Back after 8 years.. My cuda

[racerkilla]

So I started this project 8 years ago. My father had given the car to me for my 22nd birthday. It is a 73 340 4 speed cuda. It looked like a decent car but quite a bit of rust had gotten the best of it. I started off replacing both 1/4's,wheel houses, and rear frame rails.

I then bought a race car and did that for a few years followed by, built sti subaru, restored my white amx, my late brothers camaro, black amx, Amc sx/4 and building my 340 6 pack duster. So around august last year I got back to this car finally

I have been doing nut and bolt. I have replaced both outer rockers full amd, both inner fenders, driver side front frame rail, driver side front floor pan Pair of amd fenders, full interior resto, gauges, polishing ever piece of trim, restored the grill etc. I have done just about every piece and assembly begins Here are some pictures along the way to how nice it sits now... two different cars. Everything has been done in house... paint, engine, interior..

The start

S5001895-Copy by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

S5001896-Copy by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Some tear down

S5002029 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

new frame rail by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Untitled by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

inner fender replacement by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

inner fender replacement passenger by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

sandblasted with new inner by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

top 1/4 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

S5002163 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

S5002154 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

 

[racerkilla]

Some progress

painted bay by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

firewall/undercoat by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

rebuilt suspension by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

K frame undershot by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Undershot by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Engine bay by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

drip rail by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

louver3 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

louver1 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

headliner by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

dash by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

 

[racerkilla]

grill1 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

grill by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

download (12) by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

download (11) by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

 

[racerkilla]

Its is all wired now, runs, ebrake done, hid all the brake lines inside the car with line lock with adjustable prop valve, cleaned and trimmed the entire harness to make it look nice, Motor has been rebuilt along with the trans. I cut every spot of rust I could find out of it at this point.

Everyday is like Christmas going to the house and getting new parts Hoping it should be done in a month or so

Have a bunch more photos to get uploaded.. Hoods painted matte(aar hood and have aar decals).. Valences done, Doors ready for paint

 

[TC_Cuda]

Very nice work... Keep the pictures coming

 

[moparleo]

Ditto. Very, very nice

 

[rbbruno3]

Looking good

 

[DetMatt1]

That's one lucky car, thanks for saving it!

 

[aussiemark]

The orange on the trim around the grille inserts is going to look awesome when installed.

 

[340challconvert]

Long road traveled.
The car looks great, really nice work bringing her back!

 

[moparlee]

Nice work Ronny! Great looking Cuda you have there.

 

[jeff968]

Very nice work. Looking great.

 

[EV2-70]

The car looks Great! The Hemi Orange was always my favorite. Great job sticking with it and not giving up. I know it is disappointing working on something that long and wanting it done sooner but perfection takes time. Good Job....

 

[1969VADart]

That is a very nice car! I'm partial to Orange myself.

 

[racerkilla]

Thanks everyone. The color is omaha orange. A 69 color.

Got new 2inch lift leaf springs in the rear today along with the rear valence, new gas tank with stainless straps and bumper. The bumper is a fiberglass repo of a rubber bumper. I used my old 73 inner structure behind the fiberglass so its basically just a cover. I extended the bumperette bolts into the structure behind so no chance of the expoy studs allowing the bumper to fall off. Bit tricky of a set up to get to fit and work right but happy I did it.. Also inside of the trunk dynomatted

I still need to re pull the rear here in the near future to sand blast and detail it. Also have a cool muffler/tip combo I built for it that needs to go on.

Here is quite a few pics

bumper by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

bumper1 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

bumper2 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

bumper3 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Trunk matting

matting by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

matting1 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Firewall dynomat.. I did the entire floor after I did rust convertor on surface rust followed by bedliner then mat

matting2 by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

bedlined by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

aar hood painted

aar hood by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

Seats ready

seat by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

15x9 slots on 255 60 15.. 15x7 235 60 15

slot by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

underside

trans by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

undercoat by Ronny Conklin, on Flickr

 

[aussiemark]

I've been told the heat proof wrap on the headers is not good for them. I put it on one of my cars and a friend said it causes stainless steel to crack so I pulled it all off, then I read some stories of Nascar mechanics removing the wrap to find it was all that was holding the headers together after only one race.

 

[1969VADart]

Do those 235's fit under the front end with no problem? And any idea what kind of backspacing you have on your wheels?

 

[racerkilla]

My wheels are 15x7 3.75 bs and rear 15x9 4.5 bs. I actually just put them on. Will upload pics tomorrow. I am hoping they don't run. I had them mocked up with fenders and seemed to clear. I would of like 225 but cooper cobra don't make that size anymore. Next thing would be a 215 65

 

[racerkilla]

Wheel pics. 2 in higher leafs as well. 1.03 torsion. Still need to
Do ride height and alignment once it all goes together

 

[fk5aar]

Looking good keep up the good work, are those 70-71 rear louvers?