New guy with a new project

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Nu2Mopar

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I picked this thing up over the weekend....It's a 70 Duster, slant six but the guy gave a 360 with the car. I've never been a MOPAR guy so this will be a fun learning experience. The body needs very little work and is rust free. My wife had one of these in HS so I figured that I would build it for her. It will be a very low budget build, just body/paint basic suspension upgrades / lowering, 17" wheels, engine swap and interior (I say this now...lol). The best part is the guy just wanted rid of it so I got it for the low, low, low price of $0!
 
Here are the pics:

PICT0145.jpg

PICT0144.jpg
 
Welcome Nu2Mopar
You will find out this is the best site going and we have some of the best of the best tec's here ready to help you along, And a bunch of great folks to cheer you on, So jump on in and enjoy.:cheers:
You must be living right, That is a very nice 70 Duster.
And at that price you should be in jail :-D
 
lol...Thanks, I am now thinking about disk brakes for the front. What years are compatible? or who/where is a good source for these? What about the rear drums, will they be sufficient or should they be bigger? I understand that there are different size drums for these cars. Oh, and I want the bolt patterns for the front and the back to be the same.
 
Welcome, and you can either buy some "kelsey Hayes" original front disk brakes from someone on here for around $300-400. Or you can get a brand new kit that is about $950.00. I would go with helping someone out on here and you'll get better parts. But I'm sure someone will chime in with there opinion. It is all what you want. As far as Bolt pattern. The only way for you to pull that off is to get Small bolt pattern front disks. Or get big bolt pattern front disks and change the rear end which is what I would do if I were you. You will not be able to get the rims you will want for small bolt pattern.
 
Be careful taking your wheels off the left side will be left handed thread I believe so don't twist a lug bolt off. and the right side will be right hand threads
 
Welcome aboard. And of course we all hate you for stealing a great looking A Body like that! :)
You should have the 4" small bolt pattern on there now. Since you want to go to disc front brakes, the best option would be to find the upper control arms, spindles and calipers from a 73 or newer disk brake car. That way you get the brake upgrade plus the large 4.5" bolt patern. Check the "Car Parts fro Sale" forum here since there's always 73 and up parts to do this upgrade.
Also, right now you probably have the 7.25" rear end with the small 4" bolt pattern. Try and find a newer 8.25" rear end and you'll also get the bigger 4.5" bolt patern to keep things the same size front and rear. The 8.25" will easily handle the power of the 360.
And, as mentioned, right now the right side studs are right hand threads and the left side is left hand thread, so don't go all Hulk and twist off the left side studs, just turn them the other direction. :)

Good luck.
 
Excellent find!! Really a nice looking project!! Great idea starting with the front suspension. Once you get a chance to get in there and take a look at the condition it might just be a matter of rebooting and rebushing it all along with going with some beefier torsion bars. If you want to save a few bucks Id also recomend Scarebird conversion brackets for upgrading the front to discs if you have drums. Looking at around $300-350 for the complete swap. Front discs and rear 10" drums should be more than enough stopping power. Enjoy the site, keep us posted on the progress, and dont hesitate to ask any questions you might have. Until I bought my 66 Barracuda Id done mostly chevy's in the past and mopars are a lot different. A lot more fun and satisfying as well. Again, congrats on a GREAT find!!
 
Alot of good / helpful info. so far...Thanks!

Keep the info coming.
 
Nice steal! Good luck with the project, get your wife involved, and have fun.
 
That's a very nice Duster. I've always liked the '70, 1st year. It's great to hear the stories of where and how people get their a-bodies. Welcome, you will have a lot of fun fixing up the Duster.
 
If you get sick of it, I could come by with $0 cash in hand and you could TRIPLE YOUR INVESTMENT!!!
 
Update, I have stripped the front end off the car and pulled the /6 and 904 and have broke down the 360 and it is now ready for the machine shop along with the 727. I was thinking that I would use the trans that was in the car but being that I am new to these cars, I did not realize that the /6 trans and the v8 trans are different....that sucks but oh well, I will just go ahead and use the 727 that came with the 360. I will post pics soon.
 
You'll need to cut down the driveshaft length, the 727 is longer than the 904.

Swap mounts by Trans Dapt can be used cheaply instead of the Shumaucher (Engineswaps.com) mounts. You'll just need the proper motor mounts. At this point, I'd go back to engineswaps.com and get there interlocking motor mounts.

IMO a 8-1/4 size rear will hold up to a very decently powered engine without the expense of a 8-3/4. If not so allready equiped. The backing plates and etc... hardwear will swap over from most any car. Just order theparts from what you swapped it from since drum depth can change sometimes. Not all 8-1/4's have 2 -1/2 deep drums.
I swap on 11 inch drums from a Cordoba onto my '74 Duster 8-1/4 rear. It's a bolt on, but you need the backing plate to start with. Donor car time.

Front disks can be had from other A body cars or you can use late B body spidles and upper A arms. (AKA example would be a 79 Cordoba)

Theres also a few places around in the mag's like SSBC that have full kits for the street, Wilwood for race kits.
 
Welcome nu2mopar :cheers:
that's gotta be the best deal ever .And by the way my car started as a low buck project too ! I don't wanna tell you how much I've got in it now ! LOL.Make a plan and stick to it . I fell into the "might as well" trap time after time with Mine .
 
Welcome to FABO. Wow, you can't go wrong with a deal like that. Great start to a project.
 
Thanks for all the advice / suggestions from you guys...alot of good people here. I'll keep updating the progress so you guy's can grade my work...lol
 
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