Meet La Cuchara Roja aka "The Red Spoon"

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I used to work up around cuchara in the Spanish peaks. Wish I had spotted this old 45! What a beauty.

Thanks it’s a great 45 for sure. I was really hoping maybe some mud member had seen this thing when it was bouncing around Cuchara!
 
Here's my old 40 in the hills up above Cuchara. Some great old roads in those parts, and a great place to have an old cruiser. Good memories.

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Great find JP! You have the cruiser karma with the 45 SWB removable tops. Eager to see what you do with this old girl!
My new 45 will be next in line, I hope!
 
Thanks Jennifer! Yes your SWB is my next build for sure... my 4th SWB RT build in a row, I’m definitely living the dream 😎
 
no likes 4 my post curious ....
... I know the reality is hard it`s no walk in the park..View attachment 2626003
ask Warren.

Honestly Red Can all your posts make me feel like I’m reading a Dr. Sues book. I’m not sure anybody knows what to make of you 🤷
 
Purists just had bad thoughts about you!!!🤪🤪 Customer pays the bills!!

Haha yep that post of the new engine earned me my first thumbs down ever on Ih8mud :lol: I tried to warn the purists with a disclaimer at the beginning of the build thread. I certainly hope I’ve built up enough purist cred with my past builds to survive this one :grinpimp:
 
E-rod? LS3?

Ken it’s a new crate LS3. We were after the E-rod package to get the CARB certification but after being on back order wait for 2 months we bailed and went the the normal 6.2. Only difference between the two from what I understand is the E-rod comes with manifolds and cats.

Couple more pics, mated to a new H55 and Splitcase via Advanced Adapters bellhousing and flywheel. 430 ponies should get the old 45 moving!

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For fun since everyone loves new shiny parts here are some pics of what’s going in this old girl.
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Okay so first thing on the list with the engine out was to cut off the stock engine mounts and weld up all the holes on the firewall we’d no longer be using. Also we modified the driverside rib to mimic a later firewall and accommodate a Wilwood booster and master set-up.

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This 45 being a late ‘64/early ‘65 was optioned without the factory heater. However my client is a big fan of the diagonal fresh intake grills on ‘65 passenger cowls. Luckily I had a rusty LV front cowl carcass rotting away way out back that I could harvest the parts from. So 100 spot welds and lots of angle grinder work later we had successfully added the correct ‘65 heater body pieces. Big thanks to @JackA for hooking me up with a diagonal grill!

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I was definitely anxious making this cut.

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Success... lots of tidying up to do when it comes time for body work but the hard part is done.
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