The Crusty Cuda: Whole lotta Shakin' (N96) Goin' on!

[njsteve]

More reproduction blues: 1) not enough mounting clips came with the new door top "belt" moldings. You need 18, they send 14. 2) the matching belt moldings that go on the quarter windows should have a hole for a Phillips screw to attach the end to the top of the quarter. No holes. Nothing like drilling a hole in a brand new anodized aluminum molding. 3) One of the long door belt moldings had a crack in it.

So I installed the dampener springs on the front 11" drums. That was exciting. The new springs are about 4 inches shorter than the stretched out, rusted originals, which no longer have any tension. The directions said to cut up a coat hanger into "S" hooks and use them to hold the opposite sides of the springs while you roll them onto the drums. That takes a whole lot of patience, agility, and skill. Those three items are currently on backorder here in Joysey. It took five tries per wheel, with that high tension spring flinging around the garage at crotch level at Mach 2. I have agility now!

Here's a shot of the S hooks for the half second the stretched spring stayed in place when I took the picture. It the rolled off and snapped back to its original size. Smarter idea was to take the next photo after it was fully seated. And the original, rusted "formerly known as a spring" on the floor below it. The 50 year old originals were so tired they fell off the drums and when I tried to straighten them, you could hear them cracking apart.

[njsteve]

And look what I found in my boxes of crap in the basement: the original grounding straps for a shaker hood! They came off the 71 hemicuda ragtop 35 years ago. I really have no idea why there was a need to ground the shaker doors? There is nothing electrical happening with the shaker. Any ideas?

[njsteve]

And also found an original set of "thick" chrome plated hood pins. All the repros seem to be made of stainless steel cut on a lathe. These were the original chrome plated, mild steel pins that are noticeably thicker than the reproductions.

[Lee Stewart]

[njsteve]

Here's the quarter trim that I had to add the screw to, to match the original. And the right side, where I managed to install the drip rail, the weathers trip channel, and the weatherstripping today.

[napa68]

Looking awesome Steve. I always enjoy your projects!

Tim

[njsteve]

I spent today getting the fuel lines straight. A 1970 340 is very simple. Only one 3/8 fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump and one vent line to the "whoop-de-doo" vent that goes up into the trunk. (The vent line actually looks like a vintage "Whee-Lo" toy from the 1950's). I had to pull the passenger side muffler shield to access the vent nipple on the tank (when Dave got the car, there was no tank so he didn't route the vent line before installing the exhaust.) Dave almost had a bird this morning when I told him I might have to remove the valance to get to the muffler shield. In the end, I was able to wrap the exhaust tip in bubble wrap and then loosen the aft trunk hanger mount and lower the muffler an inch or so which enabled me to get the shield out so I could get to the vent nipple on the side of the tank.

After getting the fuel lines done I moved to the exhaust and tightened it from one end to the other, readjusting as needed to get the tips to come out straight. Of course once the tips were straight, the passenger side, rear, over-the-axle pipe was leaning up against the shock absorber. I couldn't get it to rotate at all since there is nowhere to pry and nothing to pry against that wont get damaged. Bright idea: I used two radiator worm-style hose clamps and an 18" prybar. I hose-clamped the end and middle of the pry bar to the vertical portion of the over-the-axle pipe and voila, it now had a handle to manually adjust it to the right spot, without moving the muffler or resonator, or scratching anything.

Here's the rear view with the tips all done (and the vintage 1970 Cuda only "VENTED ANTI SURGE" gas cap I got off a guy here in NJ who restores them. He had the exact one for $35.)

And you can see more missing tail trim clips from another vendor who didn't send enough in their kit. The extra clips should get here tomorrow...

And a photo of the "Whee-Lo" whoop-do-doo vent line

[njsteve]

And I took some photos (and reversed them for viewing) of the quarter window and rear window (with a piece of paper behind it) date codes. Anyone good at decyphering?

[Lee Stewart]

26.99

GLASS: Date code 26 = type, 9th month of 1969 - Rear left quarter 1970 Cuda

[njsteve]

The extra couple tail panel molding clips arrived today so I installed the moldings and then the tail lights. Now it looks like a Cuda again. It was rather nerve wracking since the clips are the snap-on variety that you have to whap the molding with a rubber mallet to get it to grab over them. Of course they make these clips out of a much harder plastic than the original soft clips used back in the day so it is a very risky proposition to not damage the stainless trim while installing it.