Pro-Touring 68 Cuda "Psyko Cuda"

[Krazed]

Here's my project log, not so updated recently.. but you guys asked for it!

It's just copy and pasted from www.Pro-touring.com

Project Time!

I've been waiting a while to do this, but I finally got started on disassembly of my barracuda tonight. Makes me quite happy to get something done! I gotta say a big thanks to you guys posting Project logs on here. I know it gives me a HUGE Boost in moral and motivation.

Having said that, I got some stuff done tonight as well as the last few days of cleaning up and reorganizing the garage somewhat. Room mate needs to get the rest of his stuff organized, and sort through things before I can fully claim the garage space as my own!

Got the toolbox put together that I got for christmas, and my welder cart and gas finally assembled so I can start welding again. It's been a while, but I now have almost everything I need to work on the car. Last on the list is an air compressor and bringing the rest of my tools over.

Also, the car got put up on jack stands.

Wheels taken off, front bumper and front valance taken off. And pictures taken thus far!

However, I do have some sad news I haven't told many about yet.

In early october, as a last hurrah, the group of us alaskans from Alaska Motor Sports (a forum/website) went cruising to a lake near my old house. All went fine until the drive back. A friend of mine in a 1996 Viper RT10 was following behind me in traffic, and we had to come to a sudden stop. Sadly, he wasnt paying proper attention, locked his rear brakes up, and on bald tires, slid about 15 feet into the rear end of my car.

The Damage:

Viper - cracked front bumper and hood, lots of scratched paint. All fiberglass pieces.

Barracuda - Pushed in rear valance, pushed into spare tire area in trunk. Dented in several places. Tweaked rear bumper (Twisted in two spots and will need straitening) Left rear exhaust took most of the brunt, crushed in, pushed up, and broken in multiple places up to the front of the car. The pictures show some of what happened. But I thought I'd explain due to difficulty seeing the real damage to the car.

Anyway, On with the pictures! Details of what I plan to do to the car will ensue soon!

Tools!

Onto car pictures:

 

[Krazed]

So, I know it's been a while since the last update. I've been busy with life (yet again... Amazing how often it sneaks up on ya, huh?). Long story short, Life's been going in a wonderful direction and I not only have time for the car, my girlfriend and I are living together and it's about the most wonderful thing that's happened to me. She's been showing HUGE interest in my car, as well as helping out with things. Not to mention she loves Classic Rock, as loud as I do. I'm still shocked at how awesome she is, I consider myself an extremely lucky guy.

Anyway, enough about the mushy stuff. On to the Car progress!

Since the last post, I've taken off the fenders, doors, and basically I'm attempting to clean everything up. Got the woman to start cleaning and grinding away at the dirt and grime and grease in the fender wells, and in the engine bay. The car is just caked with crap! 40 years of dirt, and at least 20+ years of a leaking power steering box has made alot of nastiness.

Also got the engine and tranny pulled, and the engine torn down. The pistons look like crap. No wonder I've been pinging horribly, and requiring a ton of Octane to get anywhere. May be ordering new pistons today, but still not sure if I want to do that, or stroke it. Pro-Charger was my original choice but I may change that for now. Heads look ok for the stock X-Heads. (Anyone know the CC's?) and the rest isnt bad. Found some Eagle H-Beam rods in there which was a nice surprise. Bearings look good, no abnormal wear or anything. Just the buildup on the pistons. Also found a windage tray on the inside. One less part to buy!

Pics incoming.

 

[Krazed]

More pics of the engine torn apart.

 

[Krazed]

Parts list!

Engle Camshaft 231/231 @0.050 (To get rid of that crappy old Mopar Performance 248/248 @0.050 Cam)
Engle Springs
TTI Headers, Ceramic Coated, and internal Thermal Barrier
TTI Exhaust w/ Dynomax Super Turbo mufflers
Moog front suspension bushing and rebuild kit.
All tools to do front suspension.
Torsion Bars 1.09" thick
2" Lowering Kit for rear end
New Clutch Fan (Pre-Aluminum radiator, was cheap upgrade)
ARP Engine Bolt Kit
SubFrame Connectors

The list will grow with what I truely want later on, but for now I just want to drive it this summer!

 

[Krazed]

Got some more things done. The block and crank are back from the machine shop. They were able to just polish the crank, and hot tank the block. We got it honed and put together, but have to take it apart, as the instructions for the piston rings weren't too clear... we talked to a buddies dad who was an engine builder/machinist for 23 years... he set us strait. Either way, it won't take long.

Other then that, I got some more suspension parts in. Things cleaned up. Painted the K-Frame and the lower control arms. Also welded Lower control arm stiffening plates on and will repaint and install those as soon as I'm done scraping and scrubbing the grease off the front end.

New parts include:
CAP Auto Products Tubular Adjustable Upper control arms
Aluminum Adjustable Strut Rods
Bigger Torsion bars (stock 0.85" new 1.2")
New rear sway bar
New pitman arm
New Idler arm
2" Lowering Blocks for the rear end (Only temporary)
New bushings all around

Also found the exhaust tips I wanted.


Here's some car **** for you guys. More to come later in the week!

 

[Krazed]

Exhaust tips

Also got a new toy:

Finally got my air Compressor! (Works quite well with all tools, even air drill, die grinder's, and sander)

 

[Krazed]

Well, got a bit more work done on the car before our camping trip last week.

Got the engine bay painted, as well as the inner fender wells.
New upper control arms (Yes, I know they're on backwards, I just wanted to make sure they fit and get the camber close).

Also got my strut rods installed, they're very solid and easily adjustable. I love the way they look too! Got the K-Frame painted and all pretty, welded some things on to stiffen things up, as well as stiffened the lower control arms with the Braces. Cleaned up the brakes, painted the calipers an aluminum color to match a bit better.

All in all, got a decent amount done, but not as much as I wanted to.

Next up - Drop off the heads to get cleaned and new springs put on (Since my spring compressor doesn't want to work lately) and put it all back together!

and now, the pics!

 

[Krazed]

Well, I got a bit more done. Haven't had as much time as I'd like to work on it but..at least its better then nothing!

Got my heads cleaned up, new valve springs and retainers installed. Also had my girlfriend paint all the old green parts with gloss black for a temporary fix until I can get around to the body work next winter. She painted the Door jams on the car, and doors as well as the trunk.

Finally got my suspension in, all but the sway bar and steering linkage which will be done this weekend for sure. Power steering box was cleaned and rebuilt, with all the O-rings replaced.

Will be making more progress tonight , and this weekend inbetween looking for just the right new house! Engine should be totally finished and in the car this weekend. Then it's the transmission seals/gaskets and lowering the rear end!

Last but not least - Got my license plates in!

 

[Krazed]

More pictures.

Suspension installed! Getting closer....

 

[Krazed]

Here's some things I missed for the updates over the last few months.

I got the engine finally rebuilt and into the car. New TTI Headers and 3" Exhaust installed. Fenders, and electrical back together and the car was running!

 

[Krazed]

Notice the "was running" Part.... This is what happened a few weeks later.

We think it was due to improper length pushrods. I guess we measured wrong! And now, I have metal bits all over the inside of the engine on the passenger side. So, I get to do yet another rebuild. Only, this time I'm waiting to rebuild it right I think using new heads, different cam, springs, lifters, and pushrods. It's going to take some time to collect the money for all of that, but It will be well worth it!

There is some good news however! One and a Half weeks ago, I got married to the very same woman who's been helping me build this car. And, she's having a baby as well! Here's hopes for a healthy baby!

 

[Krazed]

And that's that. Everything so far, except for a few new parts I ordered.

273 Adjustable Rocker arms.

Door hinge pins and bushings.

Lunati 60403 Cam and lifters (Should be awesome)

And a few misc parts here and there, including new push rods, etc.

 

[fstfish66]

sorry to hear about your engine,, hope you have a nice delivery with the baby,,, kiss that cuda bye bye,, till the kid is 18...j/k

 

[Guitar Jones]

Congratulations and good luck!

Oh yeah, good luck with the car too.

 

[71DartGuy]

Very nice work. I'm probably just imagining things but it almost looks like the upper control arm is on the wrong side? Keep the pics coming and congratulations!

 

[b67cuda]

Congrats - any gal who will help that much on a car project is a keeper! I knew my wife was the right one when she bought carpet for my Barracuda on our first Valentines day together. Good luck to ya.

 

[1966 dart wagon]

wow again i wish my gf was into cars nice job on the cuda, ive got the same tool box and a cuda(69 though) looks great! keep us posted on the updates

 

[OldVart]

You've been very busy and super productive. Sorry about your engine, but sometimes $heit happens and we just have another go at it. Congrats on the wedding and the bun in the oven. Good luck.

 

[Krazed]

Thanks for the comments guys. All of the parts are on the way, and should be here next week.

One thing I did forget to mention, we got an ultrasound, and found out that we're having a boy! Little Curtis should be born some time around June 20th 2008. I can't wait to see his face.

Part of the motivation to work on the Cuda is to take my wife to the hospital in it, so we can take him home in it. I've always wanted that to happen since I've owned the car.

More progress soon after the move to the new office at work! (I'm the IT guy..and it's crazy so far).