Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
The weather today was great and awful. It was in the 80s which was great! But the wind was extreme! I was trying to work in the driveway but that wind kept blowing everything around. That roll tarp is fairly heavy but it wanted to fly like a kite when I was fitting it.
I decided to paint the rails a satin black. Red might have looked good but I'm afraid the rails may be prone to show wear.
It's late at night now and I'm still at it. The rails are painted and I've narrowed the lid.
One of my problems was trying to figure out how to splice the two halves of the lid back together. I had removed 10" from the middle of the lid. After looking online for some form of plastic splice/Tee/channel I couldn't come up with anything that I wouldn't have to have custom produced.
I decided to use a portion of the section I'd removed from the lid to make my splice. Once epoxied in place it should work really well.
There were several odd aspects of this project that I hadn't written about.
The keylock mechanism is attached to a series of articulated bars that engage the side rails. I had to revamp the setup to remain functional. The lock cylinder was originally centered on the cover. The only way I could have maintained the centered position would have been to have removed width from both sides of the tarp. I decided to offset the lock towards the driver's side instead.
The box that the roller is in has drain holes in the bottom of it. There are supposed to be tubes for the water to drain through when you wash the truck and when it rains. I didn't get the tubing that originally came with this cover. So I went to the hardware store and purchased 5/8" tubing and fittings. I'll be drilling a couple of holes in the front wall of the truck box and let the water drain between the box and the cab. I didn't want to run the hoses down through the bed floor. I would rather have them hidden.
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View attachment IMG_4815.jpg
The weather today was great and awful. It was in the 80s which was great! But the wind was extreme! I was trying to work in the driveway but that wind kept blowing everything around. That roll tarp is fairly heavy but it wanted to fly like a kite when I was fitting it.
I decided to paint the rails a satin black. Red might have looked good but I'm afraid the rails may be prone to show wear.
It's late at night now and I'm still at it. The rails are painted and I've narrowed the lid.
One of my problems was trying to figure out how to splice the two halves of the lid back together. I had removed 10" from the middle of the lid. After looking online for some form of plastic splice/Tee/channel I couldn't come up with anything that I wouldn't have to have custom produced.
I decided to use a portion of the section I'd removed from the lid to make my splice. Once epoxied in place it should work really well.
There were several odd aspects of this project that I hadn't written about.
The keylock mechanism is attached to a series of articulated bars that engage the side rails. I had to revamp the setup to remain functional. The lock cylinder was originally centered on the cover. The only way I could have maintained the centered position would have been to have removed width from both sides of the tarp. I decided to offset the lock towards the driver's side instead.
The box that the roller is in has drain holes in the bottom of it. There are supposed to be tubes for the water to drain through when you wash the truck and when it rains. I didn't get the tubing that originally came with this cover. So I went to the hardware store and purchased 5/8" tubing and fittings. I'll be drilling a couple of holes in the front wall of the truck box and let the water drain between the box and the cab. I didn't want to run the hoses down through the bed floor. I would rather have them hidden.
View attachment IMG_4812.jpg
View attachment IMG_4813.jpg
View attachment IMG_4814.jpg
View attachment IMG_4815.jpg