Rapom's Rocket - just another Duster build thread

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Yep there would be no turning back once you go down that road. Just don't have a clear direction I want to go in yet. Paint is easy and looks good for awhile then scratches, chips and peels over time. The permanent nature of bed liner is a commitment I'm not sure I want to make but it sure has the right "look". Done some searches for ideas but not much pops up. As usual yours is the best so far.
 
  • After a bunch of searching and video watching it looks like a urethane liner material is the way to go. #2 in popularity was spatter paint (done it) followed by a body color paint (meh). In keeping with the theme of the car I think the Raptor black suggested by 72bluNblu gets the nod. I won't finish the trunk until after the exterior gets painted because the dry and wet sanding stages will get primer dust everywhere. For now I think I will shoot the trunk floor black so it's consistent with the rest of the car and move on to the next project.
 
A few pics of the trunk floor install. #1 seam sealed all the panel joints #2 A few of the rivets holding it all together #3 Pretty in black.

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WARNING: picture heavy update inbound. Haven't been posting cuz I've been "gettin 'er done"!

OMG what did I do?
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Windshield removed in order to replace the dash and rebuild the heater box and wiper pivots. It literally took me three days of pain and frustration to get the stainless trim off without destroying it in the process. There was vinyl top material and hardened windshield gasket "sealer" packed into and around all the trim clips which prevented them from moving enough to release the trim. Never again. I spent several more days sanding and polishing 48 years of scratches out of the stainless. There was only one teeny tiny little ding in all of it and I worked most of that out before polishing. Looking good!
 
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Knew there was a leak issue somewhere on the passenger side as there was silicon packed around the gasket and trim on that side. Figured it was around the bottom of the channel and was hoping it wasn't rusted out. Nope.... bottom channel looked almost new but the upper channel was a different story. After several more days of sanding, grinding, scraping and treating with rust converter it's looking a whole lot better. Only two pin holes to hopefully weld closed and some finish work and it will be ready for the glass again.

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Next up was taking out the heater box and wiper pivots for rebuild. I bought a Schumacher kit for the pivots many years ago and it came with all the seals and gaskets plus zerk fittings so the pivots can be lubed while in the car. They were fairly corroded but cleaned up nicely on the wire wheel. The passenger side pivot was frozen up and took awhile to free up by working penetrating oil into the shaft and then grease via the zerk. Works perfectly now. Also cleaned and repainted the two "shafts" that connect the pivots to the motor and installed new nylon pivot bushings where applicable. Sorry not really picture quality stuff on that one.

The heater box was a different story. It smelled pretty mousey, YECK!

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I submit that after you get your car on the road, you, me and @72bluNblu should meet up someplace in southern Oregon. And anyone else that wants to join.

Couple of months ago the wife and I had a great time on a road trip down to the Blu's neck of the woods and back and I kept thinking on the way home that it would be cool to set up some kind of a meet that doesn't involve any more work than a time and place. And the stretch from Kalmath Falls to Redmond was gorgeous (IMO). I think it would be great fun to cruise my Duster down there and spend a day (or 2) hanging out with like minded individuals with similar cars.

Just a thought.
 
Made a temp work bench out of a piece of OSB and a couple of saw horses. Blew it apart and went to work cleaning and inspecting as I went. All the external gaskets were shot but all the internal foam seals were in fantastic condition so I left them in place.

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The fan tested good but the heater core had more bubbles coming out of it than a bottle of champagne so a new aluminium one was ordered. At the same time I purchased new trim clips and screws for the windshield.

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All the rusty brackets, clips and fasteners were treated, repainted and cooked in my shop oven. Then it was all reassembled, bagged and put in the trunk.

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Yesterday was spent wadded up in the driver and passenger footwells sanding surface rust off the underside of the cowl and spraying it down with rust converter. Interior looks a little different now than it did a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully it's progress.

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Hey Dion, I'd be all in on that if we could coordinate it. I hope to drive the wheels off this thing when it's done but the way the winds are blowing in this country I'll have to install an electric motor and put a windmill on the roof before then.
 
rapom65 said:
I hope to drive the wheels off this thing when it's done but the way the winds are blowing in this country I'll have to install an electric motor and put a windmill on the roof before then.
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I understand that. Who know how long this great experiment called the USA will even last.

For what it's worth, I'd like to do something like this after I swap a G3 and 6M into my car. That won't be any sooner than next winter which makes the potential for a meet up out until the summer of 2024. Not saying I wouldn't do it before then, just that I would like to have it done first.
 
Last but not least was the driver's side air "box". It's made out of black plastic vs whatever that stuff the heater box is. True to form the door hinge pivots were seized and someone had forced it open ripping out the bottom mounting rivet and twisting the hinge into a pretzel. I drilled out the rivets, straightend out the hinge, repainted it and made a backer out of some sheet metal. Then riveted it back together with some larger and longer rivets. Luckily, although the heater box door pivots were stuck, no one had forced it open yet. Those in my experience are much more difficult to fix due to the material the box is made of. Well that's what I've been up to so far this summer, hope you all are making progress on your personal piles, er, projects.... Latter.
 
OK I couldn't not post pictures of the wiper stuff. It makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere with this heap. Note the zerk fittings, they need to point down when installed in the car. Simple drill a hole and tap in the zerk.

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These are the nylon clips that attach everything together. I bought these when I acquired the car so they've sat on a shelf for over a decade waiting on me.to get with it.

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rapom65 said:
These are the nylon clips that attach everything together. I bought these when I acquired the car so they've sat on a shelf for over a decade waiting on me.to get with it.

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awesome to see Ron!!!! if possible i need to make a pattern 1" bigger all the way around of your old wind shield. will give me an excuse to come visit :)
 
Hi Marty! Was going to call and see if you guys still had your auto glass account and if a 74 Duster windshield was available, would give me an excuse to come up! Margret has been wanting to go to "her spa" and "the Puyallup" Maybe knock out a couple birds with one stone so to speak. You could have my old glass (if you want it) or template, your call.
 
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