My Cuda Project Part II...now at Bruning Auto Design

[tjbruning]

To be clear, the rear "bolt-in" suspension frame-side link mounts, tacked on axle brackets, UCA and LCA links from the kit were already (temporarily) installed onto the original Mopar axle when the car arrived at Tim's shop.

The ONLY modification Tim made on the rear suspension was to the upper air bag mounts to allow the car to sit lower when aired out. You reached the inherent limitations of the bolt-in kit when you decided that you wanted a lower ride height.

Originally Posted by DRJDVM's '69

Wow its been a long time since I did any updates..... The car is plugging away as I get time.

First on order was to get the rear suspension all figured out....When Tim altered the rear Air Ride stuff to get the car to sit lower it made it look bad ass, but completely destroyed all the geometry...... the UCA and LCA were like 10 degrees going up to the rear at ride height, and the pinion gain was ridiculous. I had planned on changing the rear end/LCA bracket anyway since I hate the big bulky u-bolt set-up, so this was the time....

This is how the LCA was sitting at ride height...not going to work....


Which got me a lot closer to where I needed to be..... I then made new axle brackets to raise the mount point on the axle tube, so I had 1-2 degrees down in the front..... I didn't take pix of that....

[syborg tt]

lower is always better

Originally Posted by tjbruning

To be clear, the rear "bolt-in" suspension frame-side link mounts, tacked on axle brackets, UCA and LCA links from the kit were already (temporarily) installed onto the original Mopar axle when the car arrived at Tim's shop.

The ONLY modification Tim made on the rear suspension was to the upper air bag mounts to allow the car to sit lower when aired out. You reached the inherent limitations of the bolt-in kit when you decided that you wanted a lower ride height.

[johns cuda shop]

Looking Good Ned

[DRJDVM's '69]

Relax TJ.... I'm not implying Tim screwed something up. I'm really happy with the decision to lower it more. My point was that its a perfect example of change one "small thing" and it cascades into the need to change a bunch of other things too.... That's the price we pay for screwing with stuff

I'm completely happy with the choice Tim and I made to lower it more.... I would do it again. The only thing different is I wouldn't have started with a bolt on and then changed 80% of it .... I would have custom built it from the start. Easy to look back now , but at the time I bought the bolt in I had no idea I was going to scrap 80% of it

I'd have Tim work on my car again anytime.....

[syborg tt]

Originally Posted by DRJDVM's '69

I'd have Tim work on my car again anytime.....

I also would have Tim work on my Car. In my opinion he is not only one of the Top fabricators out there he has vision. If you guys were closer I am positive my car would be at your home shop.

[johns cuda shop]

Ned, whats your plans with the lower back seat.Looks like you had to split it in half. I am in the process of the same mod with the tunnel on mine.

[DRJDVM's '69]

John...yes I had to split the lower portion of the rear seat to clear the new tunnel. Right now at least, I made some bars to go up over the new tunnel and connect the two sides. If I stick with this plan the tunnel will get covered by the seat but there wont be any/much padding on the "hump". I may just split it and make two buckets instead...not sure yet.

[DRJDVM's '69]

Holy crap it been a long time since I updated... this car is taking FOREVER!!...yeah, yeah, yeah... I don't want to hear it Weld!!

So....since last update....
After it took me forever to feel confident that I had the rear suspension where I wanted it, I had Dominator Street Rods weld up the brackets for me..

Then it was brake and fuel line time...never done it before, so it had some learning curve but went pretty well. Bought all my SS tube from Mark at BentFab..



Rather than go under the frame, I notched it out..

[DRJDVM's '69]

T fittings and across to the pass side..



Rear end..used a couple of weld on clamps from JCG


Fuel line....8 AN, so it was tougher to bend...I bought some steel lines and "practiced" before using the SS

[DRJDVM's '69]

Ac lines up in the wheel well.... I also did an emergency door open cable in case of an electrical issue with the door poppers

Replaced some of the plastic dash pieces with metal...will mount the AC Controls and switches


Ran my air inlet pipe up into the passenger side fender...built and aluminum air filter box hidden up behind the headlight bucket...don't have good pix..