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

[Igosplut]

I might have one of those connectors. They made universal one's that you could change the pin pattern on also. I'll look today.

[Igosplut]

I did find one. Five prong

[njsteve]

That might work. The female portion has 9 ports but you only need four or five of the wires if you are using just front and rear speakers split instead of 4 speaker split.

Got a photo?

[njsteve]

It's 4/30/2021, the 51st birthday of the Cuda, born on 4/30/1970. Happy Birthday Old Gal!!!

[olredalert]

----All our cars are getting old along with us,,,LOL!.....Bill S

[njsteve]

Yeah, this photo was taken in 1983 when my first '70 Cuda was only 13 years old and just another used car. Scary to think that's like having a 2008 car in 2021.

[olredalert]

----Ha,,,Funny, Steve as I have 2 2008 cars and love them both. I hope they last me until I'm planted as newer stuff normally doesn't interest me! 1st is an e63 Merc wagon and the 2nd is a Bentley GT Speed. Both will run way faster than I will probably ever drive them....Bill S

[CTBob]

Hey, Steve! I sure do remember that cool 'Cuda! I had just picked-up parts for my Charger at A-1 Toyota/Dodge. (The Toyota dealership had recently purchased County Dodge Sales, and, consolidated the Dodge dealership with their Toyota dealership.) Just as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I saw you fuelin'-up that 'Cuda at the Mobil station across the street. MoPars being a somewhat-rare breed in our area, you motioned me in to the Mobil station, and, we had a chat! You were gonna be headin' off to the '83 MoPar Nats. Been friends ever since! (As a parenthetical note, I think it's interesting how timing can be such a contributory factor in life experiences.)

…And, speaking of timing… Wow! Has it been that long, already?! Guess so, huh… It still seems like only yesterday…

[njsteve]

YAY!

I really have to give a shout-out to Marcus at TurboStart Batteries for finding me not one but two yellow cap S24Y reproduction AGM batteries for the Cuda. He has been putting up with my: "So when will you have them back in stock?" emails for around eight months now.

He managed to locate one early last week and immediately sent it to me...and what happened? Friggen fedex ground destroyed it again, just like the red cap one I got from Jegs a month ago. Inconceivable!

(BTW, like the previously destroyed red cap battery, it went through the same fedex Northampton PA depot that has lost and/or destroyed so many of my packages over the past year - they must have my name on some kind of
"Do Not Deliver To This Guy" List)

It showed up on Friday and the moment I saw the young lady behind the counter at my PO Box handling it, I had to yell to warn her to put it down immediately: She had picked it up in a bear hug and I could see the acid staining on the cardboard as she held it against her shirt. She thought I was some kind of pervert, when I asked her if she had another shirt to change into. Before she could pepper spray me and call the cops, I quickly explained that it was leaking battery acid and that it may be on her clothing now. She then said: "Oh is that the vinegar smell I'm smelling?" So eventually she believed what I was saying as I opened the box to take photos and call Marcus and tell him what happened. It was around 3:30 PM by then.

When I got it out of the box it looked like they had hit it with a hammer or something because a chunk was taken out of the top corner of the battery. You could see the damage to the upper middle of the box on the outside. It looked like a deliberate attack and not an accidental drop while handling, because the top of the battery where it was damaged was not at the actual top of the cardboard box due to the layers of styrofoam on top of the battery. Someone had to have taken some time to find that spot.

Well, enough with my conspiracy theories for now...

When I got in touch with Marcus I think he was more mad than I was. He then went on a Holy Grail quest and managed to find a second one that he made sure that everyone along the way knew how important it was. It was triple-packaged with multiple layers of cardboard and styrofoam packing and sent it out Friday afternoon by 4:00 PM. I imagine he probably insured it for a million dollars just to teach fedex a lesson if they ruined this one too.

It just arrived today (Monday) and it was in perfect shape.

Thank you Marcus!


So here it is installed and makes the engine compartment finally look correct.

[njsteve]

I got a message from the guy refurbishing that Sanyo FT-489 I bought. It's all done and awaiting shipping. He actually posted a video of the newly rebuilt unit playing, which is kind of cool. He said it appeared to only have around ten hours total run time on it from the condition of the internals. It needed a belt and the ejection mechanism gears retimed and shimmed and that was about it. He charged around $145 with shipping.

I can't wait to install the circa-1975 vintage unit. (Paperwork has 1976 on the instructions but Sanyo supposeldy manufactured the FT-489 from 1971 to 1974 according to this site, which, by the way is a great site for dating stereo equipment. You just input the model and it will give you various brands to narrow down your search results: https://www.usedprice.com/items/car-...=ft489&x=0&y=0