Hi, Mike here with a little about my project, "Deplorable". I have a bunch of Mopars and have done a few cars for myself and my family and girlfriend. I bought my latest project about five years ago from a local that lost her storage space. It started as a what its worth and ended up taking home a project in pieces. The couple had the bodywork started but was a shell in pieces when I found it. It was missing original motor/trans/carbs and had what looks to be dealer A/C installed. It supposedly was a parade car somewhere in AZ when new and therefore the A/C. It came with build sheet and long list of bills of sale and a few poloroids from back in the day. I had seen this rendering and knew that this car would end up this way. I do every stage of the resoration and go pretty fast. I didn't take a lot of pics as my only real internet is at work, but just got satellite for girlfriends kid for online school. I'll try to keep current but only using phone now for pics. I'm calling it Deplorable because it's a real AAR and I'm going to make it pro-touring.
I had restored the door panels and dash with re-wiring it in between projects in the past. Everything else was boxed and some missing. I finished my girlfriends 72 Chevy truck in October and started back on this. I started the sanding and bodywork on a dent in the 1/4 from previous owners storage. It blocked out pretty good and the plan for flat black was a go. I hate black engine compartments on Mopars so I had the engine compartment media blasted and instead of FK5, I went with Prowler Orange. They are real close without direct sunlight.
I had gotten the 340 that was in the car running and lot drove it, but still cant figure what the engine came from. I had my old standby 440 from my GTX that made 560 hp/tq laying around since building the 512 for the charger so I cleaned it up and painted it a different color since it's gonna be deplorable anyway. I resisted the urge to cut the floor for a 4 speed since it was an original AAR so I built a 727 for it. I liked the looks of header wrap and since the coated Doug's headers had some oil stains from the cast valve covers when it was in the Charger, I went with it. I bought the Hotchkis TVS kit and welded up the K-member with a kit from Firm Feel. I like the way Hotchkis does their subframe connectors but because of the torque boxes I made my own bolt in. I am going to order up a serpentine system from CV Racing and use vintage air. I'll cut some real carbon to cover the holes in the firewall for the A/C.
I have the fenders and doors blocked with about 3 coats of sanding primer and then sealed them with epoxy. I had been working on the original hood but it was wavy even though it didn't have the typical hood flex. I had almost thought of getting a replacement but did some more work and sealed it and shot a coat of feather fill to see where I was at. It blocked pretty good and just a little more filler it was beautiful.
My plan to offset the flat black on the AAR body is to use 3M's carbon fiber wrap where the original flat black was on the AAR's. Since I don't have a booth, my plan is to shoot single stage and wet sand with 600 then 800, then shoot gloss clear and wet sand again, then shoot the flat clear. I was going to use the hood to determine which shade of flat I liked the most, but the car is looking perfects so far, and I may change my mind and go gloss. Once I shoot the 1/4's next week, I'll make my decision. Since I have a vinyl top, I may leave it gloss and wrap whats not being wrapped in carbon in flat for a while. I sent Challenger Gary the vinyl and he made the AAR stripes with a little modification to the shield since it won't be colored.
Here's the few I have left on my phone, but will get some more. Yes I have the wheels and tires from the rendering, but will probably go with Mickey Thompson ET street. I had bought some viper calipers at a swap meet for $35 bucks a long time ago and just ordered Dr. Diffs adapters and got those together last week, but no pics yet.
Cool
Welcome to the site :cooldance:
Welcome to the forum Hustlestuff! Please keep posting updates. I look forward to watching this one come to life. :welcome:
:welcome:
love your project and theme, should turn out great. even though I love a manual, but I'm happy to hear you kept the hump as is, hard to cut up an original AAR
Welcome Mike! That is going to be an amazing Cuda when its done! :stayinlane:
Nicely done!!!! :bravo: Looking really good. That's going to be a sweet ride when you get done. :yes:
Looks like a great car! Welcome Mike! Glad you signed up as I will be watching this thread with excitement!
:twothumbsup:
Good looking ride so far. Can't wait to see what you do with it!
:popcorn:
:welcome: I like the direction your going on the car. :ohyeah:
:welcome:
:cheers:
:welcome: Cool car and it'll be fun to see how it comes out! :bigthumb:
Thanks guys. Kinda like the tone on this forum. Need to order some parts in the next few weeks and do lots of sanding. Hope to finish most of single stage and wet sanding that this coming week. I work week on/week off and weather looks good for paint. I have to strip the old harnesses and restore them front to rear. Dash harness was done when I restored the dash. I'm going with some Cobra Suzuka seats and will make a custom harness bar that bolts into the roof seat belt bolt and center floor seat belt bolts and maybe make a brace for the 5th or 6th point on the belts. I've learned from my Charger that it helps on a road coarse to be belted in tight. Here's a few cars I've done. Cuda for niece's 16th B-day, Dart for other nieces done in 16 days by me and my brother, and my Chargers
:takealook: :clapping: Impressive line up of cars you've done. :banana:
Wow sweet fleet! Really like the strobe on the cuda . . . Niece must of been the talk of the school!
:worship:
Welcome from Utah :welcome: and WOW!. Very impressed with your cars and current project. Can't wait to see "Deplorable" up and running. :twothumbsup:
Beautiful set of Mopars! :perfect10:
Quote from: Spikedog08 on March 06, 2017, 07:20:19 AM
Wow sweet fleet! Really like the strobe on the cuda . . . Niece must of been the talk of the school!
:worship:
Those are painted on and we added a photo-illumenescent flake so they actually glow in the dark. Challenger Gary made the stencil but what a pain. I think there were 98 pieces to peel off on each side. The red dart with green hood is the one that became the purple Dart in 16 days. Thanks for the comments. Mike
:welcome: from Krazyfornia. I like it gonna look mean!
:welcome: :twothumbsup:
Had a good week off work if you can call it that. Did a bunch of sanding and a little paint. First I want to give credit to that rendering I loved so much. I kept googling for that pic but never found a link to the creator. It is Aaron Beck from NZ and he built his in a bad ass way. I found a blog of his and he has done a ton of work on his Cuda. http://beckkustoms.blogspot.co.uk/
I finished block sanding the 1/4's and tail panel of the car and decided it was time to paint. I had some good weather and backed the car out of the shop and wiped it down and sealed it with Northstar epoxy and sprayed the single stage black. Since I plan on wet sanding and clearing, I laid on 4 heavy coats. Yes I painted it right where it sits in the pics. I had a good breeze and it came out very clean. I also installed the Rattle Trap sound deadening and threw in the carpet I got with the car in. I also made a filler plate for the firewall out of a piece of a carbon fiber splitter I had bought for the Charger but never used.
After seeing the gloss black I really feel that I should keep that finish on it as does everyone else. But I love how the flat black looks so I'm going to order some 3M matte vinyl wrap and wrap the car after I wet sand the clear. That way if I feel the need for Gloss I can just peel it off and return it to a non-original TX9 AAR with a prowler orange engine compartment. I've never wrapped a car but at one time I had never painted one either.
Included a pic of the brakes and the Carbon Fiber AAR stripe.
Mike
I also let the vinyl top and headliner from Dante's sit out in the sun and rolled them up after they were nice and warm. Forgot the pic of carbon firewall panel
Looking good! :banana:
Love the stripe! :ohyeah:
Well I finished sanding fenders and spoiler. I re-primed the doors and painted thee fenders in single stage along with the spoiler. I'll wrap the spoiler in carbon once I sand again. I cleared the valences and header panel. Only had one bug get me.
Yesterday I finished the header wrap and put on the CVF Racing serpentine belt system on the motor and the AAR fiberglass air cleaner with K&N filter. Busy day. Mike
Last pic is of header panel
:clapping: Nicely done!!! Looks like it turned out really well. :banana: Thanks for sharing! :slapme5:
WOW! You're not wasting any time! Nice progress! :twothumbsup:
Sunday I block sanded the doors and painted them with single stage on Monday. I had a bit of oil can in the deck lid and put in some soft expanding foam that helped it a bit. I need to skim coat it because of a low spot probably caused by the spoiler. Today I wet sanded the body. Found one small dent in the Dutchman panel that should block out in the clear. Had three small sand thru areas only pin size. I keep telling my girlfriend I'm sanding but she's wondering a bit. Will wetsand fenders and doors tomorrow.
:banana: Coming along nicely!
I sanded down the fenders and doors today. 12 hrs easy. I'm not sure what to do now. So much a bad ass black paint job I don't know if I can flat clear it but the look i want is flat or satin. Do I wrap it with carbon where original organosol was or use organosol and use original stipe.
um, flat black it not easy to paint. Way harder then normal gloss paint IMO. It's super hard to get it to lay the right constant sheen and Organosol is not any easier. I work at a sign company and I would still prefer to paint a car instead of wrap it. Wraps are okay, but they really work best when they are being use for something that is impossible to paint or way to expensive. :alan2cents:
If you could, please tell me what you want to end up with? Flat or Satin black all over the outside of the car? Or just the AAR portion (like the hood, tops of the fenders and tops of the doors)?
Quote from: HUSTLESTUFF on March 29, 2017, 10:27:01 PM
I sanded down the fenders and doors today. 12 hrs easy. I'm not sure what to do now. So much a bad ass black paint job I don't know if I can flat clear it but the look i want is flat or satin. Do I wrap it with carbon where original organosol was or use organosol and use original stipe.
My original plan was to use carbon fiber vinyl where the organosol was and also the AAR stripe along with a flat or satin black. I was going to spray out different glosses to my liking. Now that the paint is looking georgeous I almost want to keep it gloss but not sure if the carbon fiber will look as good against the gloss black.
My other option is to do the carbon and leave the gloss black and wrap the gloss black in satin vinyl for a few years and then put an original AAR stripe and paint hood and fender tops in organosol.
Can you get a piece of vinyl big enough to cover the hood without having to splice it?
Quote from: HUSTLESTUFF on March 30, 2017, 10:42:51 AM
My original plan was to use carbon fiber vinyl where the organosol was and also the AAR stripe along with a flat or satin black. I was going to spray out different glosses to my liking. Now that the paint is looking georgeous I almost want to keep it gloss but not sure if the carbon fiber will look as good against the gloss black.
My other option is to do the carbon and leave the gloss black and wrap the gloss black in satin vinyl for a few years and then put an original AAR stripe and paint hood and fender tops in organosol.
Yes. Hood is 53" wide and vinyl comes in 60"
That's going to be one big piece of vinyl to apply. Best to have a helping hand.
I think what I'll do is after I clear the fenders I'll put the carbon fiber on the tops and see how they look. I'll definitely get help on the hood, the scoop will be challenging.
Hustle,
I really like the serpentine system, does CV sell Mopar kits or did you piece it together? I couldn't find anything on their website for Mopars....
Quote from: Intel_12 on April 12, 2017, 10:34:23 AM
Hustle,
I really like the serpentine system, does CV sell Mopar kits or did you piece it together? I couldn't find anything on their website for Mopars....
It's on cvfracing,com. They have SB and BB kits
Quote from: Cuda Cody on April 12, 2017, 10:36:49 AM
@HUSTLESTUFF (https://forum.e-bodies.org/mlist/hustlestuff_261) How's it going? Any updates on the car? :popcorn:
Here you go. Cleared the body fenders and doors. I'm wet sanding the shell now and a buddy who loves to polish came by to see it and polished drivers 1/4. It is awesome.
Nice job!!!!! That's looking fantastic. :bravo:
I also got in the vintage air parts. I had to return the first condenser because they catalog them as a/c and non a/c vs 22" or 26" core supports. I put in the wizard racing radiator and shroud
I love the build and your progress. Impressive!
Wes
So I have completed all the wetsanding to 3000 grit on all the painted parts and some polishing on the 1/4's. Needed some space and had a friend help me hang doors, fenders, header and hood. Starting to look like a CUDA again. It's hard for me to believe that in the pics doors fender and hood have not been polished only wet sanded.
Great looking radiator and project as well
Love it Black AARs are awesome :cool:
Painted all the parts for steering column and some window and vinyl top trim. Will finish column this week when fully dry.
The satin wrap is done!!!! Wasn't as bad as I thought, never used a heat gun. Now on to the carbon vinyl. Steering column also done.
Looks like it turned out pretty nice. How long did it take you?
About 9hrs for fenders doors 1/4's and Dutchman. You tube is awesome so is Avery vinyl
Most of the wrap is done. Just have valances to do. Will probably wrap rear spoiler in carbon
Hood doors and fender top in carbon
No hood in last pic. Here it is
One more of the hood and fenders.
That's a lot of vinyl and time. You did a very nice job of applying it too. Not something you can hurry with. :clapping:
Just like your steering column video I watched a bunch on wrapping and had patience. The film I used Avery for satin and 3m for carbon is amazing. The only areas I used a heat gun was in scoop and tail panel.
I'm a little confused....I understand the wrap on the hood/fender tops......but the rest of the car ? You have a beautiful gloss black car, polished to perfection and then you wrapped it in matt black ? Why not paint it matt black in the first place ?
Did I miss something :huh:
My original plan was to paint a matte clear but it turned out so nice in gloss I decided to wrap in satin so in a few years I can put an original stripe and organosol. I was going for the look in the pic on page 1. If I painted matte clear there would be a lot more work to return to gloss
Sounds like a plan :ohyeah:
Tail lights in. The license plate came from a parts car I bought
Coming along nicely. :twothumbsup:
Awesome job :woohoo:
Haven't checked in on your progress recently. Wow, love the carbon fiber look. :twothumbsup:
It's been a while since I updated. I've volunteered as a camp nurse for a wheelchair sports camp for kids since 1990 and it always starts on Father's Day. It was over 108 every day of camp and I was wiped after the week. It's at the university dorms and I'm there 24/7. Took me 3-4 days to recover. Here's one of the kids skiing.
I've finished the inside A/C install using a bulkhead mounted to the carbon fiber filler instead of the one that comes with the kit. I still need to order some 45 degree fittings for the heater hoses on engine side. I took apart the wiper motor for cleaning and painting along with the linkage. I'll probably wrap the motor in carbon vinyl. I prepped a bunch of trim and other parts for paint but it's way too hot. I had to remove my homemade subframe connectors to fit the Dr. Gas mufflers. I had made them like the Hotchkis style but due to the torque boxes they hung too low for the mufflers. I'll probably make a side skirt and an opening for the exhaust to make the car look even lower.
Looks great :twothumbsup:
Quote from: HUSTLESTUFF on July 10, 2017, 10:39:13 PM
I had to remove my homemade subframe connectors to fit the Dr. Gas mufflers. I had made them like the Hotchkis style but due to the torque boxes they hung too low for the mufflers. I'll probably make a side skirt and an opening for the exhaust to make the car look even lower.
You are going to love those Boom Tubes!
I've had this 563 hp iron headed 440 for 20 years and it sounds amazing with flowmaster 40's in a b-body. Can't wait to hear it with them.
:twothumbsup: :bradsthumb: :ohyeah: :slapme5: :grouphug:
Quote from: HUSTLESTUFF on July 10, 2017, 10:39:13 PM
It's been a while since I updated. I've volunteered as a camp nurse for a wheelchair sports camp for kids since 1990 and it always starts on Father's Day. It was over 108 every day of camp and I was wiped after the week. It's at the university dorms and I'm there 24/7. Took me 3-4 days to recover. Here's one of the kids skiing.
Very cool! Hats off to you .
Well it has been a while. 72 days this summer over 100 degrees. I must be getting old. finally this week had days in the 90's and I was ready for some car therapy. I had put in the converter and bolted the trans back to the engine and to make a bit of space decided to just put it in for now. I still have to finish the pulleys and headers but want to get the a/c lines figured out as well as the wiring. Tuesday I fitted the exhaust, I had bought a Pypes x-pipe and tubes a while ago for the Charger that didn't work with the GearVendor, so I bought a piece of pipe and some hangers from the local shop. Turned out pretty good. I need to freshen up the welder and my skills. I will send it out and have it ceramic coated black. Then I installed most of the front end. Gotta love the QA at Hotchkis, decal upside down, but I love their products. Checked the wheel tire fit and looks like they will clear the caliper and fender. Hope to get back on it next week and maybe get it done by the Fall Good Guys show in Pleasanton, CA.
That is going to be one mean looking Cuda
Nice work.
Quote from: HUSTLESTUFF on September 15, 2017, 01:14:06 AM
Tuesday I fitted the exhaust, I had bought a Pypes x-pipe and tubes a while ago for the Charger that didn't work with the GearVendor, so I bought a piece of pipe and some hangers from the local shop. Turned out pretty good. I need to freshen up the welder and my skills. I will send it out and have it ceramic coated black.
Exhaust looks really nice, and powder coated will look even better! If you are going to install subframe connectors, now is the time.
That is going to be one mean looking Cuda
Nice work.
Quote from: 303 Mopar on September 15, 2017, 09:36:01 AM
Quote from: HUSTLESTUFF on September 15, 2017, 01:14:06 AM
Tuesday I fitted the exhaust, I had bought a Pypes x-pipe and tubes a while ago for the Charger that didn't work with the GearVendor, so I bought a piece of pipe and some hangers from the local shop. Turned out pretty good. I need to freshen up the welder and my skills. I will send it out and have it ceramic coated black.
Exhaust looks really nice, and powder coated will look even better! If you are going to install subframe connectors, now is the time.
Being a real AAR it has torque boxes and the ones I made won't fit with this exhaust
Well long time no updates. I switched phones and don't have home computer and all pics turn out sideways. I emailed some to my work email and will update everyone.
I've been busy with all things. My girlfriend loves her music so I built a trunk sub enclosure and battery storage . I used an amplifier that isn't connected and uses blue tooth for her music on her phone or ipod. It can take calls also and I put the controller where the stock stereo goes.
I also wanted to update my Hotchkis Control Arms. I drew them the design that they won 2nd in new product at SEMA with adjustable uppers. I had bought their old ones and built my own and used their hardware.
I completely rewired the car using a very good harness and moving things around for the MSD and relays and Vintage air. I still have to hook up the parallel wires to the ammeter but they're there.
I bought a set of Recaros and their brackets and built an anti-sub bracket and a harness bar.
I bought a Stinger fiberglass bumper and Lingenfelter brackets. I made my own brackets so I could hide the bolts and glued them to the bumper and made them detachable.
I just put on the vinyl top and headliner with the help of my friend Evan from Affordable Headliners in Chico, Ca. they both turned out awesome. and the louvers from Dales crosses the T.
I put one of the stripes on and love the contrast.
So I'm hoping to get it running this month. I have to get driveshaft and order the wheels and tires and install glass and tint.
Love the stripe , very unique !!