First Car -- 1968 Barracuda Notchback
Here's another update in the car's saga before now. I apologize for the lack of activity, I've started working at my old shop again! I'll post some photos of the Mopars we have later.
Back to the car's history. I drove her a lot for summer of 2017, attending lots of car meets, car shows, and cruises. I found a few other Mopars around town and took photos with them, like this early Charger I found at a local restaurant! For context, most of the classic cars in Anchorage are Chevys, early Mustangs, or old pickups. Not much classic Mopar Muscle that's driven often unfortunately.
Again, due to work and the Cross-Country Running season starting later in the summer, I didn't really work on the car much. I do have a picture of me going to my first day of Senior year in the car though!
As fall approached, I started having trouble with my brakes again. I kept losing fluid from the master cylinder reservoir slowly, until one day I popped the lid to see the reservoir a nice orange/reddish color with rust flakes in it. At this point, I was very done with working on my brakes and drove it for the next few weeks until it snowed. Once again, due to life (this time mostly my parents), I was unable to park the car in the garage and work on it. I did have enough space at my Mom's house to start rebuilding my newly acquired 4-speed. I got a basic rebuild kit with new bearings and seals from Brewer's and started work on the transmission in January. It took me about 4 weeks total to rebuild the transmission due to school and it being my first time inside a 4-speed, but the total focused work time was closer to a couple days. Here's a few images from the process, including me being a total dork:
Javelin throw!!
I learned a lot from the rebuild. You know how sometimes you pick up a part or a tool and you can just feel that it's made from high quality material? That's what every part inside this transmission felt like. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I could tell that the parts in these units are good quality steel. These transmissions are also extremely simple once you get inside them, and I love how straightforward it was to rebuild it.
The car continued to sit until about March 2018, when our principal at school changed our Prom date from April 5th to May 5th... The gears started turning and I knew I could have the car ready in time for Prom. More on that in the next post!
Here's another update in the car's saga before now. I apologize for the lack of activity, I've started working at my old shop again! I'll post some photos of the Mopars we have later.
Back to the car's history. I drove her a lot for summer of 2017, attending lots of car meets, car shows, and cruises. I found a few other Mopars around town and took photos with them, like this early Charger I found at a local restaurant! For context, most of the classic cars in Anchorage are Chevys, early Mustangs, or old pickups. Not much classic Mopar Muscle that's driven often unfortunately.
Again, due to work and the Cross-Country Running season starting later in the summer, I didn't really work on the car much. I do have a picture of me going to my first day of Senior year in the car though!
As fall approached, I started having trouble with my brakes again. I kept losing fluid from the master cylinder reservoir slowly, until one day I popped the lid to see the reservoir a nice orange/reddish color with rust flakes in it. At this point, I was very done with working on my brakes and drove it for the next few weeks until it snowed. Once again, due to life (this time mostly my parents), I was unable to park the car in the garage and work on it. I did have enough space at my Mom's house to start rebuilding my newly acquired 4-speed. I got a basic rebuild kit with new bearings and seals from Brewer's and started work on the transmission in January. It took me about 4 weeks total to rebuild the transmission due to school and it being my first time inside a 4-speed, but the total focused work time was closer to a couple days. Here's a few images from the process, including me being a total dork:
Javelin throw!!
I learned a lot from the rebuild. You know how sometimes you pick up a part or a tool and you can just feel that it's made from high quality material? That's what every part inside this transmission felt like. Maybe I'm just crazy, but I could tell that the parts in these units are good quality steel. These transmissions are also extremely simple once you get inside them, and I love how straightforward it was to rebuild it.
The car continued to sit until about March 2018, when our principal at school changed our Prom date from April 5th to May 5th... The gears started turning and I knew I could have the car ready in time for Prom. More on that in the next post!