1970 'cuda restomod

Author Topic: 1970 'cuda restomod  (Read 8744 times)

Offline magnetic

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1970 'cuda restomod
« on: August 11, 2010 - 06:22:49 PM »
Hi!  I bought this car nine years ago stripped it down and sent it to a body shop.  And this is where is sat until after I got married in 2004.  The day I came to pick it up the shop said "Oh, hey, we just hired a new guy who loves Mopars and we are really going to get started on it this time,"  to which I responded, "The trailer's outside, I'm taking the car with me."  So here we are 2010 I've returned home to work on the family farm, we just built a great new shop last winter, so with some available help why not tackle this myself and learn while I'm doing it?  Pictures of bringing the car home and tearing it down elude me right now so we'll have to started with recent pictures.  Originally a white 383 4spd car, here's what I plan to do with it.
 
Body in some shade of yellow
Altlerktion front and Streetlynx rear
Keisler 5spd
6.1L Hemi
Mostly stock appearing inside and out besides wheels and brakes
 
The reason the framerails are clipped off is because they were damaged and poorly repaired.  A crossmember and rails will come from a donor.

A bunch of new stuff from Roseville Moparts!

New rocker in place

New wheelhouse going in

Firewall and cowl in!

Floor pans in!  With a little help from wagesofsin

Cancer cut out of passenger rocker

This little guy came out of that rocker

 
More to come!  Going to put on a driver's quarter panel and a tailpanel from a donor car.  Hope to post more soon.
1970 'cuda restomod
-just getting started

2009 Pontiac G8 GT
2004 Silverado Crewcab Duramax




Offline dutch

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #1 on: August 11, 2010 - 07:18:42 PM »
welcome  :wave:   Can`t go wrong with a yellow 70 cuda  :2thumbs:  sure you can do this yourself  :2thumbs:
not sure if you`ve finished welding the new panels, but I think you might want to add a few more buttwelds here and there.  Remember these are unibodys and get their strength from all panels being welded together. Your welds will not be as strong and real spotweld like the factory did, so I`d drill some more holes to weld up.  :2cents:
good luck and keep the pics coming  :popcorn:
*** Bart ***

Offline magnetic

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #2 on: August 11, 2010 - 07:27:18 PM »
Thanks, dutch!  I read your build all the way through and I love that color.  Yes, there will be more welding to do, any suggestions in particular?  I've read were some guys stitched about every gap together to make the car a little stiffer.
1970 'cuda restomod
-just getting started

2009 Pontiac G8 GT
2004 Silverado Crewcab Duramax

Offline the_engineers

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #3 on: August 11, 2010 - 11:38:58 PM »
Good luck!  Also, I'm a little jealous of the G8.
Brooks

1971 'Cuda 360
2004 Infiniti G35 6-spd Coupe
2001 Toyota Solara Convertible
2002 GMC Savana 1500 Explorer Hightop Conversion
1972 Dodge Dart Swinger...keeping the Slant.  Rocking the turbos.

Offline thedodgeboys

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2010 - 04:43:22 AM »
Sounds like a sweet ride is that an automatic tunnel?
I would add the xv braces and subframe connectors in also I feel the stiffer the better.
Go Fast & Have Fun...
70 6.1 HEMI 6-speed Drop Top...

Offline magnetic

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2010 - 10:23:59 AM »
Good luck!  Also, I'm a little jealous of the G8.

 
Thanks!  I hope when it's as old as the 'cuda is now I can say I am the original and only owner of this little piece of history.

« Last Edit: August 13, 2010 - 08:04:13 AM by magnetic »
1970 'cuda restomod
-just getting started

2009 Pontiac G8 GT
2004 Silverado Crewcab Duramax

Offline magnetic

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2010 - 10:39:15 AM »
Sounds like a sweet ride is that an automatic tunnel?
I would add the xv braces and subframe connectors in also I feel the stiffer the better.

I've got a 4spd hump that we haven't put in yet.  I am going to put in subframe connectors and probably XV's lower rad support.
1970 'cuda restomod
-just getting started

2009 Pontiac G8 GT
2004 Silverado Crewcab Duramax

Offline 70shaker6pk

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #7 on: August 12, 2010 - 09:25:38 PM »
Looking good, thanks for posting  pic's
'JS23V0B'  1970 Challenger R/T N96 440 Six Pack

Offline thedodgeboys

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2010 - 05:46:48 AM »
 :popcorn: :wavingflag:

I've got a 4spd hump that we haven't put in yet.  I am going to put in subframe connectors and probably XV's lower rad support.
I would look at the inner fender braces also  :2cents:
Go Fast & Have Fun...
70 6.1 HEMI 6-speed Drop Top...

Offline magnetic

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2010 - 06:27:53 PM »
Not really progress, but hung the fenders, hood, header panel, and valance today just to see if they halfway lined up since we've put on so much new stuff from the doors forward.  The inner fenders are just setting in place and everything else is on with a few bolts temporarily.  Everything fit fairly well and the hood hinges work nicely, and it's just been so long since I've had all the body parts actually on the car it's nice to see it in one piece.

 
Also looking for a little advice.  This picture is of the inside of the driver's quarter panel.  You can see someone left about 6" of the original and the riveted a skin over the top of it.  I need to take the outside down to bare metal to see if there are any ugly suprises but it looks fine in it's current shade of primer so far.  Since I'm going to use bedliner or something similar in the trunk a lot of this would be covered up somewhat, so do you think it would be worth the money to put on a new quarter or just stay as is?  I had a whole new skin at one time but the shop the car was at, cut it up into two lower patches for some reason.  I still have the rest of the skin as well.
« Last Edit: August 16, 2010 - 06:29:59 PM by magnetic »
1970 'cuda restomod
-just getting started

2009 Pontiac G8 GT
2004 Silverado Crewcab Duramax

Offline Challenger III

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #10 on: August 18, 2010 - 12:02:27 AM »
I gotta say...... re-skin it. You've come this far, and that riveted skin could haunt you later. Let alone bother you in the mean time.  :2cents:  Great work so far!  :thumbsup:
Mike    Yakima, Washington

Resto Thread:  http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=66668.0

Offline mopar12372

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #11 on: August 18, 2010 - 02:22:00 AM »
i second the reskin  :thumbsup: from all the hard work that has been done why not...
MOPARTECH.NET ( come over and visit some time )
RESTO PICTURES
http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=71096.30

Offline Travis72

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #12 on: August 25, 2010 - 12:52:12 AM »
Sounds like a great build!   First step is to get it to bare metal and see how bad it is.  Maybe you could weld it up and get rid of the rivets?

Travis
72 Cuda

Offline 4Cruizn

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #13 on: August 25, 2010 - 08:54:15 AM »
Looks like you are making good progress!  Nice work!   :cheers:

Offline 72hemi

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Re: 1970 'cuda restomod
« Reply #14 on: August 25, 2010 - 09:00:24 AM »
If it were me looking at that drivers quarter and where you have the car right now, I would order a new full quarter and replace it. Might as well do it right.

Question for you, how was the install on the one piece front floor pan? I am going to be installing one in my 70 Challenger this year.
1972 Dodge Challenger 340 6 Pack 4-speed
1996 Dodge Viper GTS Coupe