My Duster Adventures

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Don’t have the video yet but here’s a few pics that we got today. :thumbsup:

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Congratulation's kids are a blessing.

My step-son and his fiancé stopped over Thanksgiving day and announced they were having a girl.
That will make me 13 grand-kids.
 
Congratulations that's awesome my girl works on the Dart with me! We two grandkids and two arriving soon one girl incoming!
 
My 9 year old son and I are building his first car. Your gonna love it if she takes an interest in this stuff when she gets older. Todays pix.

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Very very cool Caleb CONGRATS to you and your fiance and everyone else!!!!!!!!
 
Well, I just got back from the first long distance road trip in my Duster! I didn’t a separate thread on the trip, here’s a link to that.
Ky to west Mo roadtrip.

Here’s an excerpt from that thread that pertains to this thread.

Marge was in the car and ready to go when I snapped this picture, little did I know this is the last picture I’d take of the car with all its original sheet metal in good, functional condition.
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We then pulled out to the end of the driveway and I stopped to get out and get the mail. I made the stupid decision to not turn the car off and put it in gear to keep it from rolling backwards, and instead, pressed the brake and had Marge hold the linelock button as a parking brake. As I was half ways across the road, I heard the linelock solenoid click and I instantly knew her finger slipped off the button. I ran after the car, almost made it to the door but as I reached my foot in to hit the brake, I lost my balance, fell, nearly getting run over. I spun around and jumped up in time to see the car angle off the driveway and see the open drivers door catch the bank, crumpling the door and almost bending it all the way to the fender. I broke down in the middle of the driveway, Marge got out of the car absolutely hysterical since she first thought I got run over, then realizing the damage done to the car. She apologized over and over and was really beating herself up over it (once things calmed down and we both had a few hours to process, I made sure that she knew it was NOT her fault and I’m in no way angry at her or blame her) I backed the car up to the house and and tried “massaging” the door with a BFH yo at least get it where it was at least functional. After awhile I’d give up, go calm down awhile, then figure I’d try again. After 3 or 4 times of doing this, I finally got the door to where it’ll actually close when I give it a good slam. I took these pictures right before we actually left, around 2:40.
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I’m pretty sure I went through the 5 stages of grief already. First it was denial. It literally felt like if I concentrated hard enough, I could go back and do things differently. But obviously I can’t.
Then there was anger. Oh, was there anger…. I split my knuckle open by punching the metal side of my shop.
I didn’t go through much of a “bargaining” stage.
Then an hour or two of depression.
And now I’ve moved to acceptance. While it still makes me sick, it is what it is. I didn’t get run over, Marge is ok, the door can/will be fixed even if it won’t match the rest of the car. It is what it is.

I’ll be buying a drivers door from @kyle's 340 that I’ll throw on so I can drive the car with needing to SLAM the door to get it shut. Then I’m going to take the original to a few different shops and see if I can find someone who can get this thing back to “straight enough to function properly and look decent”
 
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Just asking here....not point the finger of blame or any of that. But do you have an operational parking brake? If not, I think now you know how important that is. I had to give my best friend, Terius, a hypothetical situation before he realized how important it is to have one, especially with a manual transmission.
 
Just asking here....not point the finger of blame or any of that. But do you have an operational parking brake? If not, I think now you know how important that is. I had to give my best friend, Terius, a hypothetical situation before he realized how important it is to have one, especially with a manual transmission.
Didn’t have. Once I got the door Jerry rigged to where I could actually close it, I took 2 minutes and adjusted the parking brake where it actually holds now… was going to do that Friday morning and forgot all about it. :BangHead:
So yeah, use this as a great example why Terius needs to have a functional parking brake!
 
Didn’t have. Once I got the door Jerry rigged to where I could actually close it, I took 2 minutes and adjusted the parking brake where it actually holds now… was going to do that Friday morning and forgot all about it. :BangHead:
So yeah, use this as a great example why Terius needs to have a functional parking brake!
Yeah, I've already talked him into it. Since his truck is a four speed, it's pretty important. I think it is just as important on an auto vehicle too.
 
Oh man I'm so sorry to hear about this. Just glad both of you are okay and the damage to the car is the worst of it! sheet metal can be replaced. Body parts and loved one not so much!
 
Going back through the last two pages, I just realized that I didn’t even mention that before we left for the Missouri trip, I painted the inside of the roof/ceiling and put the last two pieces of foil backed, butyl sound/vibration deadener in; it cut down the on the tin can sound TREMENDOUSLY!! I’ve always heard that the butyl “insulation” is for sound and does little for thermal insulation. First of January we got some snow and I left the car running, with heat on, while I went into the gas station, and when I came back out, I had to take a picture of this. I realize it still doesn’t do a significant amount of thermal insulating but I did find it intriguing. (Easily entertained. Lol)
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Another thing I realized today… I have a car maintenance recording app on my phone and today I noticed that when I got the car running in September, I changed the oil with 8000 miles on my speedometer/gps and it currently has about 14,500. So I put about 6,500 miles on the car since September!! :eek: And I’ve loved every mile!! :D I finally got my truck back from the shop today, so the Duster will be coming back off the road for repairs and a few upgrades.
 
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You go boy! That's awesome. I wish progress came as easily to me now. I just gotta push myself outta this crap.
 
Well I got my ebrake assembly full replacement after your little accident and no one hurt thankfully, I realized no do it now. Also a big shout out on your tips for suspension many threads and wheels and tires. Has been a huge help for me. Helped me get the upper A arms back when the new bushings made them a bit to wide.
 
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