Are there problem areas on the 67-68 Barracudas

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Drew Baldwin

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Hello,

I searched for a thread that maybe covered this question but I could not find anything.

If I am looking to buy a 67-69 Barracuda, are there any common trouble areas that I should focus on while I am looking?

Thanks in advance,

Drew
 
Water can kind of puddle on the bottom left or right side of the rear glass and eventually it can make its way inside the trunk. If there's no evidence after popping the trunk, taking off the middle piece of trim on the interior under the rear glass will normally show you if water got through and rusted it.
 
Thank you!

Water can kind of puddle on the bottom left or right side of the rear glass and eventually it can make its way inside the trunk. If there's no evidence after popping the trunk, taking off the middle piece of trim on the interior under the rear glass will normally show you if water got through and rusted it.
 
Brother, you are looking at a car that is a half a century old...every area is suspect

But look for the structural parts
Frame rails and such

Bring a magnet, that will tell if your looking at metal or bonds
 
There's often a loose nut behind the wheel. ...

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Jeff
 
common areas of rust on the cars i've had and recently purchased include:

bottom of both front fenders.
under the hood on top of fenders back close to the hood support hinges
rust around the rear glass on fastbacks
rust on the "torque boxes" on under-body frame rails
rust in the trunk spare tire floor pan
rust on front driver/passenger floor pans and rust on rear passenger floor pans
rust on lower rocker panels below doors
rust on rear lower quarter panels in front of and behind rear wheels

other things to check are:

whether all gages work
wipers work
fan motor works
turn signals work
radio works
interior light works when doors open
brake lights work
head lights work
back-up lights work
brakes work
emergency brake works
high/low headlight switch (on drivers floor) works
all windows crank up and down fully
drivers/passenger door locks work
trunk key opens trunk
ignition switch works
check play in steering
does the heater control slide bars slide back and forth
put turn signal on, turn steering wheel to see if the automatic reset kicks the turn signal off

check engine oil for water bubbles
check auto trans fluid and check for a "burnt" smell
check radiator for leaks
see if windshield washer fluid plastic reservoir is present and not broken
look at firewall to check to see if there are a bunch of wires that "don't look factory" - look under dash for same thing
on 4 speeds, check shifter, drive if you can to see if trans has all 4 gears and revers - or slips out of any gear
check clutch for slippage, burning smell, "chatter" upon engagement, clutch pedal not coming all the way up from floor
check auto trans if drivable for forward/reverse shifting through three gears

the above is not an exhaustive list of things to check on a car you're looking at but is a very good start. remember, these are old cars, a lot of the things on my list will need fixing/replacing. but if you make a list of all the stuff that needs repairing, you'll get a good idea how much time you're going to spend on a car.
 
Dont get burned like my buddy. The frame rail beneath the battery tray was swiss cheese. Prob due to a battery boiling over for years and acid exposed the metal and helped eat it away.
The frame rail was disguised with bondo and undercoating. The only way to spot that, would have been a magnet, like DIYmirage stated. Or you can tap that area with a screwdriver, it will sound different.
That turned into a 12 gran repair, in the end.
 
dont forget to look at the frame where the upper control arm bolts on
 
Hello,

I searched for a thread that maybe covered this question but I could not find anything.

If I am looking to buy a 67-69 Barracuda, are there any common trouble areas that I should focus on while I am looking?

Thanks in advance,

Drew

The problem area on my 68 fastback is the nut behind the wheel. :realcrazy:
 
All the usual places on a 50 year old car. Bring a magnet to check for bondo in the lower extremities, and a nice phillips screwdriver to poke framerails looking for holes, and remove sill plates to lift the carpet to look at the front floorboards. Also inner fenders. Look at where outer fenders mount to inner, also under battery tray. Trays are inexpensive bolt ons, but if the inner fender is rotted thru at attach point your looking at repair or replacement. Check spare tire well too. The spare tire attach bracket goes through the floor and also anchors the straps for the gas tank. The 67-69 cuda bumper jacks are a bit tough to find. Even if you dont use it but want the correct one stowed for looks. On coupes specifically, where dutchman panel meets the trunk drip rails, and where the drip rails weld to the rear quarters can be a problem with rust through. Also the corners of the rear window can be issues. Unless you know what's going on under a vinyl top, stay away from a car with one of these on it. Also check the door latch striker pin area in the jamb. Sagging door hinges smacking these over and over eventually crack out the sheetmetal in this area. In most of the ones I have seen , it's a nice neat circular crack almost all the way around the washer for the pin smack against the washers edge, unless somebody has welded the pin and washer right to the jam. This makes the repair you have to to to fix it right even worse.

Dont get suckered in for a nice paint job. Really look it over. Trim pieces especially grilles are not repopped for 67-68. They are repopped for 69s but fit pretty bad, and are expensive. Unless your getting it dirt cheap, find the best car for your money, save yourself the headache. Look at my build thread 67/68/69 cuda dilemma for inspiration "insert eyeroll here" a $300 half stripped ex race car. Only reason I am rebuilding it, is I have the skill set to do so. Lots of folks dont. Keep in mind what skills and abilities you have. That dictates what you should look for.

Ex. Your an engine guy. You find a car with a decent body, and engine needs to be rebuilt. You get it a little cheaper because maybe the seller is a body and paint guy, and not an engine guy.
 
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Areas that hide are.
1.feel down the fender well under the hood on the inside of the upper control arm area. If there is rust there that will take expensive repairs

2. Look up under the dash at the cowl area very close for little rust hole where the vent and heater box attach on both sides to the lower cowl and firewall'
3. Inspect the trans/torsion bar cross member and the rear rails . Squeeze them and knock on them.

My friend on this site bought that green 340 Duster. He brought it here for inspection on the lift after purchase. The seller cleaned the rails real good and put gorilla tape over the rust holes. Then he undercoated it and drove it in down a dirt road .

The car looked solid and you really had to look to see it. feeling the rail is how it was found. after tearing the tape off we found the car was rotted at several places and hidden. Maybe he'll chime in with pics. I won't post any pics of another members car for several reasons.

Rust is your worst enemy on these cars and AMD is not carrying sheet metal for them anymore. I just bought the last quarters 3 months ago for dusters and barracudas. Things changed since Biden got in no more carbon fuel cars?????? Why make parts.
 
Areas that hide are.
1.feel down the fender well under the hood on the inside of the upper control arm area. If there is rust there that will take expensive repairs

2. Look up under the dash at the cowl area very close for little rust hole where the vent and heater box attach on both sides to the lower cowl and firewall'
3. Inspect the trans/torsion bar cross member and the rear rails . Squeeze them and knock on them.

My friend on this site bought that green 340 Duster. He brought it here for inspection on the lift after purchase. The seller cleaned the rails real good and put gorilla tape over the rust holes. Then he undercoated it and drove it in down a dirt road .

The car looked solid and you really had to look to see it. feeling the rail is how it was found. after tearing the tape off we found the car was rotted at several places and hidden. Maybe he'll chime in with pics. I won't post any pics of another members car for several reasons.

Rust is your worst enemy on these cars and AMD is not carrying sheet metal for them anymore. I just bought the last quarters 3 months ago for dusters and barracudas. Things changed since Biden got in no more carbon fuel cars?????? Why make parts.

Well Joe Biden can go suck a dick for all I care. Wait, hold on, nevermind, that's the "vice president". But I digress, I pray that he succeeds in doing the right thing for the country, but I fear he wont. If and when that all fails, maybe more people will have a moment of clarity. Or since the supreme court actually delayed the arguments for complaints for several states election fraud till after the election was over stating transition of power, blah, blah, blah so they could hear them. I believe it was Michigan, Arizona, and Pennsylvania that's on the docket for March 2021. They did not dismiss them. It still ain't over folks.

But back to the original thread to help this guy out before this gets bounced, or sent to the N&P forum.
 
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.......

My friend on this site bought that green 340 Duster. He brought it here for inspection on the lift after purchase. The seller cleaned the rails real good and put gorilla tape over the rust holes. Then he undercoated it and drove it in down a dirt road .

The car looked solid and you really had to look to see it. feeling the rail is how it was found. after tearing the tape off we found the car was rotted at several places and hidden. Maybe he'll chime in with pics. I won't post any pics of another members car for several reasons.

....

Are you referring to this green Duster?

A good example of buying a 70 Duster done rather than building one

If so, quite a few folks raised some eyebrows about it....

There always risk in buying a used car and it boils down to the buyers risk tolerance. Being able to personally inspect the car before buying usually reduces the risks if you know what to look for.
 
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Everyone says check out that paint real, real good. So true..... BUT they never say buy one that needs all the body/paint and then pay someone $8000 for a perfect job and spend 2 years waiting on it to be done!! ha .... or do it all your self?
 
Everyone says check out that paint real, real good. So true..... BUT they never say buy one that needs all the body/paint and then pay someone $8000 for a perfect job and spend 2 years waiting on it to be done!! ha .... or do it all your self?
Whether its an old house or car, in my book a fresh coat of paint makes me suspicious.

The rust issues, which aren't particular to 67-9 Barracudas, the most difficult to repair will be the structural ones. The torsion bar anchors are in the cross member. If rusted or poorly welded to begin with - that's a big repair.
The rockers act as a structural component - so check inner and outer along with connections at the sub frames.

Know that '67s came standard with some items that later became options, such as fold down rear seat in fastbacks.
Know that '67 has a one year only idler arm. It's not a big deal but does cost more and can wear out more quickly depending on how you use the car.
Know that '67 has a one year only front and rear windshield gasket and brite-lock retainer.
Shoulder belts and headrests are very rare options on a '67.
Both were standard after Jan 1, 1969.
Emissions controls started coming into use in '68 and were universal in '69. Generally no big deal as it only impacted idle and decel. But depending on what your goals are they can be a pain. A pain in that if you're keeping them, parts can sometimes be hard to get. If doing away with them, that takes some work to get them back to pre-emissions set up.

Look out for alternations. Some modifications are well done, but at least as many are not. Lots of snake oil has been sold over the last 50 years....
 
I have always NOT lived in the rust belt. I have built many, many dozens of Mopars, I never had one with a bad or rusted frame or rocker! Yep I have seen some rusted one in Kansas City but never bought those! But I never lived in the rust belt. But I have had a few cars out of S.D. and Mn., but those cars were special and never drivn in winter!!
When I haul a project home with typical rust, I HAVE to cut it out and weld in good metal> I can't sleep till I do. The it needs some epoxy primer, then it needs some filler, then it needs some epoxy primer again, and high fill urethane or polyester primer, Then it needs a sealer, then it needs finished!!!!! Can't stop the process! Wish I could. Wait I forget about just a little sanding!!!! ha
At my age, it may not be perfectly strait, but, by God, it ain't rusty!
 
Only found this when i removed LH inner fender to replace because of battery acid rot. The individual pieces cannot be bought. I had to make them from 14 gage sheet. Some stuff you have no choice but to fabricate from scratch if a suitable replacement is not available.

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