68 Cuda Repaint/4-link/Quarters NEW PICS

I thought I might post a few of mine. It's a 68 340 4 speed car I have been racing the last 7-8 years. Last fall we had some bad track conditions and the car got loose coming into contact with a mustang and really hurting both my car and his. Currently it is a 440 with stock crank and rods and a GF4A G-force 4 speed. Usually ran in the 10.40's with the old SS and/or cal tracs.
The accident pushed me to replace the rear trunk/quarters that were rotted pretty good. Not done yet but a work in progress. Limited funds and limited time. Thanks and don't rip me too bad.

The batterd side and heres some of the rust.

more

one with the floor removed - for roughing everything together.

Both rear quarters were a mess. The car was painted in the late 90's and my body guy opened the quarters a couple of times and finally settled on making a lip out of pieces of metal, bondo, and steel wool. Needless to say it broke out and cracked often.
I plan on doing the paint, as I am doing everything this time.

This is the front. Old Mr. fiberglass fender broke all to death so I removed it. When we hit I swung around and bounced off his car breaking my fender, buckling the rear fenders on both sides and buckling the trunk pan.

Another

I bought an S&W four link kit along with alot of stuff from them. Pics are somewhat in stages as I didnt take them at each step just as I went.

This was a nice productive weekend.

Rear quarters were from Sherman and associates. Really didnt go to bad. I cut the old ones about an 1 from the top line and stuff really went well. The rocker for passenger side was from them as well. What a piece of garbage. I spent as much time cutting it and making it fit as well as putting a taper in it to get it the way it should be.

Welded up. One thing I didnt expect was the outer edge dropped some even though the thing was braced well, so it took about 2-3 building a wooden jig to get it back right. Learn as you go sometimes.

Nice job...is that an Alston subframe?
I'll be doing something similar to my '68 Fastback.
I'm wondering why you didn't open up the wheelwells to a larger size before welding the quarterpanels on?

Are you building a small tire car?

It is going to be a 32x14 tire. I'll post more pics tomorrow of that. The fram is S&W and when all said and done it leaves about 2" of clearance inside and outside of the tire to frame and wheel well.
I did open the wheel well about 7 inches. I waited til' they were on that way everything was solid, also I didnt get the tires until I was welding on the second quarter. I have more pics of that stuff as well as wheels etc. Talk about slow.
Thanks.

I like it! looks good so far. Keep the pics coming.

another, getting closer to paint.

Got the better half to help sand and spray bomb the frame rails so they didnt rust with all the work.

I filled the exhaust cutouts and straightened the rear roll pan.

Other side.

This is the wheel and tire I'll be running. The wheels are Sander Engineering from S&W. SFI spec $120 cheaper than welds, delivered in 4 days and weigh a little more than a pound less.

More pics yet.

Thats the car largely in primer. I have block sanded it three times since then and still have more to go.

I shot the door jambs trunk and engine bay the blue it'll get before finish sanding. Its getting a custom PPG blue thats pretty close to Intense Blue Pearl but it will get shot over a silver base with more pearl added in the primary two clear coats and topped by two straight clear coats to wet sand and protect. So far I have done every bit of the work myself. Its not perfect but is coming out pretty nice.

This is the last pic I have so far. The wells have been cut for the tire, but NOT finished yet. I have been working on a 57 Chevy for a body guy to get his car going. In trade I get to use a booth for a weekend to actually spray the car in. I'll try to post some more this weekend of the engine in the car and closer to finished wheel wells - since hopefully his 56 Sedan will be done so I have some time.
Thanks again.

Very nice work, Looks Great!

Rear mock up

Front end put closer together and fitting.

One more. Hopefully this weekend I can get some more done and I'm kind of aiming to spray it in early May hopefully and have it running by the end of the that month - but best laid plans

Finally got the rear axles and everything mocked up and tacked together. Still working on the body and getting money for more parts. Hoping by Memorial day it will be ready for paint.
The end goal is to hopefully make the Martin Chrysler Classic in July. We'll see.

Another of the side. I really like the stance now.

One of the motor. It's a little dirty. I ordered some new Firecore wires for it, and I have to do something with the purple throttle bracket yet too.

Looks really good!
I agree with you on the stance.

Yup, that car sits perfect.

Sheldon

nice little project. sorry to hear about the past bangup, but you and the competitor were ok?

I like your work. I am in the planning stages for a 67 Barracuda 4sp for Nostalgia Super Stock. What brand of front fenders and hood are you using? Any fitment issues? What brand of headers any tubes through the inner fender panels? Being an old Stock eliminator guy I am planning on using Cal Tracs for the rear suspension. I just want to run high 9's.I don't think it will be a problem with 512 stroker and a light car.

Yeah me and the competitior were fine. Would have much rather it just been my car.
That 67 Nostalgia SS sounds cool. I have AAR front glass that fit really well with only a few adjustments and filler here and there. The headers are TTI and what a pain in the A! I didnt want tubes in the fenders so I did the under chassis TTI's and had to dent them for the starter, the torsion bars and my drag link is very close. I hear the newer versions fit better.
Keep us updated on your car. A word of advice on the sticks/clutches. Spend whatever you need to at the outset to get a good clutch. I fought for years trying to use S/S clutches and finally went to a sintered iron adjustable. Tim Hyatt is an awesome guy to talk to and so is Rob Youngblood. Everything in them anymore revolves around the clutch.
I'll post some more pics soon. Somehow it's 90* in MI and my fat butt is sweating to death sanding and welding all weekend.

Rear end all welded.

nuther. I'm trying to figure out photobucket so they all load at once. We'll see.

Lets see if this works.

I thought I'd have it in solid primer and wet sanded but everyone was closed for the holiday so it'll have to wait for another weekend or two. I have aluminum on order for the floor and will finish that and all the plumbing once paint is done.
I'm trying to figure out what front wheels I want to run. Any suggestions out there?
Weld, Gibson, American Racing. Thanks all.

Awesome welding job Andre,getting closer. I like the weld drag lights myself.

Well I finally got it painted today. Took about 5 hours of just spraying, from sealer to the final coat of clear. I'm pretty happy with the result. I think with a litt;e sun baking to flatten out a few spots it'll turn out well. It's been about 10mo. since I last painted a semi and man are my arms tired. I'm leaving itthe booth tonight so it's in a dust free space and then I'll pick it up tomorrow.
My brother took most of the pics with his phone as we were spraying and they came out pretty good. I'll get some more when it's in the sun tomorrow - before I put my first scratch on it

Awesome! Looks really good.

Now for the fun part....wet sanding and buffing to make her shine. Keep the pic's coming.

Heres some more pics of the rear floor. Have it about half way done. I'm going to make the front section removable for easy access to adjust. Also got some of it painted for the time being and the anti roll bar installed finally. Wheelie bars, floor, and all the rear plumbing and it should come around.
I have finals next weeks and heading to the Mopar Nat's for the weekend so a couple more weeks before anything gets done. And I still have to wet sand buff and just clean the entire thing.

Well it's certainly a lot nicer than what I am doing, now I'm jealous. Again.... you are doing an awesome job.

Thanks. But I'll tell yah, you made the smart move with steel. You can't touch the aluminum without scratching it or putting some kind of dent in it. I think this winter I'm going to repaint the interior black because of all the scratches I have in it from fitting. And I might paint all the aluminum some sort of silver or gray because of the scratches - and it'll never stay remotely clean.

Well heres some more pics. Slowly piecing it together. My main goal now is just to get it out this year. Probably wont be wet sanded, may not even have bumpers but It may just see Us131 once.
I got the new wheels yesterday, also upgraded the rears to Wilwood discs. That was a pain because they just didnt fit right, but after some machining I got everything on, and lost about 25lbs verse the drums. I'll have all my SS brake line and plumb that this weekend as well as hopefully starting the car and just finishing up a bunch of loose ends.
Thank god they made Chevy's and GM uses Isuzu's (Duramax). Injectors are paying for alot of the race car, but taking away weekends working on it..Oh well

Everything is looking good.

What a great looking car. Love 68 Cudas, love narrowed Dana 60's, blue is perfect, wheels and stance are perfect. I can't wait to see this one done. I'd try to keep the aluminum finish myself but it's not easy to keep thats for sure.

Sheldon

I agree nothing like a narrowed Dana and lots of tire under the fenders. You know the car is serious business! Looks great!

Joe

Thanks for the input guys. Heres a couple more pics. Going to get the tires mounted on the wheels tomorrow, and hopefully some pics of it rolling and stopping! this weekend.
Now if a couple more duramax's will puke injectors or CP3's I can afford to buy the the two pieces of trim for the deck lid and have the back looking good.
Andre

What size welder did you use on the rear housing and the brackets and what size springs on the rear did you use ( lbs )?

For most of the welding I have an older Miller 175, probably 17/18 years old. If I recall correctly its rated to 1/2-5/8 and it has welded alot of truck (semi dump trucks, roll'offs etc.) Its a great welder, for small stuff I'll put .023 wire in it, and for the chassis stuff some .035 and go to town. It doesnt have all the bells and whistles, but comfort I think is a big part.
The rear springs are 110lb. Car roughly 3000lbs I'm guessing. I talked with Bickel about them alot and he recommended a lighter spring even though I could have went heavier. Lighter springs in a heavier car can store more energy while maintaining ride height and respond quicker. The only down side is they will wear out faster but springs arent too expensive. A heavier spring will last longer but in all honesty if springs cause me to loose a couple hundreths, who cares.
Sorry so long.
Andre

Your doing a fantastic job..that is going to be one beautiful cuda!

Well, heading to the track Saturday for some testing. Ran into a couple problems the past week. The coil springs were too stiff, as I actually recieved 150lb ones and didnt know it. Switched to 130lbs and ride height of the shock with pre-load is perfect. Turns out in the accident last year when I slammed on the brakes it hurt something in my master cylinder so I had to get a new Wilwood MC and put a 10lb residual pressure valve in the front to keep the front drums working right.
Sure hope Saturday goes well. I will have two time trials before 1st round. If nothing else I'll probably be an easy round one win for some joker out there. Assuming my junk makes it that far.
Also, didnt get time to wet sand it, so a quick coat of wax and a wipe down. Also still waiting on the glass front valance so I'll race without that as well. Oh well.

Good luck on Saturday, let us know how it went. Car is looking good man

Well wasnt too bad for the first time out. I just wanted to do T&T but turns out it was a make-up race with the biggest modified field all season 137 cars....wheeewww.
First run burnout was kinda crappy, and light was late. Dump the clutch and front raised good but I felt it move to the right a touch so I got out of it enough to get it straight and then back in. It went [Email]10.64@128[/Email] with a 1.47 60'.
So on run #2 I tightened compression on RR shock 3 clicks and took one turn out of rebound on left side. Better burnout, and weather much hotter. Dump the clutch and the front raised really well but still floated to the right but only just a touch. Again I backed out of it, and then ran it through to a [Email]10.48@130.68[/Email] the 60' was 1.43. 2mph better than previous best. Plus the car was raisng the front 3 foot or better. I'm pretty happy all in all, shows me theres alot more there.
I only made two runs because of count and time, plus I didnt want to do eliminations til' it was arrow straight. I'm going to put some pre-load in the r-upper bar and try again next weekend. Good to be racing again.

Oh the pic of a redlight.... 0.003 red

Nice

Super job. Love the color and you gotta love the wheel stand off the line

Car looks great! You have some serious talent there.

wow your not messin around, congrats on your maiden voyage! Car looks and runs fantastic!

Awesome work - managed to read all the details - very inspiring!