Manifold trouble

Got my exhaust manifolds back from sandblasting...and what a setback! The driverside manifold is ok but the passengerside manifold is cracked bad. And all attempts to weld the old thing ended in dismal failure. Obviously the material is too old and brittle.Of course headers would be an option but I already bought the whole exhaust to fit the original cast iron manifolds.

back to black

Got back a whole bunch of parts that my friend Joachim had worked over at his company. The K-member theat goes under the engine, bracktes, exhaust hangers, stuff that goes on the engine like the airfilter box, suspension components, the rear brake drums, odds and ends. Most of these things were originally black, some were obviously never painted at all and in the course of time they all got rusted and rotted. The parts were sandblasted if necessary, cleaned up and coated with a neat layer of glossy deep black paint! Thanks Joachim!

Screw it

Got my old screws back. I threw them in a box and took them to the galvanic shop. Although I took pics of all the screws along with a description of where they go, I hope I'll be able to locate each one again when puttig the 'Cuda back together. On another front, the engineblock is back from the shop, reassembly can start anytime!

Driveshaft

I worked over the driveshaft last week. After a lot of organizing, taking parts and pieces to various destinations and picking stuff up, I finally started to do some work myself. At last a new chance to get some dirt under my fingernails. Cleaning, sanding and painting. The surface didn't turn out as good as I had hoped for, the glossy black Hamerite paint did not turn into a smooth finish. Maybe I'll sand some more and get the whole shaft spraypainted at a later time. I also did the strutrods from the front suspension but I don't have pics of those.

Jackie and the torqueflite

Now back to the real stuff! Real steel, real nuts & bolts, real cars! The transmission was the first part of the 'Cuda that was finished. Actually, it has been sitting in the shelf for quite some time now, thanks to Jackies knowlege and finesse. After a dry ice shower the thourough inspection showed the tranny to be in pretty good shape, consistent with the suspected low milage of the 'Cuda. Clutches, seals and bearings were replaced and all the adjustments were returned to factory specs. The venerable 727 is now set and ready to handle bigblock power again.

Slammin the Slotcuda

A little project on the side. Got a small 'Cuda for the slotraces and the stance was awful...so I slammed it in the weeds! Took me about an hour and I admit it looks a little rough insinde but I won't show you that part. It's now lower front and rear and I think it looks a lot better.

Maybe someday I'll treat it to a respray as I don't like the orange all too well but we'll see...

My ship came in

Finally all the stuff I've been ordering in the US has hit these shores. Thanks to the patience and the logistic talents of my friend Hanno I've been able to save a lot of money on toll and shipping by storing all these boxes in his garage. Some of the first things I ordered must have been sitting there for months..the garage is all yours again now my friend!

Thanks to Norbert, who generously let my parts slip in on his container I was able to collect a whole van full of parts just around the corner here in Vienna!

Included are a new interior carpet, seat covers, dash pad, door panels, steering wheel and so forth, disc brakes for the front wheels, a suspension rebuild kit, front and rear bumpers and several dozend other things I cannot list right now. Also included is a brand new black vinyl top which I will try to sell again as I have other plans with the roof of the 'Cuda. More on that at a later time....