happy how it looks.

 

[turtleheadjoe]

Repaired and painted the grill semi-flat black and fixed the orange lights with new wiring. The headlights will also be blackened out so the entire grill is black. I am considering making a custom cover in charger style to cover it all up. But for now im happy how it looks.

I made this expanded metal grille for my Duster using the stock frame and some plasti weld epoxy, it ain't a bad job if you decide to do it.

 

[element303]

That looks interesting. Good work. I would like to cover everything including the lights to get the closed Charger style. I found a mesh on Ebay that might work. I would also use the original frame.

 

[turtleheadjoe]

I looked at the plastic mesh on eBay, I ended up getting some stainless and painting it because I could bend it to my liking.

 

[element303]

CCG UNIVERSAL 16" x 48" PERFORATED GT ALUMINUM GRILL GRILLE MESH SHEET SILVER

Thats the one I have in mind. The wholes are big enough that the headlight should shine through. Black of course.

 

[turtleheadjoe]

That looks perfect, is it big enough? I don't remember what my measurements were

 

[element303]

They can send custom pieces, I already talked with them. However, I was planning to use this one for the middle part and extend perfct cuts for the headlight covers slightly curved as it is stock so I can take them out without removing the middle part. The only issue is how to install it on the frame without using something that is permanent.

 

[turtleheadjoe]

Yeah that might be a trick. My grille was junk, even the frame, so I just epoxied everything as best I could. That obviously ain't gonna work for you

 

[element303]

Mine was broken but I fixed it pretty good with fiberglass and evercoat. Lets see. Next step tomorrow and few days after that is the hood and installing the brand new hood scoop. Excited for that.

 

[turtleheadjoe]

I've got a real beater hood scoop that I'm doing body work on right now. Like everything else on my Duster it'll look sub par, but that's ok.

 

[element303]

The past week was all about the hood. It consisted of 50% body filler. It was pretty obvious that the car had a light crash once that affected the hood and driver side fender extension. I cut out all the rust and used fiberglass in most areas to reinforce everything before coating it with body filler.

Member whitepunkonnitro was so nice to sell me a extension for a fair price. Thank you for that. Its already painted and tomorrow I will adjust the connection between fender so its all even again.

The hood is pretty much done now with a brand new custom made Duster 340 Scoop I got for an amazing price on ebay. I made a triangle opening for the scoop, for which I will install a mesh later. I also applied the last coat on the hood this afternoon. So tomorrow it should be as good as new. I might have to add that this is the first time I am working on the body on such a level and I dont expect the outcome to be perfect, but I want to sit in the car knowing that I alone did it. either way, it will surely look better than before.

The other thing I got to finish today was to install the new hood pins. The old ones where rusted into the hood and I had to drill out the screws and cut the plate out along with the rust. I also used fiberglass to get it strong again in that area and then installed the new one on top of it.

Looks awesome and helps to adjust the level of the hood perfectly with the fenders. No more flapping around of the hood while driving anymore neither.

Last but not least I also got the new old Demon emblem from physixx. Thank you as well buddy!

 

[element303]

Headlights are done in deep black and the grille in semi-flat black.

 

[THEWHITEZOMBIE]

Looks good man

 

[Dartn440]

Scary lookin'! Spray those marker lights red....it's a Demon right?

 

[element303]

Yeah I want it to look like one too and try something different. Actually I like it orange. I am planning to use orange LED inside the car for gauges and a fine orange stripe next to the black stripes later.

 

[Dartn440]

I will be curious to see how that looks. I am pin striping the days in mine and was considering blue. Car is white, stripe is red.

 

[element303]

I made something in photoshop a few months ago.

I am still not 100% sure if I go that way but I think the car will be Gray Metallic Matte with black stripes and an orange thin highlight stripe.

 

[Dartn440]

Oh I see. When you said thin stripe I was thinking what have on my 74 in black...