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1973 Plymouth Duster 340 Print E-mail
We received this car to do some minor repairs. Or so the owner thought. Freshly purchased on eBay out of Texas this car is yet another example of a "Puppy Mill" car or a "Mop and Glow" vehicle. While it looks great on the outside, virtually nothing works and there will be some surprises that are just unbelievable. This "good deal" turned out to be not so good.
  
  
  Here is the rear brakes. We found the lug pattern to be 4" in the rear 
   Rear brake drum is way beyond specifications and very thin
   Front brakes. Lug pattern is 4.5" That is why there was an adapter on the back
   Lower control arm bushings are shot
   Nice wiring job. Household wire connectors and burnt factory connectors are not a good sign
   A/C control panel is held in with some electrical wire. Unfortunately, there is no a/c to control!
  Horn button is held in by RTV since the clips were broken
  Here is the back of the cluster. No oil pressure lights, dash lamps are glued in with weatherstrip adhesive and masking tape.
  The 340 motor had to be removed. Once the headers were removed, we found this heli coil to be half heartedly installed
  This "numbers matching" motor is apparently not. Motor is dated July 8, 1969. 4 years before the car was built
  Here is the bottom view of the engine compartment looking up. As you can see, the top part of the engine comaprtment was painted so it would look good in pictures. The bottom sides of the aprons are rusty
  Owner specified a rear disc brake setup. New axles with the 4.5" pattern were also replaced
  Completed view of the rear disc brake installation
  Removal of the leaking timing cover reveals a loose timing chain and a nearly worn through fuel pump eccentric
  Front brakes and calipers were replaced also
  Lower control arms were sand blasted and new bushing pressed in
  Here is the ignition switch connector. Burnt and melted
  Once the cluster was removed one can see the broken dash panel hidden by a trim panel
  Dash has been disassembled for repainting and replacing the harness and a/c components. The brown stuff on the carpet is part of the mouse condos we found in the headliner when we removed it.
  Motor has been put back together and repainted.
  New ceramic coated headers are put in first as there is NO room
  Motor has been installed after some degree of persuasion. Headers are now being bolted in
  Driver side clearances are nonexistent. We had to notch an ear off of the steering box to get the headers to sit correctly.
  Pulley and bracket assembly for the accessories are installed. We are updating the engine compartment side of the a/c system by using a new style compressor. It weighs less, will cool more efficiently and will drag substantially less horsepower out of the motor than old Ma Mopar's brick compressor
  The new aluminum radiator does not fit the original shroud. We will have to make a closeout panel so the air can be drawn through the radiator properly
  We have made panels to close up the space. After seals have been made, the air will drawn through the radiator core properly.
  Another view of the radiator and accessories installed.
  Customer supplied us with this flimsy plastic gauge panel. We had to make a sheetmetal backing to reinforce it. This panel will replace the factory gauge cluster once finished.
  Here is the sheetmetal plate we made to reinforce the flimsy plastic panel
  
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39 Transport Lane | Pine Island, NY 10969 | 845.258.2050