Cuda Dilemma

-
RAT ROD AL

RAT ROD AL

MOPAR ARCHAEOLOGIST - one parts hoard at a time!
FABO Gold Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
7,903
Reaction score
10,637
Location
Homeless
My son lives back in the St. Louis Area, I live down here in Florida. We used to race together up there when I lived up there. We built his 67 cuda together when he was 14 years old , he's now 35 with a new baby. He just had his engine rebuilt ( 416 SB) and had the machine shop put it all together for him. All he had to do was drop in and fire it up. Well he put it in and it ran like crap. Long story short the cam is wiped out, and he's DONE with it. He told me if I want it come and get it he's not spending any more money on it. I'm waste deep in my notch cuda build but like the Fast Back more. This is the car.
20180207_104938.jpg


It's still streetable but needs some work. I don"t really have room for another car but if I don't go get it it will just go to hell and then just dump it. Any thoughts ?
 
That's a long way to haul a car. But if you have the means to get it, Get it. I would want to keep it in the family and more than likely at some point he will miss it and want it back. If he sells it will more than likely never be seen again so I would get it! I know some places have crazy laws about undriven cars in yards do you have anywhere in your yard or garage to keep it?
 
He's just overwhelmed with the new baby and all. By all means keep it. Both of you will regret it later if you let it go.
 
Grab the car. Cover it. Sit down and have a cold beverage and relax about the whole matter. Then, wait, just wait. Don’t put a dime into it. Just wait.

Once you have it, it’s isn’t costing you a dime. Just space. Go over the car when time allows. Get a good eye on it in and out.

For me, this would be a perfect car. The timing couldn’t be worse though!
LMAO! Isn’t that the normal case though.


RAT ROD AL said:
My son lives back in the St. Louis Area, I live down here in Florida. We used to race together up there when I lived up there. We built his 67 cuda together when he was 14 years old , he's now 35 with a new baby. He just had his engine rebuilt ( 416 SB) and had the machine shop put it all together for him. All he had to do was drop in and fire it up. Well he put it in and it ran like crap. Long story short the cam is wiped out, and he's DONE with it. He told me if I want it come and get it he's not spending any more money on it. I'm waste deep in my notch cuda build but like the Fast Back more. This is the car.
View attachment 1715370004

It's still streetable but needs some work. I don"t really have room for another car but if I don't go get it it will just go to hell and then just dump it. Any thoughts ?
Click to expand...
 
I have a few options. I have a 318 that came with the cuda project I bought a while back. It was seized up a little. Got it apart and the bearings looked like new. .030 bore. Would need to clean up the cylinders and some new rings and bearings, might have a decent short block to swap him for his 360 stroke. Put a nice hydraulic cam in it , something he doesn't have to mess with and just drive it. He has a nice set of Indy X heads on it now which should swap over.
 
Thanks guys , just mulling this all over.
 
rumblefish360 said:
For me, this would be a perfect car. The timing couldn’t be worse though! LMAO! Isn’t that the normal case though.
Click to expand...

no joke! I'd make room and its only 90miles away from me...

RAT ROD; you're kid is just being brash. fix it.
 
Last edited:
Son has been wanting to turn it back into a street car for over a year. Last year he pulled the engine out to freshen it up.. I'm not up there to help him anymore, so I made arrangements for him to take it to the old guy that I used to do all my machine work, who is now retired and just works out of a small shop on his property now. He also assembled the engine this time for my son. Had new adjuster screws put on the rockers. The hydraulic .509 cam looked like new he said. Put new lifters in(?) . Any way son put engine in car( about a year ago) and got it running and said it ran like crap. I talked to engine builder, he said to bring the car over and he would check it out, but son never did. He kept messing with the timing and valves.. Says there isn't an hours run time on the engine. Pulled the valve covers off the other day and all were loose again. Told him to pull the adjustable rockers off and put his stockers back on to see how that looks , he pulled #7 exhaust lifter out and it was all ground up . I don't know if he should have did a cam break in for the new lifters or what, .
 
Last edited:
My son works as a plumber and does as many side jobs as possible, He and his wife finished building a new home in the country and the new baby takes all his time.. I would like to get the car myself, he said to take the flatbed trailer with it, so getting to my house wouldn't have been a problem. He keeps it in his metal barn and the mice are eating up the inside. He's pissed about that also. Lol
 
barbee6043 said:
Don't you always use new lifters and cam, and do the usual breakin?
Click to expand...
You know, I see alot of people on here saying they wiped out their new cam.
Back in my younger days I would just get what ever used ,new , parts I could get my hands on for street racing and never have an issue. I also have built a whole lot of new engines and never gone through the cam break in procedure. I myself have never wiped out a cam. Just dumb luck I guess.
 
RAT ROD AL said:
You know, I see alot of people on here saying they wiped out their new cam.
Back in my younger days I would just get what ever used ,new , parts I could get my hands on for street racing and never have an issue. I also have built a whole lot of new engines and never gone through the cam break in procedure. I myself have never wiped out a cam. Just dumb luck I guess.
Click to expand...
I have never wiped out a new cam, but I did the break in deal, and if a new cam it had new lifters. But I am not an engine builder or racer either. I figure must have been some cause??
 
Story: I had a bad a few decades ago that owned a 67 hemi GTX cover over it and it sits for 4 years He finally did the body/pant, new interior, rechromed bumpers, it always had run great even after sitting. He did rebuilt the carbs though. So he takes to a little local mopar show, then takes back to his pole barm with the lime gravel floor, throws a car over it and it sits for 4 years.
He goes out to see it after that 4 years in hibernation, the chrome has gone to Hell, the mice ate up the new interior, stinks of rats, will not even fire an run.
He calls me up and wants it gone for $10,000, this is like 1998-9. It is sold that day and the new guy guts it and starts over! My commission was a used A833 4 speed! ha
 
barbee6043 said:
I have never wiped out a new cam, but I did the break in deal, and if a new cam it had new lifters. But I am not an engine builder or racer either. I figure must have been some cause??
Click to expand...

When I install a new cam I always get the matching lifters . But in this case the guy used the existing cam in the motor and put in new lifters. I don't like having anyone assembling my stuff or working on it for the most part. But in this case I wasn't up there and didn't think my son could handle it and I trust the old machinest guy. Knowledgeable guy. Has been building race engines for decades. I just wonder how much of the ground metal went through the new bearings?
 
RAT ROD AL said:
I don't know if he should have did a cam break in for the new lifters or what, .
Click to expand...
yes, have to break em' in just like a new cam. you can do new cam/new lifters, old cam/new lifters, old cam with it's old lifters in the same locations, but if any of it's new, break it in
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top