QKFSH67
Well-Known Member
Nice work!
1967 Barracuda Formula S 383 daily driver build
- Thread starter GRANCUDA
- Start date
-
Finally getting the Barracuda out of the slow lane on my highway commute to work. The 4.10 gears & 26.5 tires have been putting me at roughly 58 mph at 3,ooo rpm. Got a GearVendors to put behind the 727 which is a 0.78 OD. So now at the same 3,ooo rpm I’m running around 72 which puts me right in with traffic so I don’t have to constantly keep an eye in my rear view. Also, on the drag strip I will be able to go from 2nd to OD & it will be about 1/2 the rpm drop it would be going to 3rd.
Here’s some pics & some of the stuff I had to do to make it work.
Here’s some pics & some of the stuff I had to do to make it work.
Got the driveline pulled, tailshaft to rear yoke angles measured, transmission crossmember off & tail housing unbolted. There isn’t enough flex in the motor mounts to let the tail of the transmission drop low enough to slide off the tail housing off, it’s getting hung on the upper/fixed part of the transmission crossmember no matter how you twist it. I had to loosen & pull some bolts out of the motor brackets on the block to get it to let the tail housing slide off.
When switching over the parking prawl, a steel slopped piece held in with a spring clip, the new housing seems to be fresh out of a CNC, I had to go over it with a small file & emery cloth to knock the edges down to get it to go back in. I also had to run some emery cloth over the bearing bore area where the snap clip runs over because it wasn’t smooth & the bearing wouldn’t slip over it even without the snap clip. Did multiple slipping the tail housing on, jacking the transmission back up into place, test fitting & clearancing the floor pan & repeating then finally got it & mounted up the tail housing. Took a 1”x1/4” aluminum bar & put in the snap clip to hold it to get it on the bearing.
Got the drive line measured, cut & back on(the place here in Tulsa is super quick & top notch).
The pans look like they were made for the GearVendors, the tunnel flares out just right for it to pretty much clear everywhere except one of the raised bolted connections.
The pans look like they were made for the GearVendors, the tunnel flares out just right for it to pretty much clear everywhere except one of the raised bolted connections.
After bolting up the main stuff, I went to put the shifter stabilizer backet on & it didn’t fit, it was kicking out & putting the shifter in a bind. The new tailhousing has a raised area the original didn’t so I had to grind away on the stabilizer bracket in order for it to bolt up flush.
I ended up putting the MSD controller box behind the drivers kick panel, made a little panel for the lights below the dash, mounted a toggle off to the left side below the dash to enable the “auto” feature, made a bracket out of aluminum strap to hold the speedo cable at the crossmember & had a new speedometer cable made to go right to the speed sensor without any slop.
It all worked out well & is nice cruising along with the other traffic & not feeling like I am going to be rear ended @ 55mph on the highway.
One thing that is surprising is the firmness it shifts, if it were a warm summer day, shifting from 1st to 1st over, I think it would probably give a little chirp of the tires when hard on the throttle. It’s not just a wimpy feeling OD engagement like an old 80’s 700r4.
It all worked out well & is nice cruising along with the other traffic & not feeling like I am going to be rear ended @ 55mph on the highway.
One thing that is surprising is the firmness it shifts, if it were a warm summer day, shifting from 1st to 1st over, I think it would probably give a little chirp of the tires when hard on the throttle. It’s not just a wimpy feeling OD engagement like an old 80’s 700r4.
R4Sedan
Larry
Nice install thanks for sharing
famous bob
mopar misfit
Nice job, great pics !! Would be useful to those wondering about the same switch. I went the othe way and put 30" tires/3;73 gears in my fish.
RPM is about the same at 3000 on the hiway.
That’s one way to do it, your setup is the same ratio as 3.23 w/26” tires which is essentially what it had & that didn’t work for my XE274 cam coming out of the hole hard.
famous bob
mopar misfit
LOL, mine don`t come out of the hole, (1.70 60FTS.) need bigger tires to start with . Was really disappointed in it .
QuickDart360
Well-Known Member
Hey grancuda! About how much did gear vendor overdrive set you back?
Great work, what a transformation!
Have fun!
Have fun!
-
