A tale of two Dusters

[racerjoe]

Well, here we go for dragging up a super old thread. I haven't made a real update to this thread since 2012. Life certainly gets in the way of our best laid plans but I wanted to provide an update as I hate it when threads just disappear.

So update: Both these cars have been essentially in cold storage since 2012. I ended up having to get rid of the Dirt track car I was going to use for the Green Duster. I have moved several times since I updated and lost parts etc over time. Late summer was the first time these cars have even been at the same location as me. After going over both and sitting down and realistically looking at the list of parts and time that would be required (Yes, I'm still an engineer so there was an excel sheet involved ) to get these going vs how much time I have with work and other commitments it was honestly depressing. I felt like I was never going to get anything going because my plans far outreached the budget and time I had to commit. I had to make some decisions about the direction I wanted to go with these. Do I keep building two cars? Do I rebuild the gold one stock-ish and use the green one as parts? Do I just cut my losses and sell both? A duster has always been my "achievable" dream car so how do I make this work? A lot of questions and very few good answers.

Well, after a couple months and going over the situation with my wife (buy-in is always important on stuff like this), there was a glimmer of hope. I found an 85 year old guy who, because of health reasons, was getting out of the hobby and he had a surprisingly good shape 1972 Plymouth Duster Drag car. It has been raced in various forms since almost new but was somehow in pretty good and largely original shape except for the drivetrain (more on that later). Well, we went back and forth for a little while but eventually a deal was struck that worked for everyone. Here is how it worked out. I now have a New to me Yellow 1972 Duster, The previous owner gets a fair price and the knowledge it is going to a good home, and my wife gets the promise that the two other Dusters (green and gold) will find new homes. So if anyone is looking for a a good project (or two) let me know as they will be listed soon.

So here is a quick overview of the new Yellow Duster and some pictures for those curious. I haven't decided If I'm going to start a new Thread for it or just continue with this existing one (open to input if you have any strong feelings on the matter). It is a 1972 Plymouth Duster in yellow, has 70 stripes currently and a sharktooth grille (I've always been a sucker for these). It is currently set up as a drag car which will change into a more streetable handling build over time. It has a stroked 360 Eagle crank & JE forged pistons with Edelbrock Performer rpm heads and a 750 proform race carb. It has a built 727 with a full manual valve body, somewhere around 3000 stall, 4:10 (?) 8 3/4", SBP all around and original Drum brakes (terrifying and will be the first thing to go). It's pretty rowdy currently and not particularly streetable. It will blow the 275/60R15 MT ET Street slicks off with just a punch of the throttle and it sounds amazing through a 2.5" X-pipe and Flowmasters with turndowns. I was told it did 10.80's with an 850 carb then they put the 750 on to slow it down so they wouldn't need a cage (I'll be honest, it is quick but I'm not sure I totally believe the 10:80s). Over the next couple weeks I'll be going through it to identify what exact parts it has and figuring out a plan to get it to where I want to be. I still want to manual swap it and make it handle pretty well but don't have exact performance targets currently.

I guess that is about all for now so enjoy the pictures. Excited to be back.

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Woohoo! We need you at Moparty grand champion regardless of its capabilities at that time. Ask @Dantra how much fun it is to drive a car around the cones that isn't setup to do it.

 

[75slant6]

Woohoo! We need you at Moparty grand champion regardless of its capabilities at that time. Ask @Dantra how much fun it is to drive a car around the cones that isn't setup to do it.

Or ask Charlie in that red 66 Charger!
But yeah, definitely bring that thing up to MoParty next year!

 

[bjkadron]

Glad to see the direction you have taken. Having a running vehicle is such a plus. I look forward to seeing you make your mark on it.

Yes, Going to try to keep it as close to running as possible as I progress for sure.

Woohoo! We need you at Moparty grand champion regardless of its capabilities at that time. Ask @Dantra how much fun it is to drive a car around the cones that isn't setup to do it.

Well, I already have a sway bar so I think I'm actually ahead of where he was this year Although if I still have this manual steering box I may need one of these:

Or ask Charlie in that red 66 Charger!
But yeah, definitely bring that thing up to MoParty next year!

Yes, that is my plan, get it to Moparty this coming year!

 

[Dantra]

Woohoo! We need you at Moparty grand champion regardless of its capabilities at that time. Ask @Dantra how much fun it is to drive a car around the cones that isn't setup to do it.

Probably the best time I've ever had in a car...

 

[bjkadron]

Not a lot of updates but I have a few. My first goal has been to find out what exactly I got myself into. Starting with the engine.

I did a compression test and got ~195 PSI cylinder pressure. Thinking that was pretty high for a pretty big cam I decided to break out my inspection camera and get a look at the inside. Found this:

Those are not flat tops like I was expecting, that is a pretty serious dome. So I confirmed my butt dyno readings, this thing is spicy.
Lets check out the lifters, I was told it was a roller cam but didn't have receipts or anything. Roller cam confirmed:

Anyone recognize these by this picture? I'm not sure what brand or really if they are solid or hydraulic. I'm thinking that looks like a retainer clip where the pushrod comes out but hard to tell for sure.
Heads were a bit harder to tell because I'm not finding a lot of marking and they were hard to get a picture of through the spark plug hole.

Hard to tell for sure but it looks like they are slightly open chamber. they just say "Performer RPM 6017" so I don't know if they are 60179 or 60175. My guess is 60175 since they are the roller lifters. Also has nice double springs and roller lifters. Intake is a Edelbrock torker 2. No idea what the oil pan is but it is kicked out and cad plated. Kinda looks like this one:

I have a line on a Kevco road race pan from another member here, which would probably be better for the intended usage.
Overall it is about what I figured going into it. A pretty spicy engine but should still run on pump premium if I watch the timing.