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

[mockingbird812]

I think rather than....

“... we are a one stop shop!”

It is really...

We are a two stop two shop!!!!!!!!!!!

[njsteve]

More reproduction blues: 1) not enough mounting clips came with the new door top "belt" moldings. You need 18, they send 14. 2) the matching belt moldings that go on the quarter windows should have a hole for a Phillips screw to attach the end to the top of the quarter. No holes. Nothing like drilling a hole in a brand new anodized aluminum molding. 3) One of the long door belt moldings had a crack in it.

So I installed the dampener springs on the front 11" drums. That was exciting. The new springs are about 4 inches shorter than the stretched out, rusted originals, which no longer have any tension. The directions said to cut up a coat hanger into "S" hooks and use them to hold the opposite sides of the springs while you roll them onto the drums. That takes a whole lot of patience, agility, and skill. Those three items are currently on backorder here in Joysey. It took five tries per wheel, with that high tension spring flinging around the garage at crotch level at Mach 2. I have agility now!

Here's a shot of the S hooks for the half second the stretched spring stayed in place when I took the picture. It the rolled off and snapped back to its original size. Smarter idea was to take the next photo after it was fully seated. And the original, rusted "formerly known as a spring" on the floor below it. The 50 year old originals were so tired they fell off the drums and when I tried to straighten them, you could hear them cracking apart.

[njsteve]

And look what I found in my boxes of crap in the basement: the original grounding straps for a shaker hood! They came off the 71 hemicuda ragtop 35 years ago. I really have no idea why there was a need to ground the shaker doors? There is nothing electrical happening with the shaker. Any ideas?

[njsteve]

And also found an original set of "thick" chrome plated hood pins. All the repros seem to be made of stainless steel cut on a lathe. These were the original chrome plated, mild steel pins that are noticeably thicker than the reproductions.