Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

OK I'll start with the good part, I think I have the radio all wired up correctly.
Wasn't sure how I wanted to join the front wires, in line like the rears or just twist solder & go, I found a spot to strap them up like that so went with it.
20230815_133020.jpgthese took 3 layers of shrink wrap, I tried to pinch each end before the next layer went on. 20230815_133313.jpg20230815_133459.jpg
I scraped the paint off my nice clean dash frame around the screw & under the metal brace, added a second wire long enough to reach anywhere on the firewall, hopefully I can get to the back of the engine ground bolt in the firewall.
20230815_145821.jpg
then I worked on the power lines, the male clips did fit good, on the cracked wires I slit open some fat shrink wrap & rolled it over the bad spots, it seems to be holding ok. 20230815_145844.jpg
Then I did a couple of layers where the pins went in, by slicing the big one I was able to get it up over the clip.20230815_150512.jpg20230815_150856.jpgAs a final overkill I put a layer of black tape over the split ends, & then wrapped the whole plug end.
20230815_151150.jpgOn the power out line I taped off the end & also removed the fuse.
Tried to get it all strapped up nice, I hope it's not in the way of any future work? 20230815_153804.jpg
 
Now for the lousy ending to my day!
Speaker grille does not want to go in! I think the whole indent in the pad is off, when I cleaned out the screw holes you can see they are too low (or maybe too high?) 20230815_161515.jpg
Gap o one end & laying on the pad on the other20230815_160140.jpg
Not sure if there's enough plastic in the holes to file down to get the screws a little lower & then the heads would hit the sides? 20230815_161547.jpg
Or try & drill new holes?
Even laid in there she's quite a bit off, & when I flip it the line changes??? which end is actually supposed to go towards the windshield?
20230815_162405.jpg20230815_162555.jpg
Darn it looked pretty good just laid in there.20230815_154639.jpg
 
The rounded edge of the grille goes in front, closest to the windshield.

On the 1970-only Challenger (not the Barracuda) the little stands on the back side of the grille are different. Apparently the pad was thicker in that area in the '70 Dodge, so the plastic barely protrudes from the back on the two screw holes closest to the windshield.

s-l1600.jpg



I'm not sure if duplicating the factory '70 grille would help or not, but I would certainly have no compunction about getting the grille placed and drilling new holes to secure it in that location. But, that's me.
 
OK, at least I know which wat to face it, I'll take a close look but don't think grinding down the base would help, it's pushed against the pad at the bottom in the pics, I'll lay it in the correct way again & see if I punch new holes it will go down (and in) at the bottom?
 
OK, she's in, I'm a little upset with this pad now, wondering if I had told him to use mine & waited out the delay if it would have made any difference?
After the A/C vent issues & now the speaker cover?
Sooooooo I managed to get it in 3 of the original screw holes. I put it in the bottom first at an angle & put a lot of pressure on it to compress the side of the pad a little, with that I got the bottom 2 screws in, top left I had to wedge a very wide screwdriver between the side pad & the bezel, got that one in even after wedging on the top of the right side I was nowhere near the screw hole, so on that I drilled a new hole. 20230816_140020.jpg
Sticks up a bit on the top (front) & one side of the bottom, don't know if I grind down the plastic like the 71 if it would pull in a bit, I'm now worried that all that stress on the screws is going to crack my beautiful OE bezel that Jass sent me? 20230816_140040.jpg
I have one more task to test the guages, was going to put the glove box in, well I did, but looking at that cardboard hanging out the bottom I didn't think it would take kindly to being bounced around much so I pulled it back out! 20230816_143830.jpg20230816_144045.jpgI think I have more digging to do, can't locate the side latch thingamajig! 20230816_144818.jpg20230816_144818.jpgI pulled out my rearview mirror, new one is on the way to compare, but it looks correct! 20230816_144659.jpg
 
Your speaker grille is in backwards. The curved or rounded side goes closest to the windshield. The curved side is apparent; the last "opening" does not go all the way across the grille. It stops a couple inches short of the right front screw (which is the left rear the way you've got it installed).
 
Crap! I thought I did it right I was looking at the front & rear straight lines, I put the longer one away from the windshield.
Your saying the actual frame has a curve to it?
Shouldn't be a problem reversing it, I HOPE!

Did my radio wiring look OK?
 
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The grille's front edge is curved to match the windshield and the front of the dash. All you have to do is spin it 180° so what's the left rear corner right now becomes the front right.
 
The red and green lines in this photo are perfectly straight. The green lines are referencing the screw holes; the red lines are referenced to the grille edges. Focus on the grille itself, not the opening.
Notice how the grille curves away from the lower red line at the ends? That's the curved side. The yellow arrow shows the end of the grille opening that doesn't make it all the way across because of the curvature of the grille. The note in blue should be self-explanatory.

GrilRot.jpg
 
Yea I get it, just when I had it that way back in one of the first posts it looked like a worse fit.
I'll try it tomorrow with my new pressure on the bottom technique & see what we get?
 
OK I feel a little better, I may not be completely losing it, I went out and found the motor on the bench again, Seems my jack is leaking down.
Was just about to put the engine stand back on when my friend came over (the one with the tools in my garage) & said take his hoist.
If I go out tomorrow & find it on the bench again I'm looking for a racoon that can work a jack!
20230817_141209.jpg
Off to the scrap yard next week! One less thing for my kids to deal with when I kick the bucket! 20230817_151632.jpg
 
This better be it. I reversed it & that bottom corner was still way up, other side just a little, so I took about 1/8 inch off the one & a tiny bit off the other, she's still a little off but livable. 20230817_115252.jpg
20230817_115304.jpg
Bottom is still up a tad in the middle, but not gonna mess with it anymore. 20230817_115319.jpg
 
Put the flywheel on the motor, red thread locker & 55 ft. Lbs.
I was trying to mount it the other way, looked like more room which made sense to this old brain, but thank the powers that be that the holes would not line up! 20230817_141228.jpgNow can I mount the converter now or do I have to wait for the tranny & do it with it on the tranny?
My friend mentioned some kind of twisting it on the tranny for some clicks that set it in all the way?
 
Want to make sure I'm reading this right, torque converter is held on by four TINY little bolts, the book says 270 INCH LBS, if that's correct am I using Red thread locker here too?
I can't believe that the whole drive train counts on those little guys!
 
Put the converter in the transmission and install them as an assembly. You need to rotate the converter around until you hit a notch where the converter moves further into the bellhousing as its snout seats into the front pump. Then, if memory serves, you have to continue to rotate it until the same thing happens again. If you're trying to bolt the transmission to the engine and the two just won't come together, the converter is not fully seated! Stop, pull the transmission back, and keep spinning to win until you get that second step.

Any effort to shortcut this (the usual method is to try pulling the trans onto the block with the bolts) will crack the flexplate, break the converter snout, damage the front pump, any combination of the two, or all three. I don't care if it's only 1/16" away, do not try to force it. If anything, with the trans flush to the block, you might have to pull the converter forward a scosche to get it flat against the flexplate.
 
OK, converter on the trans first, make sure it drops in at least 2 times & then see if the bellhousing is flush with the motor, I will look at the book too, just to see if there's any other hints in there.

any thoughts on 270 inch lbs on those short little bolts & is red thread locker the way to go?
 
270lb/in sounds about right. They're small so they can't take a ton of preload without breaking. They're loaded 100% in shear, so it's not like they have a ton of pull on them. All they have to do along their length is keep the converter stuck to the flexplate.

Threadlocker is your call. I don't recall using it the last time I installed an automatic, but that was in 1996 so things are hazy at best. I may have, but I don't think I did. If you choose to use threadlocker, it acts as a lubricant. The torque spec needs to be a bit lower. 250lb/in (21lb/ft) should be plenty based on the spec you're providing (which seems right for the fastener size).
 
I don't think it can hurt, It was a completely different set up on the 73 & I don't remember thread locker on that even though I have a tube of green left over from that car, anyway after a couple of years (just before I sold it) they came loose.
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
It was a completely different set up on the 73...
Click to expand...
I'm not sure exactly how that's possible unless it was a manual transmission... ? The converter setup is virtually identical from at least 1965 well into the 2000s. The only real variances are that the Hemi and 440+6 cars used 3/8" bolts rather than 5/16" (the Hemi also had 8 crank bolts), and 904s had a slightly smaller torque-converter bolt pattern. Obviously there were variations on the torque converters due to balance differences, but they all assemble the same way.
 
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