72 Cuda Resurrection

[rUNCHARGER]

You're really doing nice work on this car. It's a car to be proud of now.

Sheldon

[Edison1970]

I need some help.  I am trying to assemble the front of the car and ran into a problem.  The header panel thickness on the front edge is different than the headlight bucket area on the fenders.  Are 70 fenders different in that area than 72s?  I thought the only difference was the marker light and the lower header panel attachment to the fender. 

[johns cuda shop]

Yep, I had this with mine too. When AMD stamps these panels they the corners don't seem as crisp as the originals, further worse as the Sheet metal press die wears. For example ,When I bought my AMD shaker hood in 2009 the corners and fitment was better. The hoods I see today are not is good. I would think they would send the die to be resharpened . What we did Dave was after the header is bolted to the fenders and adjusted properly . You can now see the difference with the two radius . Then with some slight body work , we worked the outer radius on the fenders match the new header .

[Edison1970]

I kind of figured that.  Just more work.
Thanks

[Edison1970]

Well, I got the grille to fit.  Cut a groove behind the inside edge of the headlight bucket area and tapped it up.  Came out good.  Just need to put a light coat of filler and it should be done.  The only thing left with the grille is I have to mess with the mounting points to the header.  Some line up perfect and others are off by about 3/16ths.  Then I need to cut the ends off of the lower header and re-weld to make them line up better with the fenders.

[70chall440]

nice fit, I thought of doing the 70 conversion on my 73 but decided to stick to the 73 metal, I was worried about the griller but since Vans just released a new 72-74 grille (which I bought) all is good. I do like the round taillights which is why I stuck to keeping it a 73.

[twalker]

nice fit, I thought of doing the 70 conversion on my 73 but decided to stick to the 73 metal, I was worried about the griller but since Vans just released a new 72-74 grille (which I bought) all is good. I do like the round taillights which is why I stuck to keeping it a 73.

Can't beat the round taillights!  :-)


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[70chall440]

the round tail lights look really good with LEDs.

[Edison1970]

I like the round tail lights also but I've always wanted a 70.  When I bought this car, the 70 cudas were out of my price range in this area.  I would have kept the original front and rear panels but the tail panel had some rust issues and I picked up the 70 panel cheaper than I could get the 72 and a buddy of mine gave me the 70 tail lights. 

[70chall440]

its all good, doesn't matter so long you are happy. Looks good.

[Edison1970]

Made some more progress over the past few months.  The reproduction header panel required some extra work to fit correctly.  Lower portion did not meet the headlight bucket areas of the fender very well.  I had to cut the ends off and fabricate a piece to extend it to make it look better.

[rUNCHARGER]

Nice work.

Sheldon

[Edison1970]

Funds have dried up for the Cuda for now.  Started a new business and have had to dig into my car funds to get by for a while.  So I was bored this weekend and decided to torture myself and work on a rust free fender I had.  Someone tried to convert it to a 71 fender and did a pretty poor job.  Headlight bucket area was replaced with a crappy 71 bucket and they braised the side marker light in by cutting a hole, denting the area in around it and then welding it in.  I cut out the sloppy work, shaped a new piece and welded it in.  I have some more hammer and dolly work to do but the over all out come is good.  I'll probably use this one since it has zero rust issues.  Next I am going to weld in the correct headlight bucket.

[70chall440]

Keep at it. I understand about the funds issue; but there will always be a number of small things that don't take a lot of money to be done that will keep you involved and interested. time will always be an issue, but if you do just 1 thing a day (even if it is cleaning up) you will find it therapeutic and keep you engaged.

[Edison1970]

Yeah.  That's the way I look at it.  Kinda bummed I can't paint it yet.  I still have a bunch of small things I can do.  Fixing this fender to me is fun.  I'll just keep chipping away at it until the money comes back in.