The Crusty Cuda: Whole lotta Shakin' (N96) Goin' on!

[big gear head]

OK Dave, time for another novice question. I noticed that the holes in the firewall are masked off from the inside. Would something like this have been done at the factory or would they have let the paint fog through those holes into the interior? Or maybe there was something in those holes when it was painted?

[A12pilot]

Hi Freddie,

You are correct. No masking done at the factory when it came to painting the car. It was painted assembled as one piece, therefore, interior and such all got overspray and a light coating of color.

Since I’m painting it in stages, I mask off what was already painted so overspray doesn’t get on the fresh clear, that’s all that’s for. Once unmasked, it’ll all look like it was painted as one piece. I do it in stages since painting everything at once is at least a 12hr process from start to finish. And, I’d be 105lbs and probably dead afterwards! Doing it like this makes it manageable, I’m not rushed, and I can concentrate on the task rather than feel overwhelmed by how much painting is ahead of me. I may do the door jambs over the weekend if I don’t have to fly and then the only thing left will be the exterior.

A unique thing I did was hang the fender tag from the window channel by the factory parts tag remnant that was originally there. It made for a good hook to hang it on. On this car, the tag was secured to the inner fender with a screw and then bent up while painting. After paint, the tag was bent back and the other end fastened with another screw that was unpainted. I installed a screw on the inner fender and painted it while doing the engine bay. Now it’ll look correct when installed with a slight bend on the corner with a painted screw, and the other end an unpainted screw!

My Super Bee was a Lynch Road car and as such, the tag was hung on the window channel or column mount and could have received only a dusting of color, no color, or a lot of color. Just depends on what the painter did. No bend in the tag and no painted screws.

Neat stuff!!

Cheers
Dave

[napa68]

For a body guy, you're not a bad pilot!

[A12pilot]

Well, thanks! But shouldn't that be "For a pilot, you're not a bad body guy! "

But speaking of that, I had to do that pilot thing yesterday (of course) due to some repositioning of aircraft around or system. Packed flights... that's a good thing for job security!

So today the door jambs get painted and here's the details on the fender tag. You can see the slight bend in the tag on the left side with the painted screw.

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

Gotta love those details! Even the original, assembly line, dome-headed screws, too. One painted, one natural finish.

[TimG]

After seeing your restoration work, I'd trust you in any aircraft, Dave.

[A12pilot]

Thanks for that, Tim! If I know you're on the plane I'll insist on complimentary adult beverages!

Yep, Steve-O! See that little notch on the fender tag? Original! Jambs are waiting on clear as we speak! Going to start ripping apart the suspension later today as we discussed and start blasting the parts.

More soon....

Cheers
Dave

[njsteve]

Roger that! Already searching the interwebs for parts. I have been hearing horror stories about Moog lower control arm bushings for mopars not being manufactured to the right size in the past few years, so I am looking for alternatives. (the inner diameter where the stud is pressed in, was built too loose and the stud just spins. Anyone else heard about this?)

[A12pilot]

I haven't had any issues with those but I haven't done them since the Bee. I guess we'll find out! And if anyone can have issues..... it's me!

Jambs are painted! While that was curing and with nothing else to do, I jumped over and disassembled the suspension in preps for blasting, replacing, and detailing.

Also found this green marking on the idle arm mount when I pulled it off. I've seen this green mark before on Hamtramck cars and St. Louis cars but it's usually on the engine mount point on the a-frame.

It'll go back like original! Gotta lift the engine then pull the k-frame out to start the cleaning and repaint.

More to come...

Cheers
Dave

[RS_COPO_Canuck]

Cowl and rad area