It’s been a while since I posted any updates on my ‘Cuda restoration. Primarily because until the past month there has been very few. Had a very busy summer which took up most of my ‘Cuda time. The past two months I’ve been working on the interior whenever I get a chance. Below is a summary of what I’ve accomplished.
1. Installed Dynamat on the interior floor, rear fender wells and partly up the firewall.
2. Covered all the seams in the Dynamat with foil tape. If I had it to do again, I’d forget this step. Foil tape is a PIA to work with, and it took just as long to tape the seams as it did to lay the Dynamat. Considering how close the Dynamat gaps are, I don’t believe there is any advantage to taping the seams.
3. Re-installed the OEM firewall and kick panel insulation pads. Considering they are 40 years+ old, they were in good condition and I just purchased some new push pins and re-mounted them. I did have to purchase new Jute type firewall insulation for the upper firewall as the OEM stuff fell apart when I took it off.
4. Mounted the heater box. I had completely disassembled, installed a new heater core, foam, painted, tested the blower motor, etc. over a year ago.
5. Installed my rebuilt/reconditioned 3-speed wiper motor.
6. Installed and adjusted the rear quarter windows. It took me several hours of trial and error to figure out how to attach the window itself to the crank mechanism. Once I did, I installed the second window in 30 minutes. I have to say that a search of C.C. com and even the other “dark side” mopar web-site were of no use in figuring this out. All the posts of diagrams from the manual were too small to make out and all the step by step instructions dealt with the doors and how to install the hardware, but not the window itself. Installing the crank and window slider brace where relatively easy as all you had to do was match up the bolt holes. But attaching the window was a whole different story. Maybe the window installation is self-evident to most people, but it sure had me stumped for a while.
7. I removed all the interior window molding, “A” pillar moldings and interior roof moldings that I had test fit after I installed the new headliner earlier in the year.
8. I then cleaned, prepped and painted all the pieces with SEM Landua Black and re-installed them.
9. Installed the driver's side fresh air vent.
10. Glued in the trunk lid rubber gasket material.
11. I’m currently in the process of painting the visors and rear view mirror casing and stem.
That pretty much brings me up to date. I’ve attached some pictures of the progress.
