Cuda SRT8 392 Gen.III Hemi

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Boy, life sure has its twists and turns. Spent a little time this spring finishing organizing my garage so I could paint the Cuda and have a nice spot to park it for assembly. Was going to start the paint process right after Memorial Day. Good plan, eh?

During the week before the holiday, my water heater burst and flooded my home. Ruined the hardwood floors and the carpeting. The good news is it is covered by insurance. Since all the flooring was to be removed, we decided it was a good time for full re-paint and light remodeling.

The bottom line is, I haven't touched the Cuda all summer and don't see it possible until after Christmas. Geez.

Still buying necessary parts and doing research on LCD equipment for my dash. Checking out colors too as I haven't made a final decision there.

Gotta have patience with these projects. If you don't, they just end up as a DNF.
 
Thank you for your interest and inquiry. In my last post I stated how we'd decided to do a light remodel while repairing water damage to our home. A light remodel escalated to pretty much a full remodel. I'm doing most the work and it progresses slowly as I work full time in a demanding job. This Memorial Day will be one year for the remodel. It is my hope to have it done by then or shortly thereafter. Once the house is done, my wife insists I do nothing else but get my Cuda done. She wants it done as much as I do. I will also be retiring in less than a year, so working on the Cuda will become my full time job.

I really do need to get it on the road because until that point, my mind goes crazy drumming up new ideas for the car that weren't possible previously, but would just be a side track to completing it. The latest notion is to build a 6.2 Hellcat Hemi, but with a Whipple on it. As if a 600ish horsepower 392 is not enough. See what I mean about how crazy my mind gets?
 
Big news! I'm nearing completion of my home remodel AND will be retiring in a few months (should know in a couple of weeks). That means I'll finally be able to get going on my Cuda again, virtually full time!

Not having time to work on it, I still find the time to spend money on it. I pulled the trigger on a new Hellcat crate engine, or as Mopar calls it, the Hellcrate. Although all my mods to the car to accommodate the Gen3 392 stroker were complete, I'll probably have a few more mods to do, probably in the area of the firewall where there may be interference with the blower housing.

I created the original "theme" for my car back when the biggest Gen3 was a 6.1 in the SRT cars. Hence, I called my project car "Cuda SRT8". With the new HC engine, I've changed the theme to "Hellcat Cuda" and the car will reflect that in various ways. I've also changed my user name here to Hellcat Cuda
 
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Wow. That will be an awesome project I expect that you will now need rear tires that are 3 feet wide!!
Jim
 
Well, I retired last Friday. Wow, I haven't gotten use to the idea of not going to work every day. I think having full time availability to finish my home remodel and getting going on my Cuda will get me over the shock.

So I hear that Photobucket has gone all funky on us and is holding our pictures hostage? Does anyone have a suggestion for posting pictures hear now? I had just figured out how to post through PB and my old computer went bad. The new replacement has Windows 10 or so and I'm totally lost and can't do crapwith that system except read forum posts and email. Right now I'm on an old IPad and can't begin to figure out posting with it either.

Some sort of posting direct from the computer to the forum sure would be great. Ideas and suggestions appreciated.
 
I use Google Photos.
All pictures taken with my android phone are automatically backed up to cloud storage.
Create albums, share or keep private images, videos and albums.
Link to my 69 Barracuda project public album in my signature.
 
'Cuda_ragtop said:
I use Google Photos.
All pictures taken with my android phone are automatically backed up to cloud storage.
Create albums, share or keep private images, videos and albums.
Link to my 69 Barracuda project public album in my signature.
Click to expand...
Hellcat Cuda said:
Well, I retired last Friday. Wow, I haven't gotten use to the idea of not going to work every day. I think having full time availability to finish my home remodel and getting going on my Cuda will get me over the shock.

So I hear that Photobucket has gone all funky on us and is holding our pictures hostage? Does anyone have a suggestion for posting pictures hear now? I had just figured out how to post through PB and my old computer went bad. The new replacement has Windows 10 or so and I'm totally lost and can't do crapwith that system except read forum posts and email. Right now I'm on an old IPad and can't begin to figure out posting with it either.

Some sort of posting direct from the computer to the forum sure would be great. Ideas and suggestions appreciated.
Click to expand...

Tap "Upload Photos" block. Then documents, then gallery or uploads. Computer to forum nor outside photo hosting needed.
 
Hellcat Cuda said:
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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Sublime one said:
Not sure how the plumbing pix got on but there is a pix of my Cuda in Sublime and black. I also have a Harley and a truck and a scatpack all done in Sublime and black.mimam working on stuffing a gen 3 in a 72 Demon as we speak. That is how I found your thread. Great looking build you have going for sure.
Sublime one
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Sublime one. The version I'm speaking of would be the one on your late model Challenger. Is your Cuda painted with the late model Sublime or the '70 Sublime?
 
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I was keeping my 6.1 based 392 stroker for my "next" project but recently had some serious health issues. This has changed my world a bit. I'm for sure going ahead with my Hellcat Cuda, but not taking on any future projects. Therefore, I am putting the stroker engine up for sale. This is a REAL NICE engine, built by BES Racing. In talking with Tony Bischoff, I told him I wanted at least 525 hp and his response was "oh, it will be well north of that". Perfect for an A- body or would be great in a '06 thru '10 LX car or '09 - '10 Challenger. PM me for specs and pricing...
 
Well, this week was the 4 yr. anniversary of our home getting flooded. It's been a long, complicated journey in that time and my home is still not quite done. It's getting there though, slow but sure.

There's been some changes with my vehicles that I never could have imagined 4 years ago. In 2017ish, I bought a Hellcat crate Hemi for the Cuda. It was my attempt at finally owning one of the "top dogs" that Mopar currently made. Then in late '18, I sold my Scat Pack Challenger and ordered a new, Hellcat RedEye Challenger. It was all a very surreal experience, like I was dreaming the whole thing. The bottom line is, I now will have a Hellcat RE Challenger and a Hellcat 'Cuda! Quite unbelievable to me, but I'm getting use to it. lol

Within the next couple of months, I should be able to FINALLY start back in on the Cuda. I've got a body shop lined up where the owner has invited me to bring it down when I'm ready and let me use his booth and paint it myself. (did that for a living a long time ago).

I want to bring this thread up to date with a lot of pictures, if anyone can help me with that. I have a lot of pictures that I'd like to show you guys. Maybe it'd be best to just start a new thread? Let me know what y'all think. Many thanks in advance...
 
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'Cuda_ragtop said:
I use Google Photos.
All pictures taken with my android phone are automatically backed up to cloud storage.
Create albums, share or keep private images, videos and albums.
Link to my 69 Barracuda project public album in my signature.
Click to expand...

CudaRagtop, I checked out your google album. Awesome job you are doing!!! Gonna be a beautiful car! Looks like "Maximum Steel" in color? Keep her going. Looking forward to photos of completion.

I'm trying to find a way to post pics on my thread. I just realized the ones I posted prior through a defunct photo posting service are now viewable by clicking on the arrow in each "attachment box". I thought they were gone. What I'd LIKE to do is find a way to post my pics from my computer or flash drive. I'd like to be able to post a pic and then type a narration of what it is. I don't want to have to rely on these on line hosting facilities any more. (Making any sense here?)


'Cuda_ragtop said:
I use Google Photos.
All pictures taken with my android phone are automatically backed up to cloud storage.
Create albums, share or keep private images, videos and albums.
Link to my 69 Barracuda project public album in my signature.
Click to expand...
 
RealWing said:
Wow. That will be an awesome project I expect that you will now need rear tires that are 3 feet wide!!
Jim
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Thank you Jim. My RedEye bites real hard off the line with some 305x18 MT Street Rs on it. I'll probably run that or a similar tire on my Cuda. The RedEye is a beast and a handful, so I don't really plan to drive the Cuda very hard given it is probably at least 1,000 lbs lighter than the RE. After so many years (have had but not driven since '82), so many hours of working on it and so many $$$$ spent on it, I DO NOT want to wreck my lil' Cuda. She won't be a garage or trailer queen, but she also won't be driven hard. I'll take her down the drag strip from time to time, but will be conservative with her.
 
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