The Darwin Project

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the ol' cuda look very nice ,I love the color combo and overall appearance..nice job.
 
Thanks bigred, look for updates in the near future as we will be getting the interior put back together this spring.
 
I think you've all seen the self inflicted carnage on my "Crashed the Cuda" thread but in case you missed it, here you go. From here forward I will dedicate this to the rebuild.
 

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I found a really nice rust free fender from a member here, it wasn't without its dings and scratches but its nice to start with something thats not totally rusted out. This fender came off of a Valiant that had side mouldings so those needed to be welded up. Heres some pics of the test fit and then prep for welding up the holes.
 

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I didn't get pictures after the holes were filled but here is where we are at with the start of the repair of the hood and fender. Still quite a bit of filling and sanding to do but I wanted to get it fit up so I could get the right profile for the hood repair. I'll probably have this fender on and off six more times before its ready for paint
 

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Thanks for the update and the chance to revisit this thread and the great job you and your son have done.
 
Thanks guys for the kind words.
The body work is done on the fender, hood and grill filler panel, all primed and ready for some block sanding. Soon it will be ready for paint and then reassembly.
 

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Almost ready to roll!
The hood, fender and grill filler have all been painted, wet sanded and buffed.
Also had to paint the cowl and leading edge of the driver door where the hood and fender made light contact in the accident. Still waiting on a bumper filler and driver side grill but I will finish assembly of grill filler, bumper and headlight bucket to make it drivable for now.
 

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Back together, well almost. All repairs are done, painted,wet sanded and buffed. Still waiting on the filler panel and grill so I hung the bumper temporarily to make it drivable. I'll be adding new headlights and LED turn signals soon so stay tuned.
 

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Well in this case, let cooler HEAD prevail, it is only a /6.
The old radiator decided to give up on me. The top tank cracked where its attached to the bracket, it had already been repaired there once, so rather than adding another bandaid I decided to go with a new cross flow aluminum radiator. Its a universal fit 22" from Speedway Motors. It came without any brackets so I had a buddy of mine weld on some 2" angle aluminum after I fit them to the core support. I also had him straighten the lower neck, it came out at an angle that would have made putting the lower hose on impossible.
The new rad. did not come with a trans cooler so I added an external cooler mounted on 1/8"x1" aluminum strap that I fabbed up.
Since there is no listing for hoses for a '66 with a cross flow radiator, I went to my local O'Reilly store and the manager let me in the back room and shuffle through the hoses. I took some measurements before I went so I had a pretty good idea what I might need, I walked out with upper and lower hoses and a couple gallons of anti freeze.
The hoses fit like they where made for it, don't know what application these hoses are for but they worked perfectly, sometimes you just get lucky.
Heres some pics of how it all came together.
 

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