Brad's second '70 'Cuda and first and last restoration project

[usraptor]

After going through two wire wheel brushes each on both my bench grinder and air grinder, I finally finished cleaning 47 years of rust, grime and over spray off the front bumper brackets for my 'Cuda.  What a dirty job as evidenced by the below picture.  When my wife saw me after I finished she ordered me into the garage to strip down to my undies and throw away my work cloths because she wasn't "putting those filthy rags in my washing machine."  Time for primer and final painting now. 

Also called QuickFuel  about my Carb. that is MIA.   A very courteous, patient and apologetic Tech Adviser discovered that somebody had accidentally pushed a wrong key on the computer and it hadn't been sent out yet.  He told me the error had been corrected and it would be sent out immediately.  It's nice to deal with a professional company.  Just hope the issue with the carb leaking is corrected.

[larry4406]

Brad - tell your wife you are buying a bead blast cabinet to save on the cost of clothing!

keep up the good work.

[usraptor]

I've got a media blast cabinet but it doesn't do anything on this kind of rust and grime.   Seriously considering changing it over to a Bead or more aggressive media.  It would have saved me a lot of time and clothes on this project.   However, last time I checked at Harbor Freight I was shocked to see how expensive it is! 

[7212Mopar]

Wire wheel does a good job but takes a long time. I did the whole interior, km frame, rear end and most of the suspension pieces with that. 

[YellowThumper]

I've got a media blast cabinet but it doesn't do anything on this kind of rust and grime.   Seriously considering changing it over to a Bead or more aggressive media.  It would have saved me a lot of time and clothes on this project.   However, last time I checked at Harbor Freight I was shocked to see how expensive it is! 

Walnut shells. Very agressive for items like that.

[usraptor]

After spending the last several days cleaning up my bumper brackets, I set up my new Eastwood portable spray both to paint the brackets and some other small items.  While the concept of the spray booth is nice, ala camping tent with spring poles, in IMHO it's to short even thought I still got the tallest one they offer.  Also with the poles going on the outside of the fabric, there is nothing on the inside to hang/attach items to so you can spray them.  I cut down my improvised PVC home made spray both frame but it was still to tall, I didn't measure correctly, and when placed inside the both the booth was about 6 inches off the floor.  Since I was just doing small items, I didn't bother taking it apart again and re-cutting.  I'll save that for another time.  But that being said, unless you under 5 foot tall you're going to have to bend over to go inside the booth and spray anything.  Not exactly user friendly.  At this point I'm wishing I would have saved my money and just put new plastic around the PVC framework I built and used in the past.  Moving on, after spraying the front bumper brackets, truck lid striker plate, both horns, the brackets that hold the hood pins and the front hood latch and spring, with primer I painted everything with Matrix black and then three coats of clear.  The trunk lid striker plate, horns, and bumper brackets came out good, but I ended up with fish eyes on one of the hood pin brackets and the hood latch.  I ran out of paint so I'll have to buy some more and then wet sand the fish eyes out of the hood pin bracket and re-paint   Last night I came across a better idea on the forum for the hood latch where I think if memory severs me you paint then brown and then a metallic gray or something similar to give them a factory look.  After searching all my parts bins I couldn't find the bolts to mount the front bumper brackets to the frame so I ordered some new repros.  I installed the horns and trunk lid striker and it was nice to finally be able to close my trunk.  Not sure if I got the horns orientated correctly.  If I've got them backwards, top to bottom, please let me know.

[usraptor]

After reading several different posts on the subject it seems that although they look like black phosphate later in life, the hood latch assembly, spring and safety latch were originally a dark brownish color from the factory.  After experimenting with different colors I think I came up with a close match to OEM.  (At least my wife said it was as I have a problem with colors when it comes to different hues).  Of course it was hard to get a decent picture to capture what the color actually looks like.  I tired with and without a flash.  Anyway, I attached pics with and without flash so hopefully you'll get an idea.  The picture of the hood spring is the closest to what the latch and safety latch actually look like.  I also installed the wiper linkage today and even though it works correctly the linkage rubs on the cowl.  There's a separate post on that issue in the Electrical topics.  I also installed all the misc hood bumpers, guides, etc.  However, they really aren't picture worthy.

[Cuda Cody]

   Coming along very nicely!!!!  Great work.

[usraptor]

Thanks Cody

[76orangewagon]

   They have "Made in Canada" stamped on them.  I wonder what other parts for my 'Cuda were made in Canada?

My front Bumper brackets had "Made In Canada" in Paint but I don't remember the wording stamped into them like your just a part number and Pentastar.

[Brads70]

How's it going? Is it on the road yet? 

[Chryco]

Great Job!!

[RUNCHARGER]

This is a great looking car.

[usraptor]

How's it going? Is it on the road yet? 

Thanks Guys.  No, unfortunately it isn't on the road yet and with Utah's winter just around the corner it probably won't be until next spring/summer.  Too many little things left to tackle.

[Spikedog08]

That is looking amazing!  Very exciting!