1965 MMP's Barracuda Hemi swap! The Ever Changing Build

MonkeyMadness · Jun 7, 2017

So last night I jacked the car up and cut all the exhaust off. Ditch that lame crap...
Removed the manifolds and all.. Surprised everything came out without issue. except the passenger side manifold has been hacked on.. ugh so I may be on the hunt for another or bite the bullet and build my own..
*Side note Q&A
- I'm not quite sold on the "hot rod" sounds, I would really like to have a different sound from everyone else. So I was thinking of running a Y pipe style exhaust @ 3.5" with a single center mounted race muffler with single dump out passed the diff... maybe!?!?
- Now this would all be custom mandrill bent stainless tubing, Custom formed collector at the Y and custom race muffler and flow pipes...

Had a bit of free time last night before putting my boy to bed, so I used the lumpy **** of a 318 to mock up my intake and Whipple charger. just checking fitment and clearance under the hood. I'm soo proud to say everything fit soo nice and tiddly. I have a ton of room to work with if needed... I was on cloud 9 after that last night...
This also means I can finally finish this manifold so its off to sand blast on Friday before welding ;-)

This is a shot with the hood closed fully. Even at this angle you can see I have about .5" to 3/4" from the hood rib or support, and a ton of room over the pulley snout, with gobs of room around the throttle body area towards the rear of the SC body...

MonkeyMadness · Jun 8, 2017

Umm...

Wire we doing this?

Hey you! Cut that **** out!

MonkeyMadness · Jun 12, 2017

So Friday I had a chance to sand blast the manifold before I weld it up. It came out pretty nice.
Then before I took of for the weekend I was able to swap out the manifolds on the Shoptruck. Damn talk about an unbelievable change in performance! The Shoptruck is now the Dragtruck...

Also siphoned out the gas out of the barracuda tank... That carp was dirty.

moparmat2000 · Jun 12, 2017

C/10 or C/20. Love the big block in it. I had a 71 C/10 myself years ago. Always loved those trucks.

MonkeyMadness · Jun 12, 2017

moparmat2000 said:
C/10 or C/20. Love the big block in it. I had a 71 C/10 myself years ago. Always loved those trucks.

72 GMC C2500 with a 402, Th400 lowreded. It's a good truck But it aint my Dodge D200

Edit: It now has a Blueprint 454 long block...

MonkeyMadness · Jun 26, 2017

So I'm back from my vacation!
Got started on the Barracuda as soon as I was back. Removed the interior seats, carpet, ect. cleaned it all up so I wouldn't light it on fire while welding the sup frame connectors. Had to do a minor bit of trimming to get the drivers side to fit right. I also learned why i was able to get them for such a good price from US car tool. Turns out my set must have been bent by the new guy. My Left on fits on the passenger side and my Right only fits the drivers side... lol Other than that these things are awesome!

Next it was able to remove the gas tank which surprisingly wasn't that hard even half full...
Then I removed the rear shocks and replaced them with home made struts, so i can adjust the ride height and get it where I want it before tacking on the 4 link.

Also I'll be pulling out the 904 here in a day or two anybody want it? I pulled the pan and it look pretty clean.

MonkeyMadness · Jun 27, 2017

Last night I was able to scrape off the undercoating on the passenger side. Tonight I'll strip the paint and Weld in the passenger side sub frame connector! Then we can drop the trans and start making previsions to fit the fat 46re
:thumbsup:

MonkeyMadness · Jun 28, 2017

So Got as far as having everything ready to weld last night and then found out I was out of gas... ugh
I forgot to close the gas valve after the last time I used it last :BangHead:

But as i said i was able to get everything prepped and ready. So unless I can get my bottle filled today I'll be pulling the transmission and power steering unit stuff... today and tomorrow

In this pictures you can see to the right of the subframe connector it has a large capital "L" laser cut into the part. lol This is the right side of the car and it only fits the right side. I did everything I could to get it to fit the left side, after pissing myself off a few time i gave up. After 20yr of R&D and Management in automotive and motorcycle after market product manufacturing and some deductive reasoning I came to the realization that this was the mistake of the press brake operator.. Must have been Beer:30 in Friday... lol

MonkeyMadness · Jun 29, 2017

Didn't get anything done last night, I crapped out and sat on the couch with the wife and kid...
I did get the bottle filled though.... A full bottle is a happy bottle..

Also was able to order a new tail housing for the 46RE that will allow me to run both the speed sensor and the speedo cable on a later model 46re...
:thumbsup:

This will allow me to run both the stock speedo gauge and also all the elc plugin's need for the computer and tuning :steering:

MonkeyMadness · Jul 5, 2017

Happy 4th of July to everyone! Hope you all had a Great Holiday!
This weekend I was able to button up the Sub-frame connectors and drop out the transmission.
Looks like I'm going to have a hell of a time getting my new trans to fit... lol
Also the 904 was picked up so it's gone... I still have a 318 if anybody want it?
going on another trip tomorrow and will be back around the 11th hopefully I'll be able to tackle the power steering removal and the trans tunnel... ugh

Added these pictures for perspective of the job ahead of me. Replacing the 904 with the much larger and beefer 46RE

I also had a visitor this weekend. A 1966 Barracuda dropped by to see my progress. The owner is not a member, the car is a one owner car bought early in 67 by his wife the year before they married. It was originally a 273 single barrel, auto. But has been "upgraded" over time. The car now has racing stripe and a 78 360ci in it now. It's still sporting the OG 904 and 7.25" rear end
All around nice car well taken care of. Rides way to High for me....

MonkeyMadness · Jul 12, 2017

Okay, so I'm back for at least a month.
Came home to find waiting for me was my new 46re tail section.
Also crawled under the car with the new section to check fitment. Oh man do i have a ball buster of a job in front of me. There is going to be a ton more beating, hammering, cutting, and welding to get this trans (square peg) in the tiny 904 (round hole) tunnel... Well guess I'm the Monkey to do it. Just ordered a bigger hammer.... lol

MonkeyMadness · Jul 12, 2017

SO... In a fit of rage and hung over from a food comma thanks to lunch, I bought QA1 upper control arms for the project. Only issue now is I have to go home and face the wife... :mad:

MonkeyMadness · Jul 12, 2017

Hey what do you guy think of the PST 1.03 torsion bars...?

MonkeyMadness · Jul 20, 2017

So a few days ago I tried aligning the motor in the engine bay so I can have proper placement, to insure proper placement of the transmission during mock-up. Come to find out some one dropped this 318 in and used "truck" motor mounts and thick rubber Puck mounts. making this engine sit way to high in the bay. So I ordered the correct mounts to bolt in a 360 (received these in the mail last night) but this meant I wasn't able to start my trans tunnel surgery. Which ended up being okay, because I crazy busy and haven't touched the car in 5-6 days.
I was able to get some cool stuff bought and sent out my way. Last night I got my QA1 upper a arms and I can't wait to install all this stuff.... drooling.
I was also able to locate a Fastman 52mm throttle body for very cheap, which I also got last night
I also ordered PST 1.3 torsion bars for the car and an OEM cable center console gear selector. Hopefully have them soon

MonkeyMadness · Jul 26, 2017

So I got my PST torsion bars a couple days ago. And I also got my Console/shifter for the car I'm soo excited about this part... It's just soo damn cool... hahaha
Then on the drive home I started to hear a strange knock from the shop truck motor... then I lost half my oil pressure. The poor old 402 motor is dying a slow death, just hoping it will make it till Friday morning when I can swap it out with a 454 long block.... ugh

MonkeyMadness · Aug 14, 2017

Small update. Not much has happened to the Barracuda itself, I've been stupid busy and between the truck motor swap, kids, wife, house, and job I haven't much time for myself or the project..
But I was able to sneak some time in to further along the engine build. I was able to do the final machining/cut to the manifold plate. Now we're off to welding, in the mean time I plan on rebuilding the Whipple.

MonkeyMadness · Sep 9, 2017

Motors gone!

MonkeyMadness · Sep 9, 2017

So Motors out now. So working the trans tunnel.. Hammering the **** out of the seem weld first. then I'll be crawling under it to cut out the frame cross brace. then I'll roll the big damn trans under there to start another round or Hammering the **** out of everything...
But first I'll drop it on the ground for some cool pic's lol

MonkeyMadness · Sep 9, 2017

So i cut out the cross brace and massaged the trans tunnel to fit the over drive unit. Surprisingly it didn't take much work to get the OD unit to fit all nice and snug.
I had to shave some of the webbing and casting of the OD unit itself and then hammer the tunnel right in line with the stock brace, but only on the sides to get it to fit deep inside the tunnel.
much higher than the stock trans. That means I'll be able to form and install a flat cross brace replacement and weld it in and still have a fair amount of gap between the two.
Now all i have to do is make a templet for the brace and build it. so far so good...

MonkeyMadness · Sep 14, 2017

Got a chance to pull the OD unit of my trans and mock up the new and trimmed housing. Going to mock it up with the motor tonight and try and shoehorn it in so I can start working on the cross member and building a trans mount. I have a press but i don't have the tools needed for swapping out the out put shaft. The od planetary has a freaking 900lb spring holding the clutches together. Can you say "Aluminum Grenade" yea I ain't playing with that. Sadly I need to swap that out to run a cable drive speed-o. I'm debating on weather to have the whole trans rebuilt "a refresh" at the same time? the first set of clutches I pulled out looked really nice and super clean...

MonkeyMadness · Sep 18, 2017

Super Busy this weekend, Had a booth at the Sand Sports Super Show this weekend. But was able to get finished up with everything and home yesterday around 8pm last night. I was itching all weekend to spend some time in the garage with the barracuda. So i took a few hours after the show to bolt up the 46RE transmission and motor mounts (which I ended up swapping the rubber mount from side to side) to get it to sit right in the bay. And shoe horned the motor and trans in the car for fitment. Seemed to go in and fit well. Tonight I'll raise the car up so I can slide under and see what I may have to massage and get an Idea of the room I'll be working with for the cross member. One thing I did notice is that the trans pan is much deeper that the 904 or 727 and it hangs quite low. I'll post more pictures of the fitment and changes needed to make this work in the days to follow. For now here is what I did last night. Pretty happy with myself and the build so far... lol

IF you noticed in these two pictures below the rubber puck mounts. The thicker of the two is now on the drivers side, and the thin one is on the passenger side. If much better swapped...

In the pic below. I took this pic with the trans lowered so i could get my alignment mark in the picture. But when raised the trans sinks right up inside the tunnel nicely. I'll post raised trans pic's in the next few days..

This is the upper trans tunnel gap i have when the trans is raised into place.

MonkeyMadness · Sep 19, 2017

So crawled under the car last night and only saw one spot that I need to pound out at moment the transmission seems to have a ton of wiggle room. I'm quite pleased. I have plenty of room for a cross brace and trans mount. So next I'm going to pull the motor back out, pound that spot out more in the tunnel. Then put it back in and make sure everything fit as it should be. Take pictures, mark everything, then pull it back out and build the cross brace. Then put it back in to build the trans mount. Once that's don't I can finally get my pinon angle needed from the trans mission, then I can start the four link in the rear... All sounds fun right!?! :realcrazy:

Pan hangs low...

Need to pound this out a bit for a better fit

I need a 29 tooth speedo drive for the a Cable drive A518

MonkeyMadness · Sep 26, 2017

Got a chance to do some work on the trans tunnel last night. I was able to get it to fit to my liking.
I was able to set the trans in a good position about 2* out from the diff pinion angle. Average needed for suspension flex is 3*. When I do the 4link I'll be able to adjust for the difference.
So I have the motor and trans in position to start building the trans mount. Which I plan on starting tonight. once that's finished then I'll drop the trans and build the crossmember upper hoop. So Far So Good...
This wasn't as bad as all of the internet gossip I have read about the dreaded 46RE/RH swaps. Hardest part was building up the nerve to cut the crossmember.
If you take a look at the pictures below I have quite a bit of open space and room for the movement of the trans while under load or torque.

MonkeyMadness · Sep 26, 2017

So I have been searching for the best solution for headers or manifolds. But i just can't see slapping on a set of stocker manifolds onto this build.. ugh So that's out.
I've been on the hunt and I looked at hookers but screw cutting my fender wells. And I looked at TTI and wasn't too impressed but...
Then I found Doug's read some good things as well as bad but out of them all these seemed to be the best "fit" no pun intended for my build... Then I noticed in small print "does not fit with 727" Which mean will not fit the 46re either Fuuuuuck....
Back to square one... Okay lay it on me Layson/Spitfire... I can make these work but **** they are ugly. Also performance, I haven't found anybody that said anything about it other than the Layson's website. Surprisingly it's hard to find any real info from customers who have these (Layson) not spitfire.
Anybody got an opinion on this subject, lets here it...

MonkeyMadness · Sep 27, 2017

Crawled under the car and mounted the chevy rubber trans mount, then made template. Many templates... Got frustrated and couldn't build with my hands what my minds eye sees.. ugh :BangHead:

This morning still overly thinking the mount build, but set on using one template for the forward facing plate of the mount ( I was thinking of boxing the trans mount to not only hold the trans but to also add the lost rigidity of the cut out crossmember hoop) that i will be replacing also. About a hour into swearing on the shop floor :mad: