I have been talking to Heather and she is ok (for now) with me starting to look around for another project, as long as it doesn't show up before the J10 is done. I've decided to get a 1972 Plymouth Duster. The 1972 Dusters just look cool. My father had one and I would like to include him in helping me out with rebuilding/fixing/upgrading one. His was beige with a slant 6 and the 3spd manual, stripped down with the radio being the only extra accessory. I know that I really wanted to build a 1969 Dodge Dart 4dr sleeper, but it's more important to me to build a car that my father loved and be able to work on it with him.

I've decided to find one that is in good condition body wise as I don't care for doing body work that much. I can do it, just don't care for it. I would like to find one that is running so that we can still drive it while we build a mildly built 360 and rebuild a 727 to handle more power. I'd like to stick with finding a Duster with an automatic, and if it has a 318 that would be great. If it has a slant 6 that would be fine too.

Now on to my questions. Will a 727 long tailshaft tanny fit into a 72 Duster? Is there a certain year(s) that I should be looking at for a 360? I know what some people are going to say, "Why not find a 340?" "Why not leave it stock?""Why not just build a 318?" A 340 is not out of the question, it is just that 360s are cheaper and a lot easier to find around here. I know that everyone said that X heads are the best for small blocks, but would I be better off with a set of alum heads?

Heather's great uncle is known as Mr. Mopar up here in the northeast so I wouldn't be suprised if he would be able to find/have the parts that I need.

The plan for this car is to be mostly street and cruising. We will take it to the track every now and then but it will be mostly for the road. I don't plan on buying one just yet, as I said before, I need to finish the J10 first. I'm just trying to get a plan set and maybe start looking around for what I need for a/the motor.

 

when preparing to build the demon, we took a good long look at short blocks ( i already had an engine, but i always like to look, you know?), and the 340 blocks are going up and up in price. the 360s were so common thanks to the fact that they put them in just about everything for a few decades.

what ive been told by "old school racers", is that the U, J, and X heads are the creme of the crop, but thats as far as stock, untouched heads. as far as the ports go, its my understanding that any set of mopar heads can be ported to match the hipo stock heads mentioned above. the biggest advantage over the UJX heads as comapred to the ported 1988 360 heads im running on the mirada is the valve size. im running 1.88 intake valves on both the mirada and the demon, where i believe that the UJX heads all came with 2.02s. i think that late J heads also had 1.88s, but im not 100% sure of that. i was also pretty sure that mopar had a hi-po 340 head with something like a 2.08 or 2.10 intake valve, but its been a while since ive been in the thick of the mopar scene, and i might be confusing my magnum info with my LA info.

ive not gone to aluminum due to the high cost, and ive had what id call good success with iron heads.

but in short, most heads can be worked enough to yield the flow that you want, but your big advantage is the valve size. that being said, i have the 3800lb mirada into the 12.30s with 1.88s, and the demon ran 13.50s with 1.88s...and it gets 18mpg.

 

richinny, ive known people who run and love their built 904s, but i seem to recall complaints about less available aftermarket for the 904s...do you know if this is still a problem?

also, were all 72 a-bodies small bolt pattern? mine has the big pattern, but the previous owner may have swapped them in...

 

All a-bodies up to 72 were sbp, 73 went to lbp with the switch away from the K-H brake system

 

The car will be mostly for street driving like I said. If we want to swap to a large bolt pattern, could we swap it from a later vehicle?

I'll be talking to my father about it more tomorrow and see what he would like to do with it.

 

I have heard that 4 wheel drum brakes can leave much to be desired. I do plan on looking into upgrading the brakes as stopping is more iportant than moving. I'm not too worried about matching the bolt patterns. As long as I can find a matching bolt pattern rear axle, I can shorten it if need be.

 

Tim, Drum brakes suck ! I love the sound of the project though.

 

The guys at that local performance shop tell me that all the time. Along with the fact that I come in asking for parts for all the oddball vehicles that nobody else around has or wants.

The hard work doesn't scare me or bother me for that matter.

 

my car is 4 wheel drum

 

and I can just imagine how it brakes when you stump on the pedal.

 

So I have been looking all over New England for a 1972 Plymouth Duster that is in decent shape, heck even something that needs some work, and I can't find anything. I've even made calls to guys that deal with Mopar cars and parts all day long in the area and they don't know of any 72 Dusters that are in good enough shape to even save (don't start with "ever Mopar is good enought to save", we all know that).

I did however find a 1972 Plymouth Valiant 4rd with a slant 6 that is in running order and is used as a daily driver from march/april til about the beginning of December. I sent an email to find out more about it.

When I told my father that I wanted to do a restore project with him, he was all happy and the first words out of his mouth were "its not staying here at my house." Hahaha.

 

Tim, that is a similar response that I get from my Dad, I send him a craigslist ad that I think is interesting, he says "NO!". That's it, even if it is something I don't want, just stands to show you what he thinks about my projects.

 

i just pray

 

hey 78 i have had two 72 340 4 speed dusters and they are one heck of a car but around here they are scarce and i can not find them anywheres either , i still have the 340 out of the one i wraped around a tree back in 81 and the other i sold for 500.00 bucks spank me in the **** for doing that but we all learned hehe any ways my yellow 340 has the record up at milan dragway when i was running pure stock @ 13.90 and it will never be beat cause they dont run pure stock anymore .... all them dusters could kick butt off the assembly line and it had all wheel drums and never had any problems with them except when going by a cop at 120mph and trying to stop before he sees you ( yes got a ticket ) ,,, have you thought about a four speed car and if so i think i have a bell housing yet for it but sold the tranny along time ago and i would also love to find another or a 68 dart as i also have a 68 dart 340 waiting for the body someday either way i hope you can find one as i have had no luck in it except for ones that are all ready done or something on the line as junk .. i also have a set of fiberglass fenders for one if you might need them as like i said ill probably never come across one so good luck and ill be waiting to see if one of us can get one

 

Yeah all the ones around here are either all built up and restored or are too far gone to save (a.k.a. cost way too much).

I'll keep everyone posted on what happens though.

 

good luck

 

the only problem is the salt we use and there are way to many in the scrap yard down to nothing its a shame but no one new what they had back then ya' no and not even me

 

Its going to get to the point that the cars we drove 10 years ago are going to be collector items and our kids are going to want to build an beat on them like we do now.