gollum

Hello I am in the market for a car and I would love to have a duster (70-73) but other years are good too I just would like to know more about them I have seen some with the 318 in them is this the best performance engine that came in those year dusters? Also they all seem to eb automatics I would like a manual but I have never owned a car with more than 180 HP so a manual was needed if I wanted to attempt to go fast (never really happened though) I would like to have a daily driver thatI could take to our local strip/track and put down some 11's or lower if money is available and it doesn't interfer with daily driving but I need to focus on getting a car first. thanks for any info

calgary_redneck

I love dusters they are wicked cars. They are mechanically very simalar to darts/valiants. The best engine to get is the 340 but those are becoming very sout after and carry a higher price tag. The 318 although it can be made a respectable performer is really just an economy base engine. How ever it is easy enough to swap a 318 for a 340 or a 360 so if you find a good one go for it. Just be sure to check the uncarrage and sub-frame very carefully of any you conciter buying as they were fairly suseptable to rust and alot of them out there has rotton sub-frames.

gollum

Does anybody know about the my Auto VS manual question also a friend of mine has told me that there is a sort of shifter for sutomatic transmissions kinda like a clutchless shifter or something he didn't really know for sure he just was pretty sure that they made some sort of manual shifter for auto trannies. I would like to have a manual because I think they are more fun to drive but if the auto's are jsut as fast and I there is such a shifter mechanism that isn't to expensive then I could consider buying an auto since they seem much easier to find.

gollum

I saw a very nice very clean duster on aollectorcartrader.com it was $35,000 but it was nice I didn't like the color though (factory butterscotch) but he said it did 10 sec passes on a wedge engine it was an automatic I wonder if he had the shift points modified. I still can't seem to find many manuals but if what the few people I know who are at least somewhat familiar with muscle cars is true then the auto is just as good as the manual but still I have my reservations so I would like some of you guys opinions who have actually owned something like this and about how expensive and or time consuming is it to have the hsift points modified and is there a specific ratio or is just try one setting run the car then try another?

PeteRR

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...b=5&o=&fpart=1

Pages and pages of cars. Keep scrolling down.

A street car that will do 11's is not cheap. You are usually talking about a well sorted suspension and a monster sb.

__________________
Pete.

1968 Plymouth Road Runner
451 Stroker + Keisler 5-Speed OD manual trans

gollum

Well I'm not looking to make an 11 second car overnight I plan on spending on year or two in the process I am just looking for one that looks good right now but after I get one I will probably be asking opinions on mods and engine setups but we'll just have to see how long it will take me to find a good car.

silver_chevelle

duster? 71-73 you can get a twister with a 318 4v, or a slant 6. 70-71 obviously the 340...71 is 318 OR 340 i believe. anyways, there are about 5 or 6 SWEET dusters on ebay...from crappy needs resto to ready to daily to race ready. from 1k to about 13k www.ebay.com/motors

nhstiger75

If money is no object then an all aluminum 318 is a great engine (But my friend's dad traded a whole truck for his.) It's wearing 360 headers, twin 650 Hollys, Cold-air intake, a forced induction box and is seated in a 1986 Dodge half-ton with an extra-light bed and all of the unneeded crossmembers under the bed and parts of the frame cut out to lighten it up. With all of the tuning he's done and running race fuel he can get 587 at the rear wheel. This puts that truck at around an 11.5. I say all this to say you can really make that engine powerful and in a Duster it will really move. Of course one of the vehicles that tore him up was a '73 Duster with a 360. It all depends on how much work you want to do and what kind of money you have to invest.