Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

glad it went to a good home, hope it is usefull for you!

So today I'm going to attempt to get my drivers door to open good from the inside, outside it pops open nice, inside I have to put a shoulder to it, had the panel off once, lubed everything up AGAIN & it seemed to open fine, put the panel back on & back to a shoulder to get it open, wondering if my rod is bent or being hung up by the panel?
 
This is weird, With the panel on I can see it hanging up, couple of pulls & it pops open, so I shot more lube in there no help.
Took the panel off & without doing anything it opens freely, closed the door, opened fine.
Same thing that happened last time I tried to fix it.
I don't see any way the panel could obstruct the rods. tried it also with window open/ window closed.
that's fine.
I'm Lost, and afraid to put the panel back & have the same problem!
 
OK I think I got it to good enough.
So as I was putting the door panel back on I kept checking that it opened freely as I tightened each area.
Worked fine till I got to the big screws that go down in the door pull, rear one fine, as I tightened the front one I could see the latch slowing down, didn't completely hang up like before but made it harder to open the door, so I just very lightly snugged that screw & the latch pops open freely but the door still doesn't "pop" out, but a little push does it, that I can live with.
For the life of me I can't see how that screw would affect it but it did.
 
At least I made one improvement while I was in there, a while back I found 2 rubber thingies that I forgot what they went on.
I had the 2 rear ones but they were too fat for the front.
When I pulled the handle I somehow remembered them, & tried it, cool they fit, so now the front has the bases too! 20240824_144101.jpg
 
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RUSTY Cuda said:
OK I think I got it to good enough.
So as I was putting the door panel back on I kept checking that it opened freely as I tightened each area.
Worked fine till I got to the big screws that go down in the door pull, rear one fine, as I tightened the front one I could see the latch slowing down, didn't completely hang up like before but made it harder to open the door, so I just very lightly snugged that screw & the latch pops open freely but the door still doesn't "pop" out, but a little push does it, that I can live with.
For the life of me I can't see how that screw would affect it but it did.
Click to expand...
It sounds like the door panel is interfering with the handle's travel. The handle does have a tiny bit of adjustment (it rotates the slightest bit with the bolt loose) so that might be worth investigating. If they're reproduction door handles, it's possible they're not an exact match to the originals and something is hanging that's not present on OE handles. Hard to say, really.

Boxes arrived in good condition. Holy cow that's a lot of hardware! If you're done, as in done done, I'll send the check. I procrastinated because you found more stuff. I'd rather write one bigger check than two small ones. 😄
 
The handles are orig. I'll check for rubbing around the handle.

The only other thing I want out, but probably no use to you is the73's 318 2bbl kickdown linkage, unless something else jumps out of a hidden corner I'm done.
 
Rusty's work shop is open again, Since Mark moved He can't do any major jobs at his place, soooo, he asked if He could work here, I said sure, give me something to do now & then.
Ain't exactly a mopar, or even a muscle car, it's a 2000 cheby silvrado with an 8' bed
Today we got the bed off & started cutting out the front cross member for the rear shock!
Wasn't much left. 20240829_155422.jpgWhere the shock ripped itself loose! 20240829_155453 - Copy.jpgHis plan is to clean up the rest of the rails, weld in the new crossmember, por 15 the whole mess & then coat with undercoat!
 
With a bunch more cutting we finally got the new piece set in there...............20240830_143021.jpgDidn't think I would ever be sucking down rust dust anymore but here I am!20240830_143010.jpgGot that one spotted in...............20240830_180850.jpgThen we noticed the front one was gone too, at least that will be bolt in20240830_180901.jpg
 
I wasn't around today, helping my son move. But mark was at it hard, got the welding
& cleaning done & por 15'd most of the frame20240831_170450.jpg20240831_170530.jpgAlso removed that last cross member that needed replacement20240831_170506.jpg
 
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That's por 15, just slop it on, when I did the other car if you stay after it a while with the coats it laid out like glass, it took a long time to dry so you chased the drips & sags a lot.
When it worked it was great, when it didn't it was a royal pain, that's why second car is a rustolium base, how that will last I have no idea?
 
Getting close to the fun job of getting the bed back on, I did some creative bending on a clamp so He could weld it to the new cross member. 20240902_144015.jpgHe put on the new trailer hitch. 20240902_144007.jpgSo it's only install the new fuel pimp & a few little odds & ends & then it's hump time!
 
Almost done, went on a lot better than it came off, we used the engine tilter to get it level, that made it good enough to back the truck right under20240905_153859.jpgOf course we had to remove the tow hitch, bout 8 or 10" short of a perfect drop! 20240905_154727.jpg20240905_154715.jpgReady to back it under, nice & level20240905_154259.jpg
lookin goooood! 20240905_170232.jpg
Then we could not get the bumper brackets to slide in, loosen & raise the bed & we finally got that in
 
The tie-downs are welded to the bed in a Chevy? On my Dodges the front ones are welded to the frame, accessed through a hole in the bed. It definitely would've made it easier to lift the bed off. I used those stake pocket tie down things.
 
I had the bed off the Dakota several times and used ratchet straps hooked diagonally across the stake pockets, with the engine crane hooked at the intersection. It's a smaller box, but there was quite a bit of stuff in it including the spare, and the tailgate was still in place. The only real drawback was lack of overall height I could achieve with the crane.
 
Taking it off without the tilt gizmo we had a hard time clearing the wheels & getting it on his rolling table (it's quite tall) the front was tilting way down, that thing is pretty heavy.
Maybe a little more head scratching before we lifted & thought of the tilter life would have been easier.
Now how much that we did will have to be undone to finish it off?
 
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