Side panels

As they say, anyone can restore a classic but it takes a real man to cut one up! So I attacked the original rear side panels with a saw to make room for the main loop of the roll bar.

The old plastic really emits a bad odor when cut or grinded.

Looks like a big hole but actually I tried to make it as small as possible, keeping in mind that the panel and the roll bar have to be installed as well. Of course this hole cannot be left like it is, even though the rear bench will not leave many angles to look at it once everything is installed back in the car.

So i formed a piece of plastic board to cover the hole. The plastic is easy to work with, you can form it under a heat gun, once cooled off, it retains its shape.

Almost there, now all i have to do is repaint the panel, but as it has already undergone a colorchange from brown to red I'm sure that will not be a problem.

Winter

Winter has finally tightend its grip on my neighbourhood. Sub zero temperatures and snowfall are prohibitive to getting the 'Cuda out, so there's plenty of time to work in the garage! More to come in the next weeks...

Finished rollbar

I just got fresh pics of the finished rollbar from Marcus of Prototech! I am delighted with the level of workmanship and the overall results. It was a great experience working with Marcus.

I will adapt the rear side panels around the rollbar and reinstall them.

More cool

As the 'Cuda is currently out of the house, I've spent some time to tie some loose ends together. Parts of the airconditioning have been laying around forever so I cleaned them up. I am far from certain that I will ever install the aircondition - since I don't think it blends well with the racing attitude that the car currently leaning to - but I surely won't pack the parts away dirty and rusty as they were.

Cleaned up and freshly painted where the original finish was too bad to be left alone.

The whole systen including a new dryer. What's missing is s the compressor which is in the car right now and the radiator which seems to be beyond repair, at least with my skills and capabilities.

More bars

The rollbar is taking shape and of course it doesn't end on the package tray. Bracing goes vertically down to the shock crossmember and to the rear, onto the trunk floor, right where the framerails are. The primered patches will be painted in body color, the bars will become semigloss black.

An additional brace is led from the top of the passenger side to the bottom of the driver side just behind the rear seat, creating more stiffness.

Let's roll

The 'Cuda is currently recieving a roll bar to beef up the stiffness of the unibody. *I do hope I'll never be in need of its virtues in case of a rollover* Marcus Lipp of "Prototech" is performing the work. Marcus graduated in automotive engineering, does a lot of work on vintage racecars and refuses to seek solutions that are "just for show" and will not be functional. We decided on a bolt in version for the rollbar that can be taken out and ties in with all the interior panels and the stock back seat.

The mounts on the speaker panel are raised, to clear the seatback of the rear bench. The crossmember is also bolted and can be removed for better vision through the rear window. There is also additional bracing in the trunk, connecting the bar to the upper shock mounting points and the rear frame rails.

Before completion the rollbar will be powdercoated in semigloss black finish.