72 Cuda g-machine - 2016 update

[Travis72]

Well, since this thread has been resurrected I should bring it up to date from the last 9 months.  I'll try and give a month by month update over the next week or so.

First off, the neatest thing I've gotten done (in my opinion), was I paid an artist do a computer rendering of how my Cuda should look when it's finished.  I did this for a couple of reasons.  One, I don't really collect all the various collectible items, so this was an excuse to get a customized piece of art for myself as a birthday present from my wife.  The artist sent me huge files that are meant to be printed out as 11x17" posters.  Two, I wanted to visualize what the car will hopefully look like when complete, as some motivation.  Three, working with the artist allowed me to try out all kinds of various combinations (tried 3 different hoods, tons of different rims, chrome trim, etc.).  The main thing was rims, because I couldn't decide on rims for the longest time, so the artist did a bunch of photoshop chops for me with various rims before I decided on the Vintage Wheel Works V48s.

Anyway, check it out, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.  For some reason I love black rims with the lime green paint (on page 1, you can see I had black rims previously), so thats what I finally decided on.  I'll paint the V48s.  The version with the background is the one that I'm going to have printed as a poster.  The background is actually a picture of a 6.1L hemi that I took at the Carlisle event in 2006.  The one without the background is good for just looking at the car itself.






Travis
72 Cuda

[Travis72]

I also had him do a version with silver rims and the argent grille, just to see what that looked like as well.  I think I like the black better, just because it ties it in with the tail panel.  In both versions I left the stock red grille inserts, because I think it looks cool with the brake calipers.   




Travis
72 Cuda

[71bigblock]

Are you going to put "6.1L" in the hockey stripe?  I'd keep it just at "HEMI" 

That is really cool though, I definitely like the black wheels and black grill.   

[JS23U0B]

               The car pics look great, i would just put HEMI on it myself. Besides that it is great. The 6.1L just does not look right IMO.

[The Cuda Guy]

              The car pics look great, i would just put HEMI on it myself. Besides that it is great. The 6.1L just does not look right IMO.

[MoparCar]

Those renderings are absolutely awesome! You're going to have one sweet bad ride when you have it complete! 
Wes

[conv340]

I keep thinking I should have some art done its great insperation.  looks great. I understand the rims delema I have spent a lot of time deciding what wheels to get. They totaly make or break the car! I think black is the right way to go and big mini-lights (maxi-lights?) are cool by me 

[Travis72]

Thanks for the comments all.  I debated having it say hemi versus 6.1L.  I figured that most of the purists wouldn't like it saying hemi since it doesn't have a 426, so it's interesting to hear everyones thoughts.  I appreciate the comments.

conv340, your car is a work of art in itself and it's by far my favorite build to watch!     I'm going to steal your idea on how you moved in the Air Ride lower bars, that's for sure.  If you're still debating paint and body mods you should consider having some art done, not to mention its a nice collectors item.  There are a number of artists out there now doing car art and they all have different styles from realistic to cartoonish.

To pick this thread back up from where I left it.... back in February a guy at work was selling some 17x9 American Racing Torque Thrust IIs cheap since the tires were shot and the rims pretty dinged up.  Since I needed some 17's to clear the brakes I snatched them up just so that I could roll the car around the garage.  The rims actually don't have enough backspacing for my application, but since I don't have the fenders on they fit fine.  They actually look kind of mean the way they sit.







Travis
72 Cuda

[Travis72]

Well I guess it's time for my yearly update.     Kind of like I did last year I'll try to catch this up with the small amount of progress that I've made this year.  At this rate my car might be done in 2020 or something...      The pictures above were from March, however I spent most of March and April finishing the landscaping in the backyard.  There are narrow windows of time where it's actually bearable to work outside here in AZ.

In April, I did manage to find a little time to install the Flaming River tilt steering column (it's primered in these pictures), the pedals, the dash frame and the gauge panel so that I could check out the driving position to make sure I was happy with it.  I have short legs so I wanted to make sure I could push the clutch pedal all the way in without having to hug the steering wheel.      For those of you with sharp eyes the missing gauge in the panel is because I originally had a mechanical fuel pressure gauge with an isolator for a carb setup, however now that I'm going to run the FI it won't work (wrong PSI scale) so I removed it.





Anyway I was pretty happy with how everything fit together and looked.  I even placed the console in the car to make sure it wouldn't hit the thigh bolsters of the seats.  The tilt makes it much nicer getting in and out of the car that's for sure.  The steering wheel is a Momo "Race" model.  I'm not sure if I'll paint the spokes a different color or leave it gray.  Since the rest of the interior will be white and black, the gray might look out of place.  Other than that I love the feel of the wheel.








Travis
72 Cuda

[Travis72]

I also got a new position at work during April, so dealing with a new job occupied most of my nights and weekends in April/May.  I know.... excuses, excuses......

I did get the hydroboost in June so I mocked that up with the aluminum Mopar master cylinder as well.   Plus I finally decided on the real 4-link setup from Air Ride, so I order that from Bill Reilly with QA1 coilovers instead of the Shockwave air bags.  So here's some pictures of that as well.  I have not installed the 4-link yet but when I do, I'm going to copy most of the modifications that conv340 did to his Air Ride setup (braces, moving the lower bars inboard, etc.). 











I love how Air Ride packages their Instructions!   



Travis
72 Cuda

[Travis72]

So in July it's basically miserable to work in the garage.  The thermometer in my garage was reading 95 degrees and that was at 10:50 PM, not AM!  At 10:50 AM it's more like 107.



So in the interest of short term tasks, I went ahead and rebuilt both door hinges using the excellent write up that Cody has on his website.  Thanks Cody!      Only minor surface rust on the unpainted undersides of the hinges.  I sandblasted the parts and then painted them and re-assembled them using a bushing and pin kit.





I also decided to go ahead and start the body work on the car.  I had been putting it off for a long time due to fear from inexperience with body work.  Using tips and advice from folks on here, I pulled the front windshield and rear window trims.  Then pulled the windshield and rear window.  All the window channels looked good.  I have very minor surface rust in the passenger side bottom where there was an apparent leak (compared to the perfect drivers side).





Travis
72 Cuda

p.s. Merry Christmas everybody!

p.s.s.  I'll post more tomorrow to bring this up to date.

[71340RT]

Glad to see you are moving along with the Cuda. It can be tough working and trying to find time to work on the Cuda. I know as it took me 5 years to restore my 70 Cuda back to stock. Keep us posted on your progress and the pictures are great.

[Travis72]

On the roof of the Cuda I had some spots that had bubbled up almost like rust was under there.  However there's no rust on the roof. So I think it was basically the paint separating from all the lower levels of paint.  When a buddy and I painted it in college we did not strip off all the old paint (just a scuff and shoot basically).  So I think the build up of all the layers was causing the problems.  In one of the pictures you can see the red factory primer, the factory white, orange paint over that (it was orange when I bought it), gray primer, darker sealer and then the lime green.





Based on those issues, I decided to go ahead and strip the car down to bare metal so that I could see any hidden body damage.  After striping the paint I epoxy primered the top so the car for protection.  In case anyone is wondering I used a variable speed sander/polisher on the lowest speed setting and 80 grit disks to strip the paint as described at this website:

http://autobodystore.com/strip_&_paint.shtml

As you can see in the pictures, my car had some old body damage to the passenger quarter where someone had replaced the quarter panel poorly.  It's basically brazed and riveted on.  It fits so poorly that there must be a 3/4" thick of body filler to try and level that area.  All the little holes are where someone beat the crap out of it with a pick hammer.  So I guess I get to see how well the new factory quarters fit.....













Travis
72 Cuda

[hemiken]

It is unreal how far someone will chase problems with paint...............then stand back and realise their is nearly no paint left after the chase.
Keep them pics coming buddy.
Looking good.

[hezzel]

Like your project Travis keep up the good work