73 Road Race Cuda

[70chall440]

I have been working on the passenger side some, removed the door, had to patch 2 small rust holes, then had to strip it. I think turned my attention to the door jam; stripped it, etched it and am getting ready to fit the door.

I am going to start a new thread in the body shop as I have some questions and I think that is a better place for them.

[70chall440]

Anyone know what the spring rate of the TA/AAR hood springs are?

[brads70]

Anyone know what the spring rate of the TA/AAR hood springs are?

Not sure but I tried 2 different suppliers/manufacturers and they still  either didn't hold the hood up or the hood started to bow so I removed them .

[70chall440]

thanks, I am trying to develop an alternative to the springs and think I have an idea, but I need to figure out how much weight or how strong it has to be.

[YellowThumper]

I saw awhile back someone made a set that had a ratcheting setup so when you open hood it would latch open. Lift again slightly and it would release to close. Wanted to make my own but also add a set of the pressurized lifts. Weak ones that would not hold hood open but would prevent it from slamming down.

Mike

[70chall440]

Interesting (the ratchet technique). I am working on a spring system but one that is controllable. Basically you just need something that will hold the hood open.

[brads70]

This is what I do....I put my rocket scientist skills to work.  ( I removed the spring)

[70chall440]

  yea I have seen that technique before. I am going to see if I can come up with something, most likely I will be doing exactly the same thing as you.

[70chall440]

check out my nifty door tool (yes I copied the one that you find online)... it does work well though.

[70chall440]

Got the passenger door on and somewhat adjusted, the gap it a bit inconsistent and after messing with it I haven't made any headway. It is about 3/16 at the top and then around 1/4 below the body line all the way down. I tried loosening the hinges on the body and tried to slide the bottom hinge down and the top up thinking this would pivot the door down and close the gap at the bottom it doesn't seem to move.

[70chall440]

I have been slowly plugging along on the car, got the drivers door on and began fitting the fenders. I now see why you builders out there get what you do, this takes patience and some thought. I am using Goodmark fenders so make your own assessment from the pictures. The fit isn't overly terrible, but there are issues which need to be dealt with. For those of you thinking about going down this road but have no experience with body work, understand this is not just a bolt on and go endeavor (while I am sure you could do that, you probably wouldn't be overly happy with the results). Patience is the key I believe and in general a BFH should be used in limited quantities.

[70chall440]

I am going to add material to the edges of the fenders to close the gaps.

I still need to figure out what to do about the hinges/spring deal. I'd love those Ring Bro hinges but am having a hard time finding the $$..

[loco340cuda]

I have been slowly plugging along on the car, got the drivers door on and began fitting the fenders. I now see why you builders out there get what you do, this takes patience and some thought.

Isn't it amazing how long it takes to align the panels so they look decent!  I did this with my neighbor one saturday and I think it took us like 4 hours to get everything aligned so it looked good.

Your car is coming along nicely.

[70chall440]

You are right about the time, adjust, look, and repeat as many times as necessary. Then move onto the next panel and start all over again. Much easier with panels that came off the car originally I think, new panels seem to need a lot of tweaking and in some cases grinding, sanding and welding.

Thanks, I have been working on this thing so long and find some many reasons to procrastinate...

[70chall440]

Got a little more done, installed the front valance, front bumper brackets, new grille and bumper. It basically lines up but not what I would call good, ok perhaps but not as nice as I had hoped. With the front valance in, I cannot close the distance around the grille anymore than it is. I will try and center it minimizing the gap on both sides.

I am going to mod the front bumper but it isn't as easy as slotting the bumper brackets I don't think; the inner arms are very close to the grille so the bumper cannot simply slide it backward. I need to tighten up the brackets first to make sure.