Project Psyko Cuda

[Krazed]

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:

[tones2SS]

Should be a fun project.
Good Luck!!

[72 GOAT]

If you any questions please PM me. My last build was a 68 CUDA fastback, I know how difficult it is to find parts but in the end it will come out great, Dave.

[neki67]

The first Musclecar I fell in love with was a 68 Cuda FB. It was painted in a very special metallic yellow with a red glow on it. It was parked at the streetside and I never saw it being driven.
After almost a year I couldn't hold it anymore and started ringing doorbells to see who owned the car. By that time the headlights were halffull of (rain)water. I found the owner and he was willing to sell it for a price I could afford at that time. He told me the 318 was running strong, but I wanted to make sure and made the deal providing the engine and tranny were OK. Unfortunately it turned out the engine was cracked due to freezing! They did the body work, painted it and got tired with it so it was parked outside waiting for ????

At that time I didn't have the resources I have now, so I had to pass on the deal. Mind you this was 25 years ago. In that 25 years I came across 1 or 2 other 68 FB's here in Europe.

So it's nice to see a couple of them here going the PT way.

René

[6'9"Witha69]

I love those years of Barracudas. Good luck. I am sure it will come out very nice!

[Krazed]

If you any questions please PM me. My last build was a 68 CUDA fastback, I know how difficult it is to find parts but in the end it will come out great, Dave.

Very nice car, 72 GOAT! I'm looking to do mine a bit more extreme.

Been thinking about Alter-K-Tion front end, with some sort of coil-over setup in the rear. Haven't quite found anything aftermarket yet though made for those A-Bodies. I also have plans for supercharging my 340 with an ATI Procharger kit.

Either way, first thing's first - Get it torn down and body work done!

[72 GOAT]

Hey here are a couple of web sites you can o to that have a full front suspension set up for the A Body Mopars, www.magnumforceracing.com, www.xvmotorsports.com you should ask for Peter he is the man when it comes to A Body mopars, he has a sick Dart, Peter did a lot of work on my Cuda. As far as exhaust you have to use tti the are the best for Mopar. Looking forward to your progress.

[Rolling_Thunder]

Hey - nice to see another Mopar guy on the board... I work at an all mopar shop so i know a thing or two about these cars...

Front end - your best bet would be going with an AlterKtion kit... Magnumforce kits stress the shock mounting points and XV is insanely expensive... but if you have the means it is still a good product... not THAT much better than the AlterK

Rear end - are you looking for an IRS or just a coilover set up ? a coil over set up would have to be made as you have learned... no kit exists at the moment.

TTI - quality control is seemingly going down... I have had problems with them as of late with B-body headers as well as their new early A-body headers.... overall yes - they are still the best game in town... but be prepared to ding some tubes on your $800 headers...

[Krazed]

Hey, I appreciate the info guys.

Gonna probably stick with Alter-K-Tion for the front as I like the kit and hear it fits incredibly well. As for the rear, the IRS isn't needed and I just wanted Coilovers to allow adjustable ride height as well as clearance for more wheel/tire!

I know all about the TTI 'issues' for now but will go with them anyway. Headers and exhaust, probably 3". I have no quarrels denting my headers to get'm to work. So far, the fitment is far superior then any others out there.

Haven't had much time to work on the car lately, as I've been busy with other things and am missing quite a few tools.

Will get to work on it soon, I promise! Maybe I can finish up some drawings I have, for some Ideas I want to do.... or figure out how to photoshop it. I'm still learning.

[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.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

niiice!

[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!

[David Sloan]

Cool Car
Dont you just love new parts.

[Krazed]

Yes, I love getting new parts! Sad thing is, I have more to order and I need to get my Block hot tanked, and crank turned! Tryin to get all this done by this weekend, but we'll see how that goes.

If only I didn't have to work....... hmmmmm.

I feel a cold coming on!

[Savage396]

Very nice. I'll be following your progress closely, I am thinking that my next project may be a 67-69 Barracuda.

[David Sloan]

Yes, I love getting new parts! Sad thing is, I have more to order and I need to get my Block hot tanked, and crank turned! Tryin to get all this done by this weekend, but we'll see how that goes.

If only I didn't have to work....... hmmmmm.

I feel a cold coming on!

I here ya. I wish i could call in sick! for about 6 months and have about $50,000 to spend on this thing.

[moparmatty]

Bill Riley, maker of the Alterkation has a new triangluated fourvlink setup with coilovers for A-bobies.

[Krazed]

I here ya. I wish i could call in sick! for about 6 months and have about $50,000 to spend on this thing.

Oddly enough, after I said "I wish I could call in sick" I started getting a cold.. now my throat is really sore, and my body hurts haha

Also, I should be droppnig the block off to get hot tanked today. Also honing it before hand and having new cam bearings installed.

Gonna be a non-productive week if this cold thing gets worse! The girlfriend had it all last week.... now its my turn.

[Krazed]

Bill Riley, maker of the Alterkation has a new triangluated fourvlink setup with coilovers for A-bobies.

Thanks for the info Matt, I haven't been by that website in a while. Must be brand new! I'll go check it out.