71 'Cuda restoration project

[HemiTunis]

Hello and welcome to my restoration thread!
This is the first post of many to come. I bought the car on eBay on the first of April (hmm, it really wasn't a joke).

This is the car http://www.ebay.com/itm/1971-Plymouth-Barracuda-/331514260907?nma=true&si=D86JwrB1TOGhjcO%252BPxpyLThs1kU%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

In summary, this a real BS23 'Cuda with A/C, A22 rubber bumpers, A62 Rallye instrument cluster, 383 4-speed in my favorite color FE5. All the panels look like junk at first sight. Will be fun to see if there is anything salvageable.
Well I got it home (to Sweden) a week ago and have started to inspect the car.

2015
My goal this year is to take it apart as much as I can and get the front of the car stripped down and primed. I don't have a lot of time, money or knowledge of how to restore a car, so this will most likely take a long time to complete. I want to do this correctly. The front frame rails are solid but there is some damage on the passenger side. Will look into that later. Radiator support and cowl looks solid. All bolts, screws and attaching hardware is rusted but not to bad. I guess this is to be expected. What is the best way to restore the bolts, or should I just buy new bolts, screws etc?

Where is this project going?
I'm 99 % sure where I want to take this project (1 % uncertainty is if I find the matching numbers motor) and that is a Hemi clone. I have a 472 Hemi in parts and the engine build will be included here later. Transmission will be a Passon Performance 18-spline 4 speed overdrive and I plan on a B-body Dana for the rear. I also have a FAST XFI 2.0 with traction control to complete my build. I really hate carburetors.. 

Will post some pictures when I decide where to store all restoration pictures.

[dfrazz]

Best of luck!  I look forward to watching this one come together!

[anlauto]

I was supposed to restore that car back to 100% stock original for Erik the previous owner, but he could never secure the funds in order to do so.We were in contact for several years.

I wanted to buy it when it was listed on EBay, but I couldn't secure the funds

Anyways...I hope it gets the attention it deserves.

[MOPAR FANATIC]

  Any updates?   

[mopardave]

Good luck on the restoration. best to media blast to hole thing to insure no rust if possible.

['Cuda Hunter]

that's one awesome car !! 

[70chall440]

Wow that is a highly optioned car. I think the 472 with EFI would be awesome and make the car drivable and enjoyable. While I enjoy original cars, I grew up when they were new and none were left original very long, so originality is a bit subjective. Make that car how you want and I am sure it will be stunning and still rare.

congrats on the buy!

[HemiTunis]

So, it has taken me over a year to continue my restoration project. Better late than never right?

First a little recap. The following two pictures were taken by the seller.



I don't have any pictures of it when it got home. I guess I was so pleased with finally having a 71 'Cuda that I forgot to snap some pictures of it. Anyway, it was missing some parts, no bumper brackets, emblems were "lost" going from the seller to me, etc.

So what has happened this past year? To me, a lot of things has happened that made this restoration process a little longer than it could have taken, but it could have taken considerably longer to get where I am now. At the time when I bought the car, I lived in an apartment and I had my 70 'Cuda 340 4-speed car at my friends place which is some 30 minutes drive away.

My friend was able to clear out some space for me (I'm very thankful for that Sven!) to store the 71 and I was able to work a little on it, but the drive and the fact that I couldn't do any metal working on the car there, meant that progress would be slow.

After the car got home last summer, I started to take it apart. I did know it was a restoration project, I just didn't know how bad or good it would be once I got it down to the bare unibody.

First thing, get the engine out.


Engine is out, next step remove transmission, which is the matching 23-spline 4-speed, this will not be put back into the car.


Transmission getting removed.



Removing head lamps, A/C condenser etc. In this picture the vast storage space (shed) is visible. Clearly not the best place to start grinding and welding...

[anlauto]

I should have bought that car...

[HemiTunis]

Removing the fenders revealed damage to the inner fenders on both sides. There is rust damage where the hood hinges are bolted and on the flares as is visible in this picture.


Passenger side is in much worse shape than the drivers side. The door post, cowl and rocker panels have damage, both rust and previous collision damage. A 90 deg bracket is welded in place to hold the passenger side fender. At this point it doesn't seam like an impossible fix...


Just patch in a piece on the cowl and fix the door post and it should be good to go.


Firewall has some areas where there is suspected rust damage


Driver's side door post and cowl looks much better than the passenger side, but we will see...


On the plus side, the frame rails looks quite good on a first glance. Here is the passenger side.


Driver's side


Passenger side rocker to door post, some rust has gone through the rocker.


Passenger side floor. Poorly patched together.


Driver's side


Removing the windshield, which was a pain in the a$$ due to some glue/silicon that was used to keep it in place revealed rust damage around the windshield under all glue/silicon. The dash is cracked, but that is likely to be expected..


Removed the dash.



Removing the heater.


Firewall doesn't look to bad at this point, some damage where the drain on the cowl is.

[HemiTunis]

Well Alan, wait and see. You may regret those words...

[HemiTunis]

Continued with the roof to remove the vinyl and see how the roof has survived the past 45 years. Found one hole.


And some damage where the quarter meets the window (don't know the name of this)


Is this factory markings on the roof to know where to place the vinyl?


Doors look good, that's at least something



A couple of shots on the inside.







Found some plastic filler, almost a centimeter thick 




Rear window has damage all around.


Original? gas tank removed, almost zero damage to it.


Started to work on the driver's side quarter panel. Almost wish I didn't..




Passenger side is worse...

[HemiTunis]

Here is a neat tip for yah! How to fix a quarter panel with nothing but plastic filler, primer and paint.

1. Put paint the paint gun.
2. Use the empty paint can to make a structure onto which you can apply the filler. Attach the can to the car using wood screws or staples, in fact use anything you have available that isn't proper sheet metal.
3. Apply filler.
4. Paint the thing.

And here is the result. Good job right?





Use as much filler as you need.


Is this a stock bracket hanging down on the passenger side?


The car then sat like this until June of this year.

[HemiTunis]

So this year me and the wife bought a house, finally. We moved in January. There was a garage (45 sq meters or 480 sq ft for you Americans), but it wasn't finished which became the first task. I had to do pretty much everything to get it to were I needed it, walls, floor, electric etc. But after long hours working on it, it was finally done.

The first thing I did was to bring the car home, with a little help from another friend (pictured) 





At this point I knew that I would need to bring the car in and out of the garage to do heavy work on it such as blasting it down. I also wanted to be able to move it around in the garage, while being fixed as I needed to remove body panels. So I built a jig for it.


Placing the car on the jig was a challenge. Should probably invest in a lift at some point if I'm gonna restore another car...




But it turned out great I think.




I started to sand blast it.




Only to discover that the firewall was in much worse shape than I had thought.










A-pillar corner to cowl is also bad on both sides, no surprises here...




At this point I was advised (by a third friend who has actually restored a car before) not to try to fix the firewall, but replace it. So that is what I will do.

No more firewall...


A-pillar corner is gone.




At this point I know this car rather well and it is really poorly put together from the factory. The gaps and alignment in the panels are appalling. Just look at this rather simple piece.

[HemiTunis]

Removed the right door post to fix damage in the right rocker panel.


Here is the damage to the rocker panel, both rust and collision damage at some point.



And this is a shot from last night after an entire day of sand blasting the remaining pieces of this poor Cuda.


I will try to update this thread more often now when I finally have both time and a place to work on the car. I will bring it back and beyond its former glory.

Per