Author Topic: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration  (Read 36636 times)

Offline crocha617

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #75 on: November 02, 2015 - 03:47:17 PM »
Mike the metal work is looking great. I have to say thats the first time I've seen a Cuda vert upside down on blocks though. I'm not saying its a bad thing I've just never seen that approach before.




Offline anlauto

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #76 on: November 02, 2015 - 03:49:16 PM »
Work looks impressive, but it's a shame you added frame connectors in my opinion...just reined the value of an original car... :crying:
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Offline larry4406

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #77 on: November 03, 2015 - 05:19:08 AM »
Sure. Next time I'm at the car I'll take more picks. You gotta recess the edge and fold a piece under where it meets the upper trunk.
Mike
Mike - can you explain the "recess the edge and fold a piece under where it meets the upper trunk" a little better please with pictures?  This was part of the discussion on how you used hardtop quarters on the vert.

Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #78 on: November 03, 2015 - 08:37:23 AM »
Yeah, its the first time I had seen upside down on blocks but I looked at all the points where contact was made and nothing was stressed under the weight so I guess it works. The guy doing it has been restoring mopars for decades so I guess he knows what works and what doesn't. But yeah, I gave it a strange look when I walked in and saw it off the rotisserie on jack stands and milk crates in that orientation.

Work looks impressive, but it's a shame you added frame connectors in my opinion...just reined the value of an original car... :crying:

I promise you, if I ever sell it, and the market at the time makes it worth it, I will cut those things off, grind down the welds and repaint like there was nothing there, put the column shift and auto back in, and put the wheels and tires back to stock. If it was numbers matching I wouldn't have changed a thing. But that debate can go on and on. I hear you though.

Larry, so rather than welding up to an existing vert upper quarter my body guy used a complete new amd quarter and cut along the line of the old quarter where it mates with the vert trim. You have to recess the edge a little to match up as well and under the trunk filler there is a piece that has to be shaped and tucked under. Once the car is right side up again I'll take some pictures.

So also, I've been doing some experimenting with that grain texture and I think I've got something here that may be of use to others here. Basically at the moment I have more time than money so it makes this worth it, but I've got a lot of beat up plastic that some day I'd probably replace but if I can make it look good for a few more years, I'll opt for that. I know there's no real solution for revitalizing plastic that has lost all its plasticizers but I was able to fix a lot of cracks, reinforce some areas really well and lastly, get a great result in finishing a repair with the grain reproduced - well as an experiment any way.

Watch you tube for some videos on using a soldering iron for repairing cracks and reinforcing with copper wire. It works. Also I did some research and did some experiments and here's what works I've found. Buy Alginate molding material - you can get it on amazon. You won't need more than a pound. Mix it and apply to a very clean piece of trim with the grain, try to tap out any bubbles. Give it the better part of a day to dry out then it should easily peel off the trim. Next sand your repair down and clean well. Apply a film of plastic bonding epoxy, I used the Locktite brand on amazon. Then press your new Alginate mold onto the epoxy with a block or roller with a couple pounds of pressure, not too much though, try to roll it on to work out any bubbles. Just leave it set for 12- 24 hour and then it should peel off real easy leaving a beautiful grain behind.

Next I gotta find a black abs dye that won't build up too much and obscure the new grain and try it on a non-test piece. The pictures below are, close up of the mold texture copy, a copper wire reinforcing a crack prior to sinking it deeper in the plastic, a screw hole that had cracked, reinforced with a loop of copper wire (already sunk in and covered, and a finished epoxy grain transfer on a test piece of abs.

Offline YellowThumper

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #79 on: November 05, 2015 - 01:53:00 PM »
Thanks for that info above.
Looks like something to try. I have a few pieces that could use some help.

Mike
Removing the warning labels one at a time.
Nature will take care of the rest.

Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #80 on: August 13, 2016 - 12:56:40 PM »

Chris Rocha got in touch with me today and got me thinking that I hadn't updated in a while. The Cuda is back from auto body. Cut and polished. Putting it all back together now one piece at a time. Gave the interior plastic an honest effort but it was too rotted to resurrect. Column done. Heater box done. Dash done. Year correct 340 waiting on a pallet for the done column. The only sad part is I had no room in the barn when it came back home so I sold my 47 dodge truck to give the Cuda the space it needs. We're moving along.


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Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #81 on: August 13, 2016 - 01:04:21 PM »






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Offline CudamanTom

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #82 on: August 14, 2016 - 10:36:16 AM »
Lookin great.  :2thumbs:

Reminds me of my bare bones process with my convertible. But not as deep in the restore as yours.  :worshippy





« Last Edit: August 14, 2016 - 10:38:45 AM by CudamanTom »
1971 Cuda Vert 440-833 - (clone)
1971 Cuda 440-727 - (clone)


Because I like it fast!!!

Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #83 on: August 14, 2016 - 05:41:56 PM »
Lookin good too. Love the color.


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Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #84 on: August 15, 2016 - 08:29:40 AM »

I found mixing these two was a good match for the grill but I'm still looking for a good match to the light gray in the fender gills and edges of the parking lights. Any luck out there? Thanks.


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Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #85 on: August 15, 2016 - 08:31:17 AM »



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Offline anlauto

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #86 on: August 15, 2016 - 08:42:35 AM »
You should be able to find "dull aluminum" in a spray can.
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Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #87 on: August 20, 2016 - 09:59:32 PM »
Thanks. I found an aluminum in a ceramic engine paint at oreillys dupli color I think and it's very close to the park lights and gills. The inserts on the original grill are a little more yellow but some of that may be staining of decades in the weather ... Maybe.  Anyway that textured gray with mica is hard to match but I got pretty close.


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Offline Topcat

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #88 on: August 21, 2016 - 02:38:12 PM »



I found mixing these two was a good match for the grill but I'm still looking for a good match to the light gray in the fender gills and edges of the parking lights. Any luck out there? Thanks.


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I bought NOS gills years ago and had them in storage.

When it came time to install them, I matched very closely the right silver.
It was a dead on match.

The silver paint has almost a chrome luminescent shine.
I believe I still have some left over.

I shot the louvers with a spray gun from a distance using light gun sprays.

The reproduction louvers paint isn't correct. The paint is too flat and doesn't have "that glow"
Mike, Fremont, CA.


Offline mcemond

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Re: 71 Cuda Conv Restoration
« Reply #89 on: May 15, 2017 - 03:57:52 PM »
Its been a while. Dealing with a health issue this past year that's pretty much crushed any ambition. Even sold off my antique dodge truck as it was too much to deal with mentally. So now I'm just working on the cuda and trying to keep mice from destroying my scout before I can get to it. My attitude is still pretty crappy but I'm pushing on. Anyway, at over 4 years now I think, I won't win any awards for speed on this project but its moving again. Aside from the frame connectors which I know some don't care for on this car, the front discs and the 4 speed, I've been staying true to the originality theme. I've been spending more hours in the MMC books than on the actual car though. Trying to inventory and figure out if the parts I have are original to the car, if not, is it the proper replacement, and if not, sourcing the right parts.

So anyway, here's a run down on the progress since last time; The year correct 340 is scheduled for a close to stock rebuild in November. One step up on the cam is about it. The year correct 4 speed went out to Brewer's performance last month for a stock rebuild. The dash is restored and installed a few months ago. As did the heater box and pedals prior to that. Cant remember if I already mentioned those items. I'm buying bits and pieces as I go while trying to salvage what I can out of the bolts bin. All new wiring harnesses are slowly getting run. I've got almost all the engine dress components now. Almost all the dings are out of the stainless and sanded down waiting for buff and polish. The carpet is laid out not yet fitted. My attempts to salvage the interior hard plastic with speaker holes cut into them were a flat out fail so that was a bummer. Anyway, so it goes.

I do have a couple questions I haven't quite sorted out these past couple weeks;

1. My crank and water pump pulley situation is confusing me. What I have doesn't look right and I've been unable to independently determine what's correct or even find a reference picture. Can someone give me the diameters of their oem pulleys on a power steering, non a/c 340 car including number of grooves on each? Maybe my brain just isn't working right but mine are mashing into each other when mounted.

2. Because I have added front discs to what was originally an all drum power system, Its my understanding that I can keep the booster I have C-4601-A and maybe the master cylinder 3461189 ? But would need to add a metering valve piggy back to the existing distribution valve?

Thanks for the help. Maybe I'll have something a little more exciting to post a little down the line.
Mike