This 1969 'Cuda was sent to us for compliancing and safety certificate. Once we had inspected the undercarriage and frame, we found the old girl had a few minor rust and badly finished body repair issues. Following discussions with Denis the owner, it was decided to remove the driveline and tidy up some of the bad repairs. While Jacob took care of the seat belt installation, I began to disassemble and catalogue the mechanicals.
The oil pan on the small block 340 wasn't in real good shape. We sourced a new factory part. We decided to also replace the factory windage tray. The preliminary roadtest revealed a horrible rear axle noise. Disassembly of the rear axle confirmed our suspicions with the discovery of badly pitted gears. The case hardening on the crownwheel and pinion had started to spall creating lots of metal and noise. A new Yukon 3.55 gear set was chosen and installed.
Chris took care of repairing and touching up the underbody in the original green. Careful reassembly with a tidy up of minor points as we went along has refined the 'Cuda into a nice period muscle car. The crispness and torque of these old 340 small blocks is fantastic. One can't help but rethink the old argument of Ford v Holden v Mopar and what might have transpired had they developed the E55 Chargers with a four speed transmission etc........
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