Stroker's 68 Barracuda

Thanks. I dont think Im going this degree of wacko on the Cuda.

That CAD model of the Coyote was from either GrabCAD or STL finder and it's pretty accurate to the measurement I took from the back of the engine I had. I dont know if they have a Gen 3 Hemi, but Im sure theres got to be one out there.

If you wanted to, I could take a look at your file. I've seen some of the flat plate spindles in action andbthey are pretty solid.

I've only used Fusion360 to loft the plates, but played with actually displaying them all at once. Pretty cool.

Here is the current idea:





The upright is planned to be (4) 1/4" 4130 plates with (2) 1/4" 4130 gussets. The other plates are mild steel as they are more just spacers. The LBJ bolts are hidden under the last plate.





The idea is that I don't have access to milling equipment, but I can layout some plates and weld them into something that works. The better plan would be to mill the main structure out of a 1" thick plate and then weld the UBJ mount to it, but I don't see a way to get it done. The other thing about this is, the face of the rotor to the back of the mounting ears is fixed so I had to get the spacing right. And using several odd thicknesses nailed it for me.

The only other thing to do after mocking it up is to build an ABS sensor mount into it. I'm probably jumping the gun in printing the plates at this stage, but oh well.

This is based around a 2015 Mustang rear hub. I started with 2015 Challenger front hubs but the I don't trust the bolt pattern and decided it wasn't worth ignoring.

The other thing to note is that this narrows the front track about an inch. Works fine if I run a smaller offset like +24mm instead of the +35mm wheels I bought already. This certainly isn't anything for the average guy to be interested in, and honestly is way overkill for me. All I really needed was an ABS tone ring and there are easier ways to do that than this. Guess we will see what the final bill is after I get a quote on the plates.

That's a great idea on stacking the plates and welding them into one unit.

Ever think if adding a few extra offset/varying holes in each plate to add a few rosette welds in between each piece to give it a little more grab?

I like the lower ball joint bolt pockets. Eliminates a wrench, that's cool.

stroker416 said:

That's a great idea on stacking the plates and welding them into one unit.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I think I will do some work this evening to see what the weight might be. I expect it will be heavy, but if it is twice the weight of the original spindle, might not be the greatest idea.

stroker416 said:

Ever think if adding a few extra offset/varying holes in each plate to add a few rosette welds in between each piece to give it a little more grab?

Click to expand...

I did, the holes just below the UBJ mount are there just for that. But I didn’t think about ones around the hub itself. That’s a great idea.

stroker416 said:

I like the lower ball joint bolt pockets. Eliminates a wrench, that's cool.

Click to expand...

That was kind of out of necessity. The hub covers the bolts and the bolts are too close to the hole to leave wrench clearance. And even worse, the hub has to be bolted to the spindle before the LBJ can be bolted on.

DionR said:

Thanks! I think I will do some work this evening to see what the weight might be. I expect it will be heavy, but if it is twice the weight of the original spindle, might not be the greatest idea.



I did, the holes just below the UBJ mount are there just for that. But I didn’t think about ones around the hub itself. That’s a great idea.



That was kind of out of necessity. The hub covers the bolts and the bolts are too close to the hole to leave wrench clearance. And even worse, the hub has to be bolted to the spindle before the LBJ can be bolted on.

Click to expand...

If you add material type to your compenents in Fusion 360 it will give you weight, density, etc. You can even run some kinematics on it to see what kind of load it will sustain.

stroker416 said:

If you add material type to your compenents in Fusion 360 it will give you weight, density, etc. You can even run some kinematics on it to see what kind of load it will sustain.

Click to expand...

I wondered about that after I posted it. Looks like the current setup is about 11.2#. Not sure how that compares to a stock spindle, but I have read that an F-body spindle is 3# lighter than an A-Body one. But no actual weights to compare.

The real apples to apples would be spindle and hub weights.

I will have to look around and see if I can figure out how to check the strength. What I should do is send it off to a design firm and have it analyzed. But that’s for the bucks up guys.

I have that extension in Fusion that can similate loads on the material. If you want to sent it to me I can give it a run this weekend.

stroker416 said:

I have that extension in Fusion that can similate loads on the material. If you want to sent it to me I can give it a run this weekend.

Click to expand...

That would be great!

I'm going to try and knock it down in weight a bit first though. Looks like an A-Body spindle is about 8.2# and an F-Body spindle is 3# lighter so sure enough I have over doubled the weight. At the same time, the Challenger spindle I had to take measurements off had to have been 25-30# and I found threads where the Camaro spindle was discussed at it was at least that heavy. So while mine would be heavier than stock, it's not anywhere close to some of the late model stuff.

I will send you a PM.

Couple of cheap shots of the dash insert that I'll be putting the 3D printed guage cluster into. Needless to say I forgot a few things.





Notice on the left near the curve in the dash pad, forgot to arc that.

And how about those switch holes. Way too low.

Anyway reworked it in CAD and the new piece will be here Friday. Tried to upload some more pics of the filler piece for the mini tub, but the site didnt think they were images. Next time on those.

Had to add the arcs and move the switch holdes for the headlights, wipers, and fogs up 2" on the heads and 1.5" on the wiper and fog switch. Mocked it in card board and it workes out pretty good.

Going to be 3d printing all the mounting brackets and the side piece between the cluster and the blove box.





That's the concept I'm shooting for. May black out the top half arpund the heater controls and across the top kind of like the OE cluster would be. Not sure yet.

That's it for now.

Today was short bloxlck assembly day for the 225. I wasn't planning on having to rebuild this engine. You know the story. "It's been rebuilt, it's ready to drop in." Far from it.

Well the car wasn't even ready to have the engine dropped it. It was originally a 318 car. But, that's non-mopar people for you.

So I sourced a Slant 6 K-Member because I wanted to go cheap on the initial run in of the car. I've got a 340 that needs to be sleeved that will eventually go in it, but I've got a 225 and a 225 904.

Anyway. Short block assembly was this morning. I'm not much of a camera man so I'll give you what I've got.















It's a Hughes Whiplash cam, .010" and .010" on the crank and .030" over on the pistons.
Partswise the cam is as fancy as it gets, and every mut and bolt except the mains and rods are ARP. Wanted to keep this budget, so most of the parts are right off rock auto.

I am degreeing the cam in with a timing set from Hemi Performance. Like I said, not a good camera man, I have no pics in this post of the piston/rod assembly installed or the timingnset on.

On to the next, I whipped upba little heater plate in CAD today to attach to the underside of the Super 6 intake to keepbthe carb warm because I'm running a header.



It'll be piped into the heater circuit using -8 AN plumbing. Still working it all out, currently hust have the working sketch in Fusion right now. It's on the plate getting 3D printed for mock up and final form will be aluminum.

Also have one tub about 88% done.

Making progress. Nice!

This is the "water block" as I'm calling it for the 225. First time using SendCutSend's anodize feature. I'm happy with the result.

Since I'm running a header, and there's a good possibility I'll be driving in temps below 50° F sometimes, I heard that I might freeze up the carb if I don't get some heat under it where the factory manifold bolted. Not sure how I feel about it wither way, but it gave me a chance to make something.

This is the part from the CAD drawing on my previous post. It'll seal to the bottom of the Super 6 manifold with either silicone, a gasket of my making, or the factory steel gasket. Haven't decided yet. Haven't checked the flatness of my manifold, or of this part.



The theory is that it'll circulate coolant in the heater loop to keep that Carter BBD nice and warm on this cold days. Three mounting holes are 5/16" - 18 and those bigguns are 3/4"-16 for -8ORB fittings.

Still have to make a plate for the nose of the manifold where all that other fancy stuff used to happed. It'll probably be blue too, and made out of aluminum.



Put together an 8 3/4 rear for a friend of mine with a General Lee clone. I'll post some pics of that next weekend when I install it. For some reason his VIN is for an actual 69 Charger RT, but someone put an open, 2.76 gear, 8 1/4 in it. And I'm dying to pull some numbers off the block because for a 440 it feels a little underpowered.

Anyway....



Here's that shot I talked about of degreeing the cam. The installed centerline is 104 and point to point ended up being dead on using the .050" method for the opening and closing events. Glad I didn't have to pull that crabk sprocket off...again.

The server didn't like my cylinder head pics, so I'll move on from those and jist post installed pics after the new dowel pins arrive.





Mocked up the passenger mini-tub in chassis to shift everything around until I was happy. On this side it looked like the previous attempter used a shark jaw to cut out the inner wheelhouse. Just like on the driver side they also cut out that nice flange from the inner house, so I hade to fixed the rear inner metal and then make a flange to weld to it. Right here the flange is on clecoed in. I decided in this side to just rock that shitty floor piece over the frame rail. It's really not that bad.





Probably not going to dress any of these welds. Feels like leaving them in the raw on this side kinda goes with the rattness of the rest of the car. Should have this welded in, in a day
or so.

Next up I'm tackling the hack job on the package tray and side wings of it and the rear seat brace. For some reason someone cut those out too.

Decided not to go to the garage today. Stayed home and worked on my own car.

Didnt get as much done as I wanted this weekend. The mini-tub is done, minus being sealed and coated.

Also started on fixing a rotted area in the sail panel area. Luckily I didnt have to get into the pocket for the headliner bow. The piece I laser cut just needed a little massaging to fit right. Going to make the outside bottom of that area this week.

Also, picked up a pair of 26 x R15 Mickey Thompsons from my friends uncle for a good deal, so i mounted them up on a pair of Torque Thrust II wheels.

Not sure how I feel about the skinny tire look up front. I'll see once I get the engine in and ride height is set.

Made a few moves on the car over the last week. Brought the engine up from my garage in town and installed it. Did some sound deadening and primered over the old yellow primer.

Well. Somehow mangaed to lose most of the pics on my phone. Oh well. Can't live vicariously through pictures forever.

Headliner is done. Not as tight as I want, but not bad for a first attempt.

Waiting on new harware for the quarter glass, all the wire, connectors, and dr25 for the new harness I'm building, and waiting on the trans overhaul kit to get here from A&A.

Been trimming out the body with the trim I've got. Probably not going to run any of the trim I don't have for now. Being that I'm building a solid chassis and drivetrain, but leaving the body, "ratty". More like shitty if you ask me.

Next update, more pics.

Lowered the rear to get those super stock springs down from truck height. Im sure itnwill ride worse than my 01 F350, but I dont care.

So I decided to do the has piston hood hinge thing. My original hinges were questionable and best, the springs were tight, and the drivers side was bowing out when closing the hood.

I've yet to install the hood on these, so I don't have an after thr fact report. Will soon.





It's not in yhese images, but on the pivot shaft up near thr cowl I ended up using 1/2" ID nylon washers on the insde and outside, then capped it off with a 1/2" collar with a set screw.

Been plumbing on the brakes. I bought a kit from Summit and realized after the fact that the only line in the kit that works for me is the front to back piece and the front left and right.

If anyone reading this needs the rear axle brake lines, master cylinder brake lines for 68 A-body. I'll make a deal. They are in mild steel.



Not sure how much I like this. I converted my fuel sender to -AN and rolled out a new steel fuel line down the rocker.



Kind of all over the place this week. There's the dash. I dumped my design and bought a Classic Dash insert. Fits nice.

stroker416 said:

There's the dash. I dumped my design and bought a Classic Dash insert. Fits nice.

Click to expand...

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but completely understand. I shutter to imagine how much time I have lost/wasted trying to build something I could have bought.

Nice progress!

DionR said:

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed, but completely understand. I shutter to imagine how much time I have lost/wasted trying to build something I could have bought.

Nice progress!

Click to expand...

I ended up having to 3d print the guage pod in 2 pieces and I wasnt happy with it.

Working on the wiring harness right now. Im replacing everything. So the rear harness is almost done.

Eberything is Tefzel, DR-25, Raychem SCL, DT connectors, HDP connectors, and soldered "flying" leads with potted bases that I'll be 3D printing.

Power will be distributed through a Leash Electronics Pro Street relay and fuse board.

Is it complete overkill for a cruiser/daily driver? Yes, absolutely. But at the shop we make every harness this way. Here are some pics of the process. It's not 100% finished, I'm waiting on a few terminals. And right now it's only the rear section of the car, think driver's kick panel to right taillight.



There's a lot going on in this pic. Ignore pretty much everything. First things first, I make an excel file of every circuit on the car. I use this to concoct a full build sheet of every wire and component I need. Second, using Proficad, I make wiring diagrams. Third thing I do is layout the entire system in the car using nylon rope of various diameters and paracord. You can really mimic the bend radius of the bundled wiring this way. Lengths are noted and added to the excel file.

Next, all the wire is cut to length and stored in labeled zip lock bags.



Then all the required wires in this branch are laid out on the bench and bundled using Kapton tape. I did not concentric twist this harness. For a daily driver that is way overkill and completely unnecessary.






Next I like to lay it in the car, unsheathed, to make sure it's fitting well.






Then its sheathed in Raychem DR-25. It's heat shrink tubing that recovers 2:1 and stays pliable afterwards. Each branch gets a slip of Raychem SCL right at the branch point. This shrinks 3:1, has potting compound inside that melts and seals the joint, and acts as a great strain relief.



Continued in the next post, but here you can see a DT connector at the new taillight subharness. It's also in DR-25 and SCL.

Fits pretty well at the OE routing clips.



Here's a hand drawn branch diagram. It's a little quicker and easier then doing it on the PC.


Just a shot of the excel sheet that makes the build portion of the job. I usually divide it into 6 or 7 tabs depending on how complex the build is.

Right now just waitng on some single pin connectors to make the sub harness for the side markers and the tag light. Then I'll move on the engine compartment/forward lights and lastly the dash and front harness to firewall.

Like I said, complete overkill.

stroker416 said:

View attachment 1716282331

View attachment 1716282330


Fits pretty well at the OE routing clips.

View attachment 1716282332

Here's a hand drawn branch diagram. It's a little quicker and easier then doing it on the PC.
View attachment 1716282333

Just a shot of the excel sheet that makes the build portion of the job. I usually divide it into 6 or 7 tabs depending on how complex the build is.

Right now just waitng on some single pin connectors to make the sub harness for the side markers and the tag light. Then I'll move on the engine compartment/forward lights and lastly the dash and front harness to firewall.

Like I said, complete overkill.

Click to expand...

This part of my project should be coming up soon. Been thinking about how to go about it. Can get complicated quickly.

Battery in trunk
FAST XFI 2.0
MSD crank trigger / 6AL
RFID push button start
Fuel pump controller
A1000 in tank pump
Aftermarket AC system
Cruise control
Mercedes fan and controller
Oil cooler fan
GPS speedometer drive

mosleyme said:

This part of my project should be coming up soon. Been thinking about how to go about it. Can get complicated quickly.

Battery in trunk
FAST XFI 2.0
MSD crank trigger / 6AL
RFID push button start
Fuel pump controller
A1000 in tank pump
Aftermarket AC system
Cruise control
Mercedes fan and controller
Oil cooler fan
GPS speedometer drive

Click to expand...

Its a lot to think about, but if you spend a lot of time planning it works out pretty well. Making the wiring diagrams helps out a lot. If you want to see some of my Sheets layouts that document everything I can send them to you for reference.

stroker416 said:

I dumped my design and bought a Classic Dash insert. Fits nice.

Click to expand...

That looks pretty darn good!

like_A_pike said:

That looks pretty darn good!

Click to expand...

Thanks. I had a piece I designed laser cut in .125" ally to accept a gauge cluster that i 3d printed, but wasnt 100% happy with the fit of the aluminum and the angle the switches can out at. As opposed to fixing that now I bought that cluster. I want to have this on the road by the end of August and for now it saves time.