My Turn, New Best w/the "Street Car" Hemi Cuda....

Well, its been a long time and coming, but I have been wrenching my butt off on everything and I mean, I am sore, tired and just plum wore out. This car, the 70 Cuda with the Big Hemi was never really meant to be anything but a show poodle, and over the years, I have finally put all the right parts on it.....Almost.

Off the trailer, thru the mufflers, on "street" DOT tires....6.47 first pass untouched!

Incrementals were 1.391 60ft, 4.12 at 330ft and 6.47 at 102.99mph in the 1/8th...Front end bouncing as it kept try to lift the front off the ground as it unloaded the rears.

2nd pass, a 6.48 with me lifting completely out of the throttle twice as traction is now a big issue....Broke the tires loose in 1st, 2nd, and then the shift into 3rd....

Incrementals were 1.40 60ft, 4.12 at 330ft and 6.48 at 104.66mph at the 1/8th...

Made some suspension adjustments, lowered tire pressure some more, dialed a 6.45 thinking if it hooks, I am going to have to hit the brakes....

Final pass 1.392 60ft, 4.08 at 330ft and 6.37 at 107.15mph! Didn't lift cause I bulbed it....

Now realize my mufflers weight a ton and shrink down from 3.5" header flange to 3" and probably kill a bunch of horse power, and the Thumper carb worked awesome. I can't say enough of how good this carb is out of the box and how close it is running to optimal already.

I am going to lean it down a tad for this Sunday's outing which will put it right back to where it was jetted when it showed up....Plugs showed color was a tad rich as the AFR gauge said. Dominic and I have talked about settings and different conditions the AFR has read, and every step of the way, its gotten better as we discussed what to do and dialed it in one change at a time. Went from overly lean cruising to almost a tad rich, but very drivable, and should be right on this Sunday I think. You always want just a little rich on a new engine, and I didn't even have 100 street miles on this combo yet.

Also, we never re-set the valve lash while hot which is loose yet, and the timing is not optimal yet either...

The only thing that did not survive was the straps on the diaper we are required to run...Those melted off, and the Gopro is giving me fits...I will post vids if I ever get this stuff all off the card and uploaded.

Great first outing!

Sounds stout!

Suh-weet! Congrats!

Vid says 1hr 45min to load to you tube.....And man, it leaves in the vid! There are 6.20's in this car, I know it.

Can't see the AFR or the tach in this vid...My race car I have no issues using the Gopro, but it seems I may have to do things a bit differently in this car.

Nice work!

Get it to hook and hang on man.......I can say that my "street tire" dayz are probably behind me cos NOTHING hooks like a slick for me on my heap and radials are out forever and have no problem street driving w/slicks. Can`t wait to check out the vid and hear the results from your next outing............ More there when the 60 comes around......

Way better 60's then mine 1.498 with a 6.06 119.58 8th on nut

I just put a old pro stock 426 hemi in my 71 dart,750 roller cam,2-1050s can wait to get it to the track too

Soild first time out with the new parts congratulations on the new best does it have stock suspension?

Randy, is that your 605? If it is drop the mufflers, leave the jetting lone and put on some slicks and hang on! The mufflers are killing it, with my small heads, 3-1/2" collectors, pipes and Ultra-flows in place it killed 117hp and 97ftlbs.Dave

Awesome first outing

I know they are, but they would only tech the car to 6.50....We wanted to ease into that zone before we get asked to leave....As it is now, they could boot us. I was very happy everything is holding up, car goes straight, and no issues really. Might tinker with the timing on the next outing, we will see.

Summit totally screwed me on the belts...Had it out with them on the phone today...I have an e-mail stating the belts would be here yestarday, and nothing! Then they go on to tell me they didn't ship until 7/9 and wouldn't be here till next week....%&*%&$^^#^$&%*!

Here is the vid...Sorry its so long, the wrist remote would not work. Just skip to 3:28..Need to put the camera in a better spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmrkczPSX8

Nothing stock on the car anymore really.....

Congratulations! That is an awesome car.

1.39 !!!! Well done, that is awesome. Please tell me about the rear end suspension, my 71 street cuda with caltrac just went 1.65 with a 10.1 134 on a old 28" slick. How can I go 1.40's ???
Again well done.

At that et you should be at LEAST in the 1.40`s or better unless it real heavy.........you know the drill, test and test some more......

Good question as I have never adjusted anything on it until this event....

Setup was put 200lbs on the drivers seat, adjust bars in lowest hole with 1/4 turn of pre-load.....Set the Rancho shocks on soft. Been that way probably 15 years. All I did Friday was stiffen the rear shock setting....

Actually this make me feel good. I notice your mph went up on the best pass. I have spun the tires every pass i made this year and have been very concerned that my mph was down.

Good day at the track. Congrats

Bingo

So to end the weekend, we put 8 more passes on it at the Mopar show running the 1/8th mile...All the passes stayed in the same range, nothing broke, and I adjusted only rear shock settings and left the timing at 31° as it was really difficult to read my light.

Best pass was 6.32 with a 1.385 60ft at 107.90mph on pump gas thru the mufflers. Traction is an issue, and it needs slicks. All in all, great weekend.

Nice ending to a good weekend and a new best w/more to follow. I`d really like to see an uncorked slicked down pass............

We went a couple rounds and ran right on the dial....All in all, good weekend...Yeah we could have pulled the timing back some, yeah we could have dropped the restrictive 3" exhaust, but....

Most fun I had was first pass today. I lined up against my buddy Dave in his 70 Charger race car..Its a 493 wedge with Stage VI heads at 12.8:1 and a big cam, dominator, locked timing race fuel bar bones race car....We have been friendly rivals for many years, and when possible, we line them up. Well today was my day, and all he got to see were my tail lights 6.36 to his 6.48 with my 60ft and reaction just a shade better....You can't see his car in the vid, but I did have fun when he never caught my "street" car....I will add the vid when its done uploading.

I am happy and the Shaker hood will be done this week, so only the little things on it need attention now.

https://youtu.be/NVTE82X6ZQ8

Sounds like a fun weekend! Congrats!

Randy

That`s cool on the grudge win............I love those. It`s fast and repeating so enjoy watcha got...........

Looks like you left at around 2000 r`s, shifted around 6800ish w/about a 1000 rpm shift drop and close to 7000 through the traps if my eyes are reading the tach correctly.......

Sounds like a broken record........But, you are going to need a better shock on the rear. The "truck" shocks are not gonna get it done

Gotta love the new best

It may be a good idea to look into DA shocks valved just for your combo?

Congrats on the new best!

Well, when I upgraded to longer DA coil overs on the front of my Duster, I took the old ones and put them on the front of the Cuda...Probably the only thing making it semi work were those and the way I have them setup for the Duster......So yes DA shocks will be on the upgrade list for the rear so I can stiffen it and yet keep it squatted in the rear....

Car still runs like stink for launching at 1700-2k and shifting at 6500....I will lean the carb out later this week a tad, and I need a better timing light. Mine is too dim in bright light. For now, its just going to either hide in the garage or hit a couple cruise nights...Done flogging it for a bit.

If I make it too fast, I won't need a race car.

The picture shows a leaf car......so "squatted" is definitely not where it should be in the rear

Didn't think about it that way...The old SS springs would rise considerably, these don't seem to.....Either way DA shocks for the rear are on the list.