It was a monstrosonous day! No more rotisserie and the Cuda gets relocated to the big shop for assembly! It's a long time coming.... actually... it really wasn't a very long time now that I think about it. :hmmm: But regardless, another major step forward to capitulating Cuda completeness! :biggthumpup: Here is the radiator support/grille blackout, cowl blackout, and tail panel Organisol (fauxganisol....I used my own technique for it) on the tail panel.

The purps really pops. I'll have to do another round of spot buffing since I missed a few spots, but I'm happy with the results! Before I got it in the lift I installed the brake and fuel lines which are way easy to do with the cat on its side. But honestly, turning a freshly painted car on its side isn't exactly a calming experience. Every creak I heard I thought "Look out! (BAAANG)". Ugh... I've never said this, but sometimes I think I'm getting too old for this!

More to come....

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Purps popping in the sun! Really looks good against green trees! :biggthumpup::laugh:

Cheers
Dave

And back onto the lift for reassembly!:shocked:

Now I can go paint the bumpers!:biggthumpup:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Do you sleep? Looks awesome Dave!

I know that "creaking while rotating" feeling all too well! I pulled the 426 Hemi engine in the old 70 Charger around 10 years ago, to do some detailing and replace the oil pan. I had the engine on the stand and was rotating it to get the oil pan facing up. I got it around 90 degrees turned when it decided to make its own orbital reentry maneuver and took the entire stand with it. It made a two inch divot in the concrete floor that is still there to this day. Didn't even scratch the paint on the cylinder head where it impacted. Now I know what killed the dinosaurs - it wasn't a meteorite, it was a Hemi flying off an engine stand.

Looks awesome Dave! Love it!

Dan

That looks beautiful Dave, I'm in awe how easy you make it all look even though we all know its anything but easy. Steve is one lucky guy not having to worry about paint jail on this one.

Yes, Dave is the Official Paint Jail-Breaker!

Looks great Dave

Even after several years of watching you do amazing stuff in no time at all, I still can't get over how quickly you get things done, and how great it looks.

Man....

Wow, thanks guys!!!:grin: Very nice compliments and I appreciate them all!!! There’s no doubt you all know how much effort this takes, and it’s means a lot to have you all enjoy my handiwork. :biggthumpup: I still learn as I go and try and improve where I can. More importantly, I take in what I can from guys that have forgotten more stuff than I think I know. No way my work is perfect, but then again, neither was the factory’s!:no:

Paint purgatory is something I’m glad I don’t have to experience since I’m not sure I’d have the patience for it!:no::no::no:

More to come this week with such memorable moments as, “I know you ordered it Steve, but I can’t find it!” and “Uh oh....that’s not good”.:grin:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Mind blown.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/3b...1196674549.gif

Looks great Dave!!!

So it appears I'll be doing a few more things on Crusty to get her ready to head out towards the end of next month. In addition to the front suspension, I'm going to tackle the rear suspension and in the middle of that, the heater box self destructed!:biggthumpup: In between bolting up front end parts, detailing the emergency brake and pedal quadrants, I tore the box down and will start renewing that contraption tomorrow. I can't add anything else to the car on the front since it's nose heavy right now. And being on a 2 post lift, I don't need to see what would happen if the mighty Cuda became a lawn dart!

More tomorrow.... and the next day... and the day after that! :rolleyes2:

Cheers:biggthumpup:
Dave

He's a maniac, I tell ya!

Detroit Muscle makes a great rebuild kit for the heater boxes and with the new foam in place, it was an easy reassembly. I first washed the box with soap and water along with a brillo pad. That removed all the mold, dirt, and funk from the box. These boxes are unpainted so just a good cleaning is all it needs. Interestingly, there are three date codes on the box: the half piece shows the 351st day of 1969, shift 3 (I think that's what that 3 means:hmmm:), the main box has an ink stamp indicating there 76th day of 1970, 1st shift, and the final assembly date with part number showing the 103rd day of 1970. Neat stuff and I was able to save two of them. The third is sort of ghostly, but it's still there:biggthumpup:.

So back in the car it goes along with the pedal quadrant (Steve will add the pedal pads and new accelerator pedal/spring....I mean, he's gotta do something! :tongue:). Meanwhile, like a bad 70s adult flick, it's onto the rear end!:laugh::eek2:

Leafs are blasted and I'm awaiting rebuild parts coming Friday. Still need to press out the bushings, but that's easy enough to do. Who am I kidding..... something will go wrong there too!:bs:

More to come.
Cheers:beers:
Dave

Wait, What? I gotta put on BOTH pedal pads????

Slacker!

Looks great Dave Great job!
I had great luck with Detroit Speeds AC/heater box rebuild kit as well. I did the Charger's and it came out nice!

Thanks Lawrence! It's the third time I've used their kit and they've gotten better over the years.

Axle clean up today! Spring rebuild parts will be here tomorrow and Saturday. Once I get the rear installed the car will be balanced again so I can get it in the air and get the rest of the undercarriage done!:3gears:

Cheers
Dave

If you're like me, which I hope you're not for your sake, it's like Christmas degreasing parts to find factory markings all over the place. It's amazing to me that they'll still be markings left even after all these years and rust! I've never seen a couple of these marks before. The large "32" is a new one. Being a 3.23 gear, maybe it is the first two numbers of the ratio? :hmmm: Courtesy of RS_COPO-Canuk, I replicated the factory stripe color too! :scholar:

Steve and I agreed on me assembling the door internal guts prior to shipping the car. Well, see, actually it was Steve begging and pleading with me to do it. Details of the conversation are sketchy, but it went something like, "Jesus! You have to assemble those doors for me! That's like a Pandora's Box!!":eek2: So showing compassion for my Mopar brother, I agreed which stinks since when I previously disassembled the door I threw it all into a box while laughing and saying outloud with nobody around' "Good luck with all that, Steve-O!":frown:

Springs are installed and still waiting on new u- bolts do I can install the rear. Meanwhile, the exhaust is going in! :burnout:

More later this week! :scholar:

Cheers :beers:
Dave

A few more....

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I think the conversation went like this:

Me: "Hey Dave I got the perfect place for you to store all that door crap for shipping when the truck comes to pick up he Cuda."

Dave: "Great, Where is that?"

Me: "Inside the doors, with the glass attached"

Dave: (crickets chirping sound)

;-)

Hahahaha! Yes... I'm remembering that conversation well now! :burnout:

Genie Stevie...makem show up, u- bolts! :bs:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Once again USPS has lost a package from their Fort Worth depot.

The U-bolts were supposed to arrive Monday but every day since, the tracking just says:

"Your package will arrive later than expected, but is still on its way. It is currently in transit to the next facility."

So I ordered a set from Summit Racing which has a warehouse in Texas. That will hopefully jinx USPS into finding the package.

Moving forward, the infamous U-Bolt debacle of 2020 has passed! They finally arrived and the rear is back where the rear belongs... in the rear! :biggthumpup::hmmm:

Since the part of the trunk floor that I replaced was the area where the exhaust mounted, I had to assemble the exhaust, install the valance, align, mark the holes for the mounting brackets, remove the valance, exhaust, drill the holes, reinstall the exhaust, valance, align everything, then tighten. Easy... freakin' peasy!:bs:

It's coming together nicely! Is it perfect? Nope. Will it win best of show? Pfflppp... Will it make Steve's Dad finally lay to rest his purple car fix? Definitely! :flag:

Not much left. I'll start in on painting the bumpers tomorrow!

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Dang that’s purdy Dave!!! :eek2:

Thanks Sam! The rotisserie doubled as a bumper scaffold for painting. Up next... purple part troix!:dunno:

Cheers
Dave

Bumpers were sanded back down and adhesion promoter sprayed on first followed by DP Epoxy using 401LF catalyst instead of three standard 402LF. After that, 2K primer with no additive. Once the paint in complete, the clear gets the flex agent. I'll fill in the pinholes then it'll be ready for paint!

Engine bay is buttoned I up with all brake lines hooked up for Steve-O to start the bleeding process. Wheel lip moldings installed, and up next will be the undercoating in the wells. Once the bumpers are done, the da ssd's h will be loosely placed in along with the steering column, seats, aged the remaining parts awaiting pickup!

Woohoo! Almost done!

Cheers
Dave

Gonna be stunning!

WOW. Looks amazing.

I've been getting the interior order ready.

Legendary is having a 20% off sale in celebration of the cancelled Mopar Nationals (it ends on Monday). So I need to start spending all that money in the next three days, on white interior parts - new door panels, headliner, seat backs, seat upholstery, yada, yada, yada.

I just hope Legendary has the white upholstery and headliner in stock. The plastic parts I can get from Roseville Chrysler in Michigan right now.

That Roseville Chrysler dealer ship on Gratiot ave has a great display on vintage Chrysler parts. I walked in there for something one morning and was taken back on what they had on display.

Looks great, but what are you going to work on with all your spare time when it's gone?

Stupid question I bet - but after going to all of the pains to get this entire car so nice and perfect, WHY would you put the rad back in looking all grungy?
I realize that they all after some point probably looked like that with the paint chipping off and all - but after all of the other bits being so detailed and conforming to a somewhat 'as delivered' level, would you seek to make the rad stand out by it's obvious day 365 or more day appearance - just ask'n?

No power brakes or power steering?

Good observational question, but the actual answer is that this is a tag team effort and I am doing the second half of the 1/8 of the job that is remaining after Dave went waaaaaaay beyond the call of duty in doing the bodywork and painting the car down in Texas. And it's easier and safer for that radiator to be mounted up in the engine compartment than be sitting in some cardboard in the back of a trailer along with a lot of other parts that are coming north to NJ for the assemblification of the remaining tasks. And I have a good local radiator recorer nearby that can do the job in the event it needs it.

Nope. It's a manly car for manly men (and the wives that steal their cars away from them)

I may swap to power steering down the road but I'd have to find the rather unique and expensive, one-year-only, 1970 power steering column in order for that swap. The power steering columns are several inches shorter than the manual ones because the power steering box is much longer.

As for the manual drums, I am probably going to upgrade to these guys ceramic shoes which have stopping power that is very close to the factory disc setup.

http://www.musclecarbrakes.com/stage1.html

There needs to be a new section at MCACN “cars done by Dave in record time”.
a12 SuperBee
bullitt Mustang
Purple People Eater
Texas Ranch
Burnt up Ford Pickup

Have I missed any?

I can see the MCACN display billboards now:

(Sort of like Better Call Saul)

"Have you been sentenced to body shop prison?"

"The Lawfirm of Dave, Dave, and More Dave is here for YOU!"

"Rescuing wrongfully imprisoned auto enthusiasts for over ten years""

"If your cars been jailed, Dave gets it bailed!"

Haha! Thanks guys, and Steve has answered all the concerns! Love it!

Yes, you forgot the 1949 Chevrolet 3100 and 1957 T-Bird (paint only) :smile:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

PS: I used them on a 1968 Charger R/T I restored for a guy in 2010. They worked great!