That looks like a 'Cuda Matt Delaney used to own.
Glad to hear that there are people that know of Matt Delaney! Yes, it is the very one. I bought this Cuda from Matt back in Jan., 2000. I have only changed out the CFM to a larger one, and updated gen6 to gen7 software. The Cuda had run 4 lean and 4 rich, but gen7, along with the 1250 throttle body, brought this big boy to life! It runs great!
It is one of the very few cars that I have ever bought turn key. I had heard of Matt before and back then most Mopar guys had'nt. I knew he was one of the very few true Mopar guys out there doing things almost unheard of. On top of that, he knew how to build Mopars right. This Cuda was owned by a freind of Matts. Matt got it along with a bunch of NOS parts and did a complete rotesery (sp) on it. The Cuda was originaly a 48,000 mile U code 440. The original block was long gone. It now has a Dana out of a B body, with 3:54's, its original hemi 4 speed, houndstooth leather interior, larger late model disk, Firm Feel's quick ratio power steering unit, larger sway, and torsion bars, hemi leafs, sub frame connectors, man I could sit here and type it all. He really did an amazing job.
It is good to see that he is getting his name out there in print. He had done that '68 Charger w/ the Viper V-10 engine, the Hemi powered AAR Cuda in recent mags., his '70 Road Runner, now in Hot Rodding, and a bunch of other rides for customers. I still stay in contact with Matt. In fact he built the 472" stroker for me that I will be adding to my own project of late, my '68 Charger.
Here are some recent pics of my '68 Charger I am currently restoring back (my way).
Before
during (body and metal work)
after paint
As you can see a donor drivers side rear 1/4 was needed,work to the same side rocker,
Here is the old 1/4 and I used a piece of it so I could do a patch on the other side lower 1/4
and a partial trunk pan was welded in.
after paint
That was the areas in serious need of metal work on the Charger. I took a part the Charger and bagged, tagged, and took note of what I felt was needed to take notes of.
Later, I stripped the paint using an aircraft stripper. It took a long time. I first stripped the car down and then removed fenders, doors, hoods, and did all those off the car inside out.
Later, I did the exterior and then the interior. The guy that had the car before me used Dynomat on the floors, and I had to use a heat gun and scraper to remove it all from the floor pans. Then I used the stripper to remove the factory paint.
Next came the metal work that required welding. new 1/4
Then it was on to the body and getting it ready to spray primer inside of my garage. I made a half ass paint booth and went to it.
I worked on b blasting the rear end, k member, and a bunch of other parts.
I rebuilt the front end after the parts were finished coated.
BEFORE
I decided to use polyurethane bushings, hemi size torsion bars and and a hemi size sway bar to the front, while the back I added new hemi leaf springs,
new shocks, new gas tank, and 3/8" fuel lines to feed my new stroker.
I also changed the drums up front to Disk using PST parts. New SST brake lines were installed, and I had to modify the steering shaft to make it the right size (shortened it up) to be used with a new power steering unit. The car had a manual steering box (ick). I bought and installed a new universal coupler, it needed a specific size in order to be used for power steering.
Down below the car I blew on some new chassis black paint to the factory undercoating.
First I had to make a big mess using my power sprayer to get all the dirt and grime off. Later, I masked off this surface and primered, and painted the rails to match the color of the exterior.
I also had gotten Matt Delaney to build me a 472" stroker using a 400 block.
I also sent out the rear end, and the tranny to get rebuilt. I added posi to the rear and changed out the gears to 3:54's. I also sent out the dash cluster to get rebuilt, calibrated, refaced, and the clock turned into quartz timed movement. The Charger has been through a whole lot to this point.
The car got out of my buddies paint shop where I chose a color that has a Mecedes Benz, Viper, combo silver, with deep metallic flakes. It was shot with a pearl coat to give it a very deep look.
Now the fun begins building it all back together. I have chosen to go with a red interior in place of the black. I think that it will look real sharp inside of the silver outside paint.
