Looks great Ed...Love the black rims with lots of rubber around em!!!!

Update, 12/27/2011: Been progressing on cleaning the paint up, doing it a panel at a time. We’ve all seen shiny paint, so I’ll skip the pictures of it.

Today I put the car up on jack stands in anticipation of getting to some of the brake work, pulling down the transmission to inspect the clutch and swapping out the deep sump pan. After it was up on the stands, I decided to clean out and vacuum up the trunk. The Airgrabber duct work was in there, along with allot of other scattered small stuff. The A/G looks good and is intact- but being my first A/G, I’m not sure what to watch out for (any pointers, let me know ). The air cleaner is chromed- a little old school touch:



I sifted through the dirt/rust flakes before vacuuming then up- some Hurst steel shifter bushings and clips, OEM nuts/bolts, screws and other misc stuff. They were all gathered up and then vacuumed the trunk out. Most of the trunk areas are kinda ‘tacky’- not sure if this is some kind of dealer installed rust preventive, but it is all around the trunk area- too much to think it is just something that was accidently spilled. However, the lowest areas of the trunk are not coated in this stuff- or it got wore/rinsed off somehow. There are a few perforated areas of the center pan, but it is better than I expected now that it is all cleaned up.





I’ve no idea why the A/G duct work was removed, but in addition to taking the underhood stuff off, someone made stainless steel ‘block-off’ plates for the hood vents:



Then, I hopped on the creeper with a drop light and spent a few minutes under the car. I’d taken a look 2 times before purchase, but this was the first time with the car fully up in the air front and back. No surprises were found- all solid and decent. The trans tunnel needs replacement (cut in the back for a Hurst ram-rod shifter) and I located holes in the floor pan from a bolt-in roll bar (which confirms stories I’ve been told about the car). Other than these things- all else is very nice. The car was either undercoated at the factory or prior to delivery: it’s been there forever and is everywhere (floors/wheel wells).

Will be dropping the gas tank out next- the shop reeks from the stale fuel sitting in it.

that ls sweet!

It is an awfully good feeling to get a new purchase up on the hoist, really look it over with a trouble light and find it's all as you'd hoped. Glad it's the case for you on this one. Have fun!

What a cool car! I have such a big project going on my Cuda that I shouldn't look any further, but a few rare posts such as this one give me the fever to snoop and look for something that could be cleaned up and driven as is. I LOVE IT!

Looking good Ed. Very cool deal that the trunk isn't rotted.

Update 12/29/2011: Thanks basketcase/peabodyracing/70B5Cuda (and everyone else) for the kind words. Although I am taking some time to play “Show and Tell”, seeing everyone else’s threads (past and present) on their projects has always provided motivation to get out in the shop and keep going on whatever needs wrenching, so this is my way of giving back too. Hope it provides some boost for your project as well.

Yesterday, I dropped the tank out. Yeech. The good thing was it only had 2 gallons of brown, smelly gas. The tank had already been swapped out once before, as it had yellow paint marker writing: a number (Hollander?) and “Roadrunner”. Also- the trunk has provisions for vapor recovery, so I guess it’s a 1970 one. The tank mat was stuck firmly to the tank and the trunk pan, but with some care was able to get everything separated without tearing it up.

Quote:

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Looking good Ed. Very cool deal that the trunk isn't rotted.

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Thanks James. It isn’t totally rot free, but decent. There are a few pin-holed areas in the front area of the pan (at the corners), and there is one rot hole at the rear left. Still- very good, all considered.




Next up will be getting the wheels off and tearing into the brakes.

man, that thing is RUFF, , you can drop it off at my place

Those AG screens would look good if they were red on that black hood!

Update 1/1/2012: Happy New Year to all of you. I’ve spent some time out in the shop the past few days, starting in on the brakes and other details. The rear brakes look excellent: clean and dry, meaty brake shoes and all of the hardware is in nice shape. I will only end up replacing the wheel cylinders (for peace of mind although they’ve not been leaking), the metal lines on the housing (they are bent up), the rubber flex line and adjusting everything accordingly.

Then the front brakes were pulled apart. The rotors- although rusty- have not ever been cut (OEM new thickness of .875). The calipers were a mess as expected: I will be ordering up reman stainless sleeved calipers and getting all new wheel bearings/seals/hoses/master cylinder/etc. One rotor has already been cleaned up using Evaporust and the other is now soaking in the product. Twenty four hours and the rotor cleaned up real nice. I’ll get them cut before hanging them back on the car:

I also pulled off the Dana cover to drain the oil and inspect everything. The aftermarket chrome cover was on the car the first time I saw it back in 1985, but they re-installed the factory 4:10 and Sure Grip tags (very cool). The ring and pinion looked fine- no chips- and everything was nice, clean and oily without trace of rust or moisture. Looking at the ring gear, it is dated 10-68, so maybe it’s never been apart or altered:

looks good Ed!
any plans on the ugly areas in the trunk???

Hi Frank- not planning anything now for the trunk pan. If I tear into that, in a week the car will be all pulled apart, knowing me. A Mopar driver is what's needed right now- sick of being on the sidelines. Been waaaaaay to long that I had one.

That Evaporust sure makes life easy doesn't it? You're doing great work, leave it a driver!

Looking good! I hope to catch up with you soon!

Very nice car!

What size are the rims on the back and what brand/size are the tires?

NV69B7RR- First time using Evaporust (or similar) product: so far I’m loving it!
MRVCODE- Thanks! We’ll be setting up something soon- good conversation the other day.
Fly- You and me both!
Gy3: The rear rims are Mopar factory 15x8 rims, used on Traildusters, vans and some other applications. You can find them at the JY if lucky- I picked mine up at a swap meet. The tires are shot Goodyear GT+4’s 255/50s that were lying around. They are just to hold the car up for now. Trying to decide on what rubber to run once it is ready.

Ed, only one REAL choice on tires, L60-15 Polys on the rear with E's up front!!!