SRT8CUDA Build

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Some photos of front suspension.
 

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Found some Mopar center caps to replace the American Muscle ones, but they won't snap into place because the Wilwood axle grease cap is too large.:banghead:
 

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I restored a classic Mercedes Gullwing for a fellow in his early eighties. The car had been in pieces for 38 years. He started sobbing and shaking his head in disbelief that it was actually running again. It was an honor to be a part of his whole experience.
I had a similar experience with my Superbird restoration. I had traced all the previous owners of the car and they all lived in Ontario. Last fall I got a call out of the blue from an older gentleman's son in Nova Scotia (half way across Canada from me) who said his dad used to own the car!! I said - no way. I know all the owners and they are all in Ontario. His son tracked me down after seeing articles about my Superbird in magazines.
He said his dad owned a used dealership in Truro NS and used to come to Barrie, ON to buy some Mopars at Jackson's Motors. He made a deal for a Limelight Superbird and bought it and took it to Nova Scotia. He never sold it , nor was it registered since he drove it as a dealer car. Several months later, he got a call that the dealer in Barrie wanted to buy it back and use as a pace car. My restored Superbird was that same pace car!!!!

I have talked to his dad and sent him a link to a video I made of the car back at the same speedway where it used to be the pace car. His son said that his dad cried through the whole thing after seeing "his car" again.
There is amazing history on some of these old Mopars!!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GoMcVWETE8"]HD Video of Superbird Pace Car at Sunset Speedway - YouTube[/ame]
 
That superbird is awesome!!!!!
My son and have run at sunset for years. The last three, we've not had time to run ever week. car number 48, nick name Mr. White walls. we are running Dodge Neon's Now.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koX7hqOMbaI&list=UUsojkOkPQy8xmuiCQxojwmA"]Sunset Speedway Mini-Stock Feature - YouTube[/ame]
 
That superbird is awesome!!!!!
My son and have run at sunset for years. The last three, we've not had time to run ever week. car number 48, nick name Mr. White walls. we are running Dodge Neon's Now.
Thanks
Sunset promoters said last year they may want us to come back again this year to pace a race night. Stay tuned and come and see me if you see us there.
Jim

PS I spent 12 years (not full time) restoring the Superbird. A labour of love!!
 
That would be awesome Jim, I would like to go for a ride in the cuda to:)
I too have been working on a car for 12 years should be out on the road this year.

My son "Nick" would like to start racing full time again year this.
We started racing at sunset when Nick was 13 he was 15 in that race
Here is link to the Neon racing, the links are not follow us but we are in the video and you can here us winning :)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rPzF5-qWi8"]Sunset Speedway June 4th 2011 Mini-Stock Feature - YouTube[/ame]
 
WE finally got the kitchen reno finished - now I can get back at that Cuda!!

I didn't like the Lokar emergency brake cable kit that came with the rear end because it is not self equalizing. (ie the connecting block means that both cables get pulled together.)
So I re-engineered (ie modified!!) the cables and went back to the original Mopar design that will ensure equalization between the 2 sides.
 

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Made a couple of brackets and mounted a Heatshield Products # 110614 heatshield between the headers and the clutch slave.
 

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A few photos of the bottom of the car. It is now ready to roll off my son's hoist and back to my garage to finish everything on the top side.
 

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Really detailed nicely. Also, love your color and I will be using that color when the Valiant gets to that point. Same for the SRT hemi with 5-speed too.
 
Back in my garage and ready to start reassembling the topside.
 

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We were bleeding and bleeding the brakes but could not get a solid hard pedal. Then we noticed that the Wilwood calipers were visibly flexing!!!
Put a dial indicator on the front calipers and they were moving about 0.016". Checked with Bill Reilly and he confirmed the Dynalite calipers do flex under heavy brake pressure. Did some quick checks on the web and confirmed this. Bill says it will not affect the braking because it takes little pedal pressure to brake the car with 12.19" rotors.
 

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In setting up the hydraulic clutch, we found we needed a bit more stoke on the CNC slave cylinder to get ~0.040" clearance on the clutch disk. We had more master cylinder stroke, but the slave was bottoming out.
Decided to disassemble the slave to see what was limiting the stroke. It is actually the return spring. When it is fully compressed, it stops the piston well before the end of the bore. Cut off about 1 coil on the spring and now we have the stroke we need!!!
 

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Mine starts at around .150 for clutch clearance. You're talking TO bearing to PP fingers with clutch engaged right?
 
Thinking of picking up the same front end from RMS. Just wondering how do you like it,and how's the quality?
 
Mine starts at around .150 for clutch clearance. You're talking TO bearing to PP fingers with clutch engaged right?
No- I was talking about clearance between PP and disk with clutch disengaged (ie clutch pedal fully depressed.). 0.150" between TO Brg and fingers sounds about right.
 
Thinking of picking up the same front end from RMS. Just wondering how do you like it,and how's the quality?
The quality is excellent, but the most important thing is customer service. Bill Reilly is absolutely great to deal with. I've had several questions during the installation and he is always willing and able to help.
For example- I could not figure out how to fit the steering rack into position (it is a very tight fit) and he used one of the cars in the shop and took a video and posted it on YouTube for me!!!!
Jim
 
I modified my original auto console to be able to use it with the stock Hurst manual shifter. The only difference between the auto and manual is an original factory manual console has a larger cutout in the side (and some screw holes to attach a separate bulge)
I cut out the opening and just added a fibreglass bulge to the side of it.
The first photo shows a manual and auto console together. The next 2 are my fiberglass bulge.
 

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The coolant tubes under the intake manifold require some mods to be able to easily connect to the heater and heater shutoff valve. This is for the connections on an AC Cuda.
The stock tubes point straight up at the rear of the engine.
I cut the rear supports off the tubes and then heated the tubes so I could bend them in the right direction. Then welded the supports back on.
Not as clean as I would like it.
 

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