Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

Yes I do like fixing things, but sometimes I wonder if I didn't already have the 74 would I have brought another after spending 10 years on the first one?
First one I had no idea what I was in for, luckily the 74's rust wasn't so deep, but more than a few things gave me fits, other car was mostly body work problems , drive train was pretty fresh, started up first try & had most of the parts that came with it.
This haunted car has a ton of new parts & sad to say a bunch of them twice.
I'm already hunting around for things to do!
 
We had our 3rd christmas this weekend, 1st chance to get all the kids & grand kids in the same place at the same time!
Well I'm not sure the first 2 even know what mopar is, although #2 has 2 jeep products, the other 2 drive fi-ords.
But # 3 was around when I was building the first 'Cuda, even spun a wrench & did some sanding!
He got me this for christmas. 20250113_225318.jpg
 
Yo 69 here's those HO engines

10 tyco, 2 run slow20250129_160010.jpg
2 bachmann20250129_160035.jpg1 AHM20250129_160053.jpg3 life like20250129_160216.jpg
2 athearn NP band drive with glass added Santa Fe gear drive20250129_160258.jpg1 model power20250129_160515.jpg
 
Finally got the courage up to add up the last of the bills on the money pit car! Couple more things to deal with when spring finally arrives, the A/c leak, depending on where the leak is will dictate price, if it's a fitting I can fix, no biggie, if it's one of the coils I tried to save, I'm in for a mess!
Then get the hocky stripe put on, figure a coupe a hundred on that?
The END is near! 20250219_154501.jpg
 
I spent $18k to restore my 'vert back in '93, so I suppose we're right on par. In todays $$ that would be $39,500. You may not think it, but I think that you've done quite well.
 
I'm not that upset over the #'s, hoping this one will bring a little more when the time comes, might not get back the 10 I lost on the other on, that car was BAD The only thing good was the drive train, thank God for that.
Even if I break even on this one I've had a hobby & something (well mostly) fun to do for 20 years at pretty low cost!
500 a year is a pretty cheap hobby, now If I make 10 on this the whole deal would only be the blood I dripped all over both cars!
 
Restoring these things for a profit is not a smart venture. The best reason is to have it to enjoy, and occasionaly look at it and tell yourself, "I did that". The longer you keep it the higher the value goes.
 
I'm just hoping for break even, I started the first car because I had nothing to do after the first 2 went off to college, had no idea what I was getting into but did enjoy most of the build, as I said before I'm not sure if I would have bought another if it didn't fall into my hands before I really got into the other.
That kept my first 5 years of retirement moving at a good pace & kept the gut from growing!
I really think I'm too old to start another & if I don't get a room in the house for my HO trains & decide to do it in the garage the car will just be in the way.
I'll try & drive the heck out of it this spring thru fall & see if it gives me enough to do,
For me it's the building not so much car shows & such, gonna try a few local "car nights" & see what develops?
I just want something to keep me productive/active & interested!
 
It's a lot easier to do a restore today than it was 30+ yrs ago without interweb and very little reproduction parts. But, it's a lot more costly today. Although, with mine I was concerned with OEM part numbers, not just fitment. Many times I walked away from a nice part with the wrong number. Being a 1 of 88 I just had to do it correctly.
 
Mine were definitely not anything rare, well I guess 'Cudas were a little rare production #'s & all, but not big money cars after 71. I still tried as much as possible to stay close as I could to factory, even went a little extra for the distributor with the tan cap, which has been replaced & sits in a box on my shelf with a bad pick up coil!
 
Can't get away from this stuff, My friend was over working on an old PU he bought.
Same one we did the frame cross members on last year! 20250319_162650.jpg20250319_162654.jpg
 
That's Charger man, I met him when I started on the first 'Cuda, he's been doing this stuff all his life, He's now living in a place He can't work on the cars, since I have half his tools stored here & the "shop" is empty it works for both of us, gives me a little something to do & someone to BS with.
 
This car is nuts!
took a ride on side streets the other day & it seemed to run ok just cruising.
Got home & the reg idle sped up, seemed way fast, lowered it a bit & parked it.
Today when I started it I had to keep a little pedal in it, I ventured a bit further took it to a main road & tested the kickdown from a 15ish MPH roll, it dropped to low & took off, hit second pretty quick, even got a little tire chirp! Well at least that works.
Guess this tranny wasn't messed with, the other car didn't shift till 6200 & I was doing like 80, never got to 3rd was on a main drag.
Get home & the idle is way up again, lowered it a bit then it kept stalling trying to get it in the garage, raised up again & then I glanced at the fuel pressure gauge, geeze now it's barley above 1LB .
It started better with the first bad carb, also idled better, restart when warm was just turn the key, now I have to play with the pedal.
If I ever make it to the highway to blow out the cob webs I'll pull the plugs & see how bad they are.
At this point I don't even know what to mess with to smooth this baby out?
 
For the fuel pressure check, your filter. Low pressure can also cause your idle issues. The idle circuit needs its' ideal fuel level. Low pressure can cause that to fluctuate.
 
I can't imagine that's the problem, brand new tank , lines & even the fuel pump.
Butttttttt it's cheap & easy enough to do that first to eliminate it from the list!
Thanks 68!
 
As usual with rust the project grows, He decided to do the inner wheel well too.
Today was remove that & He got por15 on the inside of the bed.
20250322_162251.jpgThe 2 front cross members were done last time, now while it's off He's gonna por 15 the rest of the frame.
I gave up on that stuff after the problems it caused on the first car, I guess for under there it's fine? 20250322_162257 - Copy.jpg
 
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