Pro Touring Twin Turbo 73 Cuda

Figured I would post up the build of my Cuda. If anyone has questions let me know.
It started off as a 73 340 4spd Cuda. Originally silver/gray color with one repaint. The engine was a 69 340 with some old school mods. The trans was not in the car when I bought it and did not run. Put a new clutch and carb on once back home and got a chance to drive. The rear tires rubbed on any bump and the oil pan was missing the rear seal so there was a very bad oil leak .

I patched up the oil pan and then ordered some new wheels. This got the car in driving condition. This lasted about 3 months.

It was about time to tear down for the build. No real surprises luckly.

The car was stripped down to the bare body and paint stripped. Added the US Car tool frame connectors, torque boxes and inner fender supports. At this time I had settled on the game plan to go with turbos. Instead of the normal intercooler in front of the radiator I decided to put one on each side. This required narrowing up the valance opening for the radiator. I brought it in to match the radiator opening. Then added the 2 holes for each intercooler.

At the paint shop.

Out of paint.

Very nice looking project. Keep us updated!!

Nice!

Small block with the turbos?

Body looks perfect, can't wait to see how you route everything...

Building the ducting for the intercoolers.

With intercoolers in and setting up the A/C condenser.

The engine had forged pistons already so I added some Edelbrock heads. To help drop the compression I used .110 thick Cometic mls head gaskets. The cam is from Comp spec'd for turbo use. When this started I was conservative thinking I would just go big block once this failed but once done the packaging was such a pain that would not want to start over with a BB.

I took a set of SBC stainless headers and modified them to SBM flanges. The turbos are ebay T4 G35 units.

very cool project!!
Pat

I started with a Richmond 4+1 trans but it started leaking just sitting in the can and never being driven. When I contacted Summit/Richmond they said it would be about 2 months before they would get the same one back in stock or make one. So I returned and put a TKO600 in it. Went with a twin disk clutch.

The headers with the new flanges and set for the application.

The rearend is a 8.75 with 3.91 gears and a truetrac posi. Used a B-body housing the let the wheels have a little depth and offset some of the rotor hat thickness.

I went with a aftermarket aluminum tank that was supposed to be "baffled" for road/track use but it still will starve for fuel on accel if bellow 1/2 tank. I went with a air ride suspension kit. I had to make new lower links to work with the 1" offset mounts of the B-body housing.

IT was a rally dash car but somewhere along the line someone was using the gauges as their cigarette holder so the lens was discolored and warped. I wanted extra gauges for the boost but do not like aftermarket gauges stuck on top of the bezel. I found gauges from Speedhut that are close to the diameter of the stock gauges so I picked them up. Made custom tubes to hold the gauges and bonded them to the stock bezel.

Dash in car

The fabrication of the turbo system was a large challenge in packaging. With OEM power steering, A/C and cutting of the car kept at a minimum. Only 2 large holes were cut in the car. That was where the tubes leave the inter coolers and run through the inner edge of the fenders and through the core support. The air leaves the turbos and exits down toward the ground and through the inlets to the intercoolers. All of that was not so bad. The exhaust and waste gate plumbing was the real issue.

Holy cow that looks neat. The way I love to see stuff. Great job, keep up the good work. The progress is moving quick on this one.

Here is plumbing in the waste gates.

Building the driver side exhaust was a challenge. Found some very tight stainless U-bends on ebay that worked great.

Connecting in the waste gate on the driver side.

The waste gate and turbo outlet section pre and post jethot coated. Used their ultra high temp so I did not have to worry about "burning off" the standard coating while dialing in the tune. Also was trying to keep as much heat in the exhaust instead of cooking the fiberglass hood.

With all the coated items back in. Running all the oil and cooling lines to the turbos done. Finishing up the heater hoses.

In this picture it shows how little room there is with the fans in. The waste gates actually fit into the shroud in spots.

Mocking up the Throttle body ducting.

Very nice build, look forward to seeing this finished! If you don't mind my saying so, the old radiator looks a little out of place now : )) Good luck!

Here is a pic with the done engine compartment. Yes, the stock radiator is not as flashy as the rest but I have had issues with aluminum ones in the past and this one works great.

Looks like a beast with A/C !!

Looks great, how does it go???

It runs good. Running low boost as its a stock block, rods and crank. Had it chassis dyno'd and it has 516hp and 582ft lbs of torque at the wheels at 9psi boost.

Here is the inside with the sound deadener installed. Raised the rear of the tunnel a little so it can sit a little lower and not have any issues hitting the yoke or driveshaft

Here is a view of the magnaflow exhaust from the rear.

Front view.

Here is a view of one inner fender. Above the intercoolers there is a air pump (smog) from a modern can re-purposed as crank case vac's. One each side connected to each valve cover. I have the PCM control them through a pulse width module. From 500rpm to 2000rpm they run at 30%. From there they ramp up to 100% by 3500rpm.

Side view. I went with a satin finish where flat/semi gloss would normally be (hood,stripes,spoiler,tail panel) for a more modern touch.

rear

That's a beautiful car. Great job on the project. Is the interior all that left?

Looks excellent!

Very impressive looking with the muscle to back it up.

The car is looking great, would you be willing to elaborate on the custom tubes you made for the gauges? I think your modification looks really fantastic, but still retains a stock appearance. I would like to something similar if you are willing to share.

Dave D

Dave,
Sure. I took a piece of PVC pipe the same diameter and cut pieces (sleeves) to length that would put the gauge just past the upper edge of the bezel. The dash trim is angled so it will need to be long enough to extend just past the longest part. I took the sleeves and had them threaded on the inside to match the gauge bezel threads. Remove the stock bezel ring and thread the sleeves on. From there just bond the sleeves onto the dash trim. Be sure to have the gauges tight and level when bonding them as its not too easy to adjust afterward.

Under the rear axle exhaust is certainly not common. If it works I do do like it. Do you have any travel limiters to prevent hard contact, and is it a concern, understanding it sounds like you haven't had much street time yet?

With the air ride there is not near as much axle drop as with a leaf spring car. With the 4 link there is no room to tun a 3" pipe up and around.

Hey thanks for the reply, sorry I took so long to get back but I haven't
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