1965/64/68/70 Barracuda

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pobrien

pobrien

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Hello,

I bought a 65 Barracuda that someone did a terrible job trying to convert into a 66. Moved it from Brooklyn to San Jose and got going on it.

The carpet was black at one point, but so sunbaked that it was basically white, headliner rotting and falling off. Rear window gasket leaking. Suspension blown and sagging. Cracked manifold.Pitted metal trim everywhere. Terrible paint (discovered to be the 4th respray over old paint). On and on.

I have spent a couple of years working on it and have it in a much better place. New headliner and carpet, soundproofing, cleaned up wiring. LED bulbs everywhere. Replaced the rear glass. Restored and rescued trim in many places. Scrapped the wheel mouldings. Fixed the suspension, Centerline wheels ❤️, vintage gages and steering wheel, suregrip rear, ceramic headers, lots of cool 60s aftermarket parts

My motivation was specifically to install parts that a car guy would have installed way back when. I have a pile of vintage decals to add to set it off as a period dirt track car.

I can say with confidence that this is one of the worst cars to ever work on, they definitely did not build it with service in mind.

Fun to drive, sounds excellent, thank you for reading. I will post more pictures later, but here are the before and after

Before:

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After:

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Sweet buggy ya got there. Way to stay in the fight
Interior looks good. Would love to see more of the dash layout


Thanks!!
 
WV64Signet said:
Sweet buggy ya got there. Way to stay in the fight
Interior looks good. Would love to see more of the dash layout


Thanks!!
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Please ignore my messy wiring and missing radio, I am finishing the dash up still. I am installing a Retrosound with a factory bezel and glass.

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Wow, very nice. The grille and front fenders appear to be '64 Valiant. Looks cool! I see the badge and tach, is your car an original Formula S?

Tell us the story on the front spoiler. It caught my eye and looks good. That air cleaner will give you trouble though...
 
DC 340 said:
Wow, very nice. The grille and front fenders appear to be '64 Valiant. Looks cool! I see the badge and tach, is your car an original Formula S?

Tell us the story on the front spoiler. It caught my eye and looks good. That air cleaner will give you trouble though...
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I have the original grille and have played with options for fabrication, but it's got a lot of pot metal and they are pretty flimsy. The Valiant grille is aluminum and easy to work on. The fenders are from a Valiant, but they were on the car when I got it. I think a body shop threw them on in the post to repair damage

Every original valence in the world for sale is rotten and a mess. Mine has plenty of character marks so I fit a chin spoiler on to hide the crimes.

I made a mistake in my cuts though so I'll buy another, it's for a 69 Camaro, and fairly inexpensive. I like how this one lands inside the valence, not underneath

I put the tach on because I had one, and the Formula S badges are way better looking than the ugly V badges. It had the Formula S valve covers and has the higher performance V8, so it's like a half-S

What's wrong with the air cleaner? I wanted one that can suck in plenty of air
 
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It's all good. I like your gas cap conversion too. On your air cleaner...if it's like what I used before, the foam filter element will deteriorate over time into dust and goo. I have also read it is a fire hazard.
 
DC 340 said:
It's all good. I like your gas cap conversion too. On your air cleaner...if it's like what I used before, the foam filter element will deteriorate over time into dust and goo. I have also read it is a fire hazard.
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That's fair, I'll keep an eye on it, but I saw one in use at a local car show with no issues. I don't like the pie tin cleaners, too easy to starve the carb
 
engine masters did an air filter test and even the little 6"x1 1/2" filter is only a restriction above 300 hp ish. i've had a foam element filter like yours catch fire and drip down into the carb after a backfire, not used that type since. at least it didn't get to the crumbling into dust stage, lol.
neil.
 
mygasser said:
engine masters did an air filter test and even the little 6"x1 1/2" filter is only a restriction above 300 hp ish. i've had a foam element filter like yours catch fire and drip down into the carb after a backfire, not used that type since. at least it didn't get to the crumbling into dust stage, lol.
neil.
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Yeesh! I wonder if I can get a fabric element for it

Thanks for the details, I'll review their study
 
Yep that's definitely an early Valiant front clip on your 65 Barracuda. It's not a 66 conversion. We have seen people using the 64 Valiant parts on 65's for years and the wide Chevron is a dead giveaway they are circa 1964. There is an early lower Valence on Ebay right now for $375. It would bolt right in and has the turning signal lights mounted on it. It's a valiant Valence but i believe it was advertised as a Barracuda. If I see it I will forward it to you. That's a cool ride...they look good either way...Barracuda or valiant!
 
jeff alder said:
Yep that's definitely an early Valiant front clip on your 65 Barracuda. It's not a 66 conversion. We have seen people using the 64 Valiant parts on 65's for years and the wide Chevron is a dead giveaway they are circa 1964. There is an early lower Valence on Ebay right now for $375. It would bolt right in and has the turning signal lights mounted on it. It's a valiant Valence but i believe it was advertised as a Barracuda. If I see it I will forward it to you. That's a cool ride...they look good either way...Barracuda or valiant!
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When I originally picked up the car, it had 66 parts all over the interior, and I put them back to 65

They also had 66 tail lights in the trunk, 66 trim, including the aluminum stuff on the car
 
jeff alder said:
Yep that's definitely an early Valiant front clip on your 65 Barracuda. It's not a 66 conversion. We have seen people using the 64 Valiant parts on 65's for years and the wide Chevron is a dead giveaway they are circa 1964. There is an early lower Valence on Ebay right now for $375. It would bolt right in and has the turning signal lights mounted on it. It's a valiant Valence but i believe it was advertised as a Barracuda. If I see it I will forward it to you. That's a cool ride...they look good either way...Barracuda or valiant!
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The interesting thing to me, my valance came off of a barracuda, and it was definitely factory. It also had the turn signals mounted on it, but they weren't hooked up. I'm guessing when they had Barracuda parts delays at the factory, they threw on valiant parts
 
pobrien said:
When I originally picked up the car, it had 66 parts all over the interior, and I put them back to 65

They also had 66 tail lights in the trunk, 66 trim, including the aluminum stuff on the car
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It looks good the way you converted it back! The 65 parts are much easier to get as the 66 is one year only. The 65 taillights look much better than the 66. I saw a black one that was completely restored with a similar theme as yours that sold for a boat load of money. More than any other early Barracuda I have ever seen. That's a nice ride!
 
jeff alder said:
It looks good the way you converted it back! The 65 parts are much easier to get as the 66 is one year only. The 65 taillights look much better than the 66. I saw a black one that was completely restored with a similar theme as yours that sold for a boat load of money. More than any other early Barracuda I have ever seen. That's a nice ride!
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The 65 also has stainless trim all over, 66 went to aluminum. The stainless is usually in much better shape and less dinged up

Thanks for the compliments, I'm still plugging along. I'll take some interior glamor shots soon, just need to vacuum up all the dust and wire clippings, I'm finishing up the radio and dash wiring
 
pobrien said:
The interesting thing to me, my valance came off of a barracuda, and it was definitely factory. It also had the turn signals mounted on it, but they weren't hooked up. I'm guessing when they had Barracuda parts delays at the factory, they threw on valiant parts
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It's hard to say but that has probably happened. The Barracuda Valance has the smaller openings with no turning signals and the metal in the openings used to be painted black and made the opening appear more symmetrical even if the car was red.
 
Nice job resurrecting that Barracuda, but I would definitely pitch that fire hazard of an air cleaner into the round file. I had one catch fire on me, plenty of better options.
Just my .02.
 
mygasser said:
i'd replace the filter rather than look into different elements. much better.
neil.
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I would love some recommendations. I had a factory 273 Commando chrome cleaner with a perfect pie tin but it starved the motor too much. PM me your preference if you don't mind
 
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