Free Duster

Topic: Free Duster (Read 1889 times) previous topic - next topic

Free Duster

December 21, 2005, 11:30:41 AM

So a buddy of mine has acquired a free 1973 Plymouth Duster. It was a grandma car with low miles. It is lime green with auto and slant 6. He is in college for auto body and needs a project. It needs some slight rust repair but nothing too bad. He has talked me into going in half with him and fixing the car up. We plan on putting in a V8 (probably nothing fancy) and painting the car. I'm sure we will slap on some sweet wheels/tires and clean the interior up a bit (the interior is near mint just needs cleaned). End plan is to sell the car for (hopefully) a profit after having some fun with it. Anyone know much about Mopars like this? Since its a slant 6 car I wonder what tranny and rearend its equipped with? Would it be able to handle say a mildly built 360? I want to get my ducks in a row before we get to far along.

Free Duster

Reply #1 – December 21, 2005, 11:38:28 AM

Quote from: 50tbrd88

So a buddy of mine has acquired a free 1973 Plymouth Duster. It was a grandma car with low miles. It is lime green with auto and slant 6. He is in college for auto body and needs a project. It needs some slight rust repair but nothing too bad. He has talked me into going in half with him and fixing the car up. We plan on putting in a V8 (probably nothing fancy) and painting the car. I'm sure we will slap on some sweet wheels/tires and clean the interior up a bit (the interior is near mint just needs cleaned). End plan is to sell the car for (hopefully) a profit after having some fun with it. Anyone know much about Mopars like this? Since its a slant 6 car I wonder what tranny and rearend its equipped with? Would it be able to handle say a mildly built 360? I want to get my ducks in a row before we get to far along.

Very nice find, should be a nice project. I LOVE mopar musclecars, have a 74 Dodge Dart myself. Those cars are very underrated and can handle a ton of modifications. As for the 360 swap, yes it can definately handle it, there are kits available for that exact swap. The transmission won't handle the power though, trust me. You need to go with a 707 or 909 torqueflight to handle the v-8 whether it is stock or modified.

Free Duster

Reply #2 – December 21, 2005, 12:00:29 PM

keep the slant 6!!!

Free Duster

Reply #3 – December 21, 2005, 12:21:17 PM

Quote

The transmission won't handle the power though, trust me. You need to go with a 707 or 909 torqueflight to handle the v-8 whether it is stock or modified.

So what tranny does it have with the slant 6? I was planning on keeping the rearend and just going with some low "tractor" gears for it (this will be a crusier mainly no highway driving). The plan is to get a junkyard 360 and just do it mildly. Like maybe do a little valvetrain work and cam it...then throw on a set of headers and an aluminum intake. Nothing hot we just want it to sound good and be fairly fast:evilgrin: . Educate me here I'm primarily a Ford and GM man. Where can I find a 707 or 909 torqueflight? I always heard of a 727 trans in a lot of the old big block muscle cars. Also what vintage 360 would be my best bet. I'm thinking a 70's era truck or van would be the route to take (they would probably be most plentiful around here). I'm sure there are differences between a car 360 and one from a truck...but I really have no idea. Basically my buddy is doing all the body work and I'm doing the rest (the plan is to paint it orange with flat black hood and spoiler). I think this can be done fairly reasonably without breaking the budget and siphoning too much cash away from my T-bird!

Free Duster

Reply #4 – December 21, 2005, 12:54:37 PM

i believe it has the same transmission as the 318.... which most if it is an auto is a 727

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Reply #5 – December 21, 2005, 01:20:51 PM

The 727 trannys are kinda like the old Ford C4/C6... A three speed unit used through the 60's 70s... Best source??? I dunno... But watch out, there is a light duty 904 tranny used on the smaller engines begnning in the 70s.. If I see my MOPAR buddy in the next few days I'll ask him...

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Reply #6 – December 21, 2005, 02:47:20 PM

Quote from: LJS30

You need to go with a 707 or 909 torqueflight to handle the v-8 whether it is stock or modified.

727 & 904

727 is stronger the 904 is a lighter duty version of the 727

rear axle will probly be fine if the motor is going to be stock

if not i would upgrade to an 8-3/4 or 9-1/4. both are getting hard to find. It may be just as cheap to go with a 9 in ford.

front k member is specific to engine application you will need the correct member for engine application and car .

Free Duster

Reply #7 – December 21, 2005, 03:37:35 PM

Quote from: SLEEPER T-BIRD 87

727 & 904

727 is stronger the 904 is a lighter duty version of the 727

rear axle will probly be fine if the motor is going to be stock

if not i would upgrade to an 8-3/4 or 9-1/4. both are getting hard to find. It may be just as cheap to go with a 9 in ford.

front k member is specific to engine application you will need the correct member for engine application and car .

Thanks for the correction, I'm so wrapped up in stating my area code lately I confused 904 with 909. Not to contradict you but you are incorrect in regards to the transmissions. I talked to Bob Mazzolini out here in Colton, this guy is a MOPAR EXPERT. He says the 904 transmissions are much better than the 727's, can be built much stronger with more shift kit options. The idea that the 727 is stronger is something I kept hearing until I discussed it with him directly.

Free Duster

Reply #8 – December 21, 2005, 03:42:47 PM

Also, get some heavy duty t-bars. You will definately need them when you swap in the 360, let alone the fact that they give you excellent handling. In the rear you will need some competition leaf's in order to handle the extra power.

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Reply #9 – December 21, 2005, 05:31:56 PM

Quote from: Funky Cricket

keep the slant 6!!!

I second that they don't call it the leaning tower of power for nothing.

As for that I think you would need a different K member for the V8.

Free Duster

Reply #10 – December 21, 2005, 08:05:17 PM

Those visteon 6 disc cd players suck ass they have scratched cd's in both my moms windstar and my dad focus.

Free Duster

Reply #11 – December 21, 2005, 08:13:03 PM

Quote from: LJS30

Not to contradict you but you are incorrect in regards to the transmissions. I talked to Bob Mazzolini out here in Colton, this guy is a MOPAR EXPERT. He says the 904 transmissions are much better than the 727's, can be built much stronger with more shift kit options. The idea that the 727 is stronger is something I kept hearing until I discussed it with him directly.

The TorqueFlite transmission was Chrysler's mainstay from its introduction in 1956 through the early 1990s, remaining in duty in modified form (for front wheel drive) through 2001 in the Neon, and continuing even today with electronic controls for trucks.

Though the first TorqueFlite was the revolutionary A-488, called the best automatic transmission in the world, the most legendary Torqueflite model is the A-727, which replaced it in 1962. Assigned to the most muscular engines, heavy duty applications, and trucks, the A-727 used an aluminum case (rather than the A-488's cast iron case), saving about 60 pounds; in some models, it used a pawl (lock) for parking, actuated by a lever (1962-64 models) or by putting the transmission into Park.

The first generation of iron TorqueFlites had a rear pump as well as a front pump, allowing the automatic-equipped cars to be push started! It probably wasn't officially endorsed, but it worked in emergencies, and many people knew about it. (Thanks, C. Paul Kozoriz.)

Base models tended to get the A-904 and, in later years, the A998/999. The A-904 was a scaled-down, aluminum-cased version; smaller and lighter, it was quite capable of dealing with the power of the slant six and 273 V8 (later, the 318). The difference between the 904, 998/999, and 727 was largely in the materials and the amount of 'beef', and in the torque converters. The earliest model was the A-488, which has some internal similarities to the 727 and probably shares a few parts, but is not the same transmission. Much of this confusion probably stems from Chrysler's early general-public references to the 904 as "Torqueflite 6" and whichever Torqueflite was behind V8s at the time as "Torqueflite 8." A V8 version of the 904 did not appear until 1964, when it came out behind the 273. (And there was a slant-six version of the 727 for truck use - Mike Sealey's 1970 A100 van had one.)

The 998 was a 904 built inside a 727 case. AMC used the same transmission case behind all its V8s but only used 727 internals behind the 401.

The A-500 and A-518 truck transmissions were 727s and 904s with an overdrive added. There is a Canadian transmission builder (Doug Miller of Fireball Performance Automatics in Williamsburg, Ontario) who has successfully converted these to shift via cable linkage as was the practice through 1965, thereby allowing owners of older MoPars to use this newer transmission and keep their pushbuttons.

Several other automakers bought and used TorqueFlites, including AMC and Monterverdi. AMC used GM's Hydramatic in the 1950s (except for Packard Twin Ultramatics in Packard V8-powered cars), Borg-Warenrs from 1957 on (some 1954 Hudsons also had them), and finally moved to the Torqueflite in 1972 for cars, and around 1979-80 for Jeeps, which had used Hydramatics due to a contract negotiated by Kaiser. Mike Sealey, our AMC source, noted that AMC's larger 1958-62 models may have been the only Borg-Warner transmissions with pushbutton shifting.

The various Torqueflites had the same internal ratios, despite their other differences. Until 1980, they were relatively narrow (see Tom Hand's detailed article); in and after 1980, a wide-ratio gearset was introduced and used in most of the 998 and 999 transmissions. This ratio was 2.54 in first, 1.54 in second, and (as with the earlier Torqueflites) 1.00 in third. This gearset, which uses a welded-steel planet cage, is noisier and less durable than the original-ratio gearset with its machined-aluminum planet cage, but the lower first and second gears helped cope with the tall rear axle ratios needed for gas mileage.

Note that you can identify a lockup 727 transmission because it has about 5/8" of the end of the smaller input shaft machined smooth. If the splines go out to the end of the shaft (except for about a 1/8" bevel), it's a non lock up transmission.

Free Duster

Reply #12 – December 21, 2005, 10:21:10 PM

The stock K-member will work fine, but you would need Schumacher motor mounts...my spelling is probably wrong. Get rid of the 7 1/4" rear...you WILL grenade it. I know guys that have blown 6 of those rears behind stock 225's and auto trannies. If you really wanted to be different, you could get a 265 or 245 straight six hemi imported from Australia...At one point I was told $500 U.S. for a complete running 265...however you would need a new K-member and I'm not sure how well that would work with our left hand drive...there are a few people across the country doing that swap. Check out the web for some slant six message boards...I used to be on two different boards when I had my '72 "Gold Duster".

http://www.slantsix.org was the main message board I used to be on...there are a bunch of great guys that can turn a 170 into a 250rwhp engine that will haul down the road quite nicely. They will be more than glad to help ya out with anything you need.

6=8!!! It doesn't cost much either.

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Reply #13 – December 21, 2005, 10:47:14 PM

go on the search for 70's Aspens.......they have the leaning tower of power in them they are a great sorce for engine parts because noone suspects a thing of them.......