Sign of life

Project Hemi

As I have been drooling over the possibilities of a more potent powerplant for the 'Cuda, this piece is the kickoff for "Project Hemi". I'm thinking in the direction of an all aluminum engine, around 500 cubic inches, fed by electronic fuel injection. For that purpose I will convert this hilborn manifold from mechanical injection to efi, utilizing bosch injectors and equipement.

The tall chrome stacks will have to go or be considerably shortend in order for everything to fit under the hood.

The mechanical injectors will be replaced by modern injectors, achieving a sequential fuel injection setup.

Rollbar

Finishing touches on the Rollbar.The Rollbar itself was already finished ofcourse, but getting all of the inside panels mouted around it proved to be somewhat of a challenge.

Package tray with speakers from the outside

I love the look of the bars in the red surroundings.

Interior

Although it may seem as if I've been lazy, there has in fact been some progress on the 'Cuda. I've been busy adapting the interior to the new rollbar, the most complicated items being the rear panels beside the rear bench. The loose end of the carpet on the bottom of the picture will later be covered by the bench seat.
The other part that had to be cut up was the package tray, as it can not extend under the hard points of the rollbar in the rear.

Studyhall

In my quest to further enhance the performance of the 'Cuda I borrowed some literature about chassis improvements. Information about springs, shocks and swaybars, caster and camber will accompany me in the next weeks.

Side panels

As they say, anyone can restore a classic but it takes a real man to cut one up! So I attacked the original rear side panels with a saw to make room for the main loop of the roll bar.

The old plastic really emits a bad odor when cut or grinded.

Looks like a big hole but actually I tried to make it as small as possible, keeping in mind that the panel and the roll bar have to be installed as well. Of course this hole cannot be left like it is, even though the rear bench will not leave many angles to look at it once everything is installed back in the car.

So i formed a piece of plastic board to cover the hole. The plastic is easy to work with, you can form it under a heat gun, once cooled off, it retains its shape.

Almost there, now all i have to do is repaint the panel, but as it has already undergone a colorchange from brown to red I'm sure that will not be a problem.

Winter

Winter has finally tightend its grip on my neighbourhood. Sub zero temperatures and snowfall are prohibitive to getting the 'Cuda out, so there's plenty of time to work in the garage! More to come in the next weeks...