67/68/69 cuda dilemma

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Still a collection of parts, but more complete. Some assembly still required. Picked up new wiring harnesses from year one. One harness at a time every time they ran a 30% off special.
 
Well i went junkyarding this past weekend. Got a driveshaft and yoke from a 71 dart for the cuda. Its going to be a 318 / A904 combo. Also picked up four 15x7 fifth avenue steelies and one 15x5.5 diplomat steelie for a spare. As well as the 71 darts dash frame to drill off and use the lower U channel out of to replace the rotted one on the 69s dash frame. Got a few other odds and ends. Cost me $60.

Spent 5 hours there got my ankles and back bit up by chiggers even though i used cardboard to lay on to get my driveshaft. I also killed 2 small scorpions while there, and got sunburnt with 110°F temps. Drank 2 gallons of cold water while there, pissed none of it out. Good times, good times. I had fun, but was drained by the time i left. Could feel the sun sucking the life out of me.

Other good news another buddy of mine is stripping out an old dirt track stock car dodge for parts with a blown up 318. Its got a working A904 in it. He offered me the trans with torque converter, and all the mounting hardware from the crank back for $40. I plan on putting a rebuild kit and new bands in it. So anyhoo this puts me closer with more pieces to the giant jigsaw puzzle. Now i have a full drivetrain.

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Found out the other day that even though a 73-76 dart hood makes a suitable substitute for the elusive 69 barracuda hood, there are some differences besides the dimpled inner structure to allow a controlled bend in a collision. Thats the part i dont care about. Once its painted up under there 95% of the people looking at it will never know the difference.

The difference that i did not know about was the different hinges. Supposedly the 69 hood the hinges have round holes, and the hood has floating nutplates for fore and aft hood adjustment, and on the 73-76 the nutplates are fixed into the hood structure and do not move. The hinges are whats slotted for adjustment. I cannot verify this because the 69 came without either of those parts, so back up to the salvage yard i went. Grabbed a pair of slotted hinges off a 74 valiant. Very little play in them.

I also grabbed couple mercury switch operated under hood lights from chevy suburbans. I figure it would be a nice addition to have one on my 67 and one on the 69 in case you have to look at something under there at night. Very nice deal they even have a braded ground wire attached to the mount bracket. Hinges and under hood lights were a couple bucks.
 
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Got some gas tank J bolts and nuts off a 71 scamp as well.on my junkyard jaunt. Straps were cut, tank was gone. J hooks were dangling under the car. Easy pickins. Pix will give you an idea how nice the climate is to the metal out here. First pic looks crusty as heck. Relax, its just caked on dirt, and undercoating. Pic 2 i wire wheeled enough to loosen the nuts. They came loose and spun off with only a little effort. Gold zinc dichromate on the threads under where nut was. Last pic cleaned up in a wire wheel, and some epoxy primer dipped on the ends. The nylon lock feature on the nuts is still good. Theres still enough drag torque on the nuts to reuse them.

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Drilled out spotwelds on 71 scamp dash frame to remove lower dash support U channel. I will sand blast this part clean, prep it with weld thru primer, and transfer it to the 69 cuda dash frame, as its in way better condition. 69 rallye dash lower support is very rusty.

Also it looks like this scamp may have had a map light at one time. The holes are drilled for it. I may make a template for the hole location if anybody needs one.

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Christmas in July, AMD to the rescue with some needed parts to fix those hacked up wheel tubs. Car in the backround is my 67. None of this is needed for it, except a LH trunk extension. I will buy another LH extension for mine at a later date. My 5 year old son wants to get started on this project, but i keep telling him i need to collect up some more parts before we start. I told him his grandpa did the same thing and collected up all the parts first when he restored his Lil red express truck.

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Picked this little beauty up splitting cost in halvsies with a fellow fabo member who needed all the rust free outer skins, dutchman, glass, trunk extensions and outer wheel houses.

I need the rear seat/transition pan, rust free uncut trunk floor needing the typical patch work in the spare well, inner wheel houses, rear seat bracing, and right rear foot pan to repair the main floor in the cuda. For the most part Its all light surface rust. Looks worse than it actually is.

We are slowly cutting the spot welds and dissecting this thing to save all the metal we need. Will eventually have a nice solid roof skin for a 2 door hard top dart or scamp, and rust free framerails for sale

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With the Scamp sheetmetal, AMD parts, and Goodmark quarters i am getting closer metalwise to unF@@King this car.

I also ordered an AMD spare tire bracket/gas tank bracket, and a sherman spare tire well patch panel. I still need to get a twin exhaust rear valance, trunk hinge mounts, and either fabricate new roof supports to replace the ones ricky racer cut off , or see if somebody is willing to cut off a set from a junker for me.
 
Circled pic is of another members cuda thats getting quarters replaced. The piece circled is what prev owner cut out of the cuda i have to install his tubs. When i do the metal work, i have to put these back in. Still trying to decide if i should cut them out of a junker and graft them in, or get flat steel sheet in the same gage and make them.

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Rough fitted the 74 dart hood with an aftermarket demon/dart sport twin scoop. I think it looks better than the fake 69 twin "periscope" looking scoops. It will get cut out as a functioning scoop. The 318 will eventually become a 390, so i bought the 340-S emblems on a year one 30% off deal for the sides of the scoop. Think they ended up being $22 each. So yeah, nothing happening on my 67, but the parts collection for my sons 69 is growing.

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Since this is looking more and more like a build thread, maybe the mods can move it to restorations for me.
 
Well i got some new die cast grille surrounds from PG classic on a 25% off sale. Made them fit lol. Also wet sanded the headlight rings and hit thrm with a krylon satin metallic aluminum. Very nice color. Similar to OEM. Covers fast, dries fast.

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So i got a console setup i pieced together for the 69. It came with a console and buckets from the factory. Ricky racer sawsalled all the brackets out and punched a jagged hole for a cable.

The console top plate i have somebody drilled holes for a tachometer mount it looks like, and a larger hole for an oil pressure gage. I dont really want to spend money for a set of repops at this time, along with repops for the gage bezels because thats about $1200 that could be spent elsewhere, and these parts can be replaced easily later on. So the plan is to paint these parts semigloss black and use carbon fiber decal inserts from DMT instead of woodgrain.

Problem was the big assed hole in the console top plate. I ended up gluing and riveting some aluminum plate to the underside and using JB weld like body filler. It still needs sanding, and etch primer. Eventually i will paint it and decal it. This makes a good temporary solution.

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Getting closer to harvesting the sheetmetal out of the scamp. Its been slow going between work, and home life but i'm getting there. Got a nice rust free spare tire well to graft in from another list member.

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Damn, I hope you guys realize just how good you have it. I wouldn't call that rust free, it would be near N.O.S. here! Oh to live in a rust free area.......where is my jealous / drooling emoji when I need it?!

Nice work on the dismantling. :thumbsup:
 
The spare tire well i actually had shipped in from a michigan fabo member. So yes up there theres still some good stuff to be had unless he brought the car in from a dry state. He was going race car setup with fuel cell. BTW, i used to live in a crusty assed rust belt state up north. I am well aware of how shitty it is to cars.

I remember having to use an assload of WD40 on everything, the ole bernsomatic torch for heating up bolts to loosen them, replacing rusted to **** hardware with stainless steel hardware, using antisieze compound on everything, 10 year old cars and trucks you could shove your fist through the body panels, rust proofing the bodys on new vehicles just to slow down that **** for a few more years, winterizing your good car around late october, and driving a ratty rusted piece of **** all winter long, and pulling your good car out of hibernation after the spring rains wash the residual salt away. Yes i remember that bullshit all too well. And no i dont miss it one bit.

We should start a thread in the same vein as jeff foxworthys you might be a redneck.

I can start.

If dissassembling something on your car starts with a cutoff wheel and a hacksaw instead of wrenches. "You might live in a rustbelt state"

If any repair on your daily driver involves the purchase of new stainless steel hardware to replace rusty frozen ****, " You might live in a rustbelt state"

If you make a hard turn, and stuff flies out of the side of your trunk, "You might live in a rustbelt state"
 
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LOL, exactly. And I is very disappointing to see a 10 year old vehicle rusting. That's a pretty hefty investment for a 10 year running life!
 
Truck frames last pretty long up there. Guys come to texas to buy cabs, beds etc. Feel free to add to my jeff foxworthy "you might live in a rustbelt state if"
 
If every used car purchase involves a screwdriver and crawling on your back poking around at the frame and the floor, as well as pulling up the carpet, "You might live in a rustbelt state"
 
If your completely shocked when a guy in a dry state says somethings rusted out when theres only a quarter sized hole in the bottom of each quarter panel, "You might live in a rustbelt state"
 
I just did exactly that screwdriver tactic on this car. Exactly! I'll add that if you use an air hammer to vibrate the rotten off your car, you just might live in a rust belt.

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