73 Road Race Cuda

[70chall440]

I have been working on this car for a number of years but keep getting distracted. I put a full thread on another forum but have decided to post it here for your enjoyment. The background on the car is as follows; I bought the car for my son before he got his drivers license in around 2004. The car was beat far beyond what it should have been, it looked like someone used if for a bumper car. Although originally it was a plain 318 AT no AC Barracuda, someone had installed a hot 340 and 727 somewhere along the line. I could believe that I actually drove it home. Well, my son although originally interested, lost that interest quickly and moved on (I traded him my 91 Stealth RT for it). I decided to build something that I never had previously, do it all myself and see what came out the back side. In order words, this car became a complete science experiment for me to do things I had never contemplated such as designing my own 4 link system, developing and making my own hydraulic clutch system, installing lots of sheet metal, stiffing up the substructure as much as possible, etc. There is lots and lots of fabrication in this car and along the way I learned many things, bought a lot of specialty tools, developed a host of new skills like body work, TIG welding, etc.

So where I am now;

• Engine - stroked 340 to 416, roller cam, forged rods, aluminum heads, adjustable rockers, EFI 6-pac, TTI ceramic headers, etc.
  Trans - A833 4 speed w/hyd clutch system
  Rear end - 8.75 reinforced, 3.55 gears
  rear suspension - triangular 4 link
  front suspension - firm feel everything
  full frame connectors
  front inner fender connectors/support
  fabricated radiator lower support (solid & welded)
  Fabricated instrument cluster (work in progress)
  Just dashes dash pad
  mini tubbed
  AAR hood,  rear spoiler, front spoiler
  etc etc
  
  the original intent was to make an AAR clone in sublime, however I am not thinking I will do it much like a AAR but without the strobe stripes. I just got back to work on the car installing new quarter panels and sucking the bumpers. I then need to turn my attention to the body and get that work done so it can get painted (I will do it myself). What you are looking at here is 10+ years and almost $40K and still no where near done..

[70chall440]

some more pics. Of note, I built my own brake system front and rear.

[brads70]

Looking great! 

[moparman82]

Love this build!! Thanks for coming over from pro touring mopar!

[dodj]

Looking forward to seeing what you create! 
 

[70chall440]

thanks all. as I mentioned, this is a science experiment for me. I purposely went routes that required some design, a new skill, etc. I have lots of pictures and will post them here as time goes on. They might be out of order, but I am sure there are people like me who just on the internet trying to see pictures of things others have done to try and understand how it is done or how it can be done.

In regards to stiffening the chassis; I picked up the US Tool sub frame connectors at a swap meet and modified them some, then fully welded them in. I saw the bracing that XV was using and replicated much of that. I did contemplate a cage, but decided against it because I couldn't decide where/what I wanted it to be like. It isn't off the table but I really don't want to hack holes through my dash.

this car is an oddity in that I am going for a lot of OEM look while having a lot of AAR or road race effects (cake and eat it scenario).

[70chall440]

Some more pictures

[70chall440]

Here are yet more. Unfortunately most of my pictures are too large to be attached, so will have to work on that.

[70chall440]

Sorry for the random pictures, I am sorting through what I have that is small enough to post for now.

[Mopar Mitch]

Your labor of love will be worth it.   Nice work overall.  do you have any sanctioned race groups/clubs/tracks within reasonable driving distance from where you live?  I highly suggest that you look into club's rules for classifications so that you won't find yourself under or over modified.  Where ever you end up racing, you want to be classified so that you'll be competitive, rather than not and realizing you should have made other choices during the build.  Spend your time and $$ wisely.

Mo'Power to ya!     

[70chall440]

Your labor of love will be worth it.   Nice work overall.  do you have any sanctioned race groups/clubs/tracks within reasonable driving distance from where you live?  I highly suggest that you look into club's rules for classifications so that you won't find yourself under or over modified.  Where ever you end up racing, you want to be classified so that you'll be competitive, rather than not and realizing you should have made other choices during the build.  Spend your time and $$ wisely.

Mo'Power to ya!   

I do have a number of race tracks in the area however I am not exactly sure what my intentions are for the car. I know this is problematic and recognize I need to be smarter on this particular aspect. I guess I would say that while I thought about building the car to a class, my focus has been to make it more of a road race "ready" street car. Before I go much further I do need to figure this out.

[js29no]

Nice job you are doing. building it the way you want it, I like that.

[70chall440]

Here are some pictures of my rear cross member; the stock one wasn't strong enough to support mounting the rear shocks from and support the rear suspension. In stock configuration you have the leaf spring to support the weight of the car, in a 4 link the shocks and subsequently the cross member takes all of the weight.

[70chall440]

Here are the front brakes. I made the brackets, source Viper calipers and wildwood rotors. I took a stock rotor and cut off everything off but the hub.

[70chall440]

So here are my homemade LED tail lights. Got some lights from a local industrial supply place and cut everything up. The back up lights are cheap Wal-Mart LED fog lights which fit very nice.