Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

On the axle shafts:

The adjuster needs to be backed off completely. If it's not, you will never get it together. The axles should never be pulled in by the studs (in fact, pulling anything together with threads is a terrible idea unless you're installing a wheel stud). If they won't go in, either they're the wrong shafts (not really possible in this situation), the adjuster is not backed off enough, or the differential splines are not aligned.

Inside the differential, assuming you have a cone-type or early clutch-type Sure Grip, the side gears are splined, as are the cone clutches (cone type) and clutch carriers (clutch type). That means the axle shaft has to go into a two-piece spline. The splines in the cones (or clutch carriers) may not be perfectly aligned with the side gears, so the axles start to go through the first spline but hit the other. Try rotating the wheel flange on the axle back and forth while you're inserting it. Put some effort into it; you've got spring pressure to overcome. That should do it.

You can see what I'm talking about in the following FSM images. The side-gear splines are tinted blue, while the cone clutch or clutch carrier ("retainer") splines are in purple.

The first is a cutaway diagram of the cone-type Sure Grip used mid-1969 through the end of the RWD era, which is what's most likely in your axle:

ConeCutaway.jpg


Here's the mid-1968 and older clutch-type Sure Grip (a.k.a. Dana Powr-Lok) with the case half off and the clutch carrier in the disembodied hand (even Thing from The Addams Family had a day job):

ClutchApart.jpg

What's evident while looking at either photos is there is no factory provision to keep the inner and outer splines in alignment. That's the axle shaft's job. If they misalign, installing the axle shafts ain't happening until you get them aligned. Rotating the wheel flange back and forth as you push the axle into place should do it.

Assuming that passenger-side wheel-bearing adjuster's backed off, that is.

There is a rare, mid-'68 to mid-'69 clutch-type with a 1-piece axle spline, where the back of the side gears actually carries the clutch plates. The "retainer" or "clutch carrier" literally floats on the side gear and acts only to apply the clutches. I've only ever seen four of those, and I bought all of them. I sold one to Stretch, one on eBay, and still have the other two. It's absolutely the best factory performance differential.

The kickdown rod definitely looks like it's the right shape, but is clearly a 2-barrel rod. I don't envy trying to find the right one, since they're not stamped with numbers to my knowledge and you almost have to trust the seller or get one with measurements to know it's going to work. The Lokar cables apparently do work, although their construction and quality has not been described in kind words by those I've heard speak thereof, especially considering the price.

Bouchillon Performance offers them too, I believe, and those are likely even sillier in terms of price. Dealing with Bouchillon on the phone is not pleasant, unless rude and condescending are your type of guys. I bought one part from them online for which they were the only source (and wildly overpriced at that), and that was enough for me. I'll never deal with them again unless I simply can't avoid it.
 
Guess you missed the I got the axle thing corrected, sorry for wasting your time on that.
Guess I'll hunt some more for the rod before I go to the cable, maybe I'll get lucky.
Seems there's a million 3 piece setups but only a few 1 piece rods have shown up so far
 
Called year one, they will begrudgingly send me another set of scoop callouts, how much filing on the holes I will have to do is unknown, hopefully these won't snap.
 
Apparently they're still selling some of Standard Reproductions' emblems, which were always a bit small. Are those emblems pretty soft, too?

Standard would make a mold off an original emblem, which is great, but liquid metal shrinks as it cools, so the emblems would be just a wee bit too small. Stan, who used to run the place, would modify the mold to make sure the pin spacing was right, but he passed away many moons ago. He really did care about the quality, but apparently is brother took over and is neither pleasant nor interested in doing things to the best of their abilities. All their reproduction emblems were cast in pewter (which I doubt changed) and were much more fragile than good ol' pot metal. They were very easily bent, and almost as easily broken. On the plus side, pewter doesn't pit or corrode like pot metal.
 
Yep they do bend easily, I will file away my beautiful paint & some good metal till they slip right in, then when I put the nut on I will try & hold the outside so it doesn't twist (that's how I broke the second one)

So were they all put on with one nut, I can't see any way to get one on the end that's under the brace?
Hmmm didn't look for an access hole, it's got to be there!
 
Yep, they're still the Standard Reproductions pewter parts, then.

E-body hood emblems were not retained by nuts. They were retained by a plastic sleeve that slid over the studs. You can see them on the back of this NOS Challenger hood emblem, but 'Cuda was the same way--which explains why you can't get to the back of some of the studs:

s-l1600.jpg



I'm unable to (easily) find them in the parts manual, but I'll do some more digging. Trying to use nuts on pewter will almost certainly break off the studs.

Don't file the hood, file the emblem pins if you must.
 
Gotta look at that old 340 emblem & see if they are there, pretty sure I took speed nuts off & back on, on the other car, Back then I used year one also & had no problem, maybe your guy was still there?
no nuts came with this set, I asked the guy to make sure the "proper" nuts came with these, we will see what comes & how they fit.
Idea from another car guy, cut the pins off & used double sided tape, that's how the tail emblem was, even though I had mounting holes!
 
The Mopar number for the retainers was 6002852. It's discontinued, but some vendors still have repros of them. One is an outfit out of Minnesota called Mega Parts, with whom I've dealt several times and had good service. He also seems to have the best price on them (six for $3). Herb's, R/T Specialties, and Roseville Moparts also sell them for around a buck each.

See if they come with the new emblems, but if not see what Mega can do for you.
 
Messed with the carpet a little more, little steamer my wife had did nothing about the lumps.
Put in the seat bases to hold it down, somehow actually got that grommet on, now I'm working on cutting at the door edge.
20231116_155517.jpgMaybe my big feet will eventually smooth out the lumps?20231116_143245.jpg& just picked up my tires. We gots rubber!20231116_194017.jpg
 
If he's correct about the application, it should be the same part. E-body and B-body used the same rod.

You've seen how your sat in relationship to the transmission with it installed at the carb (although I don't think you had the kickdown return spring on it). Will the additional 1-1/2" make up the difference? I'm not a fan of the "end-to-end" measurement; I'd much rather see individual lengths between bends to better know the actual length difference and where it's happening.

I suspect it's the right one, but I can't guarantee it. Will he?
 
I doubt it!
I'll ask him if he will accept a return & if he has any way to confirm it will fit an ebody?

What I don't understand is these engines & tranys bolt together the same way why would there be different rods, I get the 2bbl deal, but everything else should be the same!
There were a bunch on there for 400 engines?
 
So tires are ready, had 2 bent rims, he marked for me, the worst will be the spare & the slightly bent he recommended right rear?20231117_133806.jpgevened out the nuts on the the u-bolts & torqued those down, also did the axle nuts, now I can assemble the brakes & if my shackle bushings ever get here I can put in the rear & the drive shaft.
Now I have to find the missing pinion snubber, pretty big part to be hiding on me!

Made the cuts on the drivers side & tested the sill plate, covers the 2 layers ok, then tried the kick panel, goes over the carpet ok, don't have to cut up that corner, but doesn't line up with the hole in the sill plate, which also has nothing under that hole to screw into??? 20231117_142319.jpg20231117_143131.jpgHave to check the insulation for that before I screw it in.20231117_143230.jpg
 
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Screw it, I bought the first one, worst case is I'll have the extra metal at that point I'll try & chop em together to make one?
 
I did start on the passenger side of the carpet, got the inner seat bracket in & had to stop, every lump I pressed on shifted the carpet quite a bit, afraid to cut the outer edge with that happening not sure where I go from here?
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
What I don't understand is these engines & tranys bolt together the same way why would there be different rods, I get the 2bbl deal, but everything else should be the same!
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The 2-barrel engines have the carburetor mounted in a physically lower position. The 4-barrel intake is a high-rise but the 2-barrel isn't. Additionally, the 2- and 4-barrels have different throttle arms and hence different travel, which is why there's a specific 4-barrel throttle cable.

RUSTY Cuda said:
There were a bunch on there for 400 engines?
Click to expand...
The big-block rod would be too long. It's also shaped differently due to the external dimensions of the engine itself.

In addition to their greater width, because of the big-blocks' enormous bore sizes, the bores are further apart. That makes the block physically longer, which means the carb sits further forward in relation to the transmission. To confuse things further, the 440 is taller than the 383/400, so even the big blocks have their own specific rods: a 400 rod doesn't work on a 440, or vise-versa. I played that game when the 400 came out of my black Charger and the 440 got installed. I got lucky; a friend knew what rod I needed and had it. Since that time, if I've needed kickdown linkage for anything, I made sure to get every single part from the same car/truck. Unfortunately, that's not as easy as it once was.
 
well with weather closing in on me, I think I may lay out the forward light harness & the engine harness, that better not even think of throwing me a curve, if I can arrange help to set the passenger door I can then put the front end sheet metal on.
I have to think about getting the tarp off my tent, don't want to lose another one to snow.
Then I have no idea what to do to keep busy.
 
Dr.Jass said:
The 2-barrel engines have the carburetor mounted in a physically lower position. The 4-barrel intake is a high-rise but the 2-barrel isn't. Additionally, the 2- and 4-barrels have different throttle arms and hence different travel, which is why there's a specific 4-barrel throttle cable.


The big-block rod would be too long. It's also shaped differently due to the external dimensions of the engine itself.

In addition to their greater width, because of the big-blocks' enormous bore sizes, the bores are further apart. That makes the block physically longer, which means the carb sits further forward in relation to the transmission. To confuse things further, the 440 is taller than the 383/400, so even the big blocks have their own specific rods: a 400 rod doesn't work on a 440, or vise-versa. I played that game when the 400 came out of my black Charger and the 440 got installed. I got lucky; a friend knew what rod I needed and had it. Since that time, if I've needed kickdown linkage for anything, I made sure to get every single part from the same car/truck. Unfortunately, that's not as easy as it once was.
Click to expand...
With a hack saw & welder anything will work, e.g., my waGOON. Small block out, 440 in. 😊
 
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