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

[njsteve]

I just love that pristine, original purple under the undercoating! Let's see more.
Now you're just teasing us!

[A12pilot]

Oh course mid-stream into this I get summoned for a trip, but moving forward with the Undercoating Reduction Act passed in 1992, undercoating removal has started! A propane torch and a couple sturdy wood paint stirrers fo the trick along with various dental style picks to get in the grooves and such. I'll wipe this down with brake/parts cleaner (it melts this stuff! )out of the spray can and I'll be ready to hit the other side.

So interesting thing on these Mopars much like I documented on my Bee: the undercoating was the last thing sprayed on the car and as such, it got some overspray on the fuel lines, brake lines, gas tank, leaf springs, and heck, even wheel lip mouldings and rocker pinch welds if the guy got too happy with the Shutz gun! You can see the shadow of the the front to rear brake line on the driver's side rear frame rail.

I think this took off 4lbs of weight from the car which should lower Steve's times by at least .000001th. And due to the Undercoating Recycling Act passed in 1993 this will all be melted down and sprayed back in the wheel wells when done!

More to come.....

Cheers
Dave

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Great work!!!

It looks solid, truck pan, any other metal needed?

Ryan W31

[njsteve]

1) New full Goodmark trunk floor was acquired just to use a small, rear portion as donor patch panel material for the two holes where the rear muffler brackets go.
2) New AMD trunk lid since the original is tweeked upward in the middle. Probably from someone trying to pry it open at some point in the past five decades
3) New driver's side trunk dropoff and quarter bottom to repair small sections in the lower quarters and lower edge of driver's fender. Passenger side needs small repairs at bottom of quarter.
4) The cowl that Dave already expertly repaired with the use of the AMD donor panel sections. This kept the VIN stamping on top of the cowl intact and unaltered.
5) Some minor holes in the driver's side floor in need of patching - all that extra trunk floor material should come in handy for that.

I am also amazed at the condition of the underside given that this was an east coast car. I guess blowing up the original engine in 1978 was the best thing that ever happened to it!

I'm also learning how expensive the little hardware pieces are - correct bolt kits for valances, bumper bracket bolts, valance brackets, yada yada. Well at least they actually make this stuff now versus using hardware store bolts like back in the old days.
Next thing to order are the elastomeric bumpers, front and rear.

[njsteve]

Brand new AMD trunklid showed up at Dave's place today...here's the photo taken by his better half who promptly told the truck driver: "Heck No!" and refused it.

Let's hope the replacement is better. Though the guy at the AMD distributor said that they had ten calls today about panels arriving damaged. I hope there's not some job action going on at the AMD warehouse or the shipping company they use?

[njsteve]

I just got an email update from the supplier of the AMD trunklid. New trunk lid is on its way out.

It seems that the warehouse recently hired several new employees who were not trained in any sort of procedure on how to handle valuable sheetmetal, and that was the cause of the slew of damaged shipments that went out.

I assume they are now former employees.

[A12pilot]

Yes, being deemed an “Essential Worker”, I was summoned to carry 5 other critical infrastructure citizens to Des Moines, Burbank, and Fresno. Therefore, shipment arrival duties were delegated to my Ranch Manager and CEO/CFO of DaveCo, LTD...Kelly....and she immediately called Steve and told him, “The trunk lid looks identical to the original: All dented up! Man those AMD guys are good!” Yes, she has the same sense of humor as me

Good to hear that the new one is headed this way and hopefully the new employees are still employed with proper training now! Gray and black DP Epoxy (To get my proper Chrysler Dip Gray primer look), DPS3055 high build primer, continuous 120/180/220/320 400 wet, seam sealer, Rage Gold, all acquired for round one of body work. Second trip will be a gallon and a quart of DBC in FC7, a couple gallons of DCU2021, 1200/1500/2000/3000/4000 wet. The then third trip will repeat everything in trip #2 after I screw up the paint!

Out to the shop for round four of undercoating removal! I need to have the scantly clad girl holding the number above her head walk by every time I move to the next round. Hmmmm....I know who might volunteer for that!!!!!

Cheers

Dave

[A12pilot]

About 95% of the undercoating is off courtesy of propane and propane accessories, along with scrapers and picks!

The next phase is the wire wheel on the grinder followed by a chemical wipe down to dissolve the remainder of the nasty goop. In the crevasses, a spot blast gun with some good ole 60 grit slag to get into the nooks and crannies.

Should be 'rollin phat in epoxy shortly! Couple small areas I will have to break out the hammers on. A pushed in floor corner and the driver's front frame rail shows some pretty good jack damage. But fear not! It'll be fixed poste haste!

More to come....

Cheers
Dave

[x44d80]

I am really curious to see you pull that dent out of the frame rail. I've tried some ideas from other websites on this type of repair and cant wait to see how you do it. Thanks, Brent

[njsteve]

Looks like Fedex has lost my new 1970 Cuda Grill. I ordered it on 4/10/20 from Rockauto and it arrived at my local Fedex depot on 4/12/20. It has been loaded "on Fedex vehicle for delivery" for over six days now with no sign of movement. I have filed claims with Fedex, Rockauto, and my credit card company. We're talking $450 here.

And yes, of course I realize there are issues with the CootieVirus out there delaying shipments but this is a bit more involved I think. The last time something like this happened to me several years ago was when the package was so badly damaged, (forklift tire treads all over the box) they wouldn't even attempt delivering the remnants of it.

Rockauto says I have to wait two weeks from the time of the scheduled delivery before they will allow me to attempt to file for a refund. They won't issue a return on the missing grill while it is still missing. They have no humans in customer service you can speak with - only by email.

Fedex has actual humans and says they have issued a "trace" for the package at the local depot where it was last logged in. I have called them every day since 4/14/20 to talk to a new human (most of whom appear to be located in another country and don't have access to any internal tracking databases). They indicate that they cannot unilaterally issue a recall for the package and that the shipper (Rockauto) has to do it once the package is located. So, if I understand this, the missing package has to be un-missing before they can do anything about it???? The have no estimated delivery date now, though I have gotten a "delivery update" text every evening during the week, telling me my package will not be delivered tomorrow, and how I "can prepare for (non) delivery." I assume they mean, drinking heavily to deaden the pain of being without my precious grill.

Bank of America, when I initiated the dispute process, IMMEDIATELY issued me a full refund credit to my account! They will now contact Rockauto and hopefully this will get their robotic attention.

Here's a snippit of the latest tracking result. Keep in mind that today is 4/19/20 and the Fedex website has stopped updating the package since Thursday 4/16/20. Looks like they have given up on even trying to fake the location now.