My 75 Finally Gets The Attention It Deserves(This Could Take a While)

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surely if you're capable of fitting the new panels you must be capable of altering the 'incorrect' one to match the 'correct' one? as you already have it i'd say it's worth a go before spending out on a full 1/4 panel to then just cut bits off.
neil.
 
Welcome back! Always great to see another ’75 being restored to live another day on the road! Keep posting updates.
 
mygasser said:
surely if you're capable of fitting the new panels you must be capable of altering the 'incorrect' one to match the 'correct' one? as you already have it i'd say it's worth a go before spending out on a full 1/4 panel to then just cut bits off.
neil.
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That's the problem, Neil. I'm not capable of installing the panels. I have to have a body shop do that. I can pound out minor dents and do a fine job with Bondo, but welding thin sheet metal is beyond me. I'd do far more harm than good in the attempt. But now that you mentioned it I think I'll show it to the body shop and see what they say about modifying it.
 
Tanker said:
That's the problem, Neil. I'm not capable of installing the panels. I have to have a body shop do that. I can pound out minor dents and do a fine job with Bondo, but welding thin sheet metal is beyond me. I'd do far more harm than good in the attempt. But now that you mentioned it I think I'll show it to the body shop and see what they say about modifying it.
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Dang, why do you have to be on the other side of the country. A body shop is going to charge a fortune. Might be money ahead getting a welder and a bunch of scrap metal pieces and get practicing. If I can do it, anyone can, because I am probably the last person on the planet who should be welding LOL
 
Princess Valiant said:
Dang, why do you have to be on the other side of the country. A body shop is going to charge a fortune. Might be money ahead getting a welder and a bunch of scrap metal pieces and get practicing. If I can do it, anyone can, because I am probably the last person on the planet who should be welding LOL
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I appreciate your concern, Princess, but after all of this delay I'm now up against a clock. This project needs to move along quickly at this point and I have a great deal of respect for the guy that'll be doing the body work and the guy that'll be doing the painting. My Intrepid got rear ended hard early last year and the work they did was excellent, so since the funds are available I don't mind spending a bit to bring my Duster back to life. I've owned this car for forty two years so it deserves a little extravagance.

In other news I was shocked to find two new old stock bumper mounting bolts like the one I broke listed on eBay. It's amazing what you can find when you know the part number. Now if there were someplace I could send those four giant bumper shocks for overhaul I'd be really happy.
 
Tanker said:
In other news I was shocked to find two new old stock bumper mounting bolts like the one I broke listed on eBay. It's amazing what you can find when you know the part number. Now if there were someplace I could send those four giant bumper shocks for overhaul I'd be really happy.
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Let me know what you find out about rebuilding the bumper shocks. One of my front bumper shocks puked its fluid decades ago and will be pretty useless whenever it gets used next.
 
I took my front ones apart and de-rusted with Evapo-rust, primed and spray bombed black, and used a fat bicycle tub to replace the rubber. I'll find some pics and post later.
 
Here's some pics. The last two are from today, I haven't put either bumper back on the car yet.
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Thanks for posting this. So far I’ve been unable to find any hint of a place that will overhaul these, so I’ll likely end up having to do what you did. Do you have any photos showing what’s inside the shock? In the first photo you posted all that can be seen is a rod sticking out.
 
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Should you need more shock bumper parts, I have a pile of that stuff because I have been saving 74+ parts for years while everyone else was throwing it away.
 
Princess Valiant said:
Should you need more shock bumper parts, I have a pile of that stuff because I have been saving 74+ parts for years while everyone else was throwing it away.
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Thanks Princess! My right rear shock is partially collapsed due to a rear ending the car took in the mid eighties. If I can’t get it fully extended again I may take you up on that offer.
 
The top part of the plunger was sealed if I remember correctly. It's been about 2+ years since I did them. Even the clamps I used were hard to find.
 
Every now and then I get surprised by an unexpected stroke of luck. I was looking for either a place that would overhaul my bumper shocks or at the very least a shock in nice condition that I could use as a reference to try restoring them myself. I didn't think I'd actually find one, but then the shock below turned up on eBay. The seller had it listed for a very low price because all he knew about it was that it went to a Chrysler product. It's a perfect match for the right front shock on my Duster and it's new old stock. My car has a date with a paint and body shop in February, so while it's in there I'll have a go at repairing my bumper shocks. This should be interesting.

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H22A4 said:
Nice find!!
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It really was. Talk about a stroke of luck! In other news, since I don't want to pay a body shop for work I can do myself I've been removing the layers of old paint and have found a few surprises. It looks like the car was repainted at least once before I got it, and not just in a few places, but the entire car. I remember thinking the finish was kind of dull looking when I got it and it was only six years old at the time, so I blamed Chrysler. Now it turns out it was a crappy repaint and not Chrysler's fault at all. I'm also finding Bondo in places where I never applied any, which makes me wonder what my Duster was getting up to before I met her. It seems the answer is up to no good. Here you can see all the different layers of paint. From right to left we first see the B5 blue Lacquer that I applied in the mid eighties, then gray primer surfacer, then a gray/green layer of sealer, then a layer of blue I had One Day Paint and Body apply in the early eighties(big mistake), then a layer of blue that I always thought was the original paint, then a very light gray layer of primer, then the original B5 blue finish that I'm now seeing for the first time ever, then a gray primer, and finally the original base layer of red oxide. Considering the car was only six years old when I got it, it never occurred to me that it would have already been repainted. Go figure.
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More paint removal today and found more Bondo, this time on the right rear quarter panel and on top of the trunk lid towards the rear. What the hell happened to this car before I got it? The damage on the trunk is minor, but this nonsense on the quarter panel when combined with the corrosion it has makes me wonder if I should have the entire panel replaced while they're still available.
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I just spent over 3400 dollars on parts today and I’m not done yet. More will be needed before this is finished. The shocker was the wait time for the seat covers. Thirty five weeks! Whaaaaaaat????

Meanwhile the paint removal continues and I’ve found Bondo on every single panel, and all at about the same level. It’s as if someone was walking around the car while hitting it with a hammer. None of these dents are severe, but there are too many of them to easily explain. This all happened within the cars first six years before I got it. My brother suggested a jealous or angry girlfriend went after it, but who knows.
 
Tanker said:
I just spent over 3400 dollars on parts today and I’m not done yet. More will be needed before this is finished. The shocker was the wait time for the seat covers. Thirty five weeks! Whaaaaaaat????

Meanwhile the paint removal continues and I’ve found Bondo on every single panel, and all at about the same level. It’s as if someone was walking around the car while hitting it with a hammer. None of these dents are severe, but there are too many of them to easily explain. This all happened within the cars first six years before I got it. My brother suggested a jealous or angry girlfriend went after it, but who knows.
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What’s your interior? Is it full vinyl or vinyl with cloth insets? Parchment?

Peeps in other threads have said Legendary wait time are quite lengthy but their quality can’t be beat.

I bought Legendary seat covers about 6 years ago and they still look brand new.
 
My original interior was white and the seats were all vinyl, no cloth inserts. The drivers seat was a little bent out of shape as if a rather large person had spent a lot of time behind the wheel, so I replaced the front bucket seats with a pair from a junkyard back when Dusters were common. The current interior is black and all the parts came out of the same car that had the seats. The new seat covers were ordered from Dante’s and they are all vinyl, but they have Legendary and another brand listed for the same price, so I don’t know which has been ordered. The invoice doesn’t make it clear. I suppose I’ll have to ask.
 
Just a quick couple of pictures as it's almost ready to go into the shop. I saved the hardest part for last since I don't bend in the middle like I used to. Sanding those lower areas is going to be brutal. On much of the body the paint was so rotten and brittle that I was able to remove all but the bottom layer of it at once with very well sharpened wood working chisels. The paint flew off the car in tiny little chips as fast as I could push them along.
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I got the dash out today so that it can be restored while the car is in the body shop. What a nightmare. My car clearly doesn't like me reaching up under her skirts as she's bitten the hell out me in the process. I'll survive, but my forearms and hands are nicely carved up and bloody from the effort. Everything behind the dash is sharp. It seems rats took up residence in the dash as the car sat and loaded the space up with droppings, bedding material likely pulled from the kick panel insulation since it was largely missing, remnants of palm tree seeds they've eaten, olive pits(my parents yard had about a dozen olive trees), and of course corrosion caused by rat urine as seen in the second photo. One thing I am grateful for is they seem to have left the wiring alone. The dash harness is now fully exposed and I can't find any evidence that they chewed on any of it. I was fearing the worst, so that's quite a relief.
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In other news, my dash pad with its original steel core is off and I'm looking for input on where to send it for restoration. I had been thinking of JustDashes, but I recently read some negative comments here about the quality of their work vs the cost. The bezels will also need restoration and JustDashes advertises that they can do that as well, but I'm very open to suggestions from people that have had this type of work done in other places and were pleased with the results. I also have a question about the correct finish for the actual dash. Back in my mid twenties when I was sprucing up the car I painted the dash using satin black, but I'm not sure if that's the correct finish or not. It seemed to match what was there at the time, but that finish had been somewhat abused by age and UV exposure.
 
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Tanker said:
I got the dash out today so that it can be restored while the car is in the body shop. What a nightmare. My car clearly doesn't like me reaching up under her skirts as she's bitten the hell out me in the process. I'll survive, but my forearms and hands are nicely carved up and bloody from the effort. Everything behind the dash is sharp. It seems rats took up residence in the dash as the car sat and loaded the space up with droppings, bedding material likely pulled from the kick panel insulation since it was largely missing, remnants of palm tree seeds they've eaten, olive pits(my parent yard had about a dozen olive trees), and of course corrosion caused by rat urine as seen in the second photo. One thing I am grateful for is they seem to have left the wiring alone. The dash harness is now fully exposed and I can't find any evidence that they chewed on any of it. I was fearing the worst, so that's quite a relief.
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View attachment 1716212550
In other news, my dash pad with its original steel core is off and I'm looking for input on where to send it for restoration. I had been thinking of JustDashes, but I recently read some negative comments here about the quality of their work vs the cost. The bezels will also need restoration and JustDashes advertises that they can do that as well, but I'm very open to suggestions from people that have had this type of work done in other places and were pleased with the results. I also have a question about the correct finish for the actual dash. Back in my mid twenties when I was sprucing up the car I painted the dash using satin black, but I'm not sure if that's the correct finish or not. It seemed to match what was there at the time, but that finish had been somewhat abused by age and UV exposure.
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Might be worth checking eBay for the dash bezel/facias. Might not be able to get all 3 in one auction but good condition ones pop up from time to time. I found a NOS radio/HVAC bezel on eBay years ago which was the only one I needed. Saved needing to try putting on the woodgrain overlays and fiddling with chrome pens myself. The gauge cluster bezel might be the toughest considering 75 was the only year with the two idiot lights and woodgrain (76 they had the two idiot lights but went with black covering instead of woodgrain).
 
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