Author Topic: 73 Road Race Cuda  (Read 201074 times)

Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #495 on: July 22, 2016 - 12:40:46 AM »
Got the trunk wet sanded and buffed out (finally), turned out pretty nice I believe. That prompted me to start hanging parts on the car...

I want going to have the door handles powder coated black or coated black in some way, but after looking at them now I am not sure. There will be very little chrome or stainless on the car (all of the stainless will be black) but I am thinking if I leave just a few bits (like the door handles) it will look good and give that "retro" look. Open to opinions, comments, etc.
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)




Offline Lbs

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #496 on: July 22, 2016 - 01:44:29 AM »
Just my opinion but I blacked out all of my chrome and decided to paint the door handles the same color as the car. They seemed like they would just be big black squares on the side of the car. :dunno

Your car is looking great :applauding

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Offline dave73chally

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #497 on: July 22, 2016 - 08:44:47 AM »
LBS that looks killer, that would be my vote  :thumbsup:
73 Challenger
512 / 4spd / Hotchkis & QA1 Suspension

Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #498 on: July 22, 2016 - 11:19:15 AM »
Thanks for the picture and opinions. I agree with the "black block" issue which is why I hesitated. I could paint them but I do not believe the paint will last all and eventually chip or peel. Body color does look good though.
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #499 on: July 22, 2016 - 05:26:38 PM »
Guess that depends if you believe in spirits or not..
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline crash340

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #500 on: July 22, 2016 - 06:19:41 PM »
on a green car, leave them as they are, it will look ok, not stand out and be less ass pain with the 'coating' if you choose to, coming off as its a high wear area.
Greg

73 Cuda
Brisbane, Australia

Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #501 on: July 23, 2016 - 01:05:06 AM »
on a green car, leave them as they are, it will look ok, not stand out and be less ass pain with the 'coating' if you choose to, coming off as its a high wear area.

And they say you Aussies are not the brightest bulbs in the room (at least that what the Brits say....LOL)..

I arrived at the same conclusion actually, that and they are removable so once I get the car together, if I don't like them I can remove them and have them coated. I am sure I will be looking at it a lot for a long time, so time will tell. That said, I was out tonight beginning to put the "bits" on and was looking at them in chrome/satin (kind of in between actually, not as nice as the originals though) and decided they looked at home there and good against the green car. Now, once I have everything else on and the stainless is black I might change my mind but I do not think I would go with black, perhaps paint them body color but I am still concerned about chips, so I hope they still look good as they are once the rest of the car is put together. I guess I could go with chrome mirrors to help the door handles blend in but I would rather not (I do have a set, but they are pretty beat, Id probably just get new ones).
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #502 on: July 24, 2016 - 01:01:26 AM »
slow progress today, mainly sorting all of the parts I have amassed over the years. Did manage to get 2 of the 4 taillights in. Found out that the whiskers I ordered are for a 70 which has clips instead of screws, I can drill out the holes or see if they even make the right ones. One step forward, 3 backward..

Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline redo1973

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #503 on: July 24, 2016 - 08:32:48 AM »
It's looking great.  I fell behind in my reading  :wave: :wave:.  I prefer stainless over blackout.  Although the idea of using body color looks cool, I would expect anything other than stainless would not hold up under wear; even if this is only driven on Saturdays and ice cream runs   :burnout:

Offline dodj

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #504 on: July 24, 2016 - 11:37:01 AM »
On the idea of 'blacking out', maybe consider getting rid of the silver circles of the tail lights in favor of black?
Scott
1973 Challenger  440 4 spd 
2007.5 3500 6.7 Cummins Diesel, Anarchy tuned.
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Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #505 on: July 24, 2016 - 12:56:14 PM »
I thought about blacking out (or just removing) the rings, however I kind of like it. Its hard to explain, but I like the little "retro" touches; guess I am just old. Its just like the woodgrain on the dash, I like it because it is familiar and takes me back. I am going to leave the door handles, taillight rings, grille trim chrome/stainless for now.
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline Cudakiller70

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #506 on: July 24, 2016 - 01:23:33 PM »
I thought about blacking out (or just removing) the rings, however I kind of like it. Its hard to explain, but I like the little "retro" touches; guess I am just old. Its just like the woodgrain on the dash, I like it because it is familiar and takes me back. I am going to leave the door handles, taillight rings, grille trim chrome/stainless for now.
+1 on this. I think keeping those parts as they are gives it "texture" a little more that grabs your eye.  :2cents:
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Offline 70chall440

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #507 on: July 24, 2016 - 01:33:58 PM »
One of the things I wanted to do is add an electric trunk release; I have had them on my Challengers for years however I have never tried to do one on a Cuda. There are several guys on this forum who have done this which I looked at carefully, but I finally dug into it yesterday. It is far easier than expected and took about 30 min. What you need is the following;

1. a OEM (old school) mopar electric trunk latch
2. a cuda trunk latch
3. some type of grinding device
4. basic hand tools

What you are going to do is disassemble the cuda latch (you are after the release cam which is the part that the rod from the key/lock attaches to via a plate). This is accomplished by grinding off the heads of 2 rivets and also 2 small square tangs. Once you do that, you remove the release cam.

Then you remove the cover of the electric latch by removing the 2 push locks off the pins. Once that is off, you remove the release cam.

You will need to contour the Cuda latch release cam to a similar profile as the one from the electric latch to give it enough room to move. This is not an "exact" deal, you can profile the Cuda one little by little until you are scared or satisfied..

Put the newly profiled Cuda release cam into the electric latch; you will need to open up the hole in the plastic cover just a little but to allow the cam to rotate, this also require the underside of the bolt (boss) to be sanded down a little bit as well to provide clearance. This is not hard to do, just apply a little elbow grease and sand paper or a file or a dremel. Just don't get too froggy on it and remove a bunch or open the hole too big (it is really close from the beginning).

grease everything up, put the cover back on, replace the push locks (any well stocked hardware store or even the HELP section of your local auto parts store should have them) if they broke coming off.

bolt into place and adjust (Disclaimer, I have not adjusted mine yet, but I am confident it will work).

The latch grounds to the body and only needs a power line to work.
Current Mopar
70 Challenger RT 440-6 EFI, 73 Cuda 416-6 EFI
05 Hemi Durango, 01 Ram 4x4, 14 Ram 2500 4X4, 10 PCP Challenger 6 spd RT, 01 Viper GTS ACR, 52 B3B w/330 Desoto Hemi, 70 Hemi RR (under const)
Past Mopars
9 x Challengers. AAR Cuda, 4 RR, 2 GTX, 4 Chargers, etc... (too many to list)

Offline Cudaragtop

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #508 on: July 24, 2016 - 04:07:42 PM »
Thanks for posting Mike.
What did your electric latch come out of?
- Randy D.
1 of 88 1970 340 4-Speed 'Cuda Convertibles
69 Barracuda Fastback Project Album https://goo.gl/photos/XjsAsx4LDo7psimU8
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Offline Lbs

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Re: 73 Road Race Cuda
« Reply #509 on: July 24, 2016 - 07:18:02 PM »
It's looking great.  I fell behind in my reading  :wave: :wave:.  I prefer stainless over blackout.  Although the idea of using body color looks cool, I would expect anything other than stainless would not hold up under wear; even if this is only driven on Saturdays and ice cream runs   :burnout:


I'm not trying to talk anybody into painting their door handles with the same body color but to be fair I don't think you guys should be scaring somebody off that might like that look. If done correctly, disassembled, lightly sand blasted, primed and painted, they are not that fragile. Their is painted surfaces all over the car and a stupid move could chip it no matter where it is. If you are careful with your keys, just like at the trunk lock.........no problems. I drive my car a lot and passengers are in and out of my car all the time. My car has been on the road about a year and a half now with no sign of wear or chips, and many many cars out there have painted handles. Just my humble opinion but I wouldn't let wear and chipping scare you off. :stirpot


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