moparchris
Well-Known Member
Well it wasnt exactly free, I had to trade a b-body 8 3/4. No big deal because we all know that b-body 8 3/4 grow on trees right? Well they do in my backyard anyways (dont ask). So any ways here is the story of how I turned free into a couple of thousand dollar project. My buddy calls me and says "hey I have this 74 Duster and I lost storage for it. You can have it if you take it away today. Oh and by the way i need a b-body 8 3/4 housing." So being the car dude that I am I hhok up my trailer, chuck the 8 3/4 in my truck, and beat feet over there and pick it up. I didnt really even look at it. My buddy claimed it ran but has severe electrical problems. I take it home and proceed to push it around so that I can get cars in and out of my garage over the next few months. Have I ever told you how much I hate pushing cars, especially this one. Next up I jump start it with my truck and low and behold it runs! And good! I put it in gear and it sounds like an old Phord with no ps fluid in it and no movement at all. Bummer, trans fluid looks like coffee grounds. So I look around the shed and various other places for some trans parts and I come across pedals and linkage for an abody 4 speed. I also found a bell housing, flywheel, trans, and shifter.I bet you already have figured where I was going with this. Back at my shop I put it up and pull the trans and start a long and frustrating education in abody 4 speed conversions. I have never done an abody conversion only b-body. Once everything was together I found out I had linkage from a /6 car (wrong z-bar) a clutch fork pivot from an early a-body, a shifter from a Chebbie, rods from who knows where, and a cool homemade :brickwall: shifter plate. All in all the shifter was about a half inch from the dash in NUETRAL! Anyways this thing had hit a curb hard and mutilated the k frame better than I have ever seen before! I have seen some doosies when I worked in a frame shop. Okay Im shutting up now here comes some pics.
You know I'm an A-Body Geek in general, and a Duster Geek in particular so don't hesitate to rattle my cage if you need anything. I have some beige interior stuff if you intend to keep that interior color.
