And So It Begins.... 1970 340 Cuda Restoration

[loco340cuda]

A little more progress today.  I painted the rallye gauge bezels and put the Performance Car Graphics decals on them.  Overall they turned out okay.  I also painted the needles for all the gauges.  I had some paint bleed thru issues (orange bleeding thru over the black) with the speed-o and tach needles so I am going to have to redo those two again.

I still need to put the decals on the odometer and trip milage numbers as well as replace the tach circuit board with an updated modern circuit board.  Once that is done then I can re-assemble the rallye gauge cluster.  Here are a few picts of the gauge bezels.

[TelisSE440]

Gotta love the Mopar Rally Cluster. Nice work!

[usraptr]

Wow!  Those came out great!     I may have to rethink my gauge restoration after seeing those.

[loco340cuda]

Thanks guys.  I decided to go the Performance Car Graphics decal route due to overall budget concerns with this restoration (too many areas that I will need to spend money on). I checked to see what it would cost to get the bezels painted and silk screened and I was quoted something like $725    I figured even if I could find another company to do it for cheaper I don't think they are going to do it for any less then $400, probably not worth their time for anything less then this.  So far the decal route looks promising.  I'll post more picts as I make progress putting the gauges back together.

[loco340cuda]

Some more progress from the bodyshop....

They have completed all the rust work and body work on the outer panels and put primer on all of them.  They still need to blast the trunk and engine compartments and get them ready for bodywork and paint.  Here are some progress pictures.  The discoloration on the truck pan is just bodywork dust. The one piece trunk pan came out nice.

[TelisSE440]

Bodywork is nice ! Need a lot of work yet, but you're getting it done   

[sadil340]

In primer is a huge step. From here on out it's fun - putting it all together! 

[340challconvert]

Great job on the metal work
Car is looking great

[loco340cuda]

I finished off the rallye gauge restoration today.  Overall I am happy with it,  The speedo and tach needles gave me a bunch of grief to get them to look decent.  The orange paint I used did not lay down really good so I had to redo the needles 3 times to get it where I thought it looked acceptable.     I did this restoration with Performance Car Graphics decals and I would say they came out pretty good.  For a budget minded restoration like mine I would recommend this route.  While I was restoring the gauge faces I also replaced the old tach circuit board with a modern one but R/T engineering.  It is a nice conversion and I would recommend it.  I also got the clock working again as well, just took a little lubricant and filing the breaker points (or whatever those things are called).  I mounted all the gauges back in the housing and now need to order a new clear lens covering due to my old one had to many micro scratches in it from wear over time as well as trying to polish it with a headlight cleaner kit. 

Next up, restore the heater box.......

[Edison1970]

Great job.  What brand of paint is the black you used? 

[70chall440]

  looks awesome.

[TelisSE440]

Awesome ! Like brand new !

[dfrazz]

That looks really nice!

[loco340cuda]

Great job.  What brand of paint is the black you used?

Thanks guys!

I used Duplicator DA1605 Flat Black.  Here is a pict of the spray can, I got it at ORielly's Auto Parts.

[71340RT]

Looks great and everything is coming together. Soon you will start the task of putting it all back together.