Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
The past couple of days were actually spent working on the '67 Barracuda. - Yes, it still lurks around here but has been absent from attention ever since I messed up the fiberglass hood last year. As I wrote in an earlier post, Spence had bought me a pair of Borla mufflers for Father's Day and he was anxious to hear them on the car. (I was too!)
The damage to the hood didn't seem to have been fatal. I repaired the torn under-structure with a few layers of mat and resin. After grinding it back down it looked as though it was going to bolt back in place as it had before. Unfortunately, the entire hood was more screwed up than I'd realized.
Micro fractures throughout it made it impossible to align because the contour had subtly changed enough that the rear edge now overlapped the cowl by about a half an inch no matter how far we tried to adjust it. I guess I'll be ordering a replacement. For now though, it seemed as if I had nothing to lose modifying it to get it back on the car. We egg-shaped the hinge mounting holes to move it further forward and got it to line up with the hood pins but it still hit the cowl. It may be destined for the scrap heap but I was still determined to get it back on so I could drive the 'Cuda without an exposed engine compartment. I used the angle grinder to shave a half inch off the back of the hood.
Good thing it's light because we must have trial fit it about fifty times before we were able to open and close it without scarring the paint on the surrounding panels.
Spencer had brought his Go-Pro equipment with him so we could compare the sound of the Borla mufflers with the Purple Hornies and open headers on captured video. I decided to keep the exhaust simple for now by welding up a set of side dumps out or 2&1/2" tubing.
Initial measurements told me that I 'd need A couple of six foot lengths of pipe and two 45' elbows.
With the fabricated subframe connectors beneath the car I knew I'd have a firm mounting location for exhaust hangers. Next I needed to fab up a pair. I started with cutting a couple of short sections of 2&1/4" pipe at a 45' angle. Then I split them so that I could make them saddle the 2&1/2" exhaust pipes. We welded some tabs to them, ground them, and drilled a few holes to use for bolting them to the subframe connectors.
After fabricating the hangers we were ready to perform our exhaust tests.
Spence took a lot of video and posted it on YouTube. It's really difficult to judge the way the car sounds unless you're listening to it with a really good sound system. Down in our basement (on the movie screen & good speakers) it sounds pretty accurate to reality. In our garage listening through a cheap set of computer desktop speakers, it sounds crappy.
Spencer did not use an external mic when he filmed so his hand placement affected the sound quality. It might seem as though it was difficult for us to hear each other talking while in the car but it really wasn't. Although those Borlas are not quiet it's still possible to enjoy the radio while driving. - Not so with those Purple Hornies.
The bottom line is that the Borlas had a very nice deep tone that made the 408 sound a bit more like a big block. They're very throaty and I may still end up routing the exhaust all the way to the back of the car but they're a major improvement. If you're fortunate enough to have a really good sound system with which to listen to the video, I think you'll really like the tone.
The past couple of days were actually spent working on the '67 Barracuda. - Yes, it still lurks around here but has been absent from attention ever since I messed up the fiberglass hood last year. As I wrote in an earlier post, Spence had bought me a pair of Borla mufflers for Father's Day and he was anxious to hear them on the car. (I was too!)
The damage to the hood didn't seem to have been fatal. I repaired the torn under-structure with a few layers of mat and resin. After grinding it back down it looked as though it was going to bolt back in place as it had before. Unfortunately, the entire hood was more screwed up than I'd realized.
Micro fractures throughout it made it impossible to align because the contour had subtly changed enough that the rear edge now overlapped the cowl by about a half an inch no matter how far we tried to adjust it. I guess I'll be ordering a replacement. For now though, it seemed as if I had nothing to lose modifying it to get it back on the car. We egg-shaped the hinge mounting holes to move it further forward and got it to line up with the hood pins but it still hit the cowl. It may be destined for the scrap heap but I was still determined to get it back on so I could drive the 'Cuda without an exposed engine compartment. I used the angle grinder to shave a half inch off the back of the hood.
Good thing it's light because we must have trial fit it about fifty times before we were able to open and close it without scarring the paint on the surrounding panels.
Spencer had brought his Go-Pro equipment with him so we could compare the sound of the Borla mufflers with the Purple Hornies and open headers on captured video. I decided to keep the exhaust simple for now by welding up a set of side dumps out or 2&1/2" tubing.
Initial measurements told me that I 'd need A couple of six foot lengths of pipe and two 45' elbows.
With the fabricated subframe connectors beneath the car I knew I'd have a firm mounting location for exhaust hangers. Next I needed to fab up a pair. I started with cutting a couple of short sections of 2&1/4" pipe at a 45' angle. Then I split them so that I could make them saddle the 2&1/2" exhaust pipes. We welded some tabs to them, ground them, and drilled a few holes to use for bolting them to the subframe connectors.
After fabricating the hangers we were ready to perform our exhaust tests.
Spence took a lot of video and posted it on YouTube. It's really difficult to judge the way the car sounds unless you're listening to it with a really good sound system. Down in our basement (on the movie screen & good speakers) it sounds pretty accurate to reality. In our garage listening through a cheap set of computer desktop speakers, it sounds crappy.
Spencer did not use an external mic when he filmed so his hand placement affected the sound quality. It might seem as though it was difficult for us to hear each other talking while in the car but it really wasn't. Although those Borlas are not quiet it's still possible to enjoy the radio while driving. - Not so with those Purple Hornies.
The bottom line is that the Borlas had a very nice deep tone that made the 408 sound a bit more like a big block. They're very throaty and I may still end up routing the exhaust all the way to the back of the car but they're a major improvement. If you're fortunate enough to have a really good sound system with which to listen to the video, I think you'll really like the tone.