She's finally purple again! FC7 70 Shaker Cuda340

[njsteve]

Can't get any more vintage era correct than a mag wheel that they only made from 1968 to 1972. I like to be different, and since I don't enter my cars into stock car shows, I am just building it to make me happy. :-)

I may bring it to MCACN next year if they have the Day 2 class display again.

[njsteve]

I had been working on cleaning and repainting all the gauges, dash moldings, brackets, and the dash frame itself over the past week. The dash frame is painted in a unique suede black finish that takes some patience to apply properly - I.E., you really have to stand back and spray it dry, out of the can for it to come out right.

This morning, with the help of my son, we got the dash assembly installed. It took all of one minute. You just engage the lower forked bracket onto the two kick panel bolts, then hinge the whole assembly up toward the cowl, insert the four screws in the defroster duct area, and it's done.

I then started installing the carpet. It really has to be shoved up forward under the dash for the molded area to properly engage with the shifter hump and to get the cutout in the heal pad to properly aligned with sheet metal kick out of the driver's side kick panel,where the dimmer switch goes. Now I am in search of original carpet photos to see how the factory trimmed the carpet up under the dash where it engages with the gas pedal, steering column, heater box, etc. Anyone got any E-body under-dash survivor photos?

[njsteve]

Today's question: what do the two mounting screws look like for the under dash vent cable (the end with the "VENT" labeled pull handle)?

I am currently working on the steering column. Cuda Cody's videos sure came in handle for tearing that thing down to the basic parts. l aready ordered the rebuild kit from Roseville. Should be here this Friday.

[anlauto]

5/16" hex head screw....

[njsteve]

Thanks!

[anlauto]

Thanks!

That's why we're here 

[njsteve]

Well the shipping gremlins have struck again. I ordered a new AMD windshield from Jegs...and the shipping depot "lost" it for 6 days.

They attempted to deliver it today.

Flimsy carboard box.

Box was open completely on one side, with four pieces of broken tape that had been placed over the flaps.

Forklift tire tread marks on the open side flap.

Three pieces of styrofoam for padding.

Loose in the open box.

Chips all along the edges where it had been dragged on the ground.

I refused the shipment.

The problem is that this is how AMD ships glass. (and sheetmetal, as you may recall from my previous episode with the trunk lid(s) shipped from AMD where they dropped it on its end before carefully packaging it up inside the  reinforced box)

Jegs customer service has been great. They refunded me my truck shipping charges and ordered me a new one with instructions to AMD to actually package the glass as if it was made of...

...wait for it...

...GLASS!

[anlauto]

Okay...that's ridiculous

[njsteve]

You bet. The boss lady at the trucking company has been great. She works at their corporate headquarters in Ohio. We have been talking on the phone daily and she has a great sense of humor. She reminded me today that I had predicted during our first phone call, that the "lost" box was probably damaged and shoved into a corner in the Pennsylvania depot all this time. She congratulated me on my psychic powers. We both had a good laugh on that one. When I sent her the photos of the box with the forklift tread marks on it I could hear the steam rising from her ears. She's gonna take off somebody's head at that local depot for this screw-up.

[RUNCHARGER]

AMD should do a better job of packaging. They just don't give a ^&%. No packaging would allow a forklift to drive over though.

[njsteve]

Look what arrived today! In continuing with my Day2 theme I found an original 1970's Stewart Warner Stage III oil pressure gauge on ebay for $35. I had one of these in my first car - a '69 Camaro Z11 pace car back in 1977. They came out in the very early 1970's and were available into the early 1980's. This one is dated May, 1979 (my junior year of high school).

I also found a spare block off plate for the standard gauge panel for $25. This goes where the optional clock would have been if you paid the extra $$ for it in 1970. The block off is made of molded plastic so it was easy to Dremel out the circle for the oil pressure guage to snap into. This is exactly what we all did back in the 1970's. Back in the day, it was actually rare to find a standard gauge panel that didn't have the empty block off plate bored out for an oil pressure gauge or a mini tach. I will run a copper oil feed line instead of using the 41 year old plastic tubing in the gauge kit.

(Note: no dogs were harmed during the photographing of this oil pressure gauge)

This should go in this weekend before the steering column gets reassembled and installed. I also found the built in tach lead in the engine compartment harness. It feeds an empty spot on the bulkhead connector at the firewall. All I had to do was add the interior side portion of the wire with the corresponding connector and I have the tach lead already routed without having to fish a random tach wire to the coil.

I am installing this 1972 Mopar tach on the column, just like the old days. I have had this same tach in every Mopar I've owned since high school. :-)

[njsteve]

I just got a shipping alert from UPS that Legendary Auto Interiors is shipping the front and rear seat upholstery out this week. I ordered it back in May? They had a six month backlog of orders. Fingers crossed that it arrives safely.

As for the replacement windshield, Jegs sent an email that it was on backorder and it is supposed to ship out directly from AMD later this week...They are probably having trouble finding some old, thin tissue paper to wrap it up in since modern newspaper is too thick and might actually protect it too much.

[Dakota]

Nice detail with the dash mounted oil gauge.  I put a mini-tach in the blank spot, as there was already an oil pressure gauge bottom to the bottom left edge of the dash when I bought the car. 

I went with a braided steel line (AN-4 I believe) to connect my oil gauge.  I'm not a fan of the plastic tubes and like the copper tubes only slightly better since I usually find a way to kink and crack those.

Hopefully the tissue supply is adequate to wrap your replacement windshield.  It may also be taking some extra time to paint the targets for the forklift on the box.   

[anlauto]

Very cool additions Steve 

[njsteve]

I've been working on installing the freshly assembled steering column today. The wife helped me man-handle (or is that woman-handle?) it into the car and through the firewall. It went pretty easy. Only problem is this purple/green/tan connector from the column. I can't seem to find what it connects to? There doesn't seem to be anything under the dash for it to mate up with. Any suggestions?