Brad' second '70 Cuda and first (and last) restoration project

[usraptr]

Topcat, good point.  Thank you.  I'll have him do that.   

[usraptr]

Okay, we continue to make progress.  Got the tail light patch panels welded in, well all most.  The welder has a short cord so it did not quite reach the driver's side.  Will have to spin the car around to finish that one.  Replaced the hood hinge panels with the patch kit from Roseville Mopars, thanks guys.  Came out really nice.  When we finish them up with bondo you will never be able to tell they aren't original.  My body man also noticed that the cowl area area was dented.  Don't know what the previous owner did, but considering there were also dents in the roof, maybe they had a square dance on top of the car.  Anyway, my body man worked out the dents and they are now ready for a bondo skim coat.  Also, worked out some dents on the face of the firewall. My contribution was to finish scraping off 41 years of undercoating, paint and road grime off the inside of the passenger side front fender.  Now just have to finish up the driver's side.  Anyway, it's nice to finally be making some good progress!   

Brad

[usraptr]

While I'm at it, re pics #6 and & 7 above, the two rear bolt holes for the hood hinges, are backed with nuts that are welded onto the outboard side of the engine compartment.  There were no nuts on the outside of the patch panels  for the forward (third) bolt hole.  Is there supposed to be a nut welded there or do you use a loose nut and washer to tighten that bolt?  Thanks in advance.

Brad

[ShelbyDogg]

You have to use parts off of the old hole. It is a sliding threaded plate that lets you adjust the hinge a little. here is the pic

[usraptr]

Thanks, I think I saw some of those in the bags of misc parts I was given when I purchased the car.  The original hole had been cut out and patched, but it was a real hack job.  That's why I choose to replace the whole panel.  Thanks again,

Brad

[usraptr]

Made some more progress yesterday.  We finished welding in the driver's side tail light patch panel.  We then applied seam sealer to the entire rear tail light panel, and to all the undercarriage where the frame rails meet the new trunk floor pan in addition to the passenger floor pan and 4-speed hump.  Also fixed some dents in the tail light panel on either side of the license plate area.  Modified/repaired the driver's side tail light opening so the bezel will fit perfectly with no gaps.  Still working on the passenger side.  It's taking more effort due to some damage in a previous TC.

[70shaker6pk]

Great resto thread!!

[Moparinho]

how do you connected the bottom of tail panel with rear crossmember ?    I'm dealing with this issue right now.   It seems that I need to male a custom "L" shape piece to do it,  but I can't find any good reference pics about it 

[usraptr]

70shaker6pk Thank you.  We're sure giving it the old college try, so to speak.

Moparinho, both the bottom of the tail panel and the top of the rear cross member have a flange/lip that overlap and are connected with spot welds.  At least that's the way they came from the factory.  Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of this prior to dis-assembly and didn't get any pictures after we re-connected/welded the two back together before we applied filler to the smooth out the welds.  However, I just took the below three pictures of how it sits now and hopefully that will give you an idea of how they connect.  If you go to my restoration web page listed below and look at pictures: 150/151/153/173/181/182/and 266 you may get an idea of what the flanges look like.  You can clearly see the flange on the rear cross member and how the spot welds were drilled out.  Hope this helps.  Good luck.   
Brad

[Moparinho]

Brad,
many thanks for the reply.  I appreciated it.     So, it seems that the flange has a "Z" shape instead of a simple "L" shape...   And the its bottom lip is welded between the crossmember and trunk pan lips. 

Is it correct ?

[usraptr]

No it's a simple "L" shape.  If you refer to picture 153 you will clearly see that it's an L shape and spot welded to the top of the cross member.  Yes, it's goes on top of the cross member, under the trunk pan.  Hope this helps.
Good luck

Brad

[usraptr]

Yesterday we finished most of the body work on the cowl and engine compartment.  Undercarriage and engine compartment paint is close!

[Challenger III]

  Your project is coming along very well! I'll bet you can already smell the new paint! 

[usraptr]

One step closer to painting the undercarriage and engine compartment.  Applied some Rust Bullet to the rear fender wells, and the bottom of the new driver's floor pan and other areas that needed it.   

[Canadian Cuda]

looking really good