Quick 73



 
 

 John Burdine, of Eastpointe, Michigan, has owned this 73 Duster not once, but twice. It belonged to his buddy in high school, and in 1990, he bought it. At that point, he sent the car to Mike Pustelny Racing for an 8-point bar and frame connectors. He rebuilt the suspension and brakes, and fitted the stock length 8.75 rear with Mark Williams axles and 35-spline spool. He then had a W-2 340 built for it, which he used for a while before getting tired of it. He then sold it for reasons unknown.
Then, in 1997, he was looking for another car to build and ran across the Duster at a cruise night.
The fellow who bought it from him installed a mild 440 and had it running 11's. They wheeled and dealed for a while, but the next day, the Duster was back in Johns garage.
Now that his teenage ride was back in his possession, it was time to get serious.

 

Underneath, he added SS springs, CE shocks, 4.10 gears, and the Weld AlumaStar wheels hold 29.5 x 10.5 slicks.

He converted the roll bar to a full cage, and added a few other goodies to make life easier.

 

The mighty 496 is fed by this BG400 pump and 2-port regulator.
That should be enough, eh?

I read that NHRA's cowl induction rule was intended to make cars look more factory-appearing.
Yep, John's car, with this 6 inch cowl hood looks like it came right off the lot. Yea, right.

 
Underneath though, it's anything but factory-appearing. 


This particular 496 was built by Muscle Motors and features 10-1 compression.
On top, of course, you can see that wonderful company called Indy supplied a set of 440-1 heads, intake and related dream parts.
An Ultradyne 640 lift solid cam opens the valves, and a 1088cfm Dominator dumps the fuel in.
Custom headers were built by Gary Cook to ensure all that fire can get back out, and QC Coating ceramic and powder coated the intake and valve covers.
Believe it or not, this mill runs strictly on pump gas....Aluminum is great stuff, isn't it? :)
A Turbo Action 8" 3800 stall converter works with the 727.

 

 
On a 90 degree day, the car ran a 10.60 @ 128 with a 1.53 60'.
John says the motor ran really lean that run for some reason, and once he gets things straightened out, he expects low 10's @ over 130.
He also plans on adding steeper gears before its next outing, and by now, has added a Metal Matrix composite driveshaft as well.

Think about this....you're looking at a 10-second, no nitrous, all-steel Duster that runs on pump gas and carries a licence plate..Now think about it once more.......

With John, the old saying seems to hold true...Things are better the second time around.

 
 
E-MAIL John

 
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