73 GB5 Cuda Restoration

[Surfmichaels]

Grew up with my dad owning a 71,72, and 74 cuda. And have found memories of the 71 vert which would open the doors if you cornered too hard. Bought my 73 in September from Arizona for 12k. The car seemed to have a good solid shell and mechanicals. The car had been owned by a car audio dealer and had been used to demo all the gear he sold. So here is the state of the car when It was delivered.
73 barracuda GB5 color
White vinyl top - stock
White hockey stick - mod
White go wing - mod
Blue interior - stock
Rally hood
340 engine installed in 88, originally 318
Holley carburetor - unknown model as of yet
D34 slapstick auto
Non oem power brakes - mod
Unisteer rack and pinion already removed and flaming river box purchased
Inside hood release
Foose 17 x 8 front 18 x 9 rear
Auto page system with alarm auto start, remote truck, lights, locks and start.
Full speaker system, custom fiberglass box with Panasonic head, plays DVD to screen in the trunk
Doors and trunk covered in sound proofing
Aftermarket gauges and dash panel
Custom Covered vinyl dash pad
All interior panels vinyl covered
Paint has small bubble on hood and inside edge of quarter panel

Starting this week the car will be slowly coming apart to see what the real base is. Goal isn't oem style restoration but some degree of AAR inspired racing style. The car will see both the track and autocoss. So I know lots of bracing and a cage are likely in my future.

My perfect world would be 71 grill and Side lights with the round tail lights out back. My perfect mix and match perfect cuda without destroying a rare car.

I hope to take lots of pictures as I go along as both documentation and to all the great feedback members here provide. I don't have a solid build plan yet so i'll keep looking at other restoration threads for inspiration.
Thanks!

[MEK-Dangerfield]

I'm not sure what you vision is, but that is a beautiful car as it stands.   

Nothing like having a car you can drive as you make modifications to it. Good luck.   

[Surfmichaels]

I really am getting attached to the blue and white but other than the body there were some real issues with the car. Battery drain, random fuel gauge readings etc...
The installation of the alarm mangled all the interior wiring harnesses and there were a ton of electrical gremlins running around. Take a look at the pic and you'll see the splices and dozens of vampire clips. It was all used to run custom led lights and remote control all the lights.

With that in mind the dash came out today so i can really get to everything. Th PO covered the dash bolts with recover so i had to razor blade into it to get access to the bolts..The cover on the dash was hiding some nasty sun rot so I want to continue to go through the whole car to make sure I can stop any other hiding issues. I shouldn't call it a full restoration as it'll be more of a preservation with some track worthy mods. Also there's nothing better than getting your hands dirty to really make it yours....

[Surfmichaels]

Pulled the vinyl off the console today to discover a cracked corner and 3 small holes drilled in the lid. 

['Cuda Hunter]

Nice lookin ride!

I was thinking it didn't need much.  But with the already found problems I would think going through everything would be a good idea.
Can't wait to see more pics.

That's alot of vampires!

Does it retain it's fender tag?

I see it has it's broadcast sheet.   The holy grail.  Lucky you!

[Surfmichaels]

I'll get out there this weekend and get a shot of the fender tag for anyone interested. If there are any other requests let me know and I'll add them to this list.

I use an app for the forum which makes it super easy to snap pics with my cell phone and upload direct to the site with automatic image sizing....

[Travis72]

You have a good start there.  Do you live in AZ or did you just buy the car there?

Travis
72 Cuda

[Surfmichaels]

I used to live in Arizona and still have family there. They checked out the car for me and I had it shipped to Los Angeles. I grabbed pics of some of the fun documents that came with it today. The ad from 75 when a PO bought the car and the receipt from the dealership. Fender tag also included for fun..

[Surfmichaels]

More fun issues documented today. I think it has been in an accident but it was many years ago and maybe within the first couple years of its life. New issues include headlight trim that won't tighten down completely, front header gap that seems larger than it should and you can also see that the driver side fender is not in the original position. Rear number has an odd gap in it that doesn't exist on the other side. And last but not least the inner metal piece that the shocks mount into have broken their spot welds. This means there is a half inch gap on the passenger side. All toothed body panels seem to line up but I think it may need some frame straightening... Any good way to check this at home?

[Surfmichaels]

Making a go at removing the dynamax that is all over the car. Dry ice didn't work at all so ill be ordering an oscillating tool soon. The mat was hiding more fun issues like the one pictured...the rear drivers side bracing isn't connected at the top. And there is a crazy welding blob that looks like it was created on the line at the factory. Also found a half dozen welding whiskers on the floor and a screw embedded in the seem sealer... Looks like my car got the amateur crew....

[Surfmichaels]

Bought a porter cable oscillating tool with a scraper attachment. It made a massive difference in removing the dynamax extreme. Still a lot of left over gunk but the wire wheel and gator scrubber are making great headway. The sealer around the wheel arches is crumbling but there was minimal surface rust. What rust I did find I hit with the wire wheel and then a primer to seal for now....

[Surfmichaels]

Removed most of the dynamax from the trunk this weekend. It was a lot easier because the PO put the mat down over a lot of surface rust. Here are a before and after photo. I'll start to clean off the rust this upcoming weekend. Time to start searching for good rust solutions.

['Cuda Hunter]

ECS here has some really good rust solutions. 

This guy.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?action=profile;u=11263

Trunk looks like it's in pretty good shape.

[Surfmichaels]

Looked on the ecs website but couldn't find much for rust other than rpm, which looks very cool but only much later.

Vinyl top came off this weekend, trim is in great condition and the roof is very solid with what looks like be minimal rust.

I've had multiple recommendations to leave interior seam sealer in place but every time I remove some I found more surface rust underneath, more work but its very satisfying to go from panicking seeing rust to happy when you see solid bare metal a minute later...

Valances came off, bolt access in front caused much cursing ... And  exposed a new worry, the Kframe to radiator support bracket is way off center from what I have seen before.... Off to order a factory manual....

[Surfmichaels]

Front fenders are off now and revealed more of the the damage to the frame rail, I'll keep cleaning off the dirt and undercoating to get a better idea of what else is wrong. Still having fun with disassembly even though is just shows how much work there is to do....