Project EH-Body - 1976 Plymouth Duster

[Riddler]

Well I've been working on Project "Eh" body.

Since the last update of setting up the rotisserie, I've removed all the suspension, body plugs, clips, etc etc. This was done with the help of Keith Zimmer. Truely one of the car gods. Thanks Keith!

Rear suspension


Front suspension and old brake lines


So to complete the removal of all the body plugs, clips, etc we got to play whirl the Duster around!




Well since everything was off it and Keith's blasting it for me, we decided to just take the car over there today.




The truck showed up and it's loaded. Nice to see another Mopar hauling my Mopar!




When the car come back next week it'll be blasted and epoxy coated. Then I'll start the metal work.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well today I made it over to the media blaster's. He warned me that the fender's were no good. I was heart broken since I knew the car was practically rust free.

The fender's turned out to be not bad at all. Just has some minor waves in the driver's side and the passenger has a small hit in the front.

Passenger Side:


I should be able to tap these out....

Driver's side:

You can still see where the bondo is. He's going to finish up blasting the fenders of bondo and then I should be able to bang them back into shape.

He then showed me the hood and trunk lid. He said these are some of the best parts he's ever blasted. Barely any paint on them and they had practically no rust.

Hood:


Trunk Lid:



The last picture is of the car on the rotisserie waiting until all the smaller parts are done.



Well that's all for now....stay tuned...

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well I started working some on the Hemi 5.7L to get it cleaned up and converted to a car LX motor.

I started by removing the truck manifolds, accessories and motor mounts.



While trying to get the pulley bolt out, I broke it. WTF?



Right now I'm at the point of getting a smaller puller 3 jaw puller. Once I get the pulley off, I'm hoping to be able to get at the bolt.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well after waiting 8 long weeks, the Duster has arrived home. I'm eager to dig in on metal work but I know it's going to be a long slow process. I don't have an end date in mind, and honestly I see this as a project for a few years. Money permitting.

Here's what I have to work with after media blast and epoxy primer. The car has been hit on both sides very lightly. Both quarter's need work. The front floor pans are also pretty much shot. I have new one to put down anyway! Onto the pictures....

Full car shot on rotisserie


Driver's side quarter with slide tool holes.


Driver's rear seat belt mount. Both are sides are gone.


Driver's front floor pan or whats left of it.


Driver's front A pillar. The lead from the factory came out during media blast.


Engine bay


Passenger side front floor.


Passenger side rear seat belt mount.


Passenger side rear quarter. The only rust to the outside body panels. Small patch will fix this.


Passenger side trunk extension. It looks like the previous owner jacked the car from that pinch weld.


Trunk area clean


and finally the roof with very slight dents.


Now that I have the car back the plan is to work a small amount each day on it. I have to return the rotisserie so the plan is to make some stands with casters that bolt to the bumper bolt locations.

Riddler

[Riddler]

I haven't really done much since I've been parting out my Neon. But I have made some purchases.

This is a fuel door pocket off a newer challenger with the Retro look fuel door.





The plan is to replace the stock Duster fuel door with this one.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well as I'm sure you can tell, I haven't really started cutting metal and such. I have however saved up and bought some more parts.

Here's my front RMS Alterktion.






Then since I went to a different spindle I needed new brakes. Wilwood had some really nice 4 piston Dynalites with 12.19" rotors.






I'm hoping to be cutting metal soon. I've got alot to do. My goal is to have rolling chassis by xmas.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Picked up some more parts. I know I know, try and get some work done! LOL

Here's the front brace from XV Motorsports.


I also sources a VERY RARE set of NOS 73-76 Duster tail light lenses.


Riddler

[Riddler]

I told myself over the last week at work that I needed to start digging in and getting the Duster worked on. I decided if I could get a bunch of things ready for welding, maybe my welder (brother-in-law) will do some welding when he returns from a business trip.

I started out and got the rear Street Linx cross bar mounted. I still have to take it down now, use the flap wheel to clean off the primer so welding can be done!

I then started looking at the front floors in the car, yeah they look like crap, I have some new ones to install. I started by cutting and removing the front passenger side floor. After I fought with the spot weld bit for an hour I finally got the hang of it. I'd still like to find a better one.

Here's what the floor looked like after being removed.


Here's the hole...


As you can see my frame rails are in VERY good condition. I still think I'll brush in some por15 down them to keep the insides nice.


I then tackled the center, and since it's not going back in, I just cut it out. Four spot welds is all that really held it in.


This is what I'm left with. I had to stop as the cutting and banging was driving my wife nuts.


Till next time...

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well the rest of the floor has been removed.




I'm thinking I'm going to use POR 15 down inside all the frame rails to go over that rust and such. Then when the new floors are welded in the insides of the frame rails would be coated.

I've also been working on trying to get the front alkerktion k frame mounted but the stock bump stop and such are spot welded on really well.

Riddler

[Riddler]

Well my rims (Boze Pro Touring) came in this week. The fronts are 17x8, 5.5" backspacing. The rears are 18x10 with a 4.5" backspacing. I was really hoping to have more of a front dish but due to the brakes and such I'm required to use this size.

I purchased Falken FK452 tires, 245-45-17 for the front and 275-40-18 for the rear. I took the brand new rims to the tire shop in the boxes. The manager's assistance tried to put the front tires on. I say tried cause he marked up both front rims. HE didn't notice these were reverse mount style rims. Lucky for me the shop is going to buy me two new rims to replace the marked ones and I get to keep the marked rims anyway.

The manager installed the rear rims and had no issues at all.

Here's the pictures I snapped tonight....





Guess I can finalyl measure up the rear end!

Riddler