72 Duster Resto/Road

[Kern Dog]

Hello everyone. I just wanted to put up a few shots of my Brother in laws 72 Duster that is part Restoration and part Road racer. The plans for the car from the start have been to make it a clean looking, factory appearing street car that will have a suspension geared towards cornering rather than the dragstrip.

 

[Kern Dog]

We found the car through a friend in 2007. It was a "Gold Duster" model with a slanty, a 3 speed on the tree, 4 wheel drum brakes and A/C. The original color was tan with a tan interior. The car had rust in the taillight panel around the light pockets, the spare tire recess was pitted heavily and both lower quarters were rusted through.
I replaced all of the rusted areas with used and reproduction metal. The hood, fenders, trunklid and glass is original. The floors were fine but had some scale, so we wire wheeled them and laid down some POR-15.
Jeff liked the Inferno Red Crystal Pearlcoat so I sprayed it with 3 coats of Omni base coat followed by 4 coats of PPG clear. The blackout proved to be the most difficult part of the paintwork.

 

[Kern Dog]

The original plan was to spray base black with a matte clear over it. The first attempt met with tiger stripes from technique. I was not aware that matte finishes are to be sprayed with an up to 90% overlap! I sprayed it at the usual 50% and it had a strobe effect of matte/shiny/matte/shiny. I sanded it and tried again with another brand of matte clear, thinking it was the product not the painter. The second time looked slightly better but still not good enough. I asked around and found out that I was the problem. I mixed yet another batch and tried again.... Only to have specs of dust and bugs fall onto the hood and cowl. matte finishes can't be cut and buffed, so I decided to cut the losses and spray it gloss.
Jeff didn't care. As it turned out, he likes the gloss better.

 

[Kern Dog]

Jeff didn't like the 72 design side markers, so I welded them over.

 

[Kern Dog]

He is going with the flip top gas cap using the adapter that I first saw HERE!
Also, Jeff liked the idea of doing something different with the taillight panel. I welded over the lock hole after we designed a lever and pull cable to open the latch. We used a cable and lever from a Subaru Legacy wagon.

 

[Kern Dog]

The 72 Duster 340 had a decal on the taillight panel that spanned almost the entire panel. We liked the design used on the Demon models, so I masked and painted it to look like a mix of the two. The idea was to look like something that could have been stock. We have a decal that will be affixed in between the lights. It is the "Duster" tornado with the 2 eyes inside it.

 

[Kern Dog]

The sides will get the unique AAR style stripes from Challenger Gary. The price is great and Jeff likes the look.
As with the rest of the car, the goal was to make subtle changes that look like they could have been stock.

 

[Kern Dog]

The car is now a 360 4 barrel with a rebuilt 904.
Jeff has been lucky to have access to my ever changing parts stash and benefited from a B body 8 3/4 axle with a 3.91 SG. The front drums were scrapped in favor of 11" discs from an Aspen/Volare/5th Ave/Gran Fury....
Mechanically, the car is sound.
The interior is still a little rough though...

 

[Kern Dog]

We have door panels, A pillar covers and other things, but still need carpet and a package tray.
Check out that D A S H P A D !!

 

[bad440]

looking good,love the blackout treatment...

 

[Kern Dog]

Thanks! I did the blackout for the first time on this car...