1970 4 door cuda?!?!

[ECS]

Thanks for posting the pics of the engine.

Here are a couple of pictures showing the drain plugs in a Survivor Engine. The driver side was painted as an assembly but the passenger side was not. The passenger side was left out so the VIN could be stamped on the Block. If that plug was installed, it would have been in the way of the apparatus that was used to stamp the Block after paint. Also shown are recent pictures of our Engine with the NOS Choke installed.

 

[moparlee]

In an earlier post you have the choke and the vin side drain plug painted along with the block. Why do you now show them as not painted, which way is it?

 

[ECS]

In an earlier post you have the choke and the vin side drain plug painted along with the block. Why do you now show them as not painted, which way is it?

The choke and passenger side drain plug should NOT be painted on an OE 340 Engine. If you reference the Survivor Engine photos you'll see that they were not painted as an assembly. Since this Engine was not (and will not) be VIN stamped, we thought about leaving the drain plug in place and painted. We originally painted them on the Engine knowing they could easily be removed to obtain the correct/final appearance if we changed our direction.

Another recent change was the choice of Rear End Gears. We were initially going to go with a 3:23 ratio but have decided to go with a 3:55 set up.

 

[resq302]

That should make it a little more fun off the line ! I did that upgrade to my Charger as well.

 

[ECS]

That should make it a little more fun off the line ! I did that upgrade to my Charger as well.

Here are a few additional photos of the Rear End setup components.

 

[moparleo]

Boy, too bad Mother Mopar never finished them that good. Beautiful. More, more, more...

 

[wingcarenvy]

 

[wingcarenvy]

I thought this was your Cuda.

 

[ECS]

Boy, too bad Mother Mopar never finished them that good. Beautiful. More, more, more...

We've done our best to leave the Factory characteristics on the components, while making sure that our paint processes are closely monitored for superior quality control. Consider the Rear End Housing that was shown in the post above. All of the seams, welds and metal stretch marks were left exactly the way they were when originally manufactured. We make sure the paint booth and spraying environment is as clean as possible, in an attempt to ensure the best paint finish. There may have been one in a thousand that turned out really "nice" from the Factory but we are assembling every component to represent that "Best Case Scenario" that was offered by Chrysler.

 

[ECS]

I thought this was your Cuda.

That vehicle was owned by Patrick Lyons. Mine was the black Cuda.

 

[ECS]

Here are a couple of photos showing the Axles and the Custom Headliner. The first photo shows what the Axle ends looked like prior to being restored. All of the rust was removed and the metals (Wheel Studs, Axle Hub, etc.....) were acid treated to mimic the original color variations.

Also shown is the Headliner installed in the car. It is about 95% complete and fits perfectly. It took about 5 months and 3 different variations to get it right. Legendary Auto Interiors did the piecing together/fabricating and provided a great final product!

 

[ECS]

Excellent work on the door engineering......

We able to keep a Barracuda appearance throughout the entire profile of the vehicle. Not a single aspect of the car looks anything like a B Body vehicle. It would be impossible for this Concept vehicle to have a "B Body appearance" by the fact that the entire Body was constructed using ALL 1970 E Body Panels. The Quarters, Front & Rear Doors, Fenders, Trunk, Hood, Front Valance, Rear Valance, Rear Window Filler Panel, Header Panel and Tail Panel all started out as "stock" E Body components. They obviously had to be altered & tweaked to fit the 4 Door configuration. Common sense tells anyone that a 4 Door vehicle will have to use a different Roof structure than a Fastback 2 Door Model.

 

[moparleo]

What did you use to " restore " the original finish on the axles ?

 

[ECS]

What did you use to " restore " the original finish on the axles ?

The first thing was to remove all of the grime before removing the rust. Once the sludge & grime was removed, we soaked the entire shaft in Evaporust. The wheel studs were not removed. A couple had to be replaced but they were all left in the Hub during the process. After the Evaporust removed the oxidation, we glass beaded the entire assembly to remove the residue and coloring that the Evaporust left on the metal. I then used 0000 Steel Wool to smooth the surface of the Hub. There were machined groves on the surface so we made sure to polished (steel wool) in the direction of those grooves. After finishing that step, I used a very fine paint brush to apply phosphate acid on the parts that required a color contrast. Even the studs were colored by this process. It took over an hour to "paint" the acid on the Axle components. After the different areas were acid colored, I used the same 0000 Steel Wool to polish and manipulate the color darkness of the acid treated areas. This allows a contrast in metal components so they do not look identical in color density. The Wheel Studs would have a different appearance than the metal on the Axle. RPM was applied as a last step to keep the Axle from rusting. They are now ready for installation.

 

[moparleo]

Excellent job.

 

[340challconvert]

This thread continues to provide some excellent restoration techniques and show a cool build at the same time! Thanks for keeping the pictures and commentary coming.

 

[ECS]

Excellent job.

Thanks to everyone who is following along! Here are some photos showing the Back Glass and a brief progression of the steps involved with the installation. We date coded the Glass with the proper Factory/DOT etchings. (My Company provides this same type of Glass for the Restoration Industry.) Blackout was applied along the lip of the Window opening just like the Factory did. This kept the Body coloring from showing around the Stainless Steel Trim after it was installed. All of the rear Trim is original and Barracuda/Cuda issue. Steve removed an dings and inclusions, then we had it buffed to look like new again! Here are the results.

 

[ECS]

This thread continues to provide some excellent restoration techniques and show a cool build at the same time! Thanks for keeping the pictures and commentary coming.

Here are a few pictures of the Lower Control Arms after they were restored. Extra care was taken in the process to make sure that the bare metal was completely sealed and protected. We stripped the old Cosmoline and light oxidation from the original units. Steel Wool (0000) was used to give the bare metal a new appearance. After they were clean, the threaded rods and end tips were acid dipped to restore the original metal (color) finishes. They were then dipped (just a bit past the acid line) in the same type of Cosmoline that was used by the Factory. This material is darker in coloring and has an aroma like a baked grease that you would smell in a 50 year old Machine Shop.

One of the unorthodox steps we used before "dipping" the Control Arms was to heat the metal units. After heating them, we dipped them SLOWLY into the 5 gallon bucket of Cosmoline solution. We SLOWLY removed them, hung them on a wire and continued heating the metal with a heat gun. This caused the Cosmoline to even out across the surface and get into all the nooks & crannies. There are still a few drips and sags but the overall finish turned out very even and uniform. The heat also expedited the cure time of the Cosmoline.

 

[ECS]

Here are a few of the Axles w/Bearings pressed into place and the Rear End being setup. The orange Inspection Mark on the Axle Hub and Lug Studs designate the left hand threads/side. The 3 orange Inspection Marks on the Third Member designates a 3:55 Gear ratio. Notice that there is not a fourth (white) Inspection Mark because it is not a POSI setup. It is a 3:55 OPEN Gear.

Also shown are some Engine shots off of the stand. The Transmission is ready to be bolted on and the entire assembly transferred to the installation stand. Everything should be bolted into the vehicle very soon.

 

[ECS]

Here are a few of the Engine/Transmission Assembly and a couple of other miscellaneous photos.