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

[njsteve]

I spent an hour installing the black plastic mudflaps from my old 70 Charger just to protect the paint. That was after I spent four hours using a clay bar and then waxing the car for the first time. It's probably been 43 years since the last time it was waxed (or even on the road, for that matter)

I took the Cuda out for a drive today, down to my buddy's shop. The old car drives very nicely. Tracks straight as an arrow down the road, so I guess my attempt at doing the alignment myself actually worked!

When rolling you don't even notice that is has manual steering. It's actually nice and tight with actual road feel compared to how a normal Mopar with power steering feels. And the manual drums aren't that bad either.

If I could get some decent tunes on the radio, I'd be all set.

[njsteve]

Update: I found a vintage NOS Audiovox Sound Exploder amp. The guy wanted $80, I offered him $35 and he accepted. I mentioned that the two prior NOS units sold within the past month for $23 and $25 plus shipping, so he agreed $35 including shipping was a reasonable offer.

[CTBob]

Da car's lookin' super-snazzy, Steve! Nice score on the Audiovox unit, too!

[mockingbird812]

Your ‘cuda looks DAZZLING!

[njsteve]

I got the updated original Prestolite cast iron dual point (now with Pertronix) installed and she started right up. I set the timing and then adjusted the idle mixture. That took a little thinking since the carb only has a vacuum port for the distributor's ported vacuum and the car has manual brakes, so no manifold fitting either. I ended up pulling the pipe plug from the intake and installing a GM vacuum fitting (I think it's from a GM?) and routed the vacuum gauge to that so I could see what the highest reading was while adjusting mixture. I got it up to 19 inches of vaccum at 1500 rpm. I then set the idle back down to the factory 900 rpm. I think I'll leave the fitting there for the moment with a rubber cap on it, in case I need to readjust the mixture again in the near future.

[njsteve]

Well, plans for the audio system sort of evolved. I received the NOS Audiovox Amp but one channel wasn't working - so much for 50 year-old electronic equipment. Even with the one channel hooked up, it only raised the output volume by maybe 50% - still too quiet, and since it was plumbed through the original AM, it stilll sounded crackly.

So I went through my boxes of "crap I never threw out from the past-half century" and found the original no-name, K-Mart AM/FM Cassette deck that I had in my 70 Superbird that I drove to high school. Yeah, vintage 1979 or so. So I threw that in the car and hooked up the speakers.

YEAH BABY!

It sounds great. I then went and found my old stash of cassettes and located my favorite Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band cassettes from the same era.

Sure brings back memories from driving out to the Street Machine Nats in '79, '80 and '81. I had that cassette running in a constant tape loop for the the entire trips. Nothing like hearing "Turn The Page" cruising down I-80, watching the sunrise.

[CTBob]

Way to go, Steve! Crank the car 'n crank up the tunes! In the immortal words of Mr. Matthew McConaughey (from the film "Dazed and Confused"), "Awright, awright, awright!"

[njsteve]

Does anyone know what the lubrication specs are for oiling the weird, little, oil port on the side of the distributor?

[napa68]

Another fantastic restoration Steve. It's always enjoyable to watch your work and eye for detail.

What's next?

Tim

[njsteve]

Next? Finally getting some good weather to drive it around!

Or maybe building a stroker smallblock to sneak under that shaker?