1968 Roadrunner: 6.1L hemi, 6 speed, & IFS/IRS

[70B5Cuda]

Lower rear window corners looked solid at first glance, but they were nasty once the trim was off.

[minendrews68]

Nice! This is going to be a great looking car. Keep it up, and yes, we all like pictures...

[70B5Cuda]

The driver's side quarter had a bid dent on the character line. Picture before...

[70B5Cuda]

I've got a 70 Cuda restomod that has snowballed out of control. Im currently 8 years into a 3 year build....Im sure many of you can sympathize. So....my original intent for this Roadrunner was for it to be simple. I had decided on just doing some sheetmetal repair and as far as drivetrain, I was going use a Gen 3 6.1L hemi, 23 spline 833 4 speed manual trans, and an 8 3/4" rearend. I didn't want this project to spiral out of control either so I was dead set against change. I just wanted to keep it simple to speed up the build, save money, and not have to cut the floor pans. I had a 4 speed completely rebuilt/ painted and I bought all the parts to convert from a 727 auto to a 4 speed manual.........and then one day I added up the costs of a installing an 833 (see list below) and I realized how much just a 4 speed costs.....I decided to install a TR6060 6 speed instead of an 23 spline 833. The 833 4 speed would have been easier and faster, but...

1. I had a 50K mile TR6060 sitting in the shop....with everything needed to complete the swap. I had parted out a 2009 Challenger SRT8 so I had the stock twin disc clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, hydraulic throwout, hydraulic line/reservoir, clutch pedals, etc....just waiting to be used. And it was originally paired to a 6.1 so it was easy to assemble.
2. I started adding up the value of all the parts for the 4 speed swap: rebuilt 833, Lakewood SFI Bell housing, new Mcleod clutch/pressure plate, Mopar Flywheel, hydraulic throwout bearing setup, z bar, fork, actuator rods, boot/seals, fork pivot, pedal assembly, etc and I thought... "Why am I spending this much for a 4 speed?!?!?!?!?" I'll could sell it all to pay for the tunnel and crossmember fabrication work."
3. I didn't want to cut the tunnel and floor for the 6 speed but in reality I want to drive this car to work 1 or 2 days a week (70 mile roundtrip) so why go to the trouble of a Gen 3 hemi with a 4 speed?!?!

At first I really didn't want to modify the floor pans since they were pretty solid, but I finally came to my senses. I'm really excited about the subframe connectors, which are made of 2"x4" steel rectangular tubing that channel through the floor pans. Should really help to eliminate flex and improve rigidity.

[70B5Cuda]

[70B5Cuda]

View from below which shows how the 2x4" ties into the rear frame rails