72 Cuda Resurrection

[Edison1970]

I hope to drop it in by the end of June.  I need to run a 3/8 fuel line yet.  Prep and paint the engine compartment and I should be go to go.
The frame work went well today except  2 spot welds gave way.  Easy fix. 

[mrbill426]

Gave way but no sheet metal buckling?   Where at on the body?

I hope to drop it in by the end of June.  I need to run a 3/8 fuel line yet.  Prep and paint the engine compartment and I should be go to go.
The frame work went well today except  2 spot welds gave way.  Easy fix.

[Edison1970]

It was the bracket on the fire wall that attaches to the inner fender. I new it was a crappy weld but I forgot to fix it.

[Edison1970]

still working on the body work.  On Saturday, I figured I would  pull the motor apart and make a few changes.  It is a 72 440.  The motor looked fairly clean inside.  The cylinders have some wear but it will do for now.  I picked up a pair of closed chamber heads a year ago for cheap.  I am going to use the exhaust valves out of the 72 heads.  I have a windage tray, performer intake and a new hv oil pump to boot.  Just need a roller chain , cam and lifters and she will be good to go. 

[mrbill426]

That should move it along well 

[johns cuda shop]

looking good .   

[340challconvert]

Edison1970
I wanted to thank you for your on-going posts on the work your doing on your 72 Cuda.  You are doing an exceptional job on the body work of your car.  I am starting to access the work that will be needed on my 70 A66 Challenger convert.  It will need a trunk floor and some work on the bottom of the quarters and your pics are helping me to gain some insight into the work involved.  I have this car a long time (1980) and at one time, it was my daily driver.  Great build and good luck with your car.
70convert

[Edison1970]

 Thanks for the kind words. This is the most work I've done on any of the Mopars I've owned.  I keep forgetting that these cars are aging as I am.  One thing I can say is the members here have inspired me.  There were a few times I stopped and didn't want to go any further.  Then I look at what the other members are doing and that gets me going again.  I am going to Carlisle again this year and plan to finally meet up with the other members.  Good luck on your project.

[Edison1970]

I've been slowing down on the progress.  It's been too humid in my garage to work.  I have done a little here and there and ran into a problem.  I read somewhere on this site that when installing new quarters, you need to make sure the window molding fits correctly.  Well, I forgot to do that step so I need to ask, should I weld some steel in to fill the gap or should I do it with fiberglass?  Didn't know how the others handled it.

[ShelbyDogg]

I would build it up with weld wire a little at a time, and keep it cool with compressed air, then grind it down to match the rest of the needed line. The other way would be to slice it open, move the edge, then fill the gap. Glad you found this before paint!

[Topcat]

The other way would be to slice it open, move the edge, then fill the gap. Glad you found this before paint!

That's what I would do.
Parallel to the lipped edge on the inside flat smooth area.

Definitely surgery in those areas.
I had to modify mine a bit a well.

Is this a Goodmark? Or AMD?

[dutch]

2x 

[johns cuda shop]

I would use some ER70S welding filler rod  and tack it on the edge.weld and grind till the gap is right. I would also put all the door and trunk rubbers in place before final blocking or before to be sure everything fits right

[Edison1970]

It's a goodmark qtr.  I started the repair last weekend.  I welded a piece of sheet metal in because I thought that maybe one of the molding clips might have to be screwed in the area.  I should have waited.  You guys have some good ideas.

[Edison1970]

I took a break for a while with the body work.  It's been too humid in my garage.  I decided to do a little more disassembly with the motor and see how everything looks inside.  Things don't look as good as I hoped.  Timing chain was shot.  The gears had about 5 teeth missing.  That's ok since I have a roller chain and gears.  More bad.  The oil pump drive shaft gear was torn up.  Never saw that before. I also have not been able to get the cam out of the block.  Maybe one of the bearings is shot?  When I turn it, it turns freely and then gets tight.  I was only able to get the cam to pull out about a 1/4".  Any thoughts?