New MOPAR fan with a '74 Duster

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JoesEdge

JoesEdge

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This is probably the second time I am introducing myself. The first time, was just because I was looking at purchasing a MOPAR vehicle, and I finally took the plunge today.

I took the plunge and purchased a 1974 Plymouth Duster with a 3 speed manual and what it seems to be a 360 (not stock). The car was set up for drag racing but I plan to make it more streetable.

I admit, I don't know much about MOPAR's but I'm learning. I'm more of a Ford guy, but it was time for a change.

The body on this car is almost flawless when it comes to rust or damage. The interior needs some work. Lot's of broken plastic pieces and everything seems to shake and rattle when the engine is running. I'm not too crazy about the interior color.

I bought this car mostly because it's a cool looking muscle car, it's smog exempt since it's pre-75, and because it's got a manual transmission. I really dig manual transmissions.

It's been non-op'd for years, so it's time to get it streetable. I need to address the following issues:

1) Brakes (they don't seem to work well)
2) Seats (it has racing bucket seats that are impractical)
3) Engine idle (idles too high, too loud, exhaust fumes EVERYWHERE)

Hopefully you guys can point me in the right direction for these things. I hope I made the right decision on the right model and year car.

Thanks for any help!
 

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Score! Looks like a good car, and has a lot of good accessories too. Welcome to the Mopar side.
 
Joe, welcome aboard. Is that a MoPar create motor?
Do you know much about carbs? It probably needs a tuning. Also find out about the distributors timing. These two items are a lot in perfoance and how well it runs at idle. Correct me if I'm wrong but that is a Carter/Edelbrock carb you have there?
What size is it. If you don't know, read the numbers stamped on the carbs base up front near the attaching studs and nut.
 
tqfastfish said:
welcome! very cool duster-I agree I would ditch the seats
Click to expand...

Totally! They have to go, but I'm having a bit of a hard time locating proper seats and I think I need rails too. Looks like the rails were hacked up and bits welded together.

rumblefish360 said:
Joe, welcome aboard. Is that a MoPar create motor?
Do you know much about carbs? It probably needs a tuning. Also find out about the distributors timing. These two items are a lot in perfoance and how well it runs at idle. Correct me if I'm wrong but that is a Carter/Edelbrock carb you have there?
What size is it. If you don't know, read the numbers stamped on the carbs base up front near the attaching studs and nut.
Click to expand...

I haven't messed with a carb since I had a '65 Mustang which was like 20 years ago. That had a Carter 4 bbl that I had tuned pretty nicely.

I don't know too much about the engine. The previous owner bought it 8 years ago as-is as a project that he never found time for. Now it's MY project. He did say that he thinks it's a 360 with an overbore to a 366? Is that possible? He also said the the owners before him had the car setup for drag racing, and that's still pretty apparent with the skinnies up front and the slicks in the back. As far as the carb goes, I think this is a Holley. I haven't even had time to pull the air cleaner off of it. I'm hoping to do more work on it tomorrow.

As far as the fuel goes, the car has an electric Holley (I believe) fuel pump which is loud as hell. Then there's radiator hose being used as fuel line. That doesn't look good. That hose runs to what looks like a pressure regulator and tee's off into each of the carb bowls.

I'll take more pictures tomorrow. I also need help identifying if it's manual or power steering. It's nearly impossible to turn the wheel at a dead stop and there's no power steering pump.

My goals is to take it back to near stock with a more pro-touring touch.
 
Looks like a good looking Duster, /agree with everyone else, definitely need the original style seats. Take a picture of the steering box (right below the Brake Reservoir). It doesn't have power steering pump from what it looks like, but they could have capped the lines.
 
Brakes (they don't seem to work well)
2) Seats (it has racing bucket seats that are impractical)
3) Engine idle (idles too high, too loud, exhaust fumes EVERYWHERE)
Yep,my kinda car! (Lol). Seriously ,a nice find .Ask lots of questions,do lot'sofreseach,using the"search" feature.
Let's start here:Do the valve cover bolts,have 5 or 10? Do the intake manifold bolts run straight up and down(modern 80's 5.0 Ford),or angle at 45 degrees(traditional Mopar/Chevy ,60's era)?
(Reference to Rumblefish 360's post,It'sa good one).
 
72clone said:
Looks like a good looking Duster, /agree with everyone else, definitely need the original style seats. Take a picture of the steering box (right below the Brake Reservoir). It doesn't have power steering pump from what it looks like, but they could have capped the lines.
Click to expand...

Finding the seats are a bit of a challenge. So the fender tag says it came with split bench seats. Does that mean that holes are there for bucket seats? I'm guessing they are there since the previous owners had racing bucket seats.

Turned out that his car has a power steering gear box but no power steering pump. I actually started a thread regarding it here:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=262152

So this weekend I went to a couple of junkyards and found the power steering brackets and saginaw pump. I cleaned up the brackets, sprayed primer on the them, and painted them as well. I'll have to post pictures when I get a chance.

I haven't mounted the power steering pump yet though. When I do that, I plan to flush out the power steering gearbox because it wasn't capped. Any other advice would be welcome. Thanks!

Abodybomber said:
Brakes (they don't seem to work well)
2) Seats (it has racing bucket seats that are impractical)
3) Engine idle (idles too high, too loud, exhaust fumes EVERYWHERE)
Yep,my kinda car! (Lol). Seriously ,a nice find .Ask lots of questions,do lot'sofreseach,using the"search" feature.
Let's start here:Do the valve cover bolts,have 5 or 10? Do the intake manifold bolts run straight up and down(modern 80's 5.0 Ford),or angle at 45 degrees(traditional Mopar/Chevy ,60's era)?
(Reference to Rumblefish 360's post,It'sa good one).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment! Going off memory, I believe that the bolts are at an angle but I'll have to take another look for sure. I don't know how many valve cover bolts, but I'm guessing 5 because I did question why there are so few.

My son took a picture of the casting numbers on the side of the block they are hard to see, but he pushes his phone far down and took a pic. Anyway, the number appear to be 4006830 which seem to a be a 71-89 360 block according to the following site:

http://www.mopar1.us/casting.html

Since I'm still pretty new to MOPAR I'm trying to be like a sponge and soak up as much info as I can.
 
Welcome to FABO!
Good looking project car you have there, i'm partial to the manual transmission cars too.......
 
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