Montag, 27. Februar 2012

Interior

Although it may seem as if I've been lazy, there has in fact been some progress on the 'Cuda. I've been busy adapting the interior to the new rollbar, the most complicated items being the rear panels beside the rear bench. The loose end of the carpet on the bottom of the picture will later be covered by the bench seat.
The other part that had to be cut up was the package tray, as it can not extend under the hard points of the rollbar in the rear.

Freitag, 3. Februar 2012

Studyhall



In my quest to further enhance the performance of the 'Cuda I borrowed some literature about chassis improvements. Information about springs, shocks and swaybars, caster and camber will accompany me in the next weeks.

Montag, 23. Januar 2012

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.










Mittwoch, 18. Januar 2012

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...

Mittwoch, 11. Januar 2012

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.





Samstag, 7. Januar 2012

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.