It looks like updates on this projects are going to come on the order of once every six to ten months!

Seriously, this month my brother and I made some big strides on the project. A few weeks ago we finished installing the disc brakes. The master cylinder was installed, the brakes were bled, and the pedal pressure is good.

Today we tackled pulling the original gas tank. My original plan was to reuse the original tank but after cleaning and resealing it. I changed my plan when I noticed a small gas leak on the bottom of the tank. Some sage advice from board members more knowledgeable than I convinced me that a leaking tank was junk so I ordered a brand new one from Rockauto.com.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures and story of this adventure:

Nothing exciting, 40 year old gas tank held on by 40 year old hardware:


Step one, use a wire brush in a drill motor to clean the threads of the j-bolts so the nuts will move freely:



Step two, some penetrating lubricant sprayed on the threads and nuts of the bolts followed by the use of an air impact hammer gets the nuts off the bolts very easily. Piece of cake!



Step three- remove the straps and have a helper pull the fuel tank fill pipe out of the gas tank while you balance the tank on a floor jack with a tiny head. Then, have some excitement when the tank drops and starts spilling gas everywhere because you were a dork and didn't empty the FULL gas tank before you started this project:



I am saving the "gas" for my pressure washer, so I pumped it out of the tank with a hand pump and took pictures of the inside of the tank as I went. Let's go swimming!


Half empty. About this point I was figuring I was glad I was swapping the tank and I was also figuring a new sending unit was in the future:


Yep, new sending unit for sure:


Wow. Never seen a brass float corrode like this before:


THis is why I am a convert to replacing the gas tanks on cars that have sat around for any length of time. These holes were rusted from the INSIDE out. The car spent most of its life in a dry climate and has only mild surface rust. The outside of the tank has dirt on it, but hardly any rust, except these specs. These holes must have been partialy plugged by rust in the tank that was dislodged in the removal process. Otherwise that full tank of "gas" would have spilled in my garage years ago.


Even the fill tube was rusty!


I saved what I could (fill tube gaskets, sending unit retaining ring and gasket, sound deadening pad) but the tank itself is junk.


So ends the adventure of removing a gas tank on a 74 Duster. Moral of the story is EMPTY THE GAS TNK BEFORE YOU REMOVE IT!

I have two questions though: (1) Should I get a non-rusty fill pipe? If so, where? (2) How do I get rid of a rusty old gas tank filled with varnish residue?

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

#1 I have a few spares I can sell, need to know your car's options as there are straight and fold down back seat style....

#2 Let it air out and dry then take it to the metal recyclers to scrap.

-D.Idiot

Can you sandblast the rusty fill tube end?

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Possibly. I need to research if there was any protective coating applied to the fill tube innards before I go blasting away.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Not today, but about two weeks ago I finally hung the true 1968 Dart fenders on my brother's 74 Duster project. I purchased these fenders probably back in May or June. I work slow….



The fenders are off of a real 68 Dart GTS. I saw the restored car they came off of. These fenders are straighter and have MUCH less rust than the mixed set of 67 Dart fenders that I had put on there earlier. These

I also rebuilt the original Holley 1945 carb. It has a smudge of throttle shaft play, but it is working much better than the lousy 1983 Holley 1945 I had put on there temporarily. The engine actually runs well and so I am going to leave the engine as is until I get a hydraulic motor built for the car.

Future plans include stripping the body to a shell and taking it in to a true body shop to have them finish the rear body work. I hate body work and I am not good at it.

While the motor is out it will be pressure washed and disassembled for full gasket replacement and timing component inspection. The motor will then be reassembled and repainted.

I need to with the transmission out. The one in the Duster right now is one I rebuilt and it has a big leak from somewhere and is not working right. I have another transmission rebuilt and ready to go, so I will just switch them and tear down the bad one later.

When the shell comes back from the body shop it will be time to clean it, sand it, and fill any dings in preparation for painting. Hooray.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Lookin' good...you'll need to mount a dash cam with USB capability, so you can record all the "off" comments from people saying they had one, or just to catch the look on some mopar enthusiasts face as he tries to figure out if it was a demon prototype or just something custom...



Keep after it!

-D.Idiot

I second that.

These project threads are the best. Nice job on the car and the thread

Thanks. I am really hoping to get much more progress made on the car this year, like hopefully getting it to the point where it can live at my brother's house. I would like to get my garage back after 5 years of having an immobile Duster in it.

The best part about this swap is that everything has been a direct fit bolt up. I will need to modify the center grille support a bit, but there have been no other fitment problems. The fender contours match the door contours perfectly.

My brother is a computer guy and wants to set it up with a bluetooth stereo, an onboard touch screen, and other things. It will eventually be running a Ford MAF based fuel injection system which will require a TWEECER add-on computer reprogramming unit. The TWEECER offers real-time data logging and engine function displays so we may install a screen that will show things like engine temp, rpm, ect, etc… But such things are months if not years away.

I will keep you all posted. Slow and steady builds the Duster.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

The rims are retro '70s. I remember a lot of dusters with that combination.

Yeah, my brother likes them. I had to search for a while to find a 15 inch slotted mag with the right width and offset and then do some math to figure out what 15 inch tires would fill the rim but still clear the tight 67-69 Dart front fender opening. The rear rims are 15x8s and the fronts are 15x7 (maybe 7.5, I can't recall). The front have just under 4 inches of backspacing. So far, everything clears.

I still have the huge 15x10 slotted mags we were going to run on the rear originally but changed our minds about.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

What the heck is up with the spellcheck? Words I never typed are appearing in my messages.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Save them in the corner for the day you go for your masters in slantology and build a higher compression ratio street engine and then want to take it to the track...

You know, for the last few months I have been taking stock of all the spare parts I have collected over the years and I have realized I have enough to build a pretty stout slant. Someday I would love to find an old truck or ram charger with a slant and build a really strong and torquey motor for it. Maybe I will just take my brother's old 83 Dodge shorty van and play with it.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Trying to stay motivated. I had to move the Duster out of the garage today to work on my sister Buick Rendezvous, so I made a short video of it. This video will make clear why I can't drive A-bodies despite how much I like them. The seat is sitting loose on the floor and is pushed back beyond what a stock seat would go.

You can see how well the 68 Dart fenders have mounted on the Duster body. It will look great when it is all done.


Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3sCGb4y ... e=youtu.be

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Looking great, Reed!

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