71 340 Cuda Convertible EL5 Bahama Yellow Billboard

[Finoke]

Just Beautiful Mike! I hope to see it in person this Summer! 

[cudaize]

An extremely detailed restoration with the attention to the details throughout the entire car.  Very nice to see the efforts to follow through on such a journey.  I had never seen the brick red coil boot before on a small block application.  Most of the ones I have were on 69-70 Hemi and Six Pack B-Body applications.  Thanks for sharing your efforts.

I'm trying to remember what source led me to believe that the small block should have this as well.  I can't seem to find any pictures right now.  In order to get enough properly dated wires I had to pull pieces from about 3 different NOS sets and this boot was in one of them.  It sounds like I still have a some more research to do.

[cudaize]

@cudaize   sorry to distract from your excellent restoration.   learning something new, thanks!   

Its a 318 but plan of going with date correct 340 when the time comes... I had a 73 340 4spd back in HS loved that engine.

So you guys tell me based on build sheet, orange I think ?

If you're putting a 340 in your 318 car I would paint it how you like it.  Others have researched the date change of the orange/blue crossover more than I.  Based on what I've heard mid-late march was when it started happening. 

[cudaize]

Mike,
I see you got one of the little details correct that I overlooked....I guess I'll have to mix up a little more blue paint and paint the metal base of the spark plugs. Again great attention to detail and thanks again for helping me out during my build with several items. We should try and park next to each other and show what will probably be the only two 'cudas with corporate Blue motors.  My casting date on my block was 1-21-71 and final assembly was 3-16-71. Exhaust manifolds were 1-15-71 (pass) and 1-27-71 (Driver) and had visible blue overspray on the heat riser after soaking it in evaporust. I see you have it but forgot to mention the all important late 3512100 intake with the "HUMP" that's also correct for a Mounds Rd 340.

I painted darn near the whole spark plug.  I put some silicone caps over the terminal and shoved then down on the porcelain as much as I could.  My father had a garage with his two brothers and worked on many of these cars when new and he remembered there always being a little bit of paint on the porcelain. 

Good point about the intake.  I have some discussions saved from another board some years back and this intake was referred to as the "Spring" intake as it was the Spring when it started appearing.  Now that you say this is a Mound Road variation it makes sense as it was in the Spring when the Mound Road 340's were starting to be put in cars.  I'm relatively certain this is the intake to the car.

[cudaize]

While we are discussing engine details I will post some of the detail pictures I took while disassembling.

[anlauto]

Must have been a fairly original car when you started with it ?

[cudaize]

Here's one that I find interesting.  I believe it was on Dave Wises's website seeing a picture of where it was evident that a long piece of tape, roughly 2" or so was covering the vacuum port hole when the engine was painted.  After cleaning up my intake I took this picture and it looks like there could have been some tape half covering the hole.  I had always thought it made the most sense that the factory would of had these plugs in all the engines when painting and removed the plug for the power brake cars much like with oil senders where the standard ones for the idiot light cars are painted and the larger pots for the gauge cars are not.

[cudaize]

Just Beautiful Mike! I hope to see it in person this Summer! 

Thank you Tom.  I don't have any plans for shows yet but if I end up going to one I will let you know.

[cudaize]

Must have been a fairly original car when you started with it ?

I'm not sure I would classify it original when I bought it as it had a 72 front end put on it and a blue paint job in a stock Imron color.  All this work had been done less than a year before I bought it.  I wished that I got the car before all this work was done not so much to save money, but to see more original features and have what was left of the 71 gilled fenders and grille.  I can't imagine they weren't fixable as there was no damage to the inner fenders or frame just some bends in the radiator support.  All this structure is original to the car as it sits today.

Mechanically it was maintained as much as needed to keep it running and PA state inspected.  The only major engine components replaced were the carburetor with a 72 6139 and the water pump.  Lower ball joints, control arm bushings and tie rods were replaced.  Not bad for a car I was sure had the engine replaced since I didn't know at the time 71's came with blue 340's.  In the picture below the heater hoses, hose from breather to air cleaner and hose from breather to carburetor are original and currently on the car.  I copied the artwork for the hoses and had rubber stamps made to duplicate the markings.  I have the ports on the water pump and intake plugged so I don't blow a 50 year old hose everywhere.

The pictures below of the engine bay I think is the only one I have before I started complete disassembly.  Remember it was 1990 before digital cameras and I had no intentions of restoring it to this level.  Luckily I didn't breakdown many of the assemblies when I took the car apart so I have hundreds of pictures of the engine, differential, transmission, dash, body on rotisserie, top frame to document how it was built

[GCragtop]

Awesome, love the color!

[mccannix]

@cudaize, your top boot has the same date as the one in my 71 Challenger vert. Cool.
Terry W.

Does your boot have any stamping designating it as a Challenger boot?  I don't have a picture of it, but somewhere this boot is stamped BARR.  Not all original boots I've seen were stamped like this.  I'm not sure if it may have just faded over the years as it probably wasn't as durable as the stamping shown here that was put on when the vinyl was made.

Mike...awesome restoration and a beautiful car !
Regarding the BARR stamp you mentioned earlier, it is actually stamped on the boot well liner, at least it is on my 70 Cuda convertible.
May be different location on yours and others.
Oct 69 date on mine

[cudaize]

@cudaize, your top boot has the same date as the one in my 71 Challenger vert. Cool.
Terry W.

Does your boot have any stamping designating it as a Challenger boot?  I don't have a picture of it, but somewhere this boot is stamped BARR.  Not all original boots I've seen were stamped like this.  I'm not sure if it may have just faded over the years as it probably wasn't as durable as the stamping shown here that was put on when the vinyl was made.

Mike...awesome restoration and a beautiful car !
Regarding the BARR stamp you mentioned earlier, it is actually stamped on the boot well liner, at least it is on my 70 Cuda convertible.
May be different location on yours and others.
Oct 69 date on mine

Terry,

Thank you for your kind words.  Listening to you at swap meets and reading your posts on different message boards helped me with many of the details on the car.

The stamp you show on your well liner is roughly the same as what I have seen on original boots.  I only have one original well liner and I don't remember seeing a stamp on it, or maybe I just didn't look hard enough.