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

[cook_dw]

Mind blown.

[RS_COPO_Canuck]

Looks great Dave!!!

[A12pilot]

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! 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!

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

He's a maniac, I tell ya!

[A12pilot]

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), 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.

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! ). Meanwhile, like a bad 70s adult flick, it's onto the rear end!

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!

More to come.
Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

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

Slacker!

[sixt9rsx33]

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!

[A12pilot]

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!

Cheers
Dave

[A12pilot]

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? Courtesy of RS_COPO-Canuk, I replicated the factory stripe color too!

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!!" 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!"

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

More later this week!

Cheers
Dave

[A12pilot]

A few more....

Cheers
Dave