'74 340 Duster, the never-ending project car.

[74Dusted]

This is my '74 Duster. I picked it up in 2006 on ebay, i paid $630 total for the car (including title fees and gas to tow it home) And it came with enough spare (Used, New & NOS) parts to completely fill the car and the bed of my dad's truck :-D

It was a numbers Matching 318/904 car when i got it (still have the 318/904 in storage) that was also a Big Block Car at one time, and a 4-Speed Car once too (amazing that the original 318 managed to find it's way back in though)

Over the course of a few years it's undergone all kinds of changes, the biggest being a 340/727 combo and a B-Body 8-3/4 Rear

It was my first big project, prior to that i was just tinkering on projects and fighting a downhill battle to keep my old truck on the road (an '84 D50 with a 2.6L Gas Engine, finally died at 270,000 miles. Now powered by a 2.5L Turbo Diesel)

It was also the first time i had ever painted a car, and i made the mistake of painting it Red. A Red Duster looked better in my mind than it does in person.

Here's what it looked like when i bought it, sorry about the crappy pics, i had a cheap digital camera when i bought the car.

And what it looked like when i was driving it in 2007, i didn't care that it was in primer, i was stoked to be driving around in a 340 Duster that i had bought and built with my own two hands :-D

2008, my first attempt at painting a car. Single Stage Acryllic Red painted in a dirty garage (the imperfections show in person)

And what it looks like now, i wasn't happy with the red paint and had to do something to "offset the crappyness"

Future plans include Supercharging the 340 (the parts are in a box buried in the garage), and repainting the Duster. Now that I have a Paint Booth my dad has agreed to show me how to make that Duster look out of this world (high qaulity job) Going to get my '72 Demon on the road first though, that way i have an A-Body to drive around while I paint the Duster (strip it down to a shell and paint it the right way)

Next time i paint it, i'm going with Barracuda Silver & Matte Black to match the Interior.

EDIT : Oh yeah, some video too

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlDj9OsUZPM"]YouTube - 1974 340 Duster Idle[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABNwKdyhUIY"]YouTube - '74 340 Plymouth Duster[/ame]

 

[AxelsMopar]

Thats a nice 340 there. Car looks good too.

 

[74Dusted]

Thanks.

Once i get another A-Body finished (probably my '71 Demon) I'm going to roll the Duster into the garage, strip it down and redo the body. I cut a few corners when i put the car together the first time.. Like i never painted the inside of the car, under all the black vinyle, carpet, ect it's still the original Frost Mint Green paint. I didn't remove the windows either when i painted it.

Next Time around it's going to a bare shell & bare metal and on a rotiserre in the paint booth so i can do it right.

The reason i'm waiting for another A-Body to be road-ready is i'm addicted to this car and i'm pretty sure i'll go into withdraw if i don't have one to drive while it's down

 

[74Dusted]

Been working on the '74, mostly body work to prep for paint. And a 6-71 Roots Blower is going on the 340

The car had been hit hard on the Driver's side at some point in its life. I had to cut out portions of the quarter panel and weld in new metal to fix the worst of it.

Also fixing some rust issues and so forth. And converting the front clip over to a '71. The lower rear quarter and trunk extension need cut out and replaced, other than that (and the issues I posted above) the rest of the car is straight.