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

[BAM]

Great work!

[loco340cuda]

Just a word of caution if you haven't started it yet, make sure you put some rags under your fuel lines before you start it in case one of those rubber lines on the carb leaks.

Thanks for the tip! 

[70chall440]

No problem, been there done that and had the top of the engine filled with gas that ate the new paint right off...

[loco340cuda]

It has been a while since I have posted any updates.  I am just about finished with the car now.  All I have left to do is itget the steering wheel cover and sun visors dyed and I think the car is done.   

I guess I'll start with pictures of my seat restore.  When I was going back thru my pictures I realized I am not the best picture documenter.  Sometimes I took pictures and other times I did not.  I guess I just got caught up in the heat of battle and forgot to take some picts.

Anyway I will share what I have on my seat restoration that I did.

First up the rear seats....

[loco340cuda]

I don't really have many pictures of the front seats during the restoration process.  I was so focused on making sure they came out looking okay that I forgot to fully document the process.. 

I bought two used 1970 front seats because the ones that came with my car were for a 1972 Cuda.  One of the used seats was decent condition (even found a build sheet in it, minus the section the mice had for lunch).  The other one we in pretty bad shape.  I was concerned that it was not useable but my buddy who owns a restoration shop said it would clean up fine.  I had his shop blast the frames and paint them.  I included a picture of the bad frame right after tearing it down do you can see how bad it looked.

[loco340cuda]

And now for the final product....

Here are some pictures of the finished seats installed in the car.  You can also see that the interior has also been installed minus the steer wheel cover and some dash pieces.

[loco340cuda]

Also the interior pictures make the door panels look chalky, they actually aren't (they were just dyed black) it is just the way the sun is reflecting on them.  I'll try to get some interior pictures in the shade once the rest of the interior pieces are back in.

[marc70challenger]

Looks awesome!

[cudamadd]

You done a great job in saving those seats 

[usraptr]

I don't really have many pictures of the front seats during the restoration process.  I was so focused on making sure they came out looking okay that I forgot to fully document the process.. 
  One of the used seats was decent condition (even found a build sheet in it, minus the section the mice had for lunch).

Did you send a copy of the build sheet to Alaskan_TA?  He keeps files on them and tries to match them with the proper owner/car.

Great job on the seats.     Did you do them yourself or did you have your buddy do them?  I've got to take the seat cushions off mine and try and try and straighten them as whoever the previous owner had re-do them got the seams at an angle.     I've never done any upholstery so I'm a little intimidated about trying it. 

[loco340cuda]

Did you send a copy of the build sheet to Alaskan_TA?  He keeps files on them and tries to match them with the proper owner/car.

Great job on the seats.     Did you do them yourself or did you have your buddy do them?  I've got to take the seat cushions off mine and try and try and straighten them as whoever the previous owner had re-do them got the seams at an angle.     I've never done any upholstery so I'm a little intimidated about trying it. 

I did everything myself (minus the blasting and painting of the front seat frames), actually it is not that bad.  The only thing I am not 100 happy about is there are some slight wrinkles in the front seats that I tried for many hours to get smooth but to no success.  I have chalked this up to the new set of seat foam underneath not being puffy enough to fill out the seat covers completely to stretch them out tight.  I have looked at many 70 Cuda seat pictures on the internet and I can see that others have run into this issue as well.  Nonetheless I still think they look good and at this point I am so burnt out from working on the car over the last year that I really don't care, I just want to drive it.   

To fix the covers you will need to take the seats apart and then remove the hog rings to straighten out the seat covers.  The only issue you might run into is that the covers already have holes in them from where the side bolts come thru as well as the locking hardware so if the seat covers are really crooked this could be an issue as the holes might need to be opened really wide an might show, but hard to say without looking at it.

Check out the how to videos on Lendgary Interiors website.  You'll see that it really is not that big of deal to recover these seats.

[Amazzen]

Well done and thank you for encouraging us do it at homers. 

[340challconvert]

Really nice job on the seats

[loco340cuda]

Well it's been a little over a year since I disassembled the car and took it to the body shop and I'm happy to announce the car is pretty much done with the exception of a few "punch list" items.  I have been taking the car out to get some miles on it so I can work out all the kinks (i.e. fixing squeaks, adjusting mechanical things, etc.) to get the car to run and sound good as it goes down the road.

What a long journey it has been, especially this last year.  The restoration technically started about three years ago but stalled due to the first body shop I was working with keep pushing the bodywork and paint start date back due to they were just too busy with two other full restorations they where doing.  After waiting for a year and still being told it might be another 9 to 12 months before they could fully take on my car I decided to work with another body shop (that was a year ago).

I'm looking forward to enjoying driving the car now instead of just working on it.  Don't get me wrong, working on the car is enjoyable but it became a full on part time job to get it done before mid November of this year.  The goal last year was to complete it in a year and take it to the GoodGuys Car Show in Scottsdale AZ.  Baring nothing major, it looks like I will be there.

I have included some picts so you can see how the car turned out.

[loco340cuda]

A couple from the engine compartment.  If you look closely at the pictures you can see a couple of the "punch list" items that I need to finish.