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

[A12pilot]

I had ordered date coded glass from ECS as was the exhaust for my Bee. 100% top notch all the way. Dave was a great guy to deal with (wish he was still here) and had I of kept Crusty I would have ordered their exhaust for it if I went the "over the top, stress about everything, crazy paint blop Inspector mark" restoration we all love to do!

You're doing awesome on this one Steve! Love it!!!!!

Cheers
Dave

[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.

As you may recall I am installing this 1972 Mopar tach on the column, just like the old days.

[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.

[njsteve]

Well, the Legendary interior showed up yesterday...in a shredded box.

You'd think if you were shipping a white interior you would do something more than put it in an unsealed plastic bag and throw it in a large cardboard box. Then tape the flaps shut with a single section of tape.

Here's how it arrived. The white seat covers were out of the plastic bags and laying on the bottom section where the open tears in the cardboard were. All that clear tape was put on by UPS in transit.

WTF is wrong with these companies? I paid them $86 for shipping. Legendary said it was the price they charge for an oversized box. Really? So you couldn't double box it? Did I pay for insurance?

I called them immediately and emailed them the photos. They didn't seem to think there was any problem. All they kept saying was if they were damaged to put in a claim and claims get expedited if they have to make a new set.

I ordered these in August. That's how long it took to get them made.

[njsteve]

On the windshield front, Jegs has been great. They refunded my $138 truck shipping costs and had a new wndshield shipped out directly from AMD. I noticed the weight now says 85 lbs instead of 50 lbs on the bill of lading. So maybe they crated it up this time? We shall see. It's due in on Monday bween 8 and 5 PM.

[njsteve]

I spent the day finagling with the dash and installing the copper oil pressure line. I was able to create a T-fitting with some brass fittings and the original idiot light sender. I then routed the copper line through one of the plastic push through cowl insulation clips. I just snipped the pointed end off and the copper line fed right through, very close to where it needed to connect to the fitting. I installed the Stewart Warner oil pressure gauge in the instrument pod, which had to come halfway out of the dash to access. Once I get the tach installed tomorrow, I will post some better photos of the dash area

With the help of the wife we woman-handled the newly assembled steering column into place and hooked it up to the steering box. Moving along nicely.

[njsteve]

And here's a question for you E-body wiring gurus...any idea what this thre wire connector from the column goes to? I can't seem to find anything under the dash. The wires feed off of the turn signal and hazard assembly.