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

[RS_COPO_Canuck]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Very cool stuff. As for 71 shaker finishes, despite the black shaker dome edict, my old yellow 71 hemicuda ragtop came with an argent shaker. The previous owner I got it from back in 1986 indicated it was the original one to the car (and other photos of the same car from the 1970's show it with the same argent shaker).

Interesting to see that the info for the rear window louvers didn't mention having to have a vinyl top as mandatory. For some reason I thought it did require it but I guess not.

Yes - Lots of original '71's with Argent Shakers.
I do know the rear window stainless was black on rear window louvred cars. It was on my 71 'Cuda

[njsteve]

Thanks to 67Novaboy I have a F70x14 bias ply to use as my spare tire.

I was able to find a correct sized (though rusty)14x5-1/2 steel wheel off ebay from a seller in Rhode Island. After soaking it in four gallons of Evaporust for about a week I was able to get all the crustiness off it. I then used body filler to fill in the pits and it worked out pretty well.

It is probably from the mid 1970's so I am happy since I only paid $45 for it instead of several hundred for a part-number-perfect example of a 1970 rim. This one is a 3699402 rim which is stamped in tiny numbers above the valve stem hole which is totally not visible when the spare is mounted in the car. It also has a 4026530 sticker inside the rim. Anyone have any idea what its actually from or the date range?

[big gear head]

I didn't know you needed one of those wheels. I would have given you this one. It may not be what you were looking for. I've been trying to get someone to take it, but no luck.

[njsteve]

Wish I knew you had it a couple weeks ago. I think I spent $40 in Evaporust alone soaking the other one! Are you still looking to get rid of it? Never hurts to have a spare spare. :-)

[big gear head]

Yes, I would love to get it to someone who could use it.

[njsteve]

Big Gear Head, I sent you a PM. :-)

[big gear head]

Got it.

[njsteve]

I sent off the original, Prestolite cast iron #3438317 distributor to Joe White who previously restored it for Dave.

Although it was already setup with the original dual points and ready to go, I wanted it upgraded to the Pertronix electronic ignition setup before I installed it. Dave had already put in a generic single point distributor that he converted with a Pertronix system when he was trouble shooting the original non-start problem (that turned out to be the defective ignition switch). That's why the dual point was in a box when the car project initially arrived. Unfortunately the Pertronix unit he used is not the same one for the dual point applications.

Joe White's specialty is restoring old distributors and upgrading them if requested. He also reverified the ignition advance curve and set it at 18 degrees at 3,600 rpm. Check out his facebook site for prior restoration photo at "Joes Mopar Distributor Restorations." He also does vintage aftermarket distributors and other makes as well.

I installed a recently acquired Pertronix 40,000 volt, 1.5 ohm coil, and I'm using the "deballasted" ballast resistor that Dave converted with a section of 10 gauge wire, as the Pertronix needs full voltage to run optimally.

The distributor should be back here and installed next week. (fingers crossed).

[njsteve]

Joe is all done and ready to ship out after doing some extra detailing on the unit.

[njsteve]

I spent an hour or so trying to finagle with the 1970's FM converter that I installed. It does work ok and gets the local FM stations but since the factory AM radio only puts out 2 watts, it wont power the speakers with any degree of volume that you can actually hear when the car is running. I even disconnected the fader switch and wired the dash speaker directly to the two speaker leads coming out of the radio itself, with no improvement.

So I am on the hunt for a vintage 25 or 40 watt underdash amp to get some sound output. There are several on ebay - like the Audiovox Sound Exploder AMP500-D. I've seen several on Ebay (that's where I got the two photos below), unless someone here has some old sound equipment lying around.