'72 'Cuda Build - 5.7L Hemi, 6spd, etc.

I will try to post periodic updates here as the project progresses. For those that do not know me, I am a 29 year old fellow in Dallas-Fort Worth that has had this Barracuda for 11 years or so. It was a daily driver for a while, my Wife and I dated in this car and in August of 2014 I took the car [voluntarily] off of the road to restore it.

It lived its life as a 318/904 car, factory FY1 Lemon Twist car with the black stripe. It had some drag racing time on it with the rebuilt 318 Warlock1 and I did [my first rebuild]. I nearly quit driving the car completely because I was tired of it, I had a highly modified Wrangler that I built from stock and the Barracuda was slow and just plain tired. When I decided to start my Master's, I needed a new daily, either the Wrangler went or the Barracuda did. The Barracuda won. From there I tore the car down completely and have been doing all of the work, with the exception of body/paint, from within my standard 2 car garage. It's cumbersome, but it works.

Since 8/2014 I started the project as a Hemi swap with a 6 speed, which rapidly turned into a restoration and repaint. In that time I have started a new career, started and finished an MBA, bought a house and became a Dad…I have been busy! Needless to say, the project is behind its original schedule. Today, 12/2016, here is where I stand…


So let's get into the car:

- Rebuilt 5.7L Hemi, comp cam, TTI headers, standalone ECU
- T56 magnum 6speed manual transmission with the conversion parts from SST
- 8-3/4" rear, 3.91s Dr. Diff shafts, Wilwood 12.2" 4-piston discs
- Hotchkis front end
- Borgeson steering box w/Coleman 1.5:1 quickener
- Wilwood 12.9" 6-piston front discs
- Vintage Air Conversion
- Painless Harness
- Tanks Inc EFI tank
- American Racing 17s and 18s


Obligatory "BEFORE" photo




DISASSEMBLY
















The car had typical rust issues in the “Tee” section, trunk floor, etc. All of which has either been treated and topcoated, or replaced entirely.

To help stiffen things up, the car was given a US Car Tool chassis kit

I smoothed out the engine bay and epoxy primed it, soon after the Hemi was dropped in for mock-up.





Soon after, the sawzall met the car to make room for the T56 Magnum. Keeping torsion bars requires pretty significant reinforcement to that area to ensure structural integrity.







I did some high level blocking on the car to see what I had to work with. The car had been painted yellow many, many times!





The trunk was in need of serious work. I replace the floor, trunk extensions, tank supports and the rear rails completely.



The interior was treated to epoxy primer, single stage Lemon Twist, topcoated with tinted RaptorLiner [bedliner] for noise reduction, heat reduction and some durability in the trunk.

After working on my back for hours, under the car, I surrendered when it came time to coat the bottom of the car. I made up a <$100 tip-over rig out of wood…it worked very well!





The bottom of the car had Eastwood rust encapsulator sprayed in every crevice and rail hole I could get to. It was then sprayed with the rust encapsulator and topcoated with Lizard Skin ceramic coating. I also took this time to spray the bottom of the roof with the stuff has well, to help keep my melon from cooking in the Summer. Here you can see the modifications I made to the chassis, front and rear torque boxes, subframe connectors and the completely new forward member between the front rail and torsion bar crossmember. I did not care much for all of the 90° load paths up there. That crossmember will help take some load out of the rocker and redirect it through the new subframe connectors. I hope that it will help keep the doors/gaps more consistent and the car more rigid over time.



Fast forwarding a little more, the car was fitted with a 70-71 AMD deck lid [which fit terrible], Goodmark front fenders, an AMD door skin and an AMD header panel. I also took the opportunity to add a ‘Cuda rear valance and ‘Cuda hood to the car. Oh, and I did fork out a few more bucks for all new AMD door hinges as well, a seemingly small investment can help the car hold its lines and feel more solid [to me], with those in place.







Two years after taking it off of the road, it went to the body shop. [Ward’s in Krum, TX]. While the car was out, I could finally get the garage clean enough to rebuild the engine.

Valve springs were swapped with PAC racing springs


I was able to get all of the accessories together before assembly, then got after it!




***VIDEO***
[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c298/goodysgota72/th_IMG_0254.mp4[/img]

I sprayed the engine with single stage acrylic enamel Hemi Orange after epoxy primer.

I finish assembled the engine and trans together and had it setup on the powdercoated K-frame.





with the drivetrain and powertrain together, the car progressed at the body shop behind the scenes.













…and that is where I am up to!

Nice....

That's awesome Mike! Once you get it home, and start reassembly, you should do a time lapse video like you did with the engine assembly. That would be cool. I noticed in the tear down pics that you have a 2 spd wiper motor. Will you have to change to a 3 spd set up for the wiper motor to be clear of the back of the intake? I'm having to convert the wipers to 3 spd on my Duster because the 2 spd motor wouldn't clear. One guy actually said I should just heat the intake since it's plastic....and cave it in to get clearance! Whadda maroon....lol. Looking forward to seeing it progress, and it looks really good.

That's the way they should be done...
I explained the plywood jig you built to my Dad thinking he may want to steal that idea for the Duster...
You're proof that nice cars can be built by the owner in his 2 car garage.

I thought about the timelapse, that would take quite an effort each time i get out in the garage to mess with something!

I have not gotten to mock up the wiper motor along with the engine in the. I don't suspect it will be an issue, however.

It worked very well and was a one-man operation. When I first tipped it, I had two buddies help slow it down as I thought it may hit the "tipping point" and want to GO. It didn't, it went over very smoothly, to my surprise.

The wood is now making up the ramp to my shed.

Dang. I didn't realize how much work you've done in such a short time till I saw all of your work compiled into one thread. I feel like a dog with his tail between his legs for sending my car to a shop. Nice work! Hopefully, our paths cross some day.

Thanks! "Short time" is all relative, it feels like it has drug on for far too long. Now that the finish painted car is coming home, I will feel much better putting parts on the car for the last time.

The biggest project to date that I have done has been the Formula car, this one is far more intimidating and has exercised a lot of my prior knowledge that I have built up over the years. Through formal training such as my UTI training and becoming a ASE and BMW master technician. Building the Wrangler which taught me general custom suspension/steering work, axle regearing, welding, fabrication. The Formula car which taught me project management, keeping things progressing while other areas are stalled, EFI wiring/tuning, custom suspension, etc....it all contributes to this project being as successful as it has been so far. So far I will easily be $35k into the build and the only labor I have paid is for paint [and well worth it]. I couldn't imagine the financial hit it would be to farm this out!

Lately I have been going back and forth with SpeedHut gauges working through artwork proofs.

base cluster [exchange the voltmeter for an AFR gauge in your head]

Other pictures

Wow! Great progress and awesome job!
Pat

Let the games begin.

I can! Lol.

Finally got some parts from the laser cutter that I was able to get on the car. This bracket started with a rough concept in Solidworks.




From there I printed the concept in 1:1 and built a rough prototype off the drill press.



Once I honed in on the dimensions I was able to send off the DXF and have it cut out of 1/2" mild steel. I also used this same mount to provide a spot to anchor a torque strap. I've been wanting to avoid a solid driver's side motor mount but struggled to find a clean torque strap mounting location. 3 bolts to the head via 1/2" steel ought to do it.




Mounted up

Looks nice Mike. Are you using a Jeep pump or the GM version with less pressure? I bet if you could make up a different version of the same bracket with a PS delete pulley to sell at a more affordable price than what's out, you could sell a few.

This is a Ford version, with less pressure.

Oh, ok. Did you end up with a Borgeson box? If a Borgeson will work in my Duster with my TTI headers, I'm gonna be bumming you to get a bracket made for me....and a part number or ap for the pump!

I will be buying a Borgeson here soon.

I know of at least one A-body running a 6.1L, TTIs and a Borgeson box.

Mike, what a cool build. You're doing some impressive work my brother.

Thanks! Hoping to make some headway next week, I have from 12/24-01/02 off work.

That must be nice. Lol.

Only taking 3 vacation days too!

Looking to get most of it wired, but some stuff may be delayed from Watek. It'll be a hodgepodge of progress.

No recent progress other than fighting with the Vintage Air system. It seems like it just wants to be in a different spot all together. I am avoiding the holes in the firewall and creating a workaround, which may be adding a little complexity. It seems like some of the bent tubes are bent improperly and are giving me fits, their whole grommet firewall, connect-four firewall plate is a terrible design!

Is the Vintage Air unit the brand that uses electric servos instead of vacuum? I want electric servos on whatever I put in the Duster. Enjoy your time off for Christmas!

Yes, no vacuum or cables on the Vintage Air unit.

I love this build and finally seeing it come together. Really like the dual scoop hood and AAR spoiler you added to it. Keep up the great work!

Gauges arrived from Speedhut!

Not much "done" but I am pecking away at progress.

After fighting with the Vintage Air a bit and their assembly process I was finally able to get it in there in a manner I accepted. I wish it was better, but it will be as good as it gets. I ended up mounting it differently so that I did not have to drill through the smoothed firewall. I installed the dash frame so that I can reference it for wiring and component locations [Fuse box, relay box, ECU, Wideband controller, etc.]



Not much to see here, but I wrapped up the hard parts of the rear brakes. I have yet to tackle the parking brake or hydraulic lines.



The upper control arms I ordered were backordered around 4 weeks and held me up from putting the car on the ground. Regardless I assembled what I had of the front end, Hotchkis lower control arm pivots, strut rods, and sway bar. I have the Hotchkis tie rods ready to go as well.



The power steering bracket I designed was wrapped up as well, so far so good. I was able to use a factory Hemi 6.1L drive belt. I have some interest in the bracket and may sell a few.

Holding up its own weight for the first time in 2-1/2 years!

Very Cool!!!

Looks great man.

That car has come a long way over the years.

Congrats.

Thanks!

I know the car doesn't look very different but it is a substantial improvement over where it was upon disassembly!

Same look, new great taste!

Very cool build!

Not much excitement in this update, it's been nothing but wiring for me lately.

I started with a Painless harness, a EFISource Hemi harness and a Vintage Air harness, they are all being well integrated into one complete vehicle harness. The Painless fuse box turned out to be more trouble than it was worth to me. Many of the circuits I would either not use, or it would be mislabeled, which I found annoying. I also needed room to put relays, quite a few of them.

So I took the perfectly new Painless fuse box and cut it out! I replaced it with a Bussman fuse/relay box that I have wired from scratch. I am nearly complete with that part of it and am working to ensure I account for all of the new circuits I want to incorporate. Vehicle speed into the ECU, oil temp, check engine light, 2-step, flat-shift, traction control, datalogging, etc., etc.






The idea is to trim the new fuse box in using the original glove box inserts. In my head it will turn out very nice with a semi-functional glove box with a nice tucked in fuse box within it.

It looks like a war zone but anyone that has done a completely custom/EFI harness like this likely knows how it goes. I hope to be able to put power to the car by the end of the month, but that may be a stretch. I have yet to upfit the gauges into the gauge bezel, which will hinder some of that progress as well.

...eating the elephant one bite at a time and working late in the garage after my toddler goes to bed!

Nice Project, very clean!

Building a car with a Toddler is no joke lol. Lots of late nights and work during nap time!

Goody, you have no idea how much I appreciate your build thread. You've done almost exactly what I've been planning, though I plan to paint in Limelight or similar and use something like these rims: http://www.etmags.com/lt_iii.html
because I loved the race AAR Cudas and these are basically Minilites in 17" size.
Seriously, your build looks just like my Word document where I've been storing up every tidbit of info I can find. It's daunting to know there are so many things to do, but at the same time I love the fact that every car like this is going to be a unique expression of driver and builder.
I'm looking forward to keeping an eye on your thread!

Thanks,
Ryan

Thanks! Yes, building with a toddler has some added challenge!



Thanks Ryan, it's been quite a bit of work, hopefully I can get over the electrical hurdle here soon. I knew the wiring was going to be a lot, but it is more time consuming than I expected to get everything done "right" and routed well. There is definitely nothing "cookie cutter" about this car, it'll be all that I wanted.

I managed to spend about 20 hours this weekend on wiring and can say that it's pretty significantly complete now. I have yet to wire the front lights and am about halfway through the rear, but I have the heart of the car is knocked-out.













Once I button up the wiring I will pin-out check the ECU before applying power to it. From there I will start tearing up the steering column [for the quickener] and the fuel system. Targeting to try to start the engine mid/late March.

Coming along nicely Goody!

It showed signs of life this past weekend

Your build is similar to mine but on [/size]Steroids. [size:11pt]
I too had my car for a long time (25 years but you are younger than me), ran the socks off of it and then started a rebuild. I did not do a hemi, I wish I had. Put in a used 5.2L married to a lockup A904. The other thing different, I added my toddle after it was done.
But all the wiring, upholstery, dash rebuild, engine swap, transmission rebuild, etc. was done in my two car garage in a covenant controlled townhouse. Wish I has seen your body flip trick.
I have seen your posts on other boards and I know your electronics aptitude is high. That was my background. Never rebuilt a transmission before but had torn down a lot of engines. I admire your shop and engineering skills.
I dumped the Tanks, Inc tank because of leak issues, most of them my fault. Just got tired of draining the tank then dropping it 4 times just to get the leaks to stop. I went with Spectra and have had no leaks and if there is one, remove the left rear tire and there is all the plumbing. I am running Megasquirt 2 and if I ever run a hemi, it will be a Megasquirt 3.
The project on my desk now is a PWM closed loop regulator circuit to eliminate my mechanical regulator.
I went with Vintage Airs bracket for the 318 and put a Sanden R12 (read early Mustang) scroll compressor on. I had to electronically control the clutch as it was getting so cold, it was freezing up on 90 degree days. All of the plumbing is the stock stuff it came with but I crimped new hoses on the old fittings. I used barrier stuff so if I do have to go to 134, I can.
Good luck on the build. BTW, you can get a car seat to work in the back seat. Have to add a bracket to tie the top of the seat strap to the frame. My toddle loves it.

Thanks for the input!

Where did you have issues with the Tanks Inc setup?

I have a bench test PWM setup that would easily drive a fuel pump or fan using a Ford FPDM. I used an Arduino to generate the PWM signal. I am not sure I will actually implement it on anything, for now I want the car back on the road with minimal fuss or distractions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7-KgCiqUbQ

Working through the gauge cluster modifications. I need to whip up a design to 3D print for the speedo retention. Once I get that in and clean a few areas up, I will prep the housing for some SEM coating to give it a semi-factory appearance.



I sent out for a 3D part to be made in order to mount my speedometer well in the stock dash. We will see how it turns out.





Wiring is getting closer as all of the lights are functioning. Just a short list left of connections to make before I can final wrap the harness.

LOOKS GREAT.....How did the AMD front header panel fit?

I can't speak for that specifically, the body shop handled all panel alignment, however, I did not hear any complaints about it.

The AMD trunk lid was warped like a Lays potato chip.

Dash made it in today!

Very nice work.

I had some time to upfit the 3D printed speedo mount into my sacrificial dash. Fits perfectly. Now to smooth it out on the "final" dash...

I still need to shoot the bezel with SEM, but I have exceeded my own expectations on this part. I'm very happy with it!

Very nice.....

Almost done with the gauges, I need to come up with a harness for them now. I haven't seen one quite like this with the big gauges installed from the backside.

Hand trimmed the bezel

Jones'n for an update here Goody.

Sorry, I do not have much [unfortunately]. I have the fuel pump fitted within the tank and have managed to get the battery tray mounted up [trunk]. I have the all of the parts on-hand for the fuel system with new injectors, nylon braided fuel lines, LT1 regulator and aeromotive fuel rail. The cooling fans came in last week, I'll acquire some factory-line connectors in order to get them wired up [V6 Ford Contour Fans].

I've been bogged down studying for my PMP exam and running around for Easter family festivities. Hopefully I can get it fire up before our Italy trip in June




I used a marine style fuel sending unit for this application as it does not have an extended lever arm. My previous gauge cluster [autometer] was very sensitive to fuel slosh and it tried to achieve an accurate reading, which means the fuel gauge swayed a lot. With this marine style, the sending unit float travels within a shielded tube with openings in the bottom and top, it should provide a very stable fuel reading, in comparison.

The steering column has been restored, up-fitted with a new lower ball bearing and a Grant Tuff wheel. The new column is talking to a Borgeson steering box and working through Hotchkis tie rods...so the car now steers!

Goody do you have the rubber boots for those heim joints?
Seals it RERS3. You need 10 for the Hotchkis kit
It helps to have them for longevity

Yep, I did boots on the tie rods, UCAs and strut rods. They are not the most fun to work with, but I can really see them helping improve the life of the joint. Road grime and brake dust is not good for much of anything.

Progress has been slow lately but I am spooling back up a little sprint on work for the next few weeks.

I managed to get a $250 set of Aeromotive fuel rails off of an Amazon price dip for $95. Unfortunately they come in a horrid anodized red, which would screw up my feng shui! I picked up some new injectors and treated the rails to a coat of gunmetal grey to help blend in a little better. Along with that, I have kicked off the fuel system by mocking up the TanksInc tank in the car. The JakeFab puck is close, but appears to fit under the floor.

I have some basic lines made up to the filter/regulator and will work on a rollover vent mount as well. The 6AN fuel line routes along the passenger rail [previous post] and witin the subframe connector. That was made possible by some very early planning when things went together, so far it seems to be just right.




I also finished up the installation of my Hotchkis rear sway bar, I needed to weld on the chassis mounts for it. I wanted to make sure my line routing accounted for all of those parts back there.



That's all for now!

It's nice to see it coming together for you.

Looking great!

Your MS3 should be able to handle your fuel pump PWM. that you want to do. You will have to use a solid state relay for the pump obviously but there is settings to control your pump PWM. I have run into some fuel heating issues and I want to try it but I have not gotten around to it just yet.

I would need an ISO 280 solid-state relay, which I am not sure exists. I will likely do PWM for the fuel pump at some point, actually, I initially planned to. For now, I am running behind enough that I have parked some of the non-essential tasks to get the car on the road. That's a project for a weekend after the car is running well.

Once they make noise they do get easier to stay motivated. I am sure you know more about the relays than I do but at one time I was pointed to one for a reasonable cost that could(or is supposed to) do the job. If I come across that part I'll post it.

I am creeping up on a fully wired and validated electrical system, which is a pretty big milestone for me. I can talk to the Megasquirt and load tunes, make changes and test some of the systems.

Hopefully these videos work:


Tach test
https://youtu.be/hgHusDZX7js

Coil test
https://youtu.be/lZwj3mgxLwQ

Injector test [all, sequential injection]
https://youtu.be/D2c9FWe1JZI

The test modes on the MS are pretty awesome. I just discovered I had a bad coil(I run 8 LS coils) and the test mode was nice to help confirm where the actual problem was.

When the engine is running you can also deactivate injectors and coils to determine if things are working properly.

I haven't seen the deactivate one before, that's pretty neat.

First attempt to start it was successful!

Hopefully the video works

https://youtu.be/QSDveBUH5e8

Awesome! That's the best sound...

Wow, car has certainly come a long way.
I remember reading on this very board when you bought this car

Attention to detail is amazing, love this thread. great job.

This was certainly the first place I stopped when I bought the car in November of 2004. The car is in a far better state today than I could have ever imagined back then!



Thank you! I have exhibited some level of OCD symptoms throughout this process, hopefully for the better. I tend to worry about things most people never pay attention to.


The car was rolled out of the garage for the first time on its own wheels in three years. It seems like an eternity. I expect the back end to go back down like it should once I have a full 3" exhaust, seats, glass and a battery in the car, it's sitting a bit high for my liking.

My garage is getting air conditioning this weekend so that I can get this car finished this Summer!

Man, it's getting closer! Great job thus far.

It's getting quite close to driving now!

Sorry for the early pictures in this thread being no longer valid. The forum won't seem to let me edit/fix the links, so I may have to restart this thread elsewhere

Congrat Mike, I bet you can't wait.

Maybe a moderator can help you update the invalid pics?

I briefly pulled it out of the garage under it's own power today and let it get to full operating temp.

Lots of EFI tuning to do yet and I am working on getting everything else in the car asap.

Hmmmm......I'm gonna go out on a limb here, and bet your screen name on the young dads message board is GOODYSGOTACUTIE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn1dQ8Crz_o


I did a little driving yesterday, moving forward with it!

Nice work Mike

It's out on the road for tuning and shake-down. Rolling glass will hopefully go in this week.

Congrats buddy, how do you like it so far? How does it feel?

Feels very different, it's all new, it's all different. It will take me awhile to get used to. Anxious to get the tune cleared up and letting it run harder.

Doooooooooooooood.

Congrats. Looks killer just there at he pump.

It's a totally different car now. What a journey.

Needs some rolling glass in it, but it's not far off.

Looks amazing!

Not much of an update, but I have been able to get the car out and start enjoying it. I have a few lingering changes, like all "done" cars do, but I have been able to put ~450 miles on it thus far.

AC lines are made up, I still need to vacuum/charge the system. I also need to align the door glass and work with my driveshaft speed sensor so that my ECU can reference vehicle speed for a few reasons.
Overall it's running very well.

AWESOME

I am up to about 1,200 miles on the build.













...and every cool car needs one of these

Not much to update, the car has about 3,300 miles on it so far. Even more exciting is that it has not found it's way onto a tow truck, yet!

I've been getting it out and enjoying it as much as I can...though it's a bit of a pain to get a 4month old and a 2 year old in and out of it!

How does the front end feel with the inner fender braces and the rad support brace?

It feels pretty good up there. I do, however, feel like there is more left on the table in the middle of the chassis. The laser cut subframe connectors look pretty, but I feel like I should have used a through-floor design with a more substantial subframe member.

I suppose there is still not much to update on the car, it's doing what it's supposed to. I am up to around 4,800 miles on it.

In recent weeks I have converted to LED headlights, I'll be using them much more often given daylight savings is upon us. I have also added some dynamat, vapor barriers and aluminum backed foam insulation to the door panels. Those three items tightened up the doors quite a bit.

Aside from that, I am working on designing a bolt-in [no new holes] intake air box to help combat my high intake air temperatures [IATs]. It gets way up there during the summer and I would like to mitigate it a bit.

Other than that, I have been trying to polish on photography skills, getting some definition out of those gloss black wheels isn't easy.

Not much to update on, I'm at about 5,200miles on the car. Recently I have been breaking in a new set of gears.

I grenaded the differential several weeks back and tore it down. I rebuilt the SureGrip and setup a new set of 3.73s [from 3.91] and reinstalled. This time I did go with a "LubeLocker" brand 3rd member gasket. It's $25...but reusable and no RTV! For those with 8-3/4s, you know what a pain cleaning the RTV can be.

As I've been putting around breaking the gears in, I have been working on knock/detonation control. The MegaSquirt has the functionality but does not come setup for knock control out of the box. You define the resonant frequency of the cylinder, different gain for each cylinder, the knock % threshold by RPM and finally the response. How much timing to pull and how to bring it back. It's kinda fun to mess with.

Some of the knock setup process. You may have to right click > open image in new tab, if you are interested in seeing what's going on here.

Nice work and it must be great to drive and enjoy a modernized e-body!

It's been great, just rolled over to 6,000miles on it this week.

ive followed your build from the very beginning, awesome work and love the persistance and tenacity to see it through.

my question is why do you think you grenaded the 8-3/4? they are stout units and dont hear of them breaking without transbrake/high horsepower type combos

Sorry for the late response. I'm not too sure honestly, but I am also not all that surprised. The 3rd member is of somewhat unknown age, I bought it second hand about 16 years ago and rode it pretty hard. If it goes again, I'll likely look at a Dana.

strangly enough.
I remember full on when you bought this car.

So glad to see it come full circle.And to this point.

Thanks! The car has certainly been around here for a few years now.

16 years on a used center...no shame