im so glad im not gonna need to use a razor... my old HS has a paintbooth and i am close friends with the shop teacher. he told me if i got the paint he would help me paint my truck. so im gonna use a grinder to get all the old stuff off

 

Great progress Dan, lotsa work there, Gerry

 

Where did you get those caster-supports for the front? I need something like that for my Mustang....

 

Subscribing to watch this!! I owned a 71 340 Duster years ago. Wish I still had it!

 

John, I had a 71 340 4 spd, light yellow, long gone...............

 

Hey guys sorry I havent updated in a while, some of my pics wont upload for some reason. I also went back to the gym with the downturn in the weather. The only work I can really do is small subassemblies, stuff that I can bring down to the basement. Right now I have a bunch of take offs and junk, I want to "restore" to sell. I will get hot this upcoming week and show some more pics. As for body progress...My wife asked me to give the savings a rest through the xmas season. After the 1st of the year, it goes to Union Grove Wi. to be completely chemically stripped, then the fresh shiny clean body will be trucked directly to the bodyshop. Once there they will hang and weld in all the tin. Then it will be solid enough for me to throw it on my Brothers, brother in laws rotisserie. To stitch weld all of the seams, redo the through the floor subframe connectors, and then paint and bedliner the underbody, and paint and lizard skin all of the interior panels! Chris, as to your question about my front "wheels"...go to Harbor freight, or similiar, get the largest casters you can afford, bigger is certainly better. These roll quite nicely across the broken up spot of my concrete driveway and all the debris in the street and gutters when I roll it back to the neighbors garage. Then get yourself 30 t0 40 inches of 3 inch square tube, about 1/8 in wall. I dont remember what the gauge was, but about 1/8" is all you really need, and get your self about 20-30" of 2.5x2.5x 1/4" angle iron! Cut the angle into 2 pieces large enough to align with your front bumper mounts in the frame, drill 2 holes each on what will be your vertical surface to match your bumper mounting bracket bolts. Weld them to the tops of the 3" square tube, which you have cut to the desired length. Then you get plate steel of 1/4" thickness, this is the bridge from the tube to the caster mounts, so dimensions will be determined by the size of your casters. Weld the plates to the bottom of the tubes, and then to your caster plates. Winner winner chicken dinner you are done and ready to mount to your front end and wheel away!
parts list: 2 large rubber casters, 5-6" wheels or bigger. 40" of 3" square tube 1/8 wall thickness. 30" length of 2.5 x2.5 x1/4" angle iron. 4-5" x 8-10" of 1/4" thick steel plate.
This shouldnt cost you more than a hundred bucks, if you have to buy the steel and pay to have it welded. It will only take about 1/2 an hour. However let me give you some former insider info, I used to work for a steel warehouse....if you search and are flexible, which by the way, all of this material can be fudged, you can often get this steel for free! Find some fab shops, walk in explain what you are doing, and ask if they have some "drops" in sizes that closely resemble the sizes on your list. If they arent in the business of retailing steel, more often than not it is easier to just let you have it or ask you for a $10, or $20. Mine were free, minus the casters...a customer built them for me while I stood there and waited, and then painted them to boot! Just be willing to dig, small talk and maybe even buy a box of donuts...do your intel gathering on these fab shops, ask around, look around etc...you will be surprised at how much they will help you.

 

That there looks like a nice lookin' Derdge project. That cage looks nice!

 

My mom had a 73 Duster and that thing would FLY. It only had the 318 but since the car was so light it would really get down the road. That was fastest I've ever been in a car and I still had pedal. Your progress looks good. keep up the good work.