Black 340 72 Barrcuda build, rust bucket to aar clone

Figured I'd post why my belvedere wasn't done yet, although close now. The belvedere will be more for going straight and building this cuda as a daily driver, modern hemi, 6 speed, ac etc. Picked it up cheap, was going to be a parts car, but 5k in sheetmetal later...

Half the body will be made in Taiwan when it's done. I got new door skins and new fenders for it too. Still saved a ton over buying a solid one to start with. I also can drive it and if I hit a deer or whatver, I can just order new parts and fix it and not be too upset.

Stripped it down and went to town.

New full driver side rail, partial ps section and trunk floor

Floors could have been done with small sections, but decided to do the full floor and be done with it. All parts are goodmark, except amd quarters and door skins.

Got a hood basically for free using ebay bucks, had a messed up steel hood... so bonded the race glass to the frame, so I'll have a bolt on hood and is pretty light, but very sturdy too.

Did both a-pillars, need to install inner fenders yet, but sat in now, just need to weld... did some work on the roof, rockers need repairs along with the front pillar.

One pic with trunk lid on... fits pretty good, not on hinges, just checking gaps

As it sits now

you've got some mad skills!

That's a huge project you've taken on, but will be worth it in the end. Out of curiousity, how long did it take you to go from starting the project to what's shown in the last pic?

I'd say 2 weeks of work spread out over a month or so. There was a lot more repaired that I don't have pictures of.

Hefty project, this is going well. Nice work

That is absolutely incredible. I can only hope to be able to get bodywork done that quickly. Keep up the great work.

Sheetmetal repair is fun for me... it's when you need to do all the mud work I lose interest. But with puttys like rage ultra and so on, it's not as bad as it used to be.

Amazing work and to top it off your working outside, I must be getting soft.

What are you using to clean and neutralize rust?

I blast everything but exterior panels, rockers will get blasted... floors will get chassis saver, same with any rust on the underside. Roof I'll sand off most of the rust and metal prep then etch primer. The roof is the only panel on the exterior really that will be left still oem other than rockers

No progress... but another piece of the puzzle

Had a friend who could rebuild 5 cars and remodel most of his house in a month. ( not really, but he got ALOT done in a short period of time) Not sure how he did it either...

Got sick of tripping over engine parts in m y basement, so assembled the 5.7 for it while its still cold out.

Opened up the ring gap for boost and relocated the alternator to use a car intake with a truck timing cover. Added a ps delete pulled to make room for the turbo manifold piping. Used a able style 92mm ls style throttle body. Mounted it by redrilling a ls 3 to 4 bolt style adapter. Added a oil return to the oil pan for the turbo also. Few small things to do yet for the alt mounting.

Wow, incredible skills. Can't wait to see this one done.

Wish I had more time to get it done... too many projects.

Another part, Borg Warner airwerks 75mm turbo. New in the box for well under 200, love finding deals like this

It's no small/lightweight turbo, sitting in a 15" rallye wheel.

Made some turbo headers in my down time and figured I'd get the hot side all done.

Hell of a job there and it's looking great!

Not much progress but did a bunch of small patches and got a new ps rocker installed... one inner fender to weld in yet also, still working out turbo placement is the hold up there. May just epoxy it black, paint engine bay and jambs and put in the glass and drive it this summer. The doors and quarters are new amd and won't need much work, just some shipping dings it appear and have new goodmark fenders which look perfectly straight.

Not the best pic, but doors both fit pretty much perfect to the quarters... not bad for a car I built on dirt and rocks Also built a 6.1 hemi for boost, forged internals and so on, it's 99% done now. Had to make a new ps header, been working on that here and there.

Fitting up panels now... door skins needs the front upper and rear gaps reworked and ds fender to door upper gap needed some metal added. Now all fits pretty nice. Header panel was just there to check gaps, not bolted on.