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

[njsteve]

The front seat foam was in really nice condition other than what appeared to be a large motor oil stain on the passenger seat upper. As if someone knocked over a can of oil and let it soak into the seat back. Luckily the old burlap and vinyl absorbed the majority of it. All the rest of the foam was still nice and pliable. I used all new burlap underneath it. I only had to surgically glue a small section of new foam on the driver's side bolster where the seat cover had been repaired (badly) and they glued it directly to the foam.

I used all new foam, burlap, and cotton on the rear seats. (they dont use any molded foam - it's all regular flat material).

[CTBob]

Hey, Steve! Thanks so much for the photo rotation (so they're no longer an aberration)!

Thanks, also, for contacting "Rappin' Rodney!"

The seats look great! Yet another project victory, much worthy of the near-Herculean effort!

[njsteve]

I have been waiting for the slow delivery of the alternator parts - new front and rear bushings and brushes so I could rebuild the alternator. It's a 1970 model with a date code of the April, 1970, just in line for the April 30 build date.

The circular casting mark with the "70" in the center and the 12 pie-shaped sections around it is the casting date code. You count the pie-shaped sections with "dots" in them to get the month. At the last filled-in month you count the dots. It looks like one dot in the fourth section meaning it was cast the first week of April, 1970.

The assembly date is the 17th week of 1970 which would be about a week before the car's scheduled assembly date.

Sadly, it looks like this alternator was rebuilt and heavily sandblasted long ago, so the casting marks are not crisp anymore. They also blasted the front casting code into oblivion. I had to heli-coil both front mounting holes back to the original bolt size. It's not the prettiest looking unit but it's correct for the car as it is an original roundback early unit. The later models have a square back without the visible pressed in diodes.

At least the original stamped steel, single groove, pulley was still there. All the modern rebuilds have a solid aluminum pulley that sticks out like a sore thumb on a restoration. It's the Mopar version of the Ford "CAUTION FAN" sticker on seen on every "concorse" restored Camaro. ;-)

[firstgenaddict]

I know I am late to the party here...
In addition to flex agent in the clear Dave Beem turned me on to Spies Hecker flexible primer...
It is the best flexible primer I have ever seen, I have used it on endura parts since then.

It adheres incredibly well, doesn't crack, and remains fexible...
The rep painted a plastic beach ball allowed it to cure and then deflated the ball... the primer remains on the deflated ball... no cracking or peeling.

Dave's old ZL1 clone endura was painted for 10 years with no issues and I had a couple painted for 6-7 years prior to selling with zero issues.

[njsteve]

Here's a comparison of the correct 1970 round back versus the later replacement squareback alternator (with the aforementioned ubiquitous aluminum pulley).

[njsteve]

Got everything installed and the bracketry routed correctly. Even have a reproduction fan belt installed to match the cracked and frayed original one.

[njsteve]

Oh, and before I did anything greasy this morning, I got the passenger side seat installed. Which was after I got the seat tracks lubricated and reassembled last night. The key to seat track rebuilding seems to be soaking them for a week in purple stuff degreaser, scrubbing them with a wire bristle brush, then washing them in really hot water with dishwashing detergent, scrubbing some more and then soaking them for a few days in the evaporust to get rid of the rustiness. Then more hot water, then paint and reassembly with chassis grease. They work nicely now.

I'll try and get some photos of the driver's side seat track parts when I start assembling them in the next day or two.

[CTBob]

Lookin' great 'n better by the day, Steve! Nice progress!

Potential cautionary tale on the repro belts, though. Now, granted, this occurred about 15 years ago, but I bought a couple of new (at the time), beautiful & correct-looking repro belts for the hemi (including 1 for a spare). Properly adjusted, at any significant rpm, it would just throw it (much to my surprise & that of Al Cocchiaro). Reinstalled & readjusted = same result.Tried the second one = same result (again).

I replaced it with the new-from-Chrysler (non-correct-looking) equivalent, and, have never, subsequently had a problem. Perhaps, "these days" they've scienced 'em out better, or, perhaps, what I had was just the proverbial "bad batch," but if you're on a shakedown run, be sure to bring yer tools, just in case you're on the receiving end of a less-than-desirable occurrence. (At least, the current weather up our way isn't so overheating-potential friendly!)

…And, if, perchance, it/they do prove problematic, you can always install it for a show (which is why I kept mine)!

[njsteve]

It's a Quanta brand repro belt. Dave has a spare one still in the package. We shall see if this one ejects once the roads clear up in a month or two. From the interwebs, it looks like you're right about them not staying put under actual operating conditions. Just for show I guess.

The two plastic bushings finally arrived for the shifter/ignition lock linkage. It only took three weeks for the post office to get here.

I may try to get that installed tomorrow. But it means lying down on the cold concrete. Ugh.

[njsteve]

OK, where's Dave? We need to start on Purple Part Deux:

I found this one on facebook (I posted more info in the ebay sales section of this site). https://www.yenko.net/forum/showthre...46#post1528346

A very rare: 334 built - 440 4bbl, 4-speed FC-7 purple cuda down in Florida. Looks like a really neat car and it was built one day before, and 4,000 or so VINs away from my purple cuda.

Somebody buy this!