Cuda Interior Work

I'm looking to get some interior restoration work done on my 72 Cuda. It's getting really bad, I'm having trouble with my seats, dash pad is cracked bad etc etc. So I think I'm going to bite the bullet and start getting some resto work done to it. Anyone have any experiencing with doing or having interior work done? Any suggestions on stuff you can do yourself and stuff you should definitely not do yourself? What type of questions to ask shops and things to look out for? I have little to no experience with interior work.

Thanks.

Well you listed a couple of items but didn't go into real detail? Is it just the seats and dash pad? Or door panels, headliners, etc?

Dash pad will take a few hours and is not as bad as it seems. There's about 11 speed nuts that have to come off the underside, along with two in each windshield dash vent. Or you could just unbolt the entire dash/ dash frame and pull it out as well. If you remove your dash pad for replacing, remember to cut the rivets that hold the dash VIN tag from the BACKSIDE only. Don't try and drill the rivets from the top side, they will spin and eat into the dash VIN plate. Also if you send the dash pad out to be restored, take the VIN plate off and keep it in a safe place until it comes back, places like JUST DASHES cannot return the plate to you if you accidentally send it in. ECS sells a dry transfer Chrysler logo to replace on the VIN tag and they sell the rivets as well.

Seats can be done yourself, You Tube is a great resource. You'll need a hog ring puller. Watch the videos and if you think it's over your head, farm it out.
Carpet is easy as well.

Good luck!

Well it's just about everything in the interior. The carpet was replaced at one point, so that's in pretty decent shape.

Thanks for the reply.

I need to do the same thing with my 68 Charger, it is just a gutted shell with an engine sitting in it.

From my experience
Guages: Depends if you have Ralley ones or not. If Ralley, I would send those out for rebuild. If you have Std gauges consider buying a new gauge panel kit with aftermarket ones.
Seats: get the covers from legendary and you can try it, but wont like results - wrinkly. Find local shop to rebuild the foam and put them on. Maybe new foam is available?
Headliner: Tricky as you probably will need a pro type steamer. But it is doable. I did mine and there is couple spots with small wrinkles, but not noticeable.
Dash: Replace it yourself. Don't bother with a cap, get the repo pad. Pretty hard to get to the screws with the windshield installed, but it is possible. Make note about above post concerning Vin tag and rivets. Cut rivet from back side and keep them with the tag so you can reuse on new dash. I epoxied them back on, but now you can buy the proper rivets if you want to. Just don't use regular rivets because it looks cheezy.
Panels: Repaint (dye). You can do yourself if you have area you can paint in without stinking up the house. The interior paint colors are available.

Pic

Headliner is the most difficult, if your reasonably mechanically inclined the rest of it is not to difficult. Be patient. There are two different dashes available. I don't recommend the cheaper plastic backed one. I have one vehicle where a previous owner installed one. It has become wavy or maybe it was always like that.

Hey Dixie. Seats aren't that bad, I reskinned mine w/Legendary pieces. The hog rings to secure the skin to the frames are the most difficult part, you'll need hog pliers for that. Seat buns are also available. The trick is to lay the skins in the sun to get them warm n flexible so they can stretch.

That's super pretty!!! Exactly what I want mine to look like

Anybody try putting new Challenger seats in an ebody? I like the original ebody seats, but I'm short and I could never quite see the right side of my car. Right now I have what I believe are older Cordoba seats in my Cuda and I like them. I sit higher and they are pretty comfy. They are getting pretty beat up so I'd want to replace them also. I was down at Maple Grove Mopar Madness last weekend and there was a '70 Cuda there that had an updated "new" interior. I looked pretty good. It did kind of lose the original look though. I should have taken a pic

Had great luck with Legendary. As stated before, let the seat covers sit in the sun for a few hours. If the foam is wrecked under the seat covers, acquire new or better used. Baby powder rubbed over the foam also GREATLY aids the installation process. You do not need specialty tools to disassemble and recover the seats, but you can buy hog ring pliers at harbor freight for $5 and a bag of rings for $2. The hog ring pliers will save you a lot of time and cut effort down to nothing when reattaching the covers.

Buy and do the dash pad yourself.

If new panels are out of your budget, they do make a really nice interior paint system that works decent. Prep is absolutely critical here

If your carpet is only a few years old and the car is rarely driven, pull it and steam clean it, then let it in the sun for a day.

Headliners require patience, if you dont have any, call interior shops for a quote for install.

You can do this

Buy the seat covers and new foams from Legendary and don't forget to get their install kit. It has the burlap, thick felt and hog rings needed, it also has the muslin material to keep the foams secured to the frames during installation. Legendary has a bunch of You Tube videos explaining the process, Here's one showing the new foams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8aNMJEwLa4. Once you get everything done you will sit a lot higher in the car.

I've heard the new challenger seats are too tall in the seat pad and your head ends up on the ceiling. Also read about dropping the floor pan to work with them. There are better alternatives in the aftermarket or from the junkyard. Saw a guy put in leather seats from a 2006 Hyundai Tiburon and they looked and fit great and cost about $100.

I've got a set of cheap seats from Jeg's in mine until I figure it out. I like the originals but they have no lateral support.

Just get some original seats, reskin and raise the driver’s seat.