Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

[b-body-bob]

almost like the city horn I had on my N.Y. new 74 cuda

I've heard of California emissions, but that's the first time I've heard of a NY horn.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

there was a switch under the dash I think, that turned off the full horn & all you got was a sick sounding little noise, I can't even call it a beep.
That was NY's answer to noise pollution in the city!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

OK, not much on the car today, headliner guy is coming tomorrow, was supposed to be clear, looked again last night & chance of showers all day, so I put the tarp back up, don't want to waste his time!
Did run into another thing, opened the hood after that rain & my hood pad was dripping wet, so I have to remove that & seal all the holes on the scoops & emblems. took out one clip, came out without breaking so maybe I won't have to buy another set, I did have 4 or 5 extras, I'll do that tomorrow while he works inside.

Read a few posts about the dash lights & many times it's the dimmer switch, so when I get back to that I'll check that first!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Wow the world opens up this early, I forgot since I retired, hopefully a big day today, headliner guy will be here at 8, see what evil spirits haunt this day?

 

[b-body-bob]

The older I get the earlier I wake up and the earlier I fall asleep.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

My wife is more like that, but it's pain that wakes Her early, I went the other way stay up later & sleep till whenever!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

K headliner is moving along..................took off the hood pad & sealed up all the scoop holes, there already was a mouse sign on the back side of the pad, a little chewed up section with some crud, damn I need a cat!

Here's the discoloration on the headers. top close to the motor are the little orange dots? I'm starting to get pissed at this car!

 

[b-body-bob]

Here's the discoloration on the headers. top close to the motor are the little orange dots?

I had an aluminum MTB once that had orange rust dots on the frame like that. I had buyer's remorse anyway and tried to make a claim against it. LOL It was something under the clear coat.

IIRC my coated Schumacher headers are a little discolored, as in blued, but not much more than that. I think they've only been hot twice though.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

There be headliner, all I have left is to get the quarter window panels & the sill plates on, throw in the rear seat & the interior is about done, won't say done because I'm sure I missed something!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Too cold to do the stripes, but he will do them, I'll set that up once the weather is warmer, Glad he can do them because I read the instructions & every other line was a warning of what not to do!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Well I intended to finish off the back today, but the lawn took me 3 times the norm sooooo all I got in was one rear panel & one sill plate.
Sill plate, the rear screw into air screw worked ok, seems tight, the front one ended up butting up against the wire cover , so I punched a hole in that & it actually has something to screw to! So I'm hoping with my blue carpet & blue stripe saving the blue seats & blacking everything else out won't look too off?

Did notice I may have a cut to make in my rear divider panel, I think the seat back slides into this bracket, it's covered by about 2" ?
I'll be sorry when this is done, cause that means I'm back to electric & tuning. baah haah.

 

[b-body-bob]

I'll be sorry when this is done, cause that means I'm back to electric & tuning. baah haah.

With our typical luck, you'll get to take that all back part again for some dumb reason so don't fret over working on other things yet.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Well I'm praying that I at least have the back half of the car done, already worried about how far into the dash I have to go to get to the back of all those gizmos to check power in & out?
Will probably pull the drivers seat out after I finish the back, only way this ole man is getting under the drivers side, hoping I don't have to go to the passenger side too?

 

[b-body-bob]

Will probably pull the drivers seat out after I finish the back, only way this ole man is getting under the drivers side, hoping I don't have to go to the passenger side too?

It is a smart move. My seat has been out since my fiasco started.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

So after cutting out nice notches in the divider panal I get the seat back & find it goes on the outside anyway.
Guess I have to bolt the bottoms in? Almost went in nice, the story of my life, drivers side went down nice, passenger side sticks up quite a bit, it is bottoming out on the metal bracket/hook in the car? noticeable from inside too
Will look decent if I get that ironed out

buffed out my door touch ups, many shades of blue (brush on) guess better than a deep bare metal chip? drivers side a tad better?
& finally reglued (again) the 360 emblem, had to use another plastic insert, one fell off & disappeared, glad I bought 6. 5 foot rule is holding, back off a bit & she's lookin good!

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

If you notice I'm doing everything & anything to postpone the electric & tuning hunts!

 

[Dr.Jass]

Thought I was very careful to get them this time, silicone worked on that I'll try a bead on this & see if it helps, my vac gauge is not steady.

The first thing you do when hunting down a vacuum leak is double-check every bolt on the induction setup. Are all the manifold bolts tight, and did you do them in the correct sequence? Are the carburetor fasteners tight enough?

Silicone is not fuel-resistant, so it's not even suitable as a temporary repair. It should never be used on the intake-to-head junction or carb gaskets. It will not last even a little while, regardless of color.

Also, I believe we covered this a long time ago, but due to the age of, and God-knows-what's been done to, these engine parts, the intake-manifold front & rear end seals seem to create more problems than they solve and should always be left out. Silicone only, with the intake installed after the silicone has "skinned over" but not fully cured.

Now that I changed that bulb I'll try the blinkers again with key on run, but not started?

They should work whether the engine's running or not, as long as the key's in the "RUN" position. I do not believe they work with the key in the "ACC" position (backward from where the key comes out) but it's been so long since I tried that, I honestly can't remember. The hazards should work whenever the switch is pulled, regardless of key position.

If you notice I'm doing everything & anything to postpone the electric & tuning hunts!

OK, stupid question time: Have you actually tried twisting the panel dimmer on the dash far enough to turn the dome light on? Just on the other side of the dome light detent is full panel brightness.

Next stupid question: Back during the interlock debacle, you pulled the switch panel to check continuity for the windshield washer wire. Did some wires come loose or not get reconnected when you did that?

Stupid question #3: Everything looks right with, and is fully connected at the turn-signal connector on the steering column, right? No huge burn marks or terminals pushed back far enough to not connect?

The tail lights, side markers and instrument cluster lights are on the same circuit. When that fuse blows, you lose everything but the turn signals, brake and headlamps. I know you checked the fuse, but it's one circuit that runs all of 'em so it's likely something simple. If you still have a printout of the bulkhead disconnect, or a '74 FSM, it's cavity 10. It should be the only black wire with a yellow tracer on the center connector on the engine-bay side. Black with a tan tracer is right below it; that wire's the RH turn signal circuit. The instrument cluster lights are fed by (surprise!) a black wire with a yellow tracer at the panel dimmer switch. The panel dimmer operates all the lights on the dash, like the one above the heater controls, the one in the factory radio, and even the shift-indicator light in the console (or on the column on cars so shifted).

Unfortunately, the novel design of the E-body headlamp and panel-dimmer switches does not make it easy to simply try different ones since they're specific to these cars. The headlight switch for vritually every other Mopar is still available new, and it's cheap to boot. Chrysler used it well into the 2000s. E-body switches, on the other hand, are expensive used and the price becomes truly unholy when you shop NOS.

The orange and red "triple taps" that you found are indeed accessory plugs (for options you may not have). The red one is 12V+, key on I believe, and the orange one is connected to the dash lighting. The orange one should only have 12V when the lights are on, and its voltage changes as you rotate the panel dimmer. That orange tap is where I have the lights for my aftermarket gauges and tachometer connected, so they match the brightness of the cluster.

The key-release lever on the column has no electrical function whatsoever. Long story, but it's literally Chrysler's workaround to avoid completely redesigning the floor-shift steering column used in 1970. On the '70 models, the key couldn't be removed unless automatic transmissions were in Park or manuals were in reverse. Every transmission option (except column shifters) literally had complex linkage running from the transmission to the column just to operate a key-release mechanism. In '71, they did away with that and installed the lever behind the keyswitch. It operates the same locking pawl as the intricate, expensive 1970-only trans-operated arrangement.

There are only a few possibilities here: Something's not connected, a fuse is blown (which you checked), you've got a bad switch (headlamp or panel dimmer, since the former feeds the latter) or there's a broken wire somewhere.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

I'm confused on the silicone deal, you said it won't last, then you say silicone front & rear instead of the cork gasket?

On the other car, I screwed up the install & had a bad leak in all 4 corners (where your supposed to blob it on) I think what I had was HVAC silicone, I blobbed that on from the outside & it lasted quite a few years till the car sailed off to the UK.

I have one more tube left, at the least if I do one area at a time it might at least tell me where the leak is???

Electric, wrote done a bunch of notes to check over.
1- dome, I had no bulb in, actually the head liner guy put it in, it worked (doors were open) but I pulled it because the doors are always open while I'm working & didn't want to drain the battery, I can put it in to do the test on the dimmer switch,

2 -I will recheck the interlock plugs.

3-also will double check the plug for the signals at the column, it was in pretty clean shape.

Dimmer switch was where I was heading, googled a couple of posts about no dash lights & a few went there so I figured a good place to start.

I did check all fuses, all had continuity.

Turn signals did not work with key in run, but not running, start the car & they work, have no idea why maybe something to do with the other problem.
All the lights you mentioned radio, shifter dash are the ones that are out, headlights, markers, parking lights, & now even the back up lights work.

Good note on the accessory plugs, can get my tach powered right there at the least!

I'm dreading it, but I think that's tomorrow's quest! (the electric)

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

K forgot the manifold, it was done in the correct order, but the center ones are not torqued to spec, could not get a torque wrench on them! tried to feel how tight the torqued ones were with a wrench & then tried to apply about the same pressure on the center ones, what else could I do?

Cork front & rear gaskets are in, thin coat top & bottom & the rest blobbed in the corners.

 

[RUSTY Cuda]

Oh yea, no hazards at all, I can't even find the flasher unit or wires/plug for it?