72 duster resto

[72smallairparticler]

Welcome to my build thread.

I snagged this 72 Duster at mid-October of 2022 for 7k. It came with a slant 6, 904 combo with a 7.25" rear, manual drum brakes all around, manual steering, and A/C! Interior was insanely clean for it's age, seats had been reupholstered. Suspension sagged, 14" steelies, but came with a bunch of spare parts.

Rust was pretty much non-existent, although it had some in the spare tire sump, but came with a replacement metal patch. A little surface rust across the bottom here and there, but no rot whatsever. Bought it off a guy who had run into some health issues in the middle of a repair of an exhaust leak so never knew if it ran when I trailered it home. here's some moments from that first arrival and trip.

First things first - getting that new gasket on the exhaust manifold and reinstalling the carb.
Next up while it was off was to start cleaning up the valve cover with some fresh paint.
Also noting the rotted repair of the spare tire well. Not sure what that foamy patch stuff is.

Now, digging down knee-deep into the suspension and brake upgrade so I figured I’d try to track some of my progress here with a new thread

All the parts are from Dr. diff, including 13 inch front disc conversion from the previous 9” drums. Since I’m already getting into the brakes I figured the suspension was the easiest obvious step to do along with it so here’s some progress

 

[72smallairparticler]

My working bud taking a break

 

[72smallairparticler]

finally got the driver side installed after repeatedly taking off and putting on the hub because the adapter brackets require you to basically pre-hang all of the bolts that connect to the caliper. I’m a little bummed at the paint chipping off so easily from the caliper, but the rest of the parts seem pretty good quality.

 

[72smallairparticler]

Opposite side was a bunch more trouble. The adapter plate holes were not true center when inserting the bolts so I stripped one. Fortunately the spindle holes weren't stripped. Had to go to the store and buy some new 1/2-20 bolts and decided to ditch the Allen wrench style bolts for these instead. Drilled out the plate holes just enough to get both bolts in… 2 hours down the drain but it’s ready to install.

At least now I know the process to install the other side so should be much faster

 

[Red Stripe]

Looking good! What are you going with for wheels?

 

[72smallairparticler]

Lots of considerations right now

Riddler 645s
Us mags rat rod 68s
Either 17s or 18s or staggered

Top two contenders but struggling with the right backspacing options.

My rear axle is stock 7 1/4 with drums and SBP. So I have to add 1” adapters to run the 17s with BBP

Honestly if I could just find a decently priced rear end with BBP I’d swap that and it would solve lots of my problems

Love the look of white tire sidewall lettering on black rims

 

[Red Stripe]

Nice!

Yeah I ran spacers for a while before swapping rears. I wasn't a fan of it but it worked. You can get a set of BBP axles for the 7.25 from Dr. diff. That might help out on the selection of wheels.

 

[rich_mc]

Nice project. I'm doing the same now and doing some massive suspension and brake upgrades to a 225 Scamp (there's a thread here in the restorations forum).

For the rear end, I was able to find a non-sure grip 8.75 with 2.76 gears for about $200. I went ahead and bought the Dr Diff brakes for the rear despite using Wilwood on the front. I liked the e-brake on the Dr Diff unit way better than the mini drum inside a rotor the others use. The rear was a b-body unit which is a couple inches longer and should help with the spacers/offset issue to utilize the newer style wheels.

Keep up the good work!

 

[72smallairparticler]

Any tips on where to look for rear ends? Not many

Nice project. I'm doing the same now and doing some massive suspension and brake upgrades to a 225 Scamp (there's a thread here in the restorations forum).

For the rear end, I was able to find a non-sure grip 8.75 with 2.76 gears for about $200. I went ahead and bought the Dr Diff brakes for the rear despite using Wilwood on the front. I liked the e-brake on the Dr Diff unit way better than the mini drum inside a rotor the others use. The rear was a b-body unit which is a couple inches longer and should help with the spacers/offset issue to utilize the newer style wheels.

Keep up the good work!

I'll check out your resto! thanks.

Curious where you found your rear end for that price? I'd spring that kinda cash for pretty much anything that allows me not to have to run spacers

 

[rich_mc]

Any tips on where to look for rear ends? Not many

I'll check out your resto! thanks.

Curious where you found your rear end for that price? I'd spring that kinda cash for pretty much anything that allows me not to have to run spacers

I found mine here in KY pretty locally on Craigslist. The guy was a scrapper who had a field somewhere down south with a hundred or so old mopars that were being parted out. He didn't specifically list the rear end but just availability of old mopar stuff so I contacted him and asked.

 

[72smallairparticler]

Latest updates:
While i've been on break for holiday I got the chance to do a couple things on my list:
1) replace rear axles with Dr Diff's 5x4.5 BBP for my 7.25" rear end
2) rebuild the drum brakes
3) swap in new shocks

Before shots

 

[72smallairparticler]

Ran into a little snag with the backing plates not lining up but once I got those drilled out a bit the axles went on just fine.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Nice to see someone doing all this to a slant 6 car. Cool.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Ran into a little snag with the backing plates not lining up but once I got those drilled out a bit the axles went on just fine.

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Hell yeah you go boy! Lots of people here wouldda posted a thread cryin about how it wouldn't fit and going on for 13 pages about what they were gonna do. You just did it. Nice job!

 

[72smallairparticler]

Ya, I figure the drill alignment for those plates must just be off a little. No one else makes these parts so I’m grateful for dr diff. My wife wasn’t so much lol she was pulling a couple aluminum shards from my feet because my dumbass went out in the garage barefoot without vacuuming them up but it’s all good.

 

[72smallairparticler]

Test fitting the new wheels/tires , can’t wait to get back to work on this.
Front -17x7 torque thrusts with 225/50/17s
Rear -17x8 torque thrusts with 255/45/17s

 

[72smallairparticler]

Update:
Bled the brake lines. Filled up the gas tank and tested the new sending unit gasket that i installed before doing the front end rebuild. Looks like it’s holding the fuel well with no leaks! Honestly terrifying adding fuel back in knowing I might have to drain it quickly again

Then got the brake pedal switch readjusted. That is a PITA to get to the bolt! Pulled the car out and turned. Front tires rub a bit so have to raise the torsion bar tension closer to where it was before I dropped it down.

Overall happy with the work done and can’t wait to see what happens with the brakes at speed

 

[72smallairparticler]

Would loooooove to just trim the front fenders a bit instead but I think it’s safer to raise the front a few turns

 

[72smallairparticler]

Tight but beautiful tuck

 

[72smallairparticler]

 

[Red Stripe]

Oooofff! I did the same thing when I installed my wheels. Had to roll the lip over and trim the corner to clear.

Wheels look great though! Car is looking good too!

 

[72smallairparticler]

I snagged one of these online, should be delivered Friday. Think with my heatgun and a gradual process I should be able to get the clearance I need and get on the road by Saturday.

 

[72smallairparticler]

Welp kinda stuck. I feel like i've did extensive due diligence trying to make sure I double checked everything before buying these tires and wheels, but my human error bites me again.

Front -17x7 torque thrusts with 225/50/17s
Rear -17x8 torque thrusts with 255/45/17s

So first off, my cobra brake kit increased the track on my front mounts and even with a 17x7 (0 offset) wheel and a tire profile I liked it started to rub on the front and rear of the wheel well at turn. I only calculated how the diameter of the tire would affect the top of the well so... bummer

My options it seems are to get 2 new tires mounted on the wheels in the front moving down from 225/50/17 to
225/45/17 - yields me .89" decreased overall diameter (.445" per side)
or
225/40/17 - yields me 1.77" (.885" per side)

I don't really know of another way to get the car to turn without hitting.

 

[DionR]

Not sure what to tell you in regards to using the wheels you bought, but generally you will need some positive offset on the wheel. I run a 245/45R17 on a 17x8 wheel with +30mm offset and have little to no issues.

 

[72smallairparticler]

yeah I think I'm gonna have to swap the front wheels out

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Looks like there's a 17x8 option with +25mm offset which yields me half an inch more backspace than I have now. I think that wheel plus a 225/45R17 will work best.
Gonna cost me $750 or so to buy the 2 new wheels and 2 new tires, but I think it's better than trying to get these 17x7s to work for me.