Cuda SRT8 392 Gen.III Hemi

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Certainly interested in seeing what you come up with. The results posted before where pretty awesome
 
All my searches had been done around "LED" when LCD is the technology that accommodates the images I was looking for. After doing some LCD searches, I've found there are a few vendors coming out with this stuff for the aftermarket. There's even one manufacturer (Sharp) who has been able to manipulate the LCD screens into different shapes (round) that would REALLY help for automotive gauges, instead of a big square or rectangle screen
with several round images on it.

There's even guys out there converting their dashes using tablets and ipads; plugging them into their OBDII ports. I'm not sure yet how they're programming the guage images onto them though.

I have plenty of other work to finish on my car, so I can afford the time to let this technology progress a bit and make it one of the last things that goes into my car. I really like the Sharp screen, but in the information I found, there was indication it would only be used for OEMs, not aftermarket, which means I'd have to find the manufacturer(s) using it and pick something up over the parts counter or from the salvage yard. I would really like this stuff in my dash, so I'll keep y'all posted on how this progresses...
 
There are programs or 'apps' for gauge clusters for tablets and iphones to connect to OBD2 ports. Guys use them a lot for road racing. Mostly in conjunction with an external gps and an app used for recording racing data.

These aren't exactly what you're after, but might start you down the right path (I have and use these):
harry's lap timer
track addict
external gps = dual xgps160

also, I searched 'obdii data logger hpde' and got a few interesting results.

again, not what you're after, but might help with some search terms
 
There is an App called Torque that is pretty cool. Lets you monitor anything the ECU sees plus performance stuff, 1/8mile, 1/4mile, 0-60 etc.
 
Thanks you guys. Yeah, "Apps". That's the terminology I hear about so often but have not looked into any of it. Sometimes when I go to a vendor website or even a forum, an opportunity to download their "App' pops up. I'm too afraid of viruses, do to my lack of IT knowledge and experience. There will come a time when I'm going to have to trust some of the downloads, down the road a bit though.
Thanks again you guys...
 
Car stereos are becoming more and more app centered. I wonder if you would be able to run an app like Torque on a big dvd screen audio setup.
 
I think I'm going to let some of these companies progress with their products before I decide and buy. I think waiting a little longer will be worth it. In the meantime, I'll keep researching all the sites / manufacturers I've found with your help. Thanks again you guys...
 
My goal for this summer is to get the paint on my car, which is just a matter of time with no big expense. In the meantime, I have the rear suspension to address; upholstery work (will send my seats to Katzkins in L.A.) and then wheels and tires. My wheel and tire selection will be last, after the body is painted.

I could use some help with the rear suspension. I currently have S/S springs that I bought new back in the late 70's or early 80's (never used except to roll the car around). I'm hearing a more trick setup is CalTracs with monoleafs. My car will be street/strip and I want it to be a reasonable ride on the street but to also hook pretty good on the strip, using wrinkle wall slicks.

I'm by no means a rich man, but when it comes to my build, I decide what is best for the car and then buy it, without a big concern for cost. If the CalTrac arrangement is best overall, then I have no problem buying it.

So there's my dilemma and I'd really appreciate input from you guys that have had both systems to compare against each other. For starters, I've heard that the S/S springs are old technology and are pretty stiff and bouncy on the street.

Input please?
 
Thanks Jeff. Those "race pack" type guage pods are what I looked at previously, as I was searching LED technology and that's the coolest arrangement I'd found. If my car was race only, I'd be serious about working one of those into my dash. As I've now found out, LCD is the technology that I'm looking for. Do a search for "Sharp LCD gauges" and check out some of the images/articles that come up. That's the technology and "look" that I want. I think it's going to be a little while before something like this is offered for the aftermarket, so I'm going to hold off for a while and let the technology progress. In the meantime, there's plenty of other things I need to buy yet for my car. Thanks again for those links...
 
LOL, was just reading my posts from last summer and have to laugh that I thought I was going to be able to get the paint on my car back then. I've made great progress in getting my home (and most importantly the garage!) settled in and organized after my move at the end of '13. I took my wife out to dinner on New Year's Eve and when we toasted, my wife surprised me and said "here's to 2015, year of the Cuda, let's FINISH it!" She's now living in the area and home of her dreams, so I have her full support in finishing the car of my dreams.

I literally planned to start this weekend, but a couple of small things came up with the wife and the home, so I should get going on it next weekend. I waited until the last thing to take out the headliner and it's bows, but I'll do that next weekend and can also get started sealing up the seams under the car (all undercoat was removed probably 30 years ago). I'm going to seam seal the overlaps on the underside floor / trunk panels and then it's ready for some type of light undercoat (probably Upol Raptor; would love feedback on this product).

I've lined up a spray booth to shoot the car and I've narrowed down my color choices to just a few shades of blue. I've got a couple other minor things to do, but then I move on to final sanding (already has it's last coat of primer/surfacer) and it's ready to take to the booth.

Wow, the anticipation is really building for me. This is my favorite part coming up. I love painting a car and then assembling with all new, or cleaned, or painted, or plated parts. It's so nice to get to this point after all the grinding, welding, grinding, scraping, sanding, grinding, welding.......well, you get the point.

Pics of my Strange 60 and Baer brakes to come if I can figure out this Windows8 operating system. I had posting pics down pretty good with my last laptop, but this new one has the Windows8 OS and it's real difficult to navigate for posting pics. I hope to figure it out soon...
 
Haven't gotten the paint on the car yet, but have been making progress in more indirect ways. I've taken numerous items to the powder coater, spreading the cost out over time and packing the parts away for assembly later.

I decided since I still have my new, original S/S springs from the late '70s, early '80s that I will use them to at least get the car on the road and then re-evaluate for later changes. I disassembled the springs for powder coating and found they do not have the zinc plates between the leafs like stock springs do. I had planned to get a rebuild kit that includes the clamps, rubbers and "the zincs" but am wondering if I should just get the rubbers and clamps without the zincs.

Does anyone know for sure what the zincs are for? I would assume they are there for anti-rust purposes where the spring leafs come together and rub / chafe. This car won't be daily driven and won't get the mileage it got when new. Plus the leafs will be powder coated, unlike when they were original, with no protection between the leafs.

I'm also considering taking some leafs out of the right spring so the car will sit more level. Was thinking about making them more like a heavy duty spring set like the 440 cars had, with just an additional leaf on the passenger side.

Any thoughts and input about this rear suspension dilemma? Would appreciate it...
 
The zinc is AFIK used as a sacrificial metal for corrosion, it will be attacked instead of the steel. Similar to zinc anodes on the side of ships.
 
Cuda SRT8 said:
I'm also considering taking some leafs out of the right spring so the car will sit more level.
Click to expand...

My concern with doing that would be the ability to get the car to sit level afterward. I don't think the odds are in your favor that removing a spring will result in a level car. It certainly cant hurt to try and wont cost anything. You can, however, get the leaf springs re-arched so they sit level. This was fairly expensive when I checked into it many years ago, it was more cost effective to get new HD springs.

As far as the spring liners go, I was always under the impression they were there to reduce squeaking/noise as they springs flexed upon each other.

If you have a really sturdy old c-clamp to use, that is the best way I found to disassemble and reassemble the spring packs. I would not trust the new cast cheapo clamps. Have had several break in recent years.
 
Before I brought the springs in for PC, I layed each left / right counterpart on their side and compared the arches. They were pretty well matched, so it appears at this point the springs are pretty much the same, except for the added leaves on the right side.

I'm still going to start by setting them up with the leaf count that the old 440 B bodies had, which I think was staggered by one leaf. I'm going to have to research that. I do expect the car to still sit a little higher, as I believe the S/S springs are arched more than regular springs. I'm still going to use them to get my car on the road and can adjust from there.
 
Out of curiosity, has anyone bought new springs from places like Espo, etc and received them in good condition? I was disappointed when I ordered new MP springs and they arrived at the dealer without ANY protection whatsoever. They were all butchered up (IMO) with nicks and dings, clamps gouged up from these things being tossed around from loading dock to truck, to truck, to dealer. I will admit I'm a bit pissed at the shipping industry from all the damage they've caused to products I've bought over the years. I think MP should have at least made an attempt to protect them by wrapping them with cardboard or something. Do all the aftermarket spring companies just throw the raw spring into the shipping system? They sure get beat to crap by the time they make it out here on the West coast. Sorry for the rant...
 
Cuda SRT8 said:
Out of curiosity, has anyone bought new springs from places like Espo, etc and received them in good condition? I was disappointed when I ordered new MP springs and they arrived at the dealer without ANY protection whatsoever. They were all butchered up (IMO) with nicks and dings, clamps gouged up from these things being tossed around from loading dock to truck, to truck, to dealer. I will admit I'm a bit pissed at the shipping industry from all the damage they've caused to products I've bought over the years. I think MP should have at least made an attempt to protect them by wrapping them with cardboard or something. Do all the aftermarket spring companies just throw the raw spring into the shipping system? They sure get beat to crap by the time they make it out here on the West coast. Sorry for the rant...
Click to expand...

Good grief, I'm at a loss for words!! I'm sure you already know - but NEVER use any spring with a nicks or dings. They will fail under load since these nicks are stress risers and a crack will start there. They are junk.
 
Oh yeah, no way did I accept them. I bought my S/S springs a looooooonnnggg time ago and they were fine. Now, in trying to get the MP replica springs (I think they were 340 Formula S replicas), they came so battered up, I didn't accept them. The dealer had no problem with that, they could see the obvious problem. It because of that I'm going ahead and reconfiguring my S/S springs. If they don't work out that well, then I'll be back on here asking for source recommendations (Espo comes to mind).
 
BTW, I've decided to sell this engine in parts since its not assembled anyway. If you're interested in the heads, short block, intake manifold, let me know and we'll see what we can work out. Any inquiries should be PM'd to me or posted on the for sale thread.
Thanks you guys,
Cuda SRT8

Cuda SRT8 said:
For anyone who may be interested, I have a new 6.1
Hemi for sale over in the parts section. Check it out!
Click to expand...
 
Very Nice Cuda! Super quality

Don't know if you have decided on a color or not yet but here is 2010 Challenger B5 blue with metallic on our cuda.
 

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tqfastfish,
Thanks for the suggestion. Sweet little Cuda stocker you have there. That new B5 is what I had intended since it came out on the Charger Super Bee in '08. Then I got a new 2010 Challenger in B5 Blue, which kind of spoiled my plan (didn't really want two cars the same color). Also, my paint booth situation has changed to where it won't really allow me to assemble all my parts together to paint a metallic and get a nice even pattern of the flake. I will only be able to first paint the bare body and then arrange over the next couple of months to get paint on the doors, decklid, front fenders, hood, etc. I really have been looking for just the right "solid" color so I can paint everything separate and still have a good color match once the car is all assembled. An unfortunate situation, but just the way it is. I've got a few colors in mind and once I'm ready to go, I will make a last minute decision between the colors I have in mind and will just "go for it".

Again, thanks for the suggestion and pic of the sweet stocker. Love it. What do you guys running stock and super stock think of the new drag paks Dodge has unleashed into NHRA, including the 2 new 2015s ? Really curious whether they've been embraced or not?
 
Well, 2015, "the year of the Cuda" turned into "the year of the Scat Pack". Seemed like my lil' 2010 R/T Classic Challenger was always falling a little short in performance (13.5 in the quarter, not all THAT bad) and it's automatic transmission was a little boring for me. I got a bug for the new 392 Scat Pack Shaker Challengers and decided to go for it. I promised my wife, no financing; no borrowing from the savings. I'd sell 40 years of Mopar stuff I'd collected and sell my R/T and buy a new Scat Pack.

I spent all summer selling of a boat load of classic Mopar parts; a 440 six pack engine; a 6.1 Hemi engine and my 2010 Challenger. I factory ordered a 2015 Scat Pack Challenger EXACTLY the way I wanted it equipped. Took delivery of it at the end of August. What a BEAST!!! 392; six speed manual; Shaker system; B5 Blue color (just like my 2010); black leather and Alcantera suede; black MP forged, lightweight wheels. What a FUN car to drive, WAAAAAYYYYY more fun than my 5.7 car.

So the bottom line is, I didn't do a thing to the Cuda so far this year. I am now at a point where I'm going to get back to the Cuda. My wife is a happy camper because she no longer has to worry that "if I dropped dead tomorrow, what would she do with all those parts I had in the garage? "

So, after considering all the colors that were available on the new Challenger, I didn't want the new SubLime for my Scat Pack. However, it has grown on me a bit to where it's on my list of possible colors for my Cuda. There will be plenty of matt black on the Cuda and I'm thinking it might look good in SubLime and matt black.

Any input on this is welcome!
 
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