I will jump in here and share that I have had great luck using Evap O Rust. I dunked my entire suspension pieces including brake calibers in this stuff while restoring the 69 RS Z...unbelievable results. All the original paint dabs came up and just painted back over these areas. Same story with my 69 Charger, but the Charger like the Oregon car, very limited rust beforehand.

Thanks all! Mine is 15K original miles and stored indoors it's whole life for the most part so markings should be there unless someone got aggressive in the past. One of the PO's said he took a sandblaster to the firewall, so probably out of luck there.

Finally! The day has come to bring Crusty from storage to my new shop! Although it's not finished yet, the shop will be a good place to keep her while I gather parts for the restoration.

It was raining when I got home, so I pulled straight into the barn. It's a new meaning to the words "Barn Find":biggthumpup:

You know? It's not numbers matching on the engine, so would a Hemi hurt it?!? :hmmm: Naaaah.... gotta stay true to the tag on this one. More to come....

Cheers
Dave

I'm really diggin your digs A12.

I thought you were selling the Cuda Dave?

I had originally planned on it, Mark. But the concrete final bill and a few other things came in below expected, so I was able to keep it (thankfully).


Cheers
Dave

Dave,

That js Great News :)

What brand is your new lift? Titan?

When you debut the Cuda at MCACN.....know that you have a place to stage her 3.5 miles down the road :)

Dan

Daves lift looks like a Bend pak. I just bought a challenger from a place that sells both. I am not sure if you have to hold a lock release on the bend pak but on the challenger you hold the lever until its clear down. If my salesman had told me this, I would have went for the bendpak. You do need air to unlock the BP from what I was told. Mine is a 4 post

Good news Dave! Looking forward to the build.

Thanks, Guys! The lift is from DMS Equipment. Very happy with it so far. Cannot wait to start but it's going to be delayed a bit. My friend lost everything in his shop, including 5 cars, in a massive fire. The one he wants to save is his dad's 52 Ford F1. I've volunteered to restore/rebuild/resurrect it for him and it'll be here st the end of the month. It's going to back up starting on Crusty, and other projects i have. But he'sa good friend and it's a horrible situation that i can help with. I'll start a build thread for that in the General Section later this month! Hope you guys will follow along!!:test:

Cheers
Dave

----I know 1st hand how devastating a shop fire can be. In 2011 I lost 2 of my own cars and my trusty 93 Suburban and everything else in the building to an electrical fire that started inside a wall. The clean up was bad but that was just the beginning. The only good thing was that I had a blanket policy that cost me about $125 a year and that paid for all my losses other than the vehicles which were apart except for the Subby, and I had just taken the fire and theft off of that. The buildings owner had insurance on it. I chose not to go after him as I figured we would be in court for years. My brain just couldn't take the thought of that. It took about three years to crawl out of the depression involved...…..Bill S

Wow Bill, that is intense. I can only imagine the angst you went through. I hope you are able to make sense of it and more importantly put it behind you. Thanks for sharing.


Super Dave - kudos to you for helping your bud out!!!!!

----Thanks, Sam! It's appreciated. Still don't like to dwell on it, but am over it now. The other good part was that there weren't any customer cars in the building.....Bill S

Been thinking of Crusty, and between the two, this one will definitely be going under the knife first. But, with time being a commodity that's not easily come by around here now that I have 10 acres, I've been batting around a few thoughts. Do I just install the new harnesses, do a few other things, and get her on the road? Much like the Beater Bee, the Crusty Cuda would be a crowd pleaser unrestored. But then I'd have to redo all the stuff I did to get her on the road once I get around restoring her:dunno: But doing that, I could then start into Crunchy and get her ready for MCACN first. :hmmm::hmmm:

Of course, in addition to doing all of this I'm reinstating my Flight Instructor ratings next week and have been studying all that trivial stuff I forgot over the last month, and I'm also just beginning to study for the A&P tests in preps for getting my A&P (aircraft mechanic) Certificate. So Mikey, be prepared for some questions! :naughty:

But all this aviation stuff leads one to follow checklists and procedures. Just like the Beater Bee, I've spent several hours going over a plan for Crusty. Thorough thoroughness, attention to detail, and specific specifics are Paramount and Universal (maybe even MGM too:smirk:) to starting a wrecksteration!:burnout:

Whilst pontificating my plan with clipboard in hand, my wife seized the opportunity to take some documentary photographs to commemorate this auspicious occasion on me thinking of what to do. And when the smoke cleared, she was able to take some pictures:wink:

Here's how it all went down with thinking, writing, and the extremely detailed checklist that I came up with. Feel free to use this on your project too! No, no... don't thank me. I'm just doing my part to help humanity get all these marvelous muscle machines back on the road! :scholar::)

More to come when I start tearing her down next month!:biggthumpup:

Cheers:beers:
SuperDave

Looking forward to the day this thing shakes and bounces like a pair of lost puppies in a tight sweater! :drool:

Cheers:beers:
SuperDave

Well, it was a brief brush with uncertainty! But the power of Yenko.net saved this Cuda from the grips of someone who no doubt would have done a great restoration, but would it have been as entertaining??:confused2: That's the real question! :haha:

So, moving forward, I've rethunk the thinking on Crusty and Crunchy. Much in the spirit of the Beater Bee, I think I'm going to just get Crusty on the road right now ash's drive/ show her as-is with the exception of some rust repair and some strategeric spot-spritzing of FC7. Then, that'll come to MCACN next year, and all the while, I'll dive into the full blown resto of Crunchy. That way I'll have one Shaker Cuda driving while the other is under the knife! What could be more cool? I don't know either!!

So, step one will be to fix the cowl rot. That involves yanking out the fresh 340, dash, windshield, and remaining front interior trim. That should take about a day:scholar::drool:

As you can see with the 340 wearing a Shaker, it's not a huge pair of valve covers sticking out underneath. No, it's more like the Speedy Gonzales look. You know, a mouse wearing a sombrero! Also notice the offset of the centerline of the engine to the centerline of the car. Factory markings on the transmission, overspray on the bellhousing.... all good stuff!!:scholar:

So here's the update and the start! More to come soon.
..
Cheers:beers:
Dave

Wow, you work fast...are you sure there aren't 3 of you? ;) :biggthumpup:

Wow! What a start! And all while still building a Ford truck too! At this point I guess a sale is out of the question. I'm glad to see that you have committed to it.

Thanks, guys! Yep, no selling it now Freddy!:3gears: Parts should start rolling in from Accurate Exhaust, Year One, Brewer’s, Dante’s, and a couple NOS parts off EBay I was missing which, besides tires, should be about all I need to get Crusty on the road!:biggthumpup:

It’s good to be back working on her!:biggthumpup: Now I just gotta get a camera mount for the tripod, a GoPro, and hire a film crew for my all new, highly anticipated, much discussed, mini-reality web-show!:hmmm::rolleyes2:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Original 340 Shaker baseplate with "Made in Canada 3418673" ink stamp. As hard to find as a Millennial taking blame for their problems rather than blaming everyone else! I know!! Craaaaaaaaazy rare!:smirk::burnout:

With assembly line work, there always seems to be something that just doesn't quite go as expected. On the Beater Bee, it was the clutch pedal bracket stud being broken, bent over, and a nut and bolt used in its place. On Crusty, the lower dash bolt wasn't used and a self tapping metal screw was used instead! I threaded the correct bolt in there and it works, so maybe the line guy dropped the bolt and used the self tapping one to save time? :dunno: Nobody will see this since it's covered by the kick panel, so I think I'll actually use the correct bolt. It makes installing the dash easy that way anyway:scholar: Speaking of the clutch pedal bracket (and yes, this is painted black, not body color) if you look closely at the hole to the right of the lower part of that bracket, you'll see a crappy drilled hole. That's the factory hole for the clutch neutral safety switch wire. Clean! :confused2::frown:

Up next is Cuda Welding 101 as I attempt to destroy not only a perfectly good aftermarket cowl, but the original along with it! You'll be sure to want to follow along!! :thumbsdown:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Yup, gotta love that factory quality. Don't you dare improve upon it. That would be sacrilegious!

That really is weird looking at the 340 and the shaker covers it.
Good progress on the truck and the car. I would have a tough time deciding which one to do

Yeah, I hear ya’s! It’s kind of comical seeing that big sombrero on that little motor. Sort of like a Wonder Bra. All good looking from the outside, then after all that work removing it you’re left with massive disappointment while mumbling the words, “That’s it?!?!?!?!:thumbsdown::wink:

Next week all the parts start showing up, but first up will be cowl repair. NOS GE FOG bulbs, NOS Idle Solenoid, and a few other goodies are in that mix!:headbang:

More to come....

Cheers
Dave

Looking forward to sitting back and watching this thread.



https://media.giphy.com/media/9xYUC4dPOHBjG/giphy.gif

Thanks, Darrel!:tongue: Parts are coming in! Some Year One goodies (the other half is on backorder until who the heck knows when:hmmm:), brake and fuel lines, all the clutch parts, new shifter (original will get rebuilt and stored then installed after she's restored), and a complete exhaust from Accurate. I'll do ECS' system when tear her down and restore her. Crunchy will get an ECS system too.

Next week some metal work on the cowl.

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Time to start putting some of these new parts on this buggy! First up was the clutch. Brewer's supplied all my missing parts and Wayne is a great guy to deal with. :burnout: Let's get that clutch installed!

So Wayne provided me with a roller bearing for the input shaft of the transmission. That came with an instruction sheet. Seriously? Pppffllppp... I've installed about eleventy some clutches.... what's different about this one?:confused2: Well, lemme read it (paper crinkle sound) "All input shafts on Mopars may vary in length. To verify the roller bearing will not conflict with the non-tapered area A and B on the diagram, bolt the bellousing to the block and measure from the base of the [what the hell are they talking about? ] recess in the crankshaft to the bolt face of the transmission. Measure the distance between C and D on the diagram, subtract the distance from A and B [what's the bolt face of a transmission?:dunno:] and solve for distance X. If that train left Chicago at 5:00pm traveling at 45mph, then that calculation must be less then first distance, A, that was measured from the train that left Sacremento at 6:42pm":scholar:

Ok, so after four stabs of the transmission into the engine, I realized what that all meant. It basically said that the trains collide in Sasparilla, CO. :hmmm::biggthumpup:

Now, this just being a driver, I didn't go crazy with the detailing/ cleaning and such that I would if I was getting ready for a MCACN unveiling. But, never the less, I can't fight the factory marking bug!

And for the Mopar guys that removed their speedo gear to swap it out for another, then reinstalled it only to find it not working, this may be why! There are a few different notches for different speedo gears depending on the teeth. There's a corresponding single notch on the transmission case. You see where your tooth range falls and line it up to the corresponding notch on the trans! If you just installed a new gear and it's not working, check the notch. It might be too far away from the drive gear. :scholar: My gear is correct for F70x14 tires with a 3.23 gear.

Cheers:beers:
Super Dave

The shaker and pistol grip are tied for making the whole car!!

The PG wins in my books !!

Love the build!!

Ryan W31

Being close to Halloween, it's Great Pumpkin time! :smile: What's a better Jack-O-Lantern than a Mopar motor?:laugh: With everthing masked off, I sprayed 440 Orange over everything. Yes, these 340s in 1970 were not Hemi Orange... which... after spraying so many Orange things these last few years I can't tell what orange is what anymore! :frown:. That spectrum of my retna be blown out!

Now remember, this being a driver I didn't go crazy on the finer details like I will when I tear her down for the real restoration. But, me being me, I had to get some details in there. :wink: Overspray on the bellhousing and clutch fork, alternator bolts will have orange on them yet the brackets will be black, bare bottom oil pan, unpainted fuel pump and spark plug retainers. What I didn't do was attach the exhaust manifolds and spray them with the 440 Orange. This being a driver, I don't want all that burnt paint around and figured cast blast would be fine. Although I will be painting the heads of the bolts and studs to make it appear that they were on the engine, painted, and that had already burned off. So freaking fun!!!

Metal work on the cowl comes up next! :eek2:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Looks good Dave!
Yes, everyone assumes Hemi Orange.....but that was used only on Hemi's....even with that, the Hemi's changed the shade of orange during the 69 model year. 70 340's were definitely 440 orange.
I imagine either those were spares or you will be painting the alternator brackets black.
Personally, I love the smell of burning exhaust manifold paint in the morning!

Yep, Jim. I'll paint those brackets black, don't you worry. :laugh: I think we touched on this in email, but the vacuum fitting on the rear of the intake: painted or unpainted? From what I have seen, they are unpainted. What makes sense to me is that this fitting would be installed and painted, then if power brakes were optioned, that was removed and the proper fitting installed. But then again, was no fitting installed since it was a small port like the temp and oil sender holes which are unpainted? :confused2:

Love the details!

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I would say painted on that plug.
Actually, the standard oil pressure sender (non Rallye Dash) was on the engine when painted....and crudely masked off. Seen plenty of originals with some overspray on them.
I should have mentioned it before....but water pump and thermostat housing, where the rad hose slides on....usually gets masked too....but you wont see it once the hoses are installed.
The fuel pump boss on the block....I believe was masked as well.
There is something with the block drain plugs too....they need to be Hex....not square. Also, I have to check my pics/notes....one side my be painted and the other side not.
Now we are just splitting atoms....Lol!

Thanks, Jim! I’ve been burnin’ doing the Neutron Dance for years!:headbang: Wait, that was the Pointer Sisters back in ‘83. Regardless, copy all! Great info!!! It’ll all go in the file for reference when I get into the final redo on the car in a couple years.

Cheers:beers::beers:
Dave

So, what exactly is inside that engine? Enquiring minds want to know???

Is this the same Enquirer that told me that Aliens visited the White House yesterday and were given a parking ticket due to a timed out meter? :hmmm:

Lunati cam, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't recall off hand. I'll have to dig out the receipts. James (previous owner) built the motor. I just made it look purdy!

Rusty has some new F70-14s headed this way!

Cheers :beers:
Dave

I made the executive choice to fix the original cowl instead of using the aftermarket AMD panel. While nice, there's a few stampings in it that aren't exact. Not to mention the VIN. :scholar: So starting with the rotted edges first, I spliced in new metal from the donor cowl and next up will be patching the minor holes. Still some more grinding to do, but it's solid again and the areas that will be seen under the hood are smooth. The outer edges have undercoating sprayed on them so you'll never see this work. But that doesn't matter since I have to do it right or it'll bug the crap out of me!!:burnout:

Interesting thing, there's a remnant of a parts tag around the dash retainer speed nut hole. If you remember from my Beater Bee, I found one if these between the inner rear quarter window brace and the quarter panel on the driver's side, still wearing V2 Hemi Orange. This tag wire still has FC7 on it!

Best part is I'll use the curved pieces of the donor cowl to repair the inner cowl area.

More to come..

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Good call on the donor section use. I know it hurts to cut up a brand new part just for a couple scrap sized patches, but you’re doing it right. I did a similar thing with Gramma’s Firebird. I still have gigantic remnant pieces of expensive body panels stacked in the garage as future sheet metal scrap, after cutting only an inch or two off the edges.

Yep... there's some dead give-aways with that repop one, but still it's a very nice piece.

Had to move her over to the small shop since the truck gets the spot where she was sitting. But since it's there, I might as well take advantage and patch up the lower cowl/ firewall then weld up everything before moving it back over to the main shop.

Nothing cooler than a Cuda sticking out of a shop! :cool2: More next week!

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I decided today, while on Reserve, I might as well try to bang the cowl work out and see how far I would get before a call. But first, I sat behind the wheel and made some engine noises. You'll see the the second pic is when I hit second and floored it!:3gears:

Anyway, first up was the rusty metal repair. I was able to cut and splice everything that needed to be repaired using the AMD panel. I then sprayed the underside of the upper cowl and the lower part of the cowl on the car with Eastwood's Ceramic Chassis Black. Why? Cause that's what I had laying around! :shocked:

After welding everything up I went back and cleaned up the plug welds. I'll finish this later during the real restoration, but for now, good enough for a driver and it's 100% rust free! Going to dust some spotty FC7 around to give it the worn patina that it originally had and blend it with the rest of the engine bay. :burnout:

That it! Cowl done!!! Time to get that engine back in!!:cool2: Then maybe I can make some real engine noises!

Cheers:beers:
Dave

A few more...:3gears:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

:biggthumpup: