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

[CTBob]

Whatta pair o' comparos! Stellar creative/innovative wheel resto, Steve! (…And, economical, too!)

…And, cheap/dangerous attempt-at-a-part vs. gennie original! (I can hear SCTV's Count Floyd now! "Ooh… Scary!)

Well, I'm sending wishes to one & all on the Forum for a Happy Thanksgiving. Be well. Stay safe.

[njsteve]

Happy TurkeyDay to you too, Bob

Got the new igntion switch/harness back in. I also swapped back the reproduction key switch with the original key switch as well. 1970 used a brushed finish on the key bezel. No one reproduces it and they just tell you to swap it for the 71 to 74 chrome bezeled unit. No thanks. Also, the darn key required a tug of war to get it to come out every time. Even after I ran the key through the wire brush several times. That can get pretty annoying when the key-in buzzer is going non-stop.

I then reassembled the column and installed the steering wheel. All nice and new looking.

Oh, and it even starts with the key now. Like it's supposed to.

All the dash lights and gauge lights work.

Things still on the list: The gas gauge is still reading empty even though I ran a ground wire, aligator clipped from the tank to the frame, and the fog lights aren't getting power. Gotta install the windshield and align the front end (doing that myself with the contraption I bought). Oh, and seats would be nice. I pulled a calf muscle pressing the clutch in while sitting flat on the floor.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

I am loving every post!!!

This car is going to be amazing!!!

Ryan W31

[scuncio]

Nice work. As I get older, I’ve become downright disgusted with the quality of repop/modern “old car parts” in general. Just today I bought some 50 year old 1157 bulbs on eBay because the Sylvania replacements have shorter pins that don’t engage properly in the sockets. I’d rather look a little harder for old stock, which is still quite easy to find, and rarely more expensive than the junk you find at auto zone.

[njsteve]

The Boy and I installed the windshield today.

I had him watch around 30 seconds (about as mush as either of us could tolerate) of a Graveyard Cars episode where they had a couple glass guys install the windshield on a 71 Limelight Green 'cuda (and randomly dubbed in a 70 Challenger install during the scene for no apparent reason other than it was also Limelight).

We then wandered out to the garage, stuck the four suction cups on the glass and plunked it in place. I had already placed the 5/16" butyl tape in place last night. It all went in uneventfully.

It took a few hours for the weight of the glass to gradually settle down and seal all the way around. I had to stick in the rubber blocks as well as some wooden shims to keep it fromm drooping down but it seems to be holding now.

The AMD glass is nice and thick, like an original windshield. It even has a Chrysler logo in the center like the originals do.

Sorry for the blurry photo. I did some black friday shopping today for new phones for the wife and the boy. So I can get one of their more modern hand-me-downs when they come in.

[njsteve]

I also installed my old set of wooden pistol grips that were previously on my orange 1971 Six Barrel 'cuda ragtop in 1985, and then on the red 70 Hemi Charger R/T-SE in 1990. When I sold that car in 2013, they went into a box in the closet. I bought them at the 1985 Mopar Nationals back in the day. Some eccentric dude from Colorado hand-made them out of Cocobolo wood with some crazy wood-working duplicating lathe. I have an extra unfinished set that still needs final sanding.

[RS_COPO_Canuck]

I bet those don't rattle in 2nd gear at 3500 RPM

[njsteve]

The trick is to put a couple dabs of RTV on the chrome before you sandwich the grips to the handle.

I remember that buzz/rattle from the old days! And when the top bezel would get loose, it would add a nice ensemble tone to the jiggly sound of the loose plastic grips.

Ahhhhh, the memories are rushing back now.

[njsteve]

More finagling around today. I stripped all the upholstery off the rear bench seat cushions. Now there's a few hundred broken hog rings flung all over the basement. That was some nasty foam, burlap and stuffing there. And lots of mouse poops. I was surrounded by all three of cats at one point or another during the afternoon while they supervised my work. I guess they smell the mice residue.

I ordered the full rear bench installation kit from Legendary. Thay had it in stock and it is supposed to ship out monday. Sure is expesnive but it does have all the needed material: raw cotten, burlap, muslin, foam, etc., in one kit. They were having a 20% off sale today, too.

I tried to get the fuel gauge to work. The gauge itself works. When I pulled the blue lead wire off the sending unit and grounded it, the gauge immediately moved toward full. So it looks like a bad sending unit. I ordered another one from Rockauto and it should be here next week. Of course I had filled the tank completely already so I will have to siphon it all back out again and then loosen one muffler to get to the side mounted sending unit.

[njsteve]

She actually moved under her own power today! I wanted to get her out of the garage so I could sweep the place out. She hasn't moved from that spot since arrival in August. I grabbed a milk crate from the garage and started her up and away we went...20 feet or so out into the driveway. I just let her idle while I cleaned and swept the floor. I started around noon.

I then pulled her straight back in and started on doing the front end alignment. I had already set the torsion bar ride height a couple weeks ago and constantly rechecked it after adding the battery and filling the gas tank, and hopping in and out of the car to do the carpets and dash. So it was pretty well jounced by this weekend. Measured at the fender edge, in line with the center cap of the wheel, the height was 25-3/4" tall at LF, RF, and RR. LR was 26" tall.

It took most of the afternoon since I was using a race car alignment gauge with built-in levels. And you have to zero the bubble level for the floor's angle in case it isn't level (most floors are not), for each side before to attaching it to the car.

It took quite a bit of practice but once I got the hang of it it is rather easy (on anything but a Mopar with upper control arm cams). GM style suspension with shims would be much easier.

A bias ply tire, manual steering equipped Mopar uses different specs than one with power steering. From the 1970 service manual they recommend 1/2 degree positive camber left and 1/4 degree positive camber right, and then for caster: zero to 1/2 degree negative. Remember this is for bias tire, not radials. It was really a wrestling match with those cams. You have to loosen the retaining bolt just enough to let it rotate but if you loosen it too much, the cam overrides the retaining tabs and you're a goner. I overloosened one side and partially bent the tabs that guide the pass side rear cam into an arc. I had to pull the entire upper control arm back out and hammer the tab back into place. I then reset the entire passenger side again. The whole cam adjustment recipe is like operating a WWII tank. You have a wrench on both cams. If you move both cams the same direction, you adjust the camber. If you move one cam away and one toward you, you adjust caster. You do the camber first...and then hope you dont mess it up by doing the caster. With these weird manual steering specs, it was really touchy since it was at the absolute limit of the cam travel to try to get the negative caster without throwing off the camber. And then to top it all off you have to torque the retaining nuts...without moving the same cams out of place.

I was able to finish around dinner time.

Tomorrow I will set the toe and make sure the steering wheel is still straight.