71 Cuda Pro-Touring Build

[hemiken]

A very good place to be in is prime time, looking good John

[mud man]

After owning a Cuda as a kid, and selling it of course, I have recently purchased a 74 Cuda project. Just read your thread through and am very impressed. Lots of good ideas and great execution! Hope mine comes out anywhere close to this nice. Cant wait to see paint pictures as this is also the color combo I am planning.

[johns cuda shop]

Someone penned the phase body work jail. These are some of the things I have been working on while the body is waiting a parole hearing, mocking up the dash, assembly of suspension ect ect . LOL

[dfrazz]

Someone penned the phase body work jail. These are some of the things I have been working on while the body is waiting a parole hearing, mocking up the dash, assembly of suspension ect ect . LOL

What kind of suspension did you go with?

[johns cuda shop]

Reilly Motor Sports Alterkation Front suspension and street lynx rear suspension 

[Edison1970]

looking good John!

[YellowThumper]

I have been following your build for awhile now on this and other forums. Nice to see you are getting close to paint. Impressive amount of mods all while keeping them relatively subtle. You will have an incredibly unique and tasteful car.

Mike

[Denison636]

It all looks good, I do hope you pay attention to the brake lines in the rear end as much as you have on the rest of the car. But I can't say much. I got pre bent cause I suck and bending lines.

[johns cuda shop]

.A Little more progress. Lowered the front valance pan 1 1/2 inches by stretching the front lower fenders , Finishing the fitment on the front bumper , grille . The bottoms of the doors were very solid but I decided to replace the metal there with new metal as the pinch weld area is not accessible and have seen several cars start to rust from the inside out. The New AMD header panel fits decent..I am amazed considering the how poorly the trunk lid , hood and quarters fit.. Moving on the the back valance next. Checking the fitment of the glass ect ect  Then hopefully final block soon

[hemiken]

You have got a few hours in that John The fiddly bits are the time consuming stuff.

[johns cuda shop]

Working on a few things while the car is in the body shop, Rebuild and restore the pedals. New bushing to replace the plastic bushings that are in the brake pedal pivot, I made a new shaft from Stainless and polished it to a #8 Finish with a .001 slip fit to the bushings. Since I dont need the return spring pivot on the clutch pedal , I cut it off . Blasted and lubed every thing and added grease zerk fitting to the pedals so I can give it a shot of synthetic grease once in a while. I made a set of aluminum pedal covers for that custom look and painted ready to go..

[johns cuda shop]

Some other items, I upgraded and assembled to the 13 inch Wilwoods brakes front and rear. A new upgrade on the P/S Steering rack from Bill Reilly made by Flaming River , Is a Brand new Rack with a closer Ratio ,235 bar , over 6.00 stroke for a tighter turning radius.These are compatible with the Gen 3 Hemi P/S pump. I took the liberty to weigh both and they are around the same weight ,20 lbs. This and other upgrades while the cuda is at the body shop

[jleveille]

John that car is going to be wicked!  Nice work as always!

[johns cuda shop]

Thank you Jeff, You should post your Cuda Build status here....  Love to see some more pictures  ..

[johns cuda shop]

All Finished up the rest of the bodywork.Final block and test fitting of the glass , taillights and door clearances.Good to go. Its been a long road ,hopefully by this time next week the car will be Indigo Black.