Rusty's not very quiet cuda progress

Well this was kind of useless, they sent instructions for an electric fuel pump! 20240620_140400.jpgCrate is done, now to find a nice heavy cardboard box to put it in! 20240620_163124.jpgManaged to get a couple of screws to wood on the compressor & a slot in the top board for the bracket, not sure my crate will survive a drop from waste high though? 20240620_164817.jpg
 
Dood, you doubled the weight of that thing! 😁

It's all worth it if it survives, really.

I was thinking about your lower RH trim piece last night, and while I didn't have time to track it down, I'm positive I have a spare. I know this, because I had the one that came with my '74, but later bought one with the notch in it for the 8-track (in my case, it's a notch for a graphic equalizer). So I definitely have it, I've just gotta find it!

Gotta go set up a stereo for a friend's party... will check in later, hopefully with some dash trim in hand.
 
Headed down the basement to my sons shipping dept hunting for boxes, real close on the compressor & a freaking exact fit for the rad shroud!!!!!!!!
Doctored up the top of the compressor box & I think I can get all the small parts in with the shroud!
Want to look around & maybe ship off some other goodies while I'm at it, I know I have a bunch of gaskets somewhere & see what else can go to a good home! 20240620_203248.jpg20240620_203256.jpg20240620_203342.jpg
 
Lookee what I found! 😁

Being 100% honest, you'd be hard-pressed to find a nicer one. All the screw posts are intact, there are no cracks or blemishes, and it's not warped. All it could use is a little more cleaning; I just went over it quickly with some glass cleaner and a paper towel. It's literally better than the 8-track one I bought to replace it.

The pictures will get fairly large if you click on 'em so you can see the detail.

Front:

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Back:

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Back showing flat area below/beside radio:

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Both my '74 parts car and the '71 have this piece still installed, so I'm not leaving myself in a bind by shipping it to you. I won't be able to get it out tomorrow, but worry not--it's on its way soon enough. I've got a bunch of stuff I need to get together and take over to the USPS and want to get it all in one fell swoop.
 
Looks GREAT & will fill a big unfinished gap in my interior, with that & the working gas gauge I might actually be able to call the interior DONE!
Well if I get that A/C duct figured out.

No rush on the shipping, car ain't getting on the road for a while yet.

Hope you get some good use out of all my leftovers!
 
Not as bad as I thought on the compressor, 40.22.
shroud box 18.37, I threw in a bunch more stuff that made it heavier, 1 upper ball joint 2 bushings (do 1 upper control arm) sets of upper arm offset washer bolts a few gaskets, a set of fender mount turn signals, ( I was chicken to drill into my fenders) those are used.
probably some other goodie I forgot?

I will let my son double check it all before we finalize.
 
K a ton of fun is on i's way, the compressor shipping messed with me, label kept coming out with a different address at the top, finally had my son look at it & he noticed your address way at the bottom WITH A POST OFFICE CODE.
So their shipping it to your state & then handing it over to the PO for delivery, that is weird.
The other one is going ups all the way to you.
Funny the PO ends up with it, if I went with them all the way it would have been 30something more!
 
Not much on the car, the air cleaner had a breather stud on it so I dug out the breatjer I had with the fitting, that cleaned up pretty good, stuck that in.

Didn't want to just leave an open hole on the air cleaner so is this better? worse? or doesn't really do much? 20240625_145428.jpgThat in turn gave me a rubber not too hot spot to strap my plug wires & keep them off metal parts! 20240625_145448.jpg
 
Connecting the breather to the air cleaner is much better than leaving the hole in the air cleaner wide open. Since you've got stock valve covers, there should be a baffle beneath the hole to keep the air cleaner from sucking oil directly.

On the flip side, heater hose isn't designed to carry petroleum, vapors or otherwise. Keep an eye on it as it'll probably rot from the inside out. It won't be an immediate failure; I'm guessing you'll need to replace it on a yearly basis.
 
Only hose I had laying around big enough (actually 1 size too big at the cleaner) had to use a clamp there, see if I can find a dew feet of breather hose someday!
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
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Click to expand...
... and here I thought I was the master of zip ties🏆

It really does look like something I'd do and then regret later when I had to do something with that breather hose. :D

I also wondered if the bracket on the VC could have held some kind of a factory wire clip. I remembered there is one on the van but there is nothing mounted to it in any photos. I remember some kind of a vacuum booster mounted on that side, but otherwise it looks just like yours. So, no, not for a plug wire holder.
 
b-body-bob said:
I also wondered if the bracket on the VC could have held some kind of a factory wire clip. I remembered there is one on the van but there is nothing mounted to it in any photos. I remember some kind of a vacuum booster mounted on that side, but otherwise it looks just like yours. So, no, not for a plug wire holder.
Click to expand...
It's for a vacuum amplifier. That and the ported thermal vacuum switch controlled the EGR valve.

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There's a spot on the side for the factory wire clips, I had 2 out of the 3 but with the headers & straight boots I couldn't figure out any good routing, I just ordered a big set from summit, I need a couple of duces where a couple of wires are close.
As you can see I bent the aftermarket quite a bit towards the rear, the other side is pretty straight.

I may need that vacuum booster if my A/c switches don't work!

I think the breather on a stock air cleaner went forward, as it is it pushes the air cleaner up when I loosen the nut! Forward looked like it would be more in the way of the carb adjustments?

Also ordered some 5/8 fuel line hose, that should be snug on the air cleaner, if I can stretch it a tad for the breather?

There's Zip ties all over the wiring in the back of the bay!
 
Blades came, now I paid way more than I should have to get the silver metal , everyone else had black, it called for 16", now I know back in the day wipers were pretty lousy, but it looks like 18" would cover a lot more of the window & I don't think even come near any trim?

That chrome plate was sticking up quite a bit & really twisted the rubber when parking, I got it down a little from this pic, I don't plan on driving in the rain, only if I get caught out.

So all 3 speeds worked, washers tried to spray, got about 5 or 6 inches out, hope more fluid & a couple of pump ups will get them working?
20240626_142921.jpg
Is there a clip that goes on the lower rod, if so another vanishing piece! 20240626_142858.jpg
 
Trico used to make those blades in their Classic series, but they're NLA. 16" is the original size, but if you specifically wanted the correct blades (and I expect you did), they're probably not available in 17" or 18" sizes, since 16" was about as long as they got back in those days. I know 17" blades clear the perimeter mouldings but current frame styles aren't correct. In many cases, the newer designs are taller and will hit the hood, not allowing the wipers to park.

I'm sure you know this, but that lower moulding is bent. It should fit flat to the glass so the wipers ride onto it smoothly.

There's no clip for the E-body pantograph arm listed in the catalog that I'm able to find. However, there is one listed for the B-bodies in '74, part number 3431696. MegaParts sells a reproduction of that number on eBay that they claim is for both '71-'74 B- and '70-'74 E-bodies. I haven't got time to dig through all the catalogs (it's group number 23-67-80 if someone else wants to look), but neither the 1970/'71 book nor the 1974 catalog show it for E-bodies.
 
"I'm sure you know this, but that lower moulding is bent. It should fit flat to the glass so the wipers ride onto it smoothly."

I worked on that molding a little while & got it a little flatter, I agree it should be all the way down, somewhere else I was told that new glass isn't as thick as original & that may be the problem?

As stated above, I paid way too much to get the metal looking ones, how close to original they are I can't say I had that car 50 years ago!

Don't think I'll do the clip unless the darn thing pops off, I wish I didn't lose the extra carb clips Jerry gave me I think that would have done the job?
 
RUSTY Cuda said:
I worked on that molding a little while & got it a little flatter, I agree it should be all the way down, somewhere else I was told that new glass isn't as thick as original & that may be the problem?
Click to expand...
It's true that most current glass is thinner than the original. However, the trick there is to use a thicker butyl rope seal. The factory rope was 5/16", but 3/8" is commonly available--we stock it here at the store. It's easy enough to tell if the glass/rope thickness is the problem, because all of the windshield mouldings will have a noticeably wide gap to the glass, where on originals the moulding is nearly touching the windshield.

The wiper blades you have are about as close to OE as you're going to find. My point was that you're not going to find a 17" or 18" equivalent; wiper blades that long didn't exist back then.

A simple E-clip would retain the pantograph arm well. There's no side loading on that link. If it was going to disconnect, I would expect it to happen when the blade is travelling onto/off the lower moulding.
 
Glass guy knew his shit, he cancelled the first day when he saw the car, said he had the 3/8 at his home, so I waited for the right stuff.
All other moldings fit on nice, no big gaps.
I did catch that lower on the buffer wheel I very well may have screwed it up myself.
I'm with Bob at this point, it is what it is, let the next guy worry bout it!
Gotta see what little clips I have in the leftovers!
 
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