My love for Mopar muscle cars started at age 15, with my first 340 Duster. My brand loyalty through my twenties could be called obsessive and I thought it would always be that way. That is until I started seeing modern injected motors in early muscle cars. The mod motored early mustangs and LS1 powered gen.1 Camaro�s kind of lured me away. Although Chrysler did have the Viper motors, the V10 was kind of an exotic, it just didn�t have that muscle car feel. My attention got diverted to GM�s LS1�s. For a guy who built so many mopars, it seemed now that I wouldn�t touch it if it didn�t have an LS1 in it. Then the new Hemi came out and I saw an article that Hot Rod magazine did on it. They dynoed a basically stock 5.7 Hemi with a Comp cam and TTI headers and made 481 horsepower. That was way more then the 426 Hemi, in a package that weighs quite a bit less then a 318. I just had to have one, and needed something cool to put it in. The LS1 powered camaro convertible that Year One built had just hit the streets and was getting a lot of ink. I figured I would build Chryslers version of it, a Hemi Cuda convertible.

I came across a Barracuda convertible which was your typical east coast gem, pretty much needed everything. So the car came into my shop, got blown apart, put on the rotisserie and went through your typical restoration. Blasted, extensive metal work, frame connectors were mandatory because of the increased horsepower and big tires. The actual engine installation wasn�t that bad with the TTI headers and mounts, the engine fit like a glove. The transmission wasn�t even that bad because the Hemi uses small block Mopar bolt pattern. The real problem was how to make it run. An aftermarket fuel management system would be easy but I wanted a system that used O.E.M. parts that could be picked up at any auto parts store and could be repaired at any garage with an OBDII scanner. I thought of the Chrysler electronics, but live I�ve heard of guys using them and being disappointed with their performance. I have always been impressed with the LS1 stuff so I decided to use it. The Hemi has about the same bore and stroke as the LS1 and I figured the computer wouldn�t know the difference. (It seemed easy, in my head anyway).

Taking the LS1 crank reluctor ring and machining it to fit a Hemi crank was pretty straight forward. Building a cam reluctor ring from scratch wasn�t even that bad I�ve done the harnesses for several LS1 conversions so that wasn�t a problem When I first fired it, it ran but something was definitely wrong In checking it, it seemed the LS1 cam and crank signals are thrown in a positive pulse but he Hemi�s are thrown in a negative pulse. Luckily my brother Dan is an electrical engineer, who was able to build an interface module which worked flawlessly. It had to have that 426 feel so I fabricated valve covers, powdered coated them wrinkle black and remote mounted the coils. Now that I knew it would work it was time to build the rest of the car. I wanted the best of everything available so I started calling everyone from K frame manufacturers to top companies Once the body was compete the car was assembled using :



Engine
New 5.7 Hemi long block
Comp cams 273x cam
Comp beehive springs s
TTI headers & exhaust 
Taylor wires (custom) 
MSD Coils
Be Cool radiator & fans
Custom fabricated valve covers
Charlie's custom oil pan
Custom engine management using LS1 computer and sensors

Suspension
Flaming River close ratio steering box
Magnum Force control arms
Poly Bushing
All Moog parts
Lowered rear springs
Frame connectors
Custom built traction bars
Custom spring mounts

Brakes
Baers 13" Track system (front and rear)

Body
AAR fiberglass Shaker hood
Transmission Rock Valley stainless fuel tank with internal fuel pump

Transmission
727 rebuilt with Red Line Clutches New rubber bumpers
Turbo Action Cheetah forward pattern manual valve body
10 inch TCI converter

Tires and Wheels
18x9.5 rear, 18x7 front, Billet Specialties wheels
295 45 18 rear, 235 50 18 front, Toyo Proxis tires


I really can�t count how many hours were spent making custom brackets, valve covers, etc.. It definitely took longer to build then any car I had built before it, but I�m pretty happy with the results. The car made 373 horsepower at the rear wheels before I got all of the bugs out. It spins a little more then I would like but I guess that is what a Hemi Cuda is supposed to do. The cars looks are too cool for me to even describe. The ability to drive the car from coast to coast with that new car feeling is truly the coolest part. It feels good to be back in a Cuda again (I don�t know if it will make me sell my LS1 stuff) but this one will be a hard one to top!

You can check out more pix and technical info here at my web site http://mysite.verizon.net/ls6ron