1969 Barracuda 340 Formula S Restoration

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RealWing

RealWing

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
Ontario, Canada
Have just started a restoration on a '69 Formula S 340 auto.
First - A bit of my Mopar history:
My very first car was a 1969 Barracuda Formula S fastback 340-4 speed that I purchased at Healey Motors Ltd in Pembroke Ontario shortly after I was married in July 1968. I bought it new in Oct 1968 for $4,598.60 CAD less $1,501.10 that was my wife’s prized 1965 Plymouth Valiant V100 4 door with a slant 6.

In addition to the 4 speed and Formula S Package, the Cuda was optioned with power steering and brakes, AM radio, Fold down rear seat, 3.55 sure grip, variable speed wipers, wheel disks and E70x14 tires. (The options totaled ($147.50 CAD)
After family arrived, I reluctantly parted with it and bought a 1978 Dodge Aspen 360 cid Station Wagon!!! The Cuda was subsequently destroyed when it was T boned by another car.
I've owned a couple of other '69 Cuda's over the years but later sold them.

This will be the 3rd major project I’ve tackled since I retired.

The first was a 1970 Superbird Pace Car
1970 Plymouth Superbird - Pace Yourself - Mopar Muscle Magazine
Cover sheet.jpg



The 2nd was a 1969 Barracuda convertible 6.1 Hemi restomod.
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/m...-Mopar---1969-Plymouth-Barracuda/3751202.html

SRT8CUDA Build


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Back to this current restoration project
The Barracuda was sold new by Raynal Plymouth in Detroit MI and later traded by the original owner at a used car lot in Holland MI.

The 2nd owner purchased it from the used car lot in 1975. He spun the #1 rod bearing in the 340 and it was parked. There was some kind of "domestic dispute" with his wife and she took out her revenge on his Cuda by smashing in the side and front of the Cuda!!! She must have been really ticked off!!!!

The 3rd owner - Norm VerHage - bought the car in the summer of 1978 for $25.00!!!!! He repaired the damage and did a full restoration on the car in 1978-1979. Norm won several awards and also drag raced it several times.

As the 4th owner, I bought the car from Norm in July 1988 for $9,375.00 USD and imported it into Ontario.

These are the "revenge" photos
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These are some recent photos
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It was heavily optioned from the factory and the previous owner installed power front Kelsey Hayes disk brakes. There was no Broadcast Sheet but I've reproduced a Window Sticker based on the options that were originally installed, as best I can determine.
Window Sticker R0 no VIN.jpg
 
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Tranny out and everything stripped off under the car.
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My son helping me remove the engine in his garage
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Then moved it into my garage to be completely stripped.
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I'll be watching too. I've seen that car in person, and it was better than mine before he started the restoration.
 
I read and enjoyed your entire Hemi convertible project thread so looking forward to this one.

As soon as I saw Holland, MI, I knew VerHage had to be involved. I bought quite a few parts from him back in the day. I probably have pictures of this car when he owned it.

You sound a lot like my friend Bill who has 3 VERY nice 69's including a 440. His wife sold her Camaro back in the 70's so he could pursue his cuda habit.

Good luck! My retirement project is going to be a 69 340 'cuda that has been waiting patently while I got sidetracked doing other things.
 
KosmicKuda said:
I read and enjoyed your entire Hemi convertible project thread so looking forward to this one.

As soon as I saw Holland, MI, I knew VerHage had to be involved. I bought quite a few parts from him back in the day. I probably have pictures of this car when he owned it.

You sound a lot like my friend Bill who has 3 VERY nice 69's including a 440. His wife sold her Camaro back in the 70's so he could pursue his cuda habit.

Good luck! My retirement project is going to be a 69 340 'cuda that has been waiting patently while I got sidetracked doing other things.
Click to expand...

Wow - you read my entire SRT8CUDA thread!!!! I'm impressed!! I see it is now over 131,000 views which blows my mind!! How long to retirement and the start of your Cuda resto??
Jim
 
I knew there was rust along the bottom if the inner fenders at the shock tower, but was surprised to find the top lip also badly rusted. Oh well, AMD has new inner fenders in stock!!
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This car always had poor braking ever since I got it. I overhauled every part of the system and no real improvement. The diaphragm ripped in the booster one time and the brakes were VERY scary then. (Both feet on the pedal and could not get close to locking the wheels!!)
So before I removed the booster, I put the brake gauges on the calipers to see what kind of pressure I was getting and only got abt 500 psi - which is way low. Then when I pulled off the booster, I suddenly realized that the linkage at the rear of the booster cut the brake force in half compared to a manual brake setup!! That may be OK if you have really good vacuum to the booster, but with the cam I have, my idle vacuum was less than stock.

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To increase the brake force, I'm going to modify the linkage to move the connection point up closer to the booster rod connection.
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I made a paper template to get an idea of the mods I needed to make.
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I found a NOS Booster on FABO and it is at Booster Dewey to get replated, overhauled and tested. Just got a call today that it is finished. This is a photo before it was replated.
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RealWing said:
I knew there was rust along the bottom if the inner fenders at the shock tower, but was surprised to find the top lip also badly rusted. Oh well, AMD has new inner fenders in stock!!
View attachment 1715289785 View attachment 1715289786
Click to expand...
Jim I wouldn't be surprised if once you remove that inner fender well you also find the upper part of the frame and a frame mounts compromised also.
 
RealWing said:
This car always had poor braking ever since I got it. I overhauled every part of the system and no real improvement. The diaphragm ripped in the booster one time and the brakes were VERY scary then. (Both feet on the pedal and could not get close to locking the wheels!!)
So before I removed the booster, I put the brake gauges on the calipers to see what kind of pressure I was getting and only got abt 500 psi - which is way low. Then when I pulled off the booster, I suddenly realized that the linkage at the rear of the booster cut the brake force in half compared to a manual brake setup!! That may be OK if you have really good vacuum to the booster, but with the cam I have, my idle vacuum was less than stock.

View attachment 1715289792
To increase the brake force, I'm going to modify the linkage to move the connection point up closer to the booster rod connection.
View attachment 1715289806
I made a paper template to get an idea of the mods I needed to make.
View attachment 1715289793
View attachment 1715289795
Click to expand...

Jim, if you move the connection point up, will you not have to shorten the length of that linkage, to keep the booster rod the same length?
 
RealWing said:
I knew there was rust along the bottom if the inner fenders at the shock tower, but was surprised to find the top lip also badly rusted. Oh well, AMD has new inner fenders in stock!!
View attachment 1715289785 View attachment 1715289786
Click to expand...

Hi Jim, just read this! Should be a great build as was the 69 SRT -8 Cuda (I was also one of the people who read the whole thread LOL !!)

BTW, a heads up.. do not cut out your old inner fenders until you actually size up/purchase the new pieces from AMD. AMD makes great products but you may find that these have holes/dimples etc. that your original 69 pieces do not have. I guess they are trying to make a piece that will function for all years of a-bodies. Depending on the level of originality you are looking for, you may only want to replace the rusted sections. Just a thought as I know how meticulous you are LOL !!
 
toplscuda said:
Jim I wouldn't be surprised if once you remove that inner fender well you also find the upper part of the frame and a frame mounts compromised also.
Click to expand...

Could very well be. There seems to be another layer of (rusted) steel under the skin of the inner fender. Looks oK from the wheel well side.
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AAndrews said:
Hi Jim, just read this! Should be a great build as was the 69 SRT -8 Cuda (I was also one of the people who read the whole thread LOL !!)

BTW, a heads up.. do not cut out your old inner fenders until you actually size up/purchase the new pieces from AMD. AMD makes great products but you may find that these have holes/dimples etc. that your original 69 pieces do not have. I guess they are trying to make a piece that will function for all years of a-bodies. Depending on the level of originality you are looking for, you may only want to replace the rusted sections. Just a thought as I know how meticulous you are LOL !!
Click to expand...

Agree- That is my plan. I dont really want to put the whole repro inner fender in if I can help it. The AMD parts are not exactly correct for the '69 Cuda from what I've read. I can easily cut off the top lip and weld on the new lip from the AMD part and also just cut out the bottom rusted section. The rest of my inner fender is in great condition.
Jim
 
qkcuda said:
Jim, if you move the connection point up, will you not have to shorten the length of that linkage, to keep the booster rod the same length?
Click to expand...
That is definitely a concern. I'll have to mock it all up to make sure I dont screw up the geometry.
 
Had my glass guy come and remove the front/back window. The front is non-original but the rear window had never been out. Good news is that there is hardly any rusting in the window frames.
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I think my body guy can get a good shot of the original paint color from around the lower part of the front window frame.
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There were several dings and scratches on the trim rings on the "Deluxe Wheel Covers". Took the center sections out and sent the trim rings off to Rick Miller to get them restored. He did the trim rings on my Superbird and they turned out amazing. He has someone who can uncrimp the S/S trim from the rest of the cover so that Rick can get under the trim and massage any dings back flush.
The correct finish is polished on the outer edge and brushed on the inner part.

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RealWing said:
I found a NOS Booster on FABO and it is at Booster Dewey to get replated, overhauled and tested. Just got a call today that it is finished. This is a photo before it was replated.
View attachment 1715289797
Click to expand...

That pic looks familiar, looking forward to see how the Dewey work comes out.

I got pics of that car as well for resto references.
 
1969383S said:
That pic looks familiar, looking forward to see how the Dewey work comes out.

I got pics of that car as well for resto references.
Click to expand...

Hi Gerald. I asked Steve at Booster Dewey how they test the boosters. They set them up in a rig and put them through a bunch of tests and measure the force exerted by the booster at various brake pedal positions.
Jim
 
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