Full Build: 1971 Cuda Resto Mod From Stock To UFC Street Fighter

today on muscle car the guys pick a fight with a 71 cuda [Music] hey welcome to muscle car the 71 barracuda is our next project now ufc president dana white he needs a car that's going to reflect his personality so we're going to build it for him he's a man's man and project street fighter is a man's car the barracuda was born in 1964 from the bones of the plymouth valiant over the next five years it evolved slowly from a lumbering small block fastback to a respectable big block head turner 70 was the year plymouth introduced the smoldering e body and nowadays 71 cudas are considered the cherry on top of the model line these babies are hot hot hot ufc's dana white is going to be pushing the pedals on this right we're going to personalize it on the quarter panel where you would usually advertise how many cubes you're packing around it's going to have a big ufc with a brutal 440 and modern suspension married to chip foose's take on the classic mopar rally wheels the only way we could make this baby any cooler is with a fancy pants modern entertainment system which we are after six months of sniffing around we finally found a 71 that had more sheet metal than bondo in fact it's still wearing most of the original paint this car came from the factory as a standard barracuda with the slant six when we got it it was missing its leaning tower of power but that's okay this show is called muscle car not weenie car [Music] for once we got a car that's clean enough that we don't have to have it blasted we're gonna hand strip it fix any minor problems we know we'll run into and suit it up on ufc's signature black engraves there's a lot of reusable pieces on this car original mopar parts are stupid expensive so we'll be keeping as much as we can [Music] we're keeping all the glass except the windshield because it's taken a few hits over the years matco's windshield removal kit makes cutting through the rock hard 38 year old seal is a lot easier the first thing we want to do is strengthen the skeleton and xp motorsports help us out with these subframe connectors that'll keep the front half of the car married to the back the guy we got the car from already put in these nice fuel lines so we're going to protect them by clamping them back out of the way and covering them with some welding paper undercoating and welding arcs it'll make the best of friends so 3m stripping discs and a couple of grinders give a shiny metal in no time at all an exhaust jack does a fine job of holding the connector in place while we mark it to trim for a nice tidy fit we're using a die grinder because the amount of metal that needs to be taken off is minimal no need to whip out the plasma torch here when the part seats up tightly like this that minimizes the need to weld up gaps between the metal and that means the car will be just that much stronger remember the floor pans are a lot thinner gauge metal than the frame connectors so when welding these in place i got to be careful not to blow holes through the floor with the subframe connectors welded in it's time to stiffen up the front end so don't go anywhere because after the break we're going to chop out this low core support make room for some new steel coming up on muscle car project street fighter works out some weak points [Music] [Music] hey we're still here working on project street fighter our plans for the suspension under this big old fish calls for a lot more than your basic bolt-in components but that means we need to address a factory weak link before we even touch the suspension score sport's way too weak for what we've got planned so reduce flex we're going to install a brace at sean holland center the body saw might be noisy but it makes a nice clean cut most of the old support is going away but we're leaving some of it intact we have something to weld to later [Music] a couple of passes with a grinder knocks off the snaggles and makes for a clean weld [Music] hey this thing is strong enough now to jack the car up with another source of unwanted flex for these inner fenders now from the factory it's not a bad design but it is an area that could really benefit from some reinforcement so adding some bracing in here will really make a difference you can feel when you're throwing this thing through the twisties the sheet metal this bar needs to attach to is flimsy at best so we need to box it in for strength once i get the primer out of the way a few pieces of plate will keep the bars from tearing out of the strut tower and firewall now we told you we had something special planned for the front suspension in the project street fighter and here it is xv motorsports sent us their stage 2 front suspension kit and it's designed to make new corvettes see cuda tail lights like every ride from the muscle car era the 71 cudas left a lot to be desired in the handling department xv motorsports engineering team analyzed the weaknesses and came up with a highly engineered suspension package to bring the a b and e bodies into the 21st century now the bracing we just installed is part of this kit but here's the meat and potatoes the control arms are all aluminum and incredibly light and these spindles are based off a corvette design this k member is engineered to work with the 440 that horsepower built and has race car geometry built right in before the new components can go on all the old brackets have to go the brake line bracket's in the way so what's out of here the coilovers come complete with their own bump stock so they're out of here too [Music] man this looked like a rust-free car it's nearly 40 years old so it's no surprise we found some hiding under these brackets this needs to be patched so i'll be working on this one we take a break hey right on man that rail's looking good appreciate it man about ready to put this k-member in yes i am the k-member bolts up using a combination of original mounts and holes we need to drill xv includes a center punch designed to help locate the position of the holes once the ones in the bottom of the frame roller marks we can drop it down and get to drill it first with a small bit for the pilot holes then with a half inch bit to make room for the sleeve we'll be inserting later the k-member's got to go back on so we can mark the holes on top of the frame rail then it's back out again for more drilling these sleeves will keep the frame rails from crushing when the k-member is tightened down the center punch we used to mark the holes assures that the sleeves will be installed perpendicular to the frame [Music] rails once the welds are ground down a little the k-member can go in for a final test fit we plan on chasing corvettes with this thing but these old arm mounts would give up the fight so they got to make way for xv's mounts designed to work with the custom [Music] arms so hey got the mount welded in man that looks great i'll go ahead and fill in these holes sounds good to me cool hey any professionals got to train hard for a fight and project street fighter is no different we put the cuda on a diet and started building some muscle but there's still a long way to go before it can roll into the octagon for its first fight and next round we're going to be working on agility and finishing up the suspension but for this week we're out of time so until next time we're out of here [Music] barracuda is defined as a genus of large predatory fish including those considered sport fish which brings us to our cuda it will certainly be a predator will provide much sport for whoever takes the wheel to give project street fighter more bite the stock suspension had to go well in its place would be a state of the art kit from xv motorsports that'll transform the cuda from moby dick to moby trick since we rolled the cuda into the shop we stripped off its scales stiffened up its bones with subframe connectors and some much-needed bracing and got the new k-member bolted in a lot of retrofit kits on the market run an early fox body mustang rack well xv found that one from a later model mustang 05 and up provides better response and a tighter turn-in radius this k-member is designed to marry the ford rack to the gm based front suspension the lower a-arms and spindles are straight off at gm's part shelves their lightweight tried and true design the upper control arms are a product of xv's r d they're ultra lightweight machined billet aluminum which will reduce the unsprung weight the shocks are also specifically designed for the e-body these nitrogen-filled coil-overs will help keep the bumps in the road from breaking your teeth these spindles are from a c5 corvette with a twist the hubs have been redrilled with the chrysler and ford lug pattern a couple of spacers bring the steering rack arms in line with the a-arms to prevent bump steer next up is the sway bar these mounts are also whittled out of an aluminum block sway bars control body roll enough there's going to be a lot with this thing sitting three inches off the deck this arm connects the sway bar to the end links tying everything together for the brakes the caliper mounts go on first followed by the 13-inch rotors the rotors need to be pressed onto the studs so we're using washers lug nuts and old-school physics to push them into place since this assembly is for mock-up we'll have to knock them off later with a rubber mallet the calipers are a six piston design they'll bite onto these rotors like a rottweiler biting on a stake with the front end mocked up it's time to move on to the rear end and that means all this factory stuff here has got to go now this axle was rebuilt when we bought the car but it's an eight and a quarter an r440 would knock that thing into little tiny pieces so we got a full nine inches we're gonna put underneath here courtesy of curry enterprises it's also got a brand new gas tank we're gonna drop that out just to make more room for us to work this tank had already been installed when we got the cuda and it hadn't even seen any gas before we took it back out these brake lines are also new but they're attached to the old rear end and the whole thing has gotta go i can go ahead and loosen the upper shock mounts but before we go any further we need to support the housing so i don't end up with the rear end where my head should be with the sharks loose i can tackle the [Music] [Music] shackles now remember kids safety first we're strapping this thing down to the hoist so it doesn't go anywhere unless we want it to the last step is getting this old technology out of the way perfect it's out of there we're ready to install our curry rear axle but we laid out our xv parts and realized we're missing a third link and a panhard bar anyone who's built a car knows this can happen sometimes especially with a kit with this many parts that's why it's important to go through everything before you get started yeah we need to keep moving on this thing though so we're going to go ahead and mock up the drivetrain and get all the steering linkage installed we'll knock all that out right after the break coming up our big fish swallows 425 horses [Music] hey we're back you know if there's one thing the mopar is well known for it's their engines and we got a 440 here that'll make that old pentastar proud yeah man in my book mopar stands for mino plymouth or rad and this puppy is going to be mean 425 horses worth of it now stuffing that many mules into this ninja compartment is the goal here today so let's get to cramming with the help of some offset plates that came with a kit the engine bolts right up to the k-member and mounts gear star set us up with their top-of-the-line 727 torque flight this thing is capable of handling twice the power of 440 will be cranking out there we go there it is now we know we're on the right track because the stock crossmember bolts right in with the engine and trans looking good we can move on to the rear end the heat shield and bump stops have to come out first the factory shock mount crossmember needs to make way for the coilover mounts a cleaning disc strips off the undercoating so we can get to the welds can cut spot weld cutter bit makes short work and get the old welds out and matt kozair chisel finishes the job the center line of the axle is measured from the front mounting point so the front mount needs to go in first i hang a string from it and using the measurements provided in the kit determine where the coilover mount will be welded in using the marks we made on the outside of the frame rails as a guide we'll run a string across and transfer the marks to the inside of the frame rails now that we know where our mount will land i can get the area cleaned up and welded in there's several brackets that need to be welded to the new housing so i'm making sure it's level before i attach anything the third link mount is the first to go on hey no rocket science here just make sure it's centered the trailing arm brackets have to be perpendicular to the ground now once the needle reads zero i'll tack them in place the instructions give concise measurements to place all the brackets so i'm going to follow them to a t these trailing arms should be mounted to the car before the rear end goes in they're another product of xv's r and d and are designed to be super strong and lightweight the dana 60 rear end is a good design but it's heavier than the nine inch has fewer gear choices and parts are harder to come by street fighter is being built as a driver and you can find parts for this curry nine inch in just about any parts store across the nation now earlier we mentioned that we're missing our third link in a panhard bar well looks like we got a problem with shipping because it disappeared somewhere between xv and here we're on a roll and the third link is next so we're just going to make our own this plate goes in first and then we can get our measurements now we don't want to end up with a hole in the floorboard so we're reinforcing the mounting points to handle the strain from axle torque we'll also be adding a larger plate to the inside of the car for additional strength the third link prevents the axle from twisting backwards while the wheels are pulling forwards we're designing this one to be adjustable so we can change the pinion angle if we need to brent's already made the piece that attaches to the housing and with it mounted he can figure out how long the other half of the link should be this piece of round stock will have to match to the bushing sleeve so it needs to be fish mounted a few minutes with a grinder and a butts right together a threaded bung is welded into this end of the link and the other end will screw in this gives the third link adjustability that'll keep the rear end from doing the summer salt ton of the car if you like that stick around because coming up i'm gonna show you how to make your own panhard bar [Music] hey we're back you know project street fighter is gonna bob and weave like a champ we got to put a little spring in its step that's where coilovers come in by bolting the coil overs into the upper mounts first i'll know the angle of the lower mounts with the location marked i can grind off the coating and get the welding [Music] you know project street fighter may not exactly be a budget build but there are ways to save money that can apply to almost any project like building your own adjustable panhard bar now you can drop 150 to 200 bucks and buy one or you can build your own for about 40 or 50. build on a budget muscle car projects that save you time and money all you need is a piece of dom tubing a threaded bung and a couple of end links you can buy these with the bushings already installed for a few dollars but before you need these you need this now in the barracuda we've got so much space between the frame rail and the center line of our axle we're going to have to build a drop bracket for a panhard bar so i need to find the center of my rear axle and then come down about two inches and up two inches and that'll tell me where to set my holes for the adjustability we'll start about 11 inches on this one a chunk of 2x3 box tubing is the foundation for the bracket it's a thick walled tube that'll give plenty of support it's a little too wide but hey as usual i got a plan to fix that after cleaning up the edges i'm taking a slice right out of the middle once it stitched back together it'll be the perfect width for the bushing much better since the ride height is adjustable the panhard bar needs to be adjustable as well these three holes will give us different settings to keep the bar parallel with the rear end like all the other brackets this one needs to be exactly perpendicular to the ground once i check the angle of the dangle i can weld it in the panhard bar prevents side to side movement of the rear axle which means the drop bracket takes the brunt of the force so we're adding a brace to make sure it stays put to make the actual bar brent starting by attaching a threaded bung to one end of a length of dom tubing like the third link the threaded end will allow us to adjust the panhard bar and center the rear end after taking a quick measurement he can cut the bar to length and three quarter now this end will hold the bushings that attach to the drop bracket completing the panhard bar setup hey right on that's not a bad way to spend 50 bucks huh no heck yeah you know we're still gonna have to fine tune it though before street fighter is ready for its first throwdown yeah we probably need to hold off until we know its final weight but we could throw in the sway bar though well we could but for this week we're out of time so until next time we're out of here today on muscle car ufc president dana white drops by to check out project street fighter [Music] hey welcome to muscle car front suspension engine and trains are mocked up in project street fighter and today we'll be working out our header clearance issues first we need to finish the rear suspension so we're going to mount the rear sway bar one more brace stuff all the guts in this rear axle housing and finally mount the brakes this 71 barracuda rolled into the shock with very little rust and no drive train we blew it apart and started installing the suspension kit including frame connectors k-member and steering rack after mocking up the engine and training we got this 9-inch rear end under it and put in most of the rear suspension now we're planning on track testing this thing when it's done so to make sure that this panhard bar mount stays where we put it i'm going to take out a little insurance policy brace it up now even though the instructions don't call for it we figured an extra 4 ounces away will be worth the payoff in additional strength the rear sway bar comes next this isn't your average ground scraping bar it's mounted high and tight right through the frame rails xv motorsports supplied templates with their suspension kit that help you lay out exactly where the holes go hey when you're hacking on the frame rails you don't want to have to cut more than once the plasma cutter throws an awful lot of slag so i'm going to protect these nice shiny coil overs just in case note to self even though it's habit don't knock the plug into the frame rail i'm pre-assembling the bushings and sleeves to the sway bar so i can set the whole assembly in place and make sure everything lines up before i weld it after sliding the bar through and making sure there's no binding i can tack the sleeves in place i pulled the bushings back out before i finished welding and now that the sleeves are cool well they can go back in the bushings are pretty tight so getting the bar in might require a little persuasion holy smoke i don't think they wanted any deflection in those bushings [Music] well i got a good workout with the dead blow but i ain't done yet the end links and trailing arms still need to go on [Music] to finish it up the mounting tabs are tacked to the housing we'll finish weld them along with all the other brackets when we drop the housing back out now before the brakes can go on we got to stuff some guts in the housing so the center section and axles are next [Music] to keep the axles from falling out while getting the brakes mocked up a couple of retainer plates will do the trick hey man check out what chip foose just sent us oh man those are awesome yeah they're the challengers that mht wheels are building for them yeah those are cool well man i was about ready to put these back brakes on but what you say we put one of those on the front make sure it's gonna work heck yeah all right let's see what we got here oh they look good oh that's not good yeah this thing is sitting solid on that on that caliper dude there's no way that's gonna work these wheels have to go on the car yeah absolutely you know what that means i got to go brake shopping while you do that i'll get these headers put on all right sounds good that's coming up right after the break up next meet the ultimate fighter who'll be behind the wheel of street fighter you have no idea how excited i am for this car [Music] summit send us these hebman block hugger headers that should work with the edelbrock heads and since they sit in closer to the block we'll have more room for the steering first starter needs to go in we're using a mini high torque starter to make it easier to route the exhaust hey brent look busy man guess who i found wandering around out in a warehouse pleasure to meet you thanks for watching [Music] there it is man been ripping and tearing and going 100 mile an hour on it man it took a long time to find this thing huh yes it did it did six months worth of searching well you want to check out the wheels man yeah yeah let's see the wheels when chip foose came in here we were talking about the rendering looks of the picture and goes are those the wheels you're going to put on it we go yeah we're going to have to have someone custom build them he goes well i make those so he hooked us up with these i love the rendering so that's awesome should handle like a dream you have no idea how excited i am for this car this is literally all i think about i have like five cars this is the only car i think about i tell you what they sure are desired cars to get something like this and done the way that you guys are doing it believe me i get it and i appreciate it cool man now the whole basis of this build is the fact that you're actually going to be able to get this thing and drive the crap out of it well that's that's the key too that's what i want i didn't want some show car you know some car you lock up in the garage you know because you don't want to drive it i'm going to drive this all the time i'm i'm more excited about this car than anything i've ever bought in my life or had in my life well anytime you want to bring a ferrari by let me drive it i'll tell you what next time you're in vegas you can uh you can drive the ferrari and i'll drive this okay hold on okay coming out to vegas it's a deal i'm one of those guys i lay on the couch and watch on saturdays i watch every saturday and i'm fascinated by the whole thing i don't know anything about building cars i know how to put gas in it that's about it and i'm fascinated by how they're built and how you guys do this stuff ian extreme hooked us up this is like a little punisher all about middle school we're thinking about right above where the where the third link mounts to the rear end it's actually gonna be like right up in there just give it a little something to look at it's really cool and then rick was gonna do some pin striping on the pumpkin here and really doll it up that is so cool you guys are so talented it's unbelievable exactly i was on the phone with wilwood i think we got a set of brakes out of work on this thing the problem with is that they're basically just too thick and they have the wheels mounted on there the back spacing on the wheel just wasn't wasn't enough and it was basically running into the calipers so wilwood makes a really good product so we'll get those on there let's see if that hood is sitting on there richard hey dana don't get me in i didn't even see that yeah so you are literally the first one to set this hood on this car perfect and i just hope that it fits right i think we're actually going to trim the hood up yeah to make it clear it right there well i get it i get it and i like it thank you guys so much i'm so excited seriously there aren't too many things to get me excited and i'm excited about this that's definitely cool dan is amped up about this project so we want to keep moving and that means it's time to test fit these headband headers looks like we're in the ballpark but not quite a home run the engine mount will need a little off the top then we can see if they'll cinch up well that got us a little closer but not close enough well i got dana hidden back west he's got a big old grin on his face that's cool man we're having some issues here oh where are we at well i trimmed the mound up a little bit right there but this joint enough that means we either gotta modify the tube and modify the mount let's say you might have found the tube that tube and the whole header probably the whole header yeah i'm up for anything yeah we'll try that okay cool don't you just love chopping up brand new headers well we really don't either but sometimes chopping up new ones is still way cheaper than having custom ones made build on a budget muscle car projects that save you time and money a custom set of headers can set you back at least 1500 bucks you can pick these hidman block huggers up from summit for under 300. add a couple of collectors and some u-bends and you're still in under 500 bucks something else you'll have to invest is some time and some creativity now it may seem drastic but since we're modifying the tubes the first step is to get the collector out of the way then we can reevaluate the situation all right looks like these are going to work i'll get the first piece cut and tack it in then i can finish them up off the car so don't go anywhere because we'll be moving ahead on these later in the show hey welcome back ready to piece these headers together for the cuda now i was going to use the same collector i cut off earlier but it's a lot easier to start with a new one so it's out of here got the first tube welded in it's time to finish them up brent starts out knowing where the flange will be where the collector will be and where he wants each tube to be making the pieces to fill in those gaps is the tricky part with u-bends you can choose which portion of the bend you need to get the right shape [Music] this can be done with a hacksaw or cut-off wheel instead of the bandsaw just make sure you end up with cuts straight across each section of pipe these sleeves will hold the pieces together and give the welder some material to grab onto [Music] these headers are going to be coated once they're done so we're using the tig for a cleaner weld [Music] is that going to work this is why when i'm making headers i like to test fit it after every piece i put in as you can see i've got a huge problem here it looks like this tube here is going to be chopped out reroute it around the steering but first i need to finish up these two back tubes [Music] [Music] this piece is being welded with a header in the car so we can make sure it's in the right place it's easier to use a mig for this since you only have room for one hand in these tight quarters you'll pull it back out to finish it with the tig with all the tubes in the right place the new collector has to come back off so brent can add a filler piece and weld up all the gaps now this is a three inch collector but it needs to mate up to a two and a half inch flange so some pie cuts will allow it to be reduced all right oh man that's looking good yeah i'll try to give you plenty of room for that steering oh yeah yeah set the knuckle right there that's almost a straight shot now because it's time for me to get staring in oh yeah i did it sent has this nice tilt column it's made just for e-body so it bolts right up to the factory mounts the i did it installation kit includes all the parts you need to connect the dots now i know what you're thinking man that is a good looking steering wheel i hate to burst your bubble this isn't the one that's going to stay on here we needed something to steer this thing around the shop for a while so i stole this off of one of extremes projects [Music] pirelli sent us a set of p zeros to wrap around our foose wheels from mht the tread pattern is designed to keep a safe grip on the asphalt even at high speeds man it's good to finally see this thing sitting on the ground heck yeah i can't wait to leave some of that rub right on the road yeah it's gonna be a long time before that happens though yeah that's the truth we still gotta get that scoop mounted get the exhaust finished up strip this whole thing to all the bodywork and paint but that's going to have to wait for another day because we're out of time so until next time we're out of here today on muscle car after getting shaken patched and spoiled project street fighter is exhausted plus we'll show you how to make custom stainless exhaust tips how you like it richard hey yeah i always look better than the store-bought ones if i say so myself [Music] hey guys welcome to muscle car we're back working on our 71 cuda project street fighter she's finally down on all fours and we're ready to start hanging some body panels once we get the doors fenders and deck lid on we can take a look at that shaker hood and make sure it's going to clear the carbs on our 440. we started with a rust free 71 barracuda so we don't have to worry about getting the body blasted or doing a lot of sheet metal work we got the sub frame connectors suspension and rear end in mocked up the motor and trans modified the headers and got the steering in when you've done as many chassis mods to a vehicle as we've done to our cuda it's a good idea to hang all the sheet metal back on to make sure there's no surprises since the kud is a unibody car every part is tied to all the other parts so if you make a change it can affect panel alignment this msd distributor is nice but it's just too tall to fit with the shaker scoop we'll try a shorter cap first but if it's still too tall we'll find one that works moment of truth a little bit low on the corners but that'll come up with the bumpers that looks really good dude surprise me yeah that does that looks great the shaker scoop actually sits right on the engine and dances around when you push the loud pedal hence the name shaker it wasn't just designed to look cool its main purpose is to suck in cold air oh man nothing good is it things are going way too smooth we're overlapping the scoop by a good quarter of an inch over here dude and we're already hitting on this side a little fudge weight right here if we can trim that slide it over and probably gain this a little right here well we're already maxed out on the adjustment right here and that scoop is as far this way as it's gonna go well that's all maxed out you have any fudge room on the motor mounts no i think they're pretty much where they're gonna be looks like we're gonna just make this work somehow how has this thing set you know we're too high anyway we're still up on the front that whole thing's got to get dropped let's try dropping that and then we'll trim it drop the base yeah we'll run that after market intake too different intake and different carburetors so a little bit here a little bit there and it's probably knocking this thing up too tall here it looks like we can we can probably lose a good quarter of an inch or so off of there now this is another case where the combination of aftermarket parts doesn't come together as easily as we had hoped the height of the scoop is determined by things not easily changed the position of the motor and the height of the heads intake and carburetors that leaves the scoop itself by taking a quarter inch here and an eighth inch there we might be able to squeeze it in under the wire dropping the base means the carburetor linkage will need more room so i've got more trimming to do that is very thick well then let's do this whoever built this thing was serious about building up the fiberglass but a madco diet grinder should knock it [Music] out with the base modified the hood drops enough to see where the edges need to be trimmed oh we're a heck of a lot closer we've got to lose a little sheet metal here though and not a lot is coming off but if it's in the wave it's got to go with a cut-off wheel sling and metal everywhere a welding blanket will keep that pretty 440 from getting scarred up [Music] looking a whole lot better here at least it isn't sitting on top of the scoop anymore close but no banana we're running out of options here time to start cutting up that scoop now i can tell you one thing this scoop will go on this car i'll keep cutting until it fits but this really is the only other thing that can get chopped if this doesn't do it we'll be taking another look at the motor mounts that can be modified in the suspension and we really don't want to have to get into that i'm taking out a quarter inch and crossing my fingers [Music] oh i think we got it yeah it does look good here pull up on the corner real quick oh yeah we got it once we get the corner corner stops and we'll be cool yeah let's move on to the back works for me i still need to glue those scoop pieces back together but hey i've had enough for now time to get on that spoiler included with the spoiler are the measurements to mark the location of the holes some pre-assembly of the wing is required the angle is adjustable just like the original so the bases have pivots why change the angle of the spoiler to increase the downforce for high speeds or decrease the drag for normal driving another piece that transforms the barracuda into a cuda is the lower valance with the unique exhaust cutouts now cuda is looking pretty good even if the color does make it look like we just pulled the poor thing out of a swamp but we'll be taking care of that soon enough but something's missing cudas are supposed to have gills after the break we'll make this fish breathe a little easier up next we'll show you the right way to burn in a patch panel [Music] since this car is pretty rust free we haven't had to do much cutting on the sheet metal we're about to chop up two perfectly good fenders why louvers are they functional no but do they look cool hell yeah now barracuda was a base model with limited options so they didn't have them but cudas were performance models and in 71 they did your one has full fenders with the lubers available we're gonna use our insert panels all right now double check the measurements in the butt and this one right here is perfect but i don't think we need to use all this extra sheet metal around here no but probably i'll just mark it right here mark the louvers we can trim off the excess trim it off yeah back over there mark the outside and then cut it off exactly so yeah that'll work well you marked that man i'll go get the welder okay i'm setting the panel in place to mark where the louvers will be and so i'll have a reference point once the edges of the new panel are trimmed off after double checking that everything is straight and level perfect i can measure where the new panel would be trimmed i'm leaving an inch all the way around this gives enough room to weld it in without getting into the body lines now here's where the marks i made earlier come in handy i know exactly where the panel needs to go a trick that i like to use is rounding the corners of the patch panel it makes it easier to weld in because there's no 90 degree corners to melt out and take your time trimming and do lots of test fitting and you'll end up filling the gaps in with welds all right man this looks about ready to be welded in there yeah it is you might want to knock the galvey off that thing first though all right well that wasn't a blaster man if you'll start on the other side works for me these patch panels are galvanized to protect them from rust now welding galvanized metal releases toxic fumes so the coating's got to go you could grind it off if you don't have access to a blaster just be sure to wear a mask with the coating gone brent can prep the area and weld the new piece in as he welds he's checking to make sure the sheet metal is not heating up too much overheating will cause warping so he's making sure to let each area cool it also helps to avoid welding continuously in one place so skipping around will reduce warping also now this is important make sure there's no gaps between your welds it needs to be completely solid or the bodywork you lay over it will crack out later right on man that's looking awesome my side still needs a little grinding but you know that's good in there once you get that done dude what do you say we get that exhaust flowing yeah it works for me hey you guys hang tight it's coming up later in the show we're going to show you how magnaflow is going to make this beast roar after the break the guys get some hang [Music] time we got street fighter up on the lift and we're ready to install a brand new magnaflow exhaust now this kit is designed specifically for chrysler e-bodies but they also make kits to fit just about any common application they come with pretty much everything you're going to need for a standard install but the cudas well they use some special tips to fill in these holes in the rear valance we're going to make our own now if you're dealing with a non-stock installation you might want to grab one of magnaflow's universal hot rod kits it includes a bunch of bits and pieces that can really come in handy we'll start by getting the x-pipe in place now make sure to have plenty of exhaust jacks on hand for this process they're not absolutely necessary but they really make it easier another trick is to weld supports in place temporarily the down pipes go in next that looks pretty good to me yeah i like that that's going almost straight into the collector our other header may not be finished but we know where the collector will be okay as far as this hanging down because we've got a good inch hanging down underneath here see that's a straight speed bump catch right there look in from the back but we're going to be getting into our drive shaft a little back still going to come down so i think it'd be all right because the drive line way up here yeah this thing sits so low we might be all right this up here though i would put some heat stuff on there because that's coming right off that collector we could build a heat shield yeah right there is pretty good we just tell dana to watch the speed bumps yeah i like that i think it'll work the position and ground clearance are okay so we can tack together what we've got now magnaflow includes a couple of hangers in their kits that work great if you're running a stock type suspension but as you can see there's no leaf springs within a quarter mile of this thing so we're going to use a couple plates and build our own style mounts and that means even more this nice thick undercoating will end up all over my face and the floor these signature series mufflers that came with magnaflow's kit are free-flowing and like the rest of the system are stainless steel so you don't have to worry about rust the tailpipes need to line up with the holes in the balance so we'll see how they look actually we're not off as far as i would have guessed we took a little section out of that it'll raise it pipe up and probably bring it down tucked it more in yeah actually that'll help the heck out of this side too if you do that a little cutting a little welding it fits in there better than i thought it was going to yeah it looks like it's really going to be tricky considering all the suspension mods these pipes really do fit great they're designed to work with stock tips but we have something different in mind a couple of strategically placed cuts will not only shorten them but will also bring the tips closer to the center of the openings these tail pipes lined up pretty good that means it's time to make those custom tips we talked about after the break we'll show you how it's done coming up pick up some tips on welding stainless steel [Music] hey guys welcome back we got our exhaust all mocked up with one exception tips now barracudas used a single exhaust nothing special at all cuda's on the other hand had twin monster square tips shoved right through the rear valance we could spend 150 to 200 on a set but hey they're just stainless steel boxes and i'm all about cutting and welding some metal so what is faber on build on a budget muscle car projects that save you time and money materials for this are simple just a small sheet of stainless that you can pick up for less than 50 bucks could use mild steel and save a few dollars but you'd have to have it coated to prevent rust don't forget your cardboard for the templates first i need to know the general size of the box by marking the outer edges of the opening i can get an idea where i need to make my bends some creasing cutting and taping and the overall shape of the tip emerges i want these angled to match the openings they'll peek out of so after setting them straight and level i'll mark the edges all the way around next the back end needs to be pinched in to grab onto the exhaust pipe i'll measure the two and a half inch width of the pipe then design pie cuts to bring in the sides [Music] it's good one last test fit and i'm ready to transfer the shape to the stainless [Music] the shear takes care of all the straight cuts and gets rid of the excess [Music] the band saw makes all the curved cuts and leaves us with just the pieces we need [Music] a quick trip to the break turns my two-dimensional pattern into a three-dimensional piece a little bending and tweaking and it's ready for welding all right man good together don't you heck yeah time for you to get your tig on and do it to it have at it instead of using a rod to tig we left some extra material on the edges it can be melted in with the rod only being used to fill in any gaps here we go [Music] brent's using a 24 grit disc to clean up the edges a few light passes with a scotch-brite disc will give the tips a one-off look [Music] bam how you like that richard heck yeah ours look better than the store-bought ones if i say so myself well let's get them welded on add a couple hangers finish up that header yeah we can knock all that stuff out and i'll sweat but you know what for today we're out of time so until next time we're out of here today on muscle car project street fighter gets a facelift [Music] hey welcome to muscle car our 71 cuda project street fighter looks a lot different from the last time you saw it and i can't lie it's taking more than a few late nights and a lot of cold beer to get it where it's at today this thing's about ready for some color but it's not going to get just your average paint job because this thing has to look as tough as a new owner ufc's dana white so we're going to put down a paint job that's going to look like a cud at first glance but screams street fighter when you get all up in its grill the 71 barracuda we started with was in pretty good shape but it needed some muscle so we added some frame connectors a new suspension and tougher rear end to handle that 440. we got the exhaust in then added the cuda shaker hood louvers and exhaust tips bam since street fighter is a tribute to the ufc we're using their color scheme charcoal gray and black and the billboard will read ufc instead of 440. if we were painting this thing all one solid color we just shoot it in pieces and be done with it but since the graphics are running from one panel on to the next we gotta hang all the tins on this thing before it rolls into the booth since we'll have to blow it apart again later to jam it we're hanging the panels with just enough bolts to keep them in place well we got it all wiped down and taped up i'm going to lay down some black dp sealer first not only will this help with the adhesion of the base coat but it'll also get us one step closer to the final color of the car one thing to remember with sealer you only have a specific window of time to get the base coat on over it it varies from one sealer to another so be sure to read the text sheet a street fighter looks good enough in flat black i'd be tempted to leave it like that but trust me this paint that auto body color and supply hooked us up with it's galaxy gray you think it looks good now wait till we put this on it and there you have the first look of what color street fighter is going to be when laying down base coat make sure to keep the overlaps consistent and with a high metallic color like this airflow and using the right temp reducer is critical you may have to experiment to get the combination that works for you with the base coat down and dry it's time for the fun part the graphics i've got some reference material here on original cudas on one hand and are rendering on the other now the trick is to combine the two in a way that pays homage to the original cars but lets the world know this is muscle cars tribute to the ufc now plymouth never had ufc on their billboards but that's where my creativity comes in since we don't have an actual cooter to measure from i'm using a picture as a reference now once i've converted the measurements to the right scale i can transfer them to the car i ended up using a scale of 16 to 1. i'm using quarter inch tape to outline the rest of the billboard the small pieces of tape are reference points for where the corners need to be for the ufc lettering i'm laying down a piece of transfer tape over the whole area it comes in a lot of different widths you can pick it up at any sign shop i want the ufc logo to be slightly inset from the edge of the graphic in this tape line we'll mark that gap now i can lay out the lettering a lot of this involves the calibrated eyeball i have a basic plan but i'll tweak it as i go to get the best look [Music] there's one side time to get out your sharpest razor blade now remember when you're doing this that you're cutting right through your mask right against the base coat so use a really gentle touch i've seen guys come in like this get too aggressive and have them push into the point where they actually dig into the base coat and leave marks in the primer behind it and let me tell you that is a pain to go back and fix later just use a nice gentle touch [Music] [Music] well that's one side done but i still have a whole another side to go not to mention i still got to mass this whole thing off i'll get that knocked out during the break but don't go anywhere because coming up later in the show i'm going to show you a new use for something out of your kitchen and i'll bet you never thought of after the break rick's got candy and he's willing to share [Music] hey welcome back i got street fighter all mashed up and i'm ready to add some detail i was digging through the kitchen i found some drawer liner i'm going to create a carbon fiber effect by laying this down and spraying an opaque black through it but i'm going to keep the sinister attitude by laying a black candy back over the whole thing hey bro your stuff came in all right on need any help yeah definitely cool all right man i'll get the paint i'm using the lowest pressure i can for this let the paint just settle through the holes instead of blasting it on don't move it need a little more there or do you want to grab smaller feet try the smaller piece you'll have to go back and fix some spots but keep in mind imperfections actually add to the realistic look carbon fiber has overlaps and inconsistencies and you don't want it to look like a stencil on the top surface an extra set of hands is nice but on the sides it's a must now the carbon fiber pattern is down and really looking nice but it's not done yet i want more of a subtle look but i don't want to lose the pattern that we've already worked so hard to lay down that's where candy comes in now most people have heard of candy paint but they don't really understand what it is now imagine this plastic film is the candy paint you can easily see through it but it tints the color of everything behind it now there's no metallic or pearl in candy that all comes from the base coat and the more layers you put on the more depth and the more dramatic the color change but if you put down too many layers what you end up with is black there's no such thing as off-the-shelf black candy it's a custom mix of blue and red candies with a little opaque black thrown in you think gun control is important when spraying metallics yeah try candies if you end up with tiger stripes you're stuck with them unless you want to sand the whole thing down and start over now remember i told you the more coach you put on the darker it gets until eventually you'll get the black well this is where the artistic side really comes in you have to get the look that you're after when you get it to where you want you stop after giving it about 20 minutes it's time to see what we've got so and last but not least i'll seal it all up with three coats of ppg's 2002 clear right on man this thing laid out you guys finished my car yet or what oh man here comes trouble what's up man how you doing what's happening what's happening pleasure actually just rolled it out of the booth man you're just in time that's is that like fencing uh is that what that's supposed to be it has a carbon fiber lip actually fencing is cool yeah it's [Laughter] fencing i love those rums sits good they fit in the wheel wells nice too yeah it's got a good rate to it for a good stance this won't this won't touch one of the one they turn no we we've had it locked a lot and it didn't hit the suspension on this thing is completely adjustable so you can raise it lower it you know do whatever you got to do to set it up hey man you have to check these seats out legendary auto interiors hooked us up with these now it's beautiful yeah these are awesome so what's next well after this we got to put the interior in it still have to paint some parts the trunk lid the wing scoop you know balances that type of thing then it's down to wiring plummet brakes assembly man and throw some keys at you awesome right on man thank you i love it we need to get back to work yeah i gotta go to the fight you come in the fight yeah absolutely yeah right on man i'll see ya [Music] hey we're back part of what makes a 71 the most desirable model cuda is a signature cheese grater grill these things are highly desirable and you're looking at least a grand if you're going to have to replace one project street fighter's original grill is in pretty good shape but like you might expect with a piece of plastic almost 40 years old it's got some cracks so some reconstructive surgery is in order build on a budget muscle car projects that save you time and money original parts for these cars are getting harder and harder to find so we want to save what we can repairing this grill not only saves an oem part but it also saves us a big chunk of change so no matter what kind of car you're working on this helps to keep the repair costs down and the resale value up before i do any repair all the trim has to come off be really careful doing this because you don't want to end up with more damage than you started with a couple of clamps will keep the area level i'll make the repair with the clamps in place then come back and fix the area where the clamps work i'm prepping using a rotary grinder to clean it up some 80 grit will rough the surface so the adhesive will stick i'm using plastic bumper repair adhesive once it's loaded in the gun squeeze some out and throw it away then squeeze out what you're going to use this is just to make sure it's completely mixed before you apply any use a plastic spreader to apply the adhesive then scrape off the excess you have to work fast because this stuff dries really quick after giving the first side 20 minutes to dry i can flip it over and repeat the process on the other side [Music] next i'm going to fill in the areas where the clamps work using the same [Music] steps once all the areas are dry go over them with a rotary center to rough them in in the tired area sand it down by hand with some 80 grit i'm using my homemade sanding block aka a paint paddle once it's roughed in smooth it down with 180 on a d8 now all this thing needs is some primer this same process will work for flexible parts like your thing moldings or bumper covers the grille still needs to be stripped before i can prime it so i've still got some work to do but we're all out of time so until next week keep it between the ditches today on muscle car project street fighter comes together for the last time then heads out looking for trouble learn how window tint is applied [Music] hey welcome to muscle car we've got hundreds of hours in the building at project street fighter for ufc's president dana white i'm gonna drive this all the time yeah he's ready to get behind the wheel and we're almost ready to hand over the keys but before that can happen we got to tie up some loose ends shaker needs to be dropped on the engine needs to be fired up and the interior needs to be finished but don't think we're just going to hand him over the keys without giving it a quick spin around the block because we need to give it a test drive to make sure it's safe this baby's come a long way since muscle car took it in after installing all new suspension and plenty of bracing we test fit the full 46-pack engine and 727 torx flight the two and a half inch exhaust was finished out with custom exhaust tips then we added the cuda louvers a shaker hood and rear spoiler one of a kind paint and graphics gave street fighter a whole new attitude and we added a sweet custom entertainment system to match the pre-fitting on the hood has already been done so dropping it on and bolting it up is a no-brainer and to fill that big ol hole in the hood the shaker scoop is going on for the last time there's still a couple of holes that we've got to fill and that's where the hood pins are going year one makes these mopar factory style complete assemblies and they nailed it because they lined right up [Music] with those installed the exterior is done now it's time to stuff the rest of the guts into this fish these are the original seats and we sent them out to legendary auto interiors for some fresh vinyl they even restitched them transforming them from the less desirable barracuda seats into high dollar cuda seats year one's replacement panels will finish out the interior along with new window cranks and original door handle project street fighter is looking awesome inside and out but there's something missing now you got to remember this thing's going to be living in las vegas and that means a lot of desert and a lot of sun so to keep those uv rays from beating up on dana these windows need some tint so cj from solar solutions is going to come in give us a hand i appreciate it man you're very welcome what's your plan for this thing well we're going to put 20 film all the way around put a strip across the top keep them guys cool inside right on sounds good well you're the expert i'm not so i'm out absolutely it's a pretty simple process but many people are surprised to see it starts by laying film on the outside of the windows it's easier to cut the pattern this way and remove the backing once it's ready to stick down a few passes with the squeegee gets all the wrinkles out then the edges are trimmed that's all there is to it once the piece is cut and trimmed the inside of the glass gets a good cleaning and is wetted down with soapy water to help the tent float over the glass for easier positioning the backing is peeled off the tint and it also gets a coat in a soapy water before being placed into position the squeegee gets all the air bubbles and water out and then it's time to dry the back window it uses pretty much the same process but because of the compound curve of the glass the heat gun is used to form the plastic tint into the shape of the window [Music] some trimming gets the edges cleaned up then he's back to the inside to stick it down this visor strip will keep the sun out of dana's eyes as he's tearing up the nevada desert plus it just looks good some heat along the edges of the door tent makes sure they're gonna stay in place and a razor bevels the edge for a finished look [Music] oh dude that makes it right there that is perfect absolutely it's a beautiful car now i'll tell you i've tried window tinting before and you just made that look a whole lot easier than it really is i know that you can do it anybody can i appreciate you coming out and taking care of it for us absolutely yes sir right on well hey i'll see y'all man i got a car right here in the parking lot coming up project street fighter is ready to roll and we're riding along with rick and tommy on the test drive that exhaust sounds [Music] we know the cuda looks good but it's time to see if this fish will swim rick fire it up come on one more again oh yeah sound good let's hit the road the interior turned out sweet in this thing then for a daily driver not only that it could be a show car if you really wanted it well the cool thing about it there's actually like five people involved in the interior there's year one of the door panels heaviest customs for the for the headliner there's legendary auto interiors that hook this up with a nice seat and nate did the console there's grant a wheel there's i don't know five or seven different companies that put this interior together and it works together perfect but you know what i really like about this thing other than the fact that we're in it that exhaust sounds killer that sounds good [Music] cruising on the back roads is fun but we needed to unleash this 440 so we hit the highway with the xb motorsport suspension it rides like a dream this car will be just as much at home on the track as on the street it's hard to believe that this is the same slant six puke green grocery getter we started with you know what's cool about this car everything and it is cool thanks to details like the shaker hood louvers custom painted grille and brushed nickel bumpers advanced plating did for us rear spoiler and blacked out tail panel yeah and those boost wheels don't exactly hurt either the graphics do their job looking black when they're supposed to we made a pit stop for some grub and it caught the eye of a next generation muscle car fan anybody that had this car should be proud and one day they want to get off work take it for a test drive and have fun that's right that's what the person's supposed to do with these things enjoy them that's right so someone's gonna get this back yeah this one belongs to uh the president of ufc dana white you're not serious for real man this is his oh cool man i like watching ufc it's pretty awesome i like it i like the paint job you guys did with it yeah it's a simulated carbon fiber rick come up with a concoction for that is that like dual pipe or what yeah yeah that's a real fight i wish i could have looked at a couple of three like maybe about i don't know million say here go buy you another car i'm taking this one project street fighter still has a full tank of gas and is begging for some more blacktop so we pointed it towards a local car show and cracked open that six pack look out muscle car fans here we come [Music] project street fighter is running like a champ and it's been getting a lot of attention we're rolling into lawrenceburg tennessee for the lawrence county classic car club show to see what these folks think of our creation there's all kinds of rides here and muscle cars seem to be the favorite so the cuda fits right in i don't know if it's legal or not it's not but let's see if we can find us a race or something rick what do you say hell yeah there's a model a right there i think we can take it we can take that model all right there's muscle car fans of all ages here and street fighter definitely seems to be a hit and i gotta tell you it's fun to get out of the shop for a while and talk to some fans hey everybody yeah i'm jealous i want me a wagon i dig them over there the blue car that's we drove that drove a t-bucket nothing wrong with driving a t-bucket y'all get a little bit better budget i'm on johnny case but he said they won it last weekend i'll give you 50 bucks for right now you didn't pay nothing for it actually i'm a ford person but that als motors about to change me i think man oh those ls motors they are nice checking out your old mopar here thank you hey got the right license plate on it all the time all the time there's all the way to drop them right that's what they're for one thing that seemed to get a lot of attention was the carbon fiber look paint what what actually do you use when you do that well i use the the gray that's on the rest of the car that's actually the background and we laid down that mat and just laid some black through it and then i mixed up some black candy and shot that over the top yeah that's pretty sharp i was gonna try that he learned how about watching our show he went out and done it on his boomerang he took he took a thing that we had in the kitchen and and he took it out back and and laid it up on there and he just barely sprayed over it and he look hearing that people are learning new things from watching the show makes all that hard work worthwhile speaking of hard work all of this hanging out posing and looking to cool cars what's giving us quite an appetite and i'm always looking for a free lunch and tommy has a plan to get one out of our director michelle i got a deal for you all right lunch on me today if you can find where you put gas in this thing at well one would pretend to uh head to the back not in there hey look i don't know i guess you're buying lunch today you got me this is where it's at oh how cool is that that's awesome hey rick you want to take a hot lap see what's at the show yeah it works for me good deal there's a lot more here than just muscle cars there's all kind of killer rides street fighter may be a one of a kind but we saw dozens of unique creations and if you like resto mods or stunks those are here too it's almost time for us to hit the road for vegas but these guys wanted one more chance to get some snaps so the road can wait for just a little while get your picture made with this uh barracuda the muscle car show on spy tv i think people dig it we've had a good time here in lawrenceburg today met a lot of great people and saw a lot of nice rides but as they say all good things must come to an end hey rick man there's a lot of cool stuff here today and i'm sure there's some stuff we missed but if we're gonna get this dude to vegas we're going to get on the highway yeah you're right we got a lot of miles to put underneath these wheels man well hey for this week we're out of time so until next time we're out of here get your motor run head out on the highway hey man i hope you got the gas carter we got a lot of hours ahead of us yeah we got the gas card and there ain't no limit on it either

Channel: Gunpowder & Gasoline

Views: 809,926

Rating: 4.8250508 out of 5

Keywords: powernation, powerblock, powernation tv, powerblock tv, how to, cars, trucks, do it yourself, 1971 cuda, cuda, ufc, dana white, 1971 barracuda, ultimate fighting championship, muscle car, car restoration, restoration, automotive, plymouth barracuda, full build

Id: xA-5HgIuR04

Length: 79min 19sec (4759 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021