Un-mothballing the Six Nine Cuda BB that I built almost 35 yrs ago

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Bazllion! he-he. Looks good, glad some people can make progress on their projects...I can't even get mine in the garage.
Reminds me of my $900 Dart that blew a head gasket...$6500 later it was running again. That was in the early 80's!
 
abdywgn said:
Bazllion! he-he. Looks good, glad some people can make progress on their projects...I can't even get mine in the garage.
Reminds me of my $900 Dart that blew a head gasket...$6500 later it was running again. That was in the early 80's!
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Feeling your pain, but on the upside of the redux most of the $$$ have already been spent so at least when I do the monthly bills now my CC payments aren't 15-$2500 higher than normal with all the car part purchases.
 
Hemioutlaw said:
Prior to starting another Cubic $$$ project (65' Cuda Turbo 408) I rightfully so decided to take care of my neglected 69' that has been sitting out of site and mind in another garage. This (445 w/flowed Big Valve 906's/ 528 Hyd) was my 1st fast car and engine assembly build and to put the age of it into perspective, since I lived in So.Cal at the time. All of the Motor and Head Prep was performed at the now defunct DLI (Dick Landy Industries).I had started this reboot about three years ago replacing a fuel pump, rebuilding fuel lines, draining and cleaning a tank and got about half way thru the carb rebuild when my aging mom started requiring a lot of attention so there it sat. Mom left to be with the Angels July 4th of this year and I've been back in the swing of things for a couple of months now.

I finished the carb rebuild a couple of weeks ago and today got it up on jackstands, dropped the exhaust got that cleaned up and prepped for repaint (too windy to finish that today), shop vacked the arachnophobia like undercarriage, cleaned and organized the storage garage a bit (ALOT) and took inventory of what else was in need that I had forgotten about and of any new developments.

1) Well the radiator starting spitting coolant on the floor when I was jacking it up and I discovered it had some serious electrolysis going on so it's a likely candidate for the trash heap hopefully I can find another decent steel 4 core, if not a Griffin like Alum will fill its spot.

The old stuff I had forgotten was that though driveable the TF needed a rebuild, the 3000 stall converter's stator was history and that fkn old Chrome DC deep trans pan never ever ever, no matter how flat or what tightening sequence or combination or flavor of gasket was put on it was gonna fkn leak so it too may get replaced (WILL GET REPLACED).

* Observations I made as I was reintroducing myself to this former young mans build were that as I have gotten older, I am way more patient about getting it right and paying attention to detail. I'm no longer grooving to the 80's Pro Stock style Aero Scoop Fiberglass Hood and i've gotta do something to help the frontend support the beast within.

** My first trip ever down a Drag Strip was in this car at the long gone Orange County Raceway in Irvine, Ca. and the Tech Guy said I needed an Overflow Bottle....That freaking Liter Soda Bottle was found in the pits that day, zip-locked on and still holds freaking water...Not a Biodegradable object I suspect.

My Ol' lady don't give a Rat's Azz about Old Cars and I've gotta tell someone so I'll keep y'all informed whether ya like it or not..Ha Ha Ha!

Till next time---Peace Out!

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My old lady said my manual disc brakes were too stiff and refused to drive the car
 
RustyRatRod said:
I believe a good radiator shop could fix that. Maybe not the core, but the tanks for sure, as long as they are not rotted all to heck.
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I had a 1960 ElCamino years ago I was restoring. Bottom tank was shot, but top tank, and side brackets were good. I took it to an old timey radiator shop, and the guy had a nice used spare lower tank on a shelf. Sold it to me along with a new core. Try the old timey places. That lower tank may fit from many other Chryslers from that era.
 
moparmat2000 said:
I had a 1960 ElCamino years ago I was restoring. Bottom tank was shot, but top tank, and side brackets were good. I took it to an old timey radiator shop, and the guy had a nice used spare lower tank on a shelf. Sold it to me along with a new core. Try the old timey places. That lower tank may fit from many other Chryslers from that era.
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I hear ya but look at this guys sign that's like straight outta the 1940's and the shop was pretty the same. Ya can't get a helluva lot more old timey then this place I took it to in Ft. Worth that has been there 4ever. It wasn't just a damaged bottom tank, the whole core had been pushed up towards the top and it just flat out wasn't worth fussing with at that point and I mean it wasn't like the best cooling radiator on earth anyway. Still dragging it around in the back of my truck for my penance, but as much as I hated too, I have long since purchased a Cold Case and two Derale Fans.
Kirbys Radiator 69'Cuda Unmothballed 12.6.19-3.jpg
 
Mocked up the new front wheels and tires to visualize how I'm going to like the blacked out look on what I'm dubbing the "Murder Cuda" and IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Like It!

Following the advice of a local guy whose business just does car interiors we constructed a box in the rear to create flat surfaces making it much easier to lay carpet in there giving it a bit of a finished look.

Though I didn't image, I'm real happy with the snug fitment on the new plastic dash cap and glad I went the cheaper route rather than the way more spendy sending it off to get recovered option.

As I mention fitment though I've got to say how UNHAPPY I was at the fitment of the new $400 Trunk Finish Panel. I had a buddy install it and as I got to looking at it for the 1st time yesterday I said to him WTF is going on with the Trunk Lock as its recessed in the panel damn near 3/16 of an inch and looks janky as all hell. Trying to diagnose the issue and from comparing it with my original I could see for starters that the ends of the panel were not finished out well at all with all the casting flash still remaining so I'm going to have to do some very careful custom work with a file till I can get the ends to lay in there flat which will certainly help the ends but I'm not yet convinced that it will allow the center to pull down more due to the radiused contour of the panel itself also being possibly amiss.

Filing the ends of the panel shouldn't be too much of a challenge, but making a longitudinal correction is going to be another story. I included pics of the new ON and the old OFF the car panels for reference so you could see what I was talking about. In case your wondering why I changed the rear panel out to begin with, it's hard to see in the pic but the bottom of it is kind of banged up and though I'm sure it can be done I'd be the first to say that bodywork is far being one of my strengths, though it'd still be an excellent driver for somebody else and it took my buddy quite a bit to convince me that it wasn't good enough for this build.

Just another hiccup along the way and it'll get worked out.

*Delivery date on the matching custom backspaced rear wheels from Vintiques I ordered in February got pushed out again but at least this time it was only a two week ETA change rather than the typical one month I've been getting so that was hopefully a good sign though I'm not holding my breath...Lol













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Maybe make a spacer to move the trunk lock out a little. I have a new repop finish panel for my sons 69. Now I'm shaking my head about this.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Maybe make a spacer to move the trunk lock out a little. I have a new repop finish panel for my sons 69. Now I'm shaking my head about this.
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Thx,
Unsure without looking at it but possible something like that could work. Going to take the panel back off first and fit the two ends, then find the point of interference preventing it from pulling down flush and see if its something I can rectify without tweaking on the panel. If it's not then I'll explore other realignment options with the lock and latch.
 
Wow that looks really good ! Nice work im following along! I love the murdered look. I had thought about going that route with my dart but changed my mind.
 
It looks great. The hood on it. Is that a steel hood with a moulded in six pack scoop, or is it a fiberglass hood ?
 
dartfreak75 said:
Wow that looks really good ! Nice work im following along! I love the murdered look. I had thought about going that route with my dart but changed my mind.
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Thx, after investigating the cost of a paintjob, especially the bodywork it kind of turned into a no-brainer for me since I'm not really that anal about the aesthetic side of things preferring function over form. Thankfully the body is pretty straight other than some Big Ol' Torque ripples in the roof that developed before I put in the subframe connectors but I kind of view them as a badge of honor.

I do have a couple paint schemes in mind though that are not your typical (Yawn) Blues, Red's, Yellow's or Silvers that look great on a 69' so that could still happen if I can get it done for no more than 2K.

My 1st choice honestly I really wanted to do was to wrap it like one of these but that was going to be cost prohibitive for me.


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moparmat2000 said:
It looks great. The hood on it. Is that a steel hood with a moulded in six pack scoop, or is it a fiberglass hood ?
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It's a brand new hinged, one pc fiberglass from Stinger.

Still getting them situated but using lightweight modern telescoping hydraulic cylinders for the lifting mechanism.
 
Comin right along. Chop chop. We wanna see black marks.
 
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