Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

It looks like the corner of the sill plate needs squeezed down a little. There should be a hole there for the screw on the inside of the pinch weld.
 
Hmmmm, maybe my fold over flap for the wires is too high, it's right on the lip & can't see the back of the pinch weld, thanks again, it really helps having people who know what they are doing to guide me!
 
holly crap guys, I'm losing it, was out there almost 2 hours & could not get the rear brake shoes back together, Now I did this a few times & twice on these cars. gonna go watch some videos & see what the heck I'm doing wrong.


Now while it was almost together I was looking at where the E-brake cable hooks up, an I going to be able to get that in with the brakes on, or should I pull the cables & put them on the backing plates now?


So to make matters worse, I come in the house & a year one box is here, great I can finish the hood, well not so fast the ding bat only sent one!!!!!!!
Jass evidently they don't know about the push nuts, they sent 2 speed nuts! 20231118_150923.jpg
 
Boy they make it look easy, maybe now that I have the sequence, I can get them on, I was looking for a brakes for dummies video, I guess they assume we are all dummies the first one I hope was good enough.
 
Found it hard to find a way to get myself more depressed, but I did, added up the last batch of bills, hopes of 25K long out the window, I'm gonna be pushing 30 by the time it's done! well if ever! 20231118_162636.jpg
 
Sooooooooooooooo, I ordered the plastic push in retainers for the emblems, I tried my glued together ones & they slipped right in the holes now, so before I call the dingbats at year one again I will wait for the retainers & then try putting in one of the broken ones, if that works I don't have to deal with them again, at least over this!
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Found it hard to find a way to get myself more depressed, but I did, added up the last batch of bills, hopes of 25K long out the window, I'm gonna be pushing 30 by the time it's done! well if ever!
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I broke the $18k mark on my convert 30 yrs ago when I did it. According to an online calculator that would be $37,649 today. So you're not doing bad at all.
 
Yea, prices have gone crazy in the last 10 years or so, the other one cost me 35, I probably wasted 5 or so on paint & body having to do about everything twice.
This car needed nowhere near the body parts as the other, saved 1K buy using the seats, in surprisingly good shape, ended up not rebuilding the motor that would have been another 7 or 8 K but did end up buying a lot of parts for it.
Probably wasted 2 k on body & paint this time (I'm improving)
still have the A/C kit to buy & the headliner & install (I ain't messing with that)
Can't think of any other big ticket items at the moment, but it will probably nickel & dime me to death.
Was hoping to end with a loss of 10,000 hours of labor at the end.
I lost 10K on the first, was hoping to make 10K on this one, I'll find out when they take my license away & put it up for sale!
 
68R/T said:
With a hack saw & welder anything will work, e.g., my waGOON. Small block out, 440 in. 😊
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By the time I had a welder, I was completely over awfulmatics. The only automatic on which I've done anything hot-roddy was when I put the ThermoQuad and 340 distributor on the '84 Fifth Ave that Lumpy drove for a couple of years... and I had a full squad-car 4-barrel kickdown linkage here to use.

RUSTY Cuda said:
Found it hard to find a way to get myself more depressed, but I did, added up the last batch of bills, hopes of 25K long out the window, I'm gonna be pushing 30 by the time it's done! well if ever! View attachment 26689
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You're still a couple grand behind me, and I haven't even started assembly. I have to do a custom AC arrangement, too, since I won't tolerate a compressor sitting on top of my Six Pack engine. I've little doubt I'll be north of $35K, but I'm letting someone else do the body. The full T/A hood conversion alone (air cleaner, moving the antenna, washer squirters, hood, etc.) was pretty close to two grand by itself, and double that number if you include everything to do the Rallye dash setup. I started without an engine or trans and converted to a 4-speed as well.
But, I had time on my side. I could wait for parts to appear at a price I was willing to pay or better yet, find 'em at a swap meet and pay 1/4 of what they might've cost on eBay. If I'd paid full price for everything I needed as each need arose, I'd be ~$10K higher than I am already.
 
If I can get $40K out of mine, I'd be happy. Remember, it's also a '74 and it's a 318/automatic originally. At least you have the HP VIN number!
 
But if I'm correct your making a challenger T/A.
My favorite car of all time, back in the day my girlfriends older brother had one, Red with black trim!Red TA.jpg
That's not his, didn't get a pic of the real thing.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
But if I'm correct your making a challenger T/A.
My favorite car of all time, back in the day my girlfriends older brother had one, Red with black trim!View attachment 26690
That's not his, didn't get a pic of the real thing.
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I'm using a lot of T/A parts, but I can never make it a real T/A. It won't even be a proper clone, since I'm not changing the grille, taillamps, or marker lights to 1970 parts. They're all staying '74. I'm also not using T/A stripes.

Counting pennies and hoping you get more back later is no reason to be doing this. Most guys that do restorations for themselves don't come out ahead. I doubt I will, but I'm not concerned as I've no desire to sell. My car will probably be sold by whomever gets it upon my death, and if they get half of what I invested, it's still all free money to them.

Y'know why the pros are pros? They know the job well and work for other people, and they charge by the hour.
 
Not really worried about the money, I do it to keep busy & do like the car (well maybe not this car lately) but the "Cuda!
If I make 10 on this one the cost would net out even, I then would have essentially a free hobby, if you don't count the blood (literally) sweat & tears & countless hours of labor.
That would be a good ending to Rusty's story.
 
So first I went looking for the screw hole for the sill plate, it ain't there, my wire cover comes all the way to the lip...........................20231119_140401.jpgPeeled that back & nothing resembling a screw hole on the lip, even checked with a punch that it might have been filled with paint. 20231119_140420.jpgThen back to the brakes, much easier with an idea of where to start, still struggled with one of the retainer pin/spring deals. I removed the cables from the car even though with the mufflers in those clips are a pain in the butt, but looking at the connection in the wheel I didn't think it would be possible without a lot of slack on the cable. 20231119_133926.jpgWell it looks like the pics in the book??? 20231119_134007.jpg
 
then it was on to kick panel insulation, 2 pieces made sense & fit in nice.20231119_143213.jpg20231119_143219.jpgbut the 4 little ones don't seem to match up, at least not in that area? 20231119_143234.jpg
 
Then I laid in the trunk mat, intended to put the spare in & get that out of my way, but it was dirty in there & the mat also needs to flatten down a bit! 20231119_142432.jpg
And yet more parts to clean & paint, thought I had these done!
Not gonna go crazy here, flatten em out & shoot! 20231119_144612.jpgThen the snubber hunt began, went through a few boxes, found some goodies but not the snubber.it's here I have a pic of it! 20231119_144922.jpgFound a seal, marked for the 74, but have no idea what it's for? 20231119_150227.jpg
And a nice new bag of carb return springs! 20231119_150526.jpg
& the kick down rod I replace from the 73, now if I have to extend mine I didn't need to buy another for the metal? 20231119_151724.jpg& finally THE SNUBBER, right where I hung it a year or so ago, but behind about a dozen other items! 20231119_151658.jpg
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
Then I laid in the trunk mat, intended to put the spare in & get that out of my way, but it was dirty in there & the mat also needs to flatten down a bit! View attachment 26698
And yet more parts to clean & paint, thought I had these done!
Not gonna go crazy here, flatten em out & shoot! View attachment 26699Then the snubber hunt began, went through a few boxes, found some goodies but not the snubber.it's here I have a pic of it! View attachment 26700View attachment 26704
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Seems to me the trick would be figuring out where to extend it.

Also google NAPA 15460: https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NOS15460

https://www.google.com/search?q=napa+15460
 
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