Hello everyone, Here's my 1970 Cuda. The project is going into its second year and after watching a few episodes of overhaulin' it's hard to imagine ever to be able to strech that out for so long...
Anyway, this is how I found the 'Cuda just over a year ago:


In the meantime, I took the car apart and - surprise - it was a lot rustier than I thought...



A lot of parts had to be replaced, especially in the rear of the car.

The bodywork should be done by march, after that it's off for paint and the nice work of putting everything back together.

A few things will be ready and waiting by then...

...others are still awaiting being worked over.




thomas
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Cuda blog

Nice project you have there. Whats the specs on the car though? Is it a real cuda?

Steve

Hi Steve,
Thanks...it's a real Cuda, came with the high performance 383, 4bbl Holley and Automatic Trans. Unfortunately it was quite rusty, on the other hand, all the original parts were there, pretty well unmolesterd with. It had drums on all corners but I will swap the front brakes for dics. The car was originally BL1 sand pebble beige, but I haven't made a decision on the color yet... might go with the original since they seem to be quite rare and it would go with the gator top I fell for

thomas
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cuda blog

More news from the welding front. The rear is pretty well finished so the front is being given some attention. The passenger side lower corner of the windshield is fixed, looked pretty ragged there.




In front of the door a piece had to be replaced completely, even stronger than the original, the circular stamping was fabricated into the piece as well!



Since the quarters are on I have started on the classic graphics with the engine call out

thomas
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cuda blog

Great work!! keep those pic's coming, thanks

Very cool! Those are the pictures i love to see

Got the radiator back from being redone at a specialty shop.



I had the original radiator redone with more cores for better cooling. Turned out I could have bought two reproduction radiators for the money and on top of that they didn't even paint it very well...

thomas

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cuda blog

Got started on the engine buildup.


Here's the preliminary mockup of the right side engine valvetrain. It's assembled without gaskets just to see if everything will fit properly. Actually, there was an issue with the pushrods, the ones I ordered were too long, obviously made for engines without hydraulic lifters.





Even though I didn't think so, the valve covers will actually fit over the rocker arms...got lucky there!




thomas
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cuda blog

Nice work. Looking forward to some more pictures.

Nothing sexy but a little more progress: I started on some interior trim, here the metal pieces that go around the rear window.



Since the car rusted from the inside out these parts did show serious signs of decay:



Since the parts have a surfacestructure to them - obviously they are supposed to look a little like leather - I refrained from trying to sand them by myself and had them mediablasted. After that I sprayed some primer on both sides of the trim, to keep them from rusting again untill they get their final color.



Most of the parts turned out really nice, unfortunately the one piece that goes under the rear window was rusted beyond repair and now has many small holes..



I primerd it up anyway but I will be looking for a replacement.

thomas
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cuda blog

The bodywork is almost done, some chassis stiffenig was incorporated into the frame and the front end.





The front suspension is coming together as well, here the lower control arms...





...and the almost finished assembly:



thomas
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cuda blog

Can you tell us more about the support tube in the wheel well and where you got your LCA stiffening plates? They look nice and I am thinking of adding a pair.

The plates for the LCAs were fabricated from scratch as they are simple parts, occasionallly you can also get them on ebay...

Firmfeel sells finished reinforced control arms:



firmfeel

The inner fender braces can be obtained at xv-motorsports:



xv-motorsports

In my case we reinforced both ends of the bar with a flat piece of metal, the one above the shockperch hat to be fabricated to fit inside the brace. Without that the bar would only be welded to a relatively thin piece of metal, and wouldn't fulfill its full potential.

thomas
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cuda blog

Got the front suspension pretty well done, waiting to be bolted to the body:



The steering box is a quick ratio from firmfeel, I will also add tubular a-arms to replace the originals.



thomas
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cuda blog

Well Done, very nice.

I will look if I have one of these around.

looking good!! big project

The body is about finished at the bodyshop. All the holes filled, weld seams done with body solder:




There's a little more to do on the doors and the fender, then it's off for paint preperation....

thomas
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cuda blog