1966 Plymouth Barracuda - Commando 273 V8

[gwmax65]

So... I've pulled the rotten gas tank out, put the new one in with a new fuel sending unit, and fuel tube to tank seal. Hammered the hell out of the gas cap mounting point on the filler neck tube - where the gas cap mounts/screws into. Somebody used poor logic upon removing the gas cap that used to be on there, with a crow bar... So needless to say, it's back in better submission than before. before the tank installation, shot compressed air through the fuel line at the tank end, also had it disconnected from the fuel pump of course, shot tons of crap out which was really good, didn't smell great. Got the fuel system all hooked back up, using a gas cap from my '65 Barracuda since I converted it to the flip top gas cap. Got a new master cylinder cause the previous one leaked its guts everywhere on the rotten floor pan.. Lucked out on bleeding the brakes AGAIN!! So freaking awesome when you don't have to bleed brakes and your master cylinder self-bleeds. Got nice firm pedal, haven't even inspected the drum brakes condition yet and they're all working perfectly fine!

Fired her up, put the transmission in neutral for 30 seconds, and then in drive for another 30 seconds just to get the new fluids circulating after 20 years. Threw it in reverse and off I drove, straight to the gas station. Had a big red fire extinguisher next to me in case of any problems that could arise... Got there safe and much sound. Filled her up with 13 gallons, then drove back. As I was driving back I was noticing that my rpms were excessively high while pushing 35 mph, no shaking or anything which was real nice. Once I got back, added another pint of ATF+4, played with the kickdown, and got the timing set 15-17°BTDC, running with the factory Commando 273 dual point distributor.

Took it for another spin..Dramatic improvement! It finally was acting what I would consider normal, but doesn't seem like it's quite as fast as I would expect a 273 commando with 10.5:1 compression to be. So I'm gonna look into upgrading to the '73 style electronic ignition system, or HEI it. Have no idea what the spark plugs look like, but every cylinder is firing ok. Coil looks like it's seen better days, same for plug wires. Not even sure if my 1406 is jetted for the high altitude here in central Utah, gonna look into it more, already leaned it out and got my rpms sitting around 650. Gonna changed the rear end oil out later on, checked it, was completely full and looked kinda nasty. Listening to 4bbls open up is something else with this 273, sounds freakin' awesome.

So right now I am planning on giving this motor to my father in the future for his '66 Fomula S because his brother destroyed the factory 273 commando in his formula S wayyy back then, so my father had threw a '66/'67 273 in with a 273 4bbl intake, not as fast or correct to his car, also plan on doing a magnum swap or maybe, just maybe consider throwing my 440 in her.

Gotta get floor pans still or see if I can just make some patch panels for the floors, power wash the inside, get all the mouse/rat piss/stuff out, get the seats redone, get new carpet, new headliner, recondition the dash, fix some previous owner rat nest wiring in the dash, still deciding if I want to rhino line the floor before carpet, or go a different route. Gotta get lots of body work done, would be ideal if I could get 2 fenders to replace the horrible welded/body work job on them instead of attempt to undo the damage. Gotta make patch panels for the rear lower quarter panels, get a better passenger tail light since that one's all mangled. Gotta redo the dual exhaust cause it's gonna rattle itself off due to soooo much rust on the pipes..

Anyways, took it to work for the first time a few days ago, went 60 and it flew as streetlight as an arrow, not bad for a car that hasn't been driven in 20 years! Checked each wheel after my drive, every single one is about the same temperature so that makes me believe the drums are all adjusted perfectly. Still gonna take the front hubs off and inspect the bearings, throw new wheel bearing grease in, and also grease all the grease zerks/front suspension.

Got'er headlight trim rings installed finally!
Gonna be a fun daily driver/restoration! Here's a video of her first drive ;)

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt5BBiTp-8Y"]1966 Plymouth Barracuda 273 Commando - Runnin'!!! - YouTube[/ame]

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[gwmax65]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YURxZNDM77A"]The Dusters & The Barracuda - YouTube[/ame]

 

[4spdcuda66]

Cool vid! I like the way you coordinated the still shots with the chord changes! Who's the band?

 

[gwmax65]

Hey thanks! There's more than where that came from.. The band is "Dream Theater" -- The greatest band known to the universe.

 

[65Val]

Pm sent

 

[ariffle]

Ohhhhh PLEASE get rid of that air cleaner. They're informally known as the "Edelbrock Triangle of Death" ... one backfire through the carburetor can ignite the foam insert and burn your beloved baby to the ground.

I couldn't agree more!!
The trash can might even reject it.
:coffee2:

 

[gwmax65]

Ohhhhh k, moving on...

 

[4spdcuda66]

Hey thanks! There's more than where that came from.. The band is "Dream Theater" -- The greatest band known to the universe.

AH! I should have known that. Music for musicians. I haven't kept up with them in years. Great stuff! I hope to get back to work on my '66 this winter. Been in pieces in my shop for FAR too long!

 

[PapstXX]

OK i hope i can see more work !!!!!

great work bro

 

[gwmax65]

Well, been a while since I've done anything to the Pooda. Been raining and snowing bad here in Utah... Finally ordered the drivers front floor pan a couple days ago! Gotta do some research on how to properly weld em in, figure it can't be rocket science. Got an HEI all-in-one distributor from KMJ Performance and a clear cap n' rotor for it, we'll see how that setup will work for an ignition upgrade with MSD Street Fire wires and E3 Spark Plugs. Gotta be better than points for sure. Still have a small hole on the drivers rear floor pan, trying to figure out what gauge of sheet metal that is so I can patch it up. So that's where I'm sitting right now, hope for better weather next month, 10-20℉ just ain't cutting it for me.

 

[memike]

Ohhhhh PLEASE get rid of that air cleaner. They're informally known as the "Edelbrock Triangle of Death" ... one backfire through the carburetor can ignite the foam insert and burn your beloved baby to the ground.

This is soo true !! I am sure he will chunk it sistha :color:,

 

[cosgig]

Did I not see this car up on the trade block????

 

[gwmax65]

How it would make so much more sense to delete a post/comment on your own thread - No I am not switching my edelbrock air cleaner, people quit quoting the infamous cudachick, it's getting real old and annoying!!

Cosgig - it is, testing the waters to see if anyone would trade their 2nd gen - 1967-1969 Fastback (preferred) or notchback. Or, a 1970-1972 Plymouth Duster. The more I've come to work on this Mopar, the more I'm becoming inclined to not trade it, so, trading might not even happen if anyone relatively close to Utah isn't looking to trade the following Mopars I mentioned.

 

[CudaChick1968]

How it would make so much more sense to delete a post/comment on your own thread - No I am not switching my edelbrock air cleaner, people quit quoting the infamous cudachick, it's getting real old and annoying!! ...

It's your car dude. The fact that experienced people happen to agree with me should possibly impact your decision to reconsider it ... but I'm sure your denial will shine right through when the fire dies down.

Ariffle and Memike, your sammiches are ready. If you want it hot, just wait a bit. :-D

 

[4spdcuda66]

For the front floor pan, cut the old rusty pan out and lay the new one in place once everything is clean. Clamp it in place, or weight it down from the top, crawl under the car and trace around the sub-frame with a sharpie. This lets you know where to drill holes for your plug welds from pan to sub-frame. The rest is just stitch welding the new to the existing. I believe the correct gauge for the floor is 18.

 

[gwmax65]

Well..........3 months later... a few weeks ago I decided to go crazy and clear coat the whole car as it is, looks so much better. Still have to weld the new floor pan in, currently slowly getting some side projects finished off before I start attacking the interior some more. May be getting a '66 Valiant here in a couple weeks to use for parts, fenders, quarters, etc.

Currently my main issue with it is the rear brakes like to hang up when I barely tap the pedal, so I threw the whole car on jack stands, inspected all drums & wheel cylinders, looked pretty darn good. Haven't seen any leaks, had taken the drums, washed them out, dried, then gone over with brake cleaner, same for the shoes. I never popped the bleeder valves open to bleed the system or get any possible crud/old fluid out, was able to self bleed the system through the single master cylinder surprisingly. Afraid to open the bleeder valves on any cylinder cause they will most likely break off due to being too old & too small. Newer wheel cylinders they made the bleeder valve nut bigger to help this potential problem not happen, at least so easily. They're all 10" brakes, no self adjusters, so adjusted them to where the shoes barely touch the drum. Cleaned front wheel bearings & regreased. Slapped it all back together, took it for a drive, didn't help one bit...

So that's where I'm leaning at right now, sticky old wheel cylinders on the back that need to be replaced, hopefully there isn't built up gunk somewhere along the lines or in the proportioning valve. I have new wheel cylinders that I bought from crackauto (rockauto) where they sent me the wrong wheel cylinders that I needed for a 9" drum setup on another A body project. Still gotta check the hole upon which the wheel cylinder recesses in on the backing plate to make sure it gibes with the same oval shape as these new wheel cylinders (1A-BMC-00072).

Work's been a big headache + lots of projects, recently bought a 1973 Dodge Dart Custom - 318/904, power steering, power disc brakes, AC (surprisingly still charged with the old stuff) and drove it home quite a distance, all for $800. Had no title, went to DMV, gave me a packet to fill out + had to take pics, took it to them then got a clean title which was really awesome. Thinking lately if this is all really worth it, keep telling myself it's just a harsh point in time that I gotta get past and to see better days in the future. So this year is definitely gonna be an off year for me, got my original '65 Barracuda to get back on the road again, almost finished with it's 318 Magnum drivetrain, my other '65 Barracuda that's 90% restored I've decided to leave the 273 drivetrain alone for now, got my brother's '65 Valiant with a 318 magnum where I had to pull the trans out to replace a bad seal to deal with, got this '66 barracuda that's gonna sit for a while and ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........... Too much. Maybe it's work stress, too many projects stress, lack of exercise, combination of both, I dunno.

What I ought to really do is just fix my '73 Dart up & make it look good, then sell it, thought I could take all this in at once but I think it's finally catching up with me.

Anyway, that's what's going on right now, hope for better days...

 

[Tadams]

Awesome project.keep up the good work.

 

[chryslerfat]

Wow thats a whole lota projects to tackle.

 

[barbee6043]

yep lots of projects! sorta like me, lol..... I will work on one a while till I run out of parts ( always out of $)... then go to another one that I have a part for..... then I forgot what I failed to do with the first one!!!!!! or was it the third one!?????? but fun anyway.... always has been.... just used to get more done with fewer $$$ and less work!!!

now days I 'm older.... I just a little tired'er and little quick'er!!!!!!!!

 

[gwmax65]

WOW! It's been a long time. Turned out it was work that was literally killing me, been at that crap place for nearly 2 - 1/2 years and finally quit about 2 months ago, life is going so much better, other than lack of funds at the moment. Sold the '73 Dart to some high school kid, loved that car but needed to lower the car count, get a car loan paid off and get out of the hell hole I was working at. So I've replaced all the wheel cylinders but still didn't solve the problem surprisingly. Passenger rear still locks up for unknown reasons, guess it's something to do with the diameter of the drum, or perhaps there's some old axle grease still on the backing plate from the bad axle seal causing lockup. I can be going 10 mph, hardly touch the brake pedal, no hesitation it just locks up... Yeah I've been bouncing back a forth on projects, finishing up my 2nd Magnum swap in my clean '65 Barracuda, decided to go back with the 360 magnum fuel injection idea for the blue '65 Barracuda. Trans took a dump in the clean '65, lost reverse but still had all gears in drive, had my trans guy rebuild it, got the trans back, hooked it up to the 318 Magnum and now don't have 1st, and still no reverse. Tried multiple things with the valve body, eventually pulled the trans and took it back to him along with a later 904 trans to get built instead, tired of the push button style/cable 904. Getting that trans back probably by the end of this week. Anyway, gave the 273 Commando a new look in the '66! Also replaced the leaky fuel pump today, and the one that's now in there is leaking worse than the one before, and this one never leaked, dumbfounded on that. '66 has HEI now! Runs so much smoother. Next week it's searching for a new job!

 

[gwmax65]

Another rare update!

Pulled the whole drive train out cause the Commando began to knock a little, pulled the pan off and ohh goody...

Yes, that's a rats body & nest w/bones, that's why the oil was so chunky when I first got it!! So got a new oil pump & pickup tube coming. Since this is a long term project, I decided to leave the drive train out so I can restore it, once my buddies '71 Satellite/Roadrunner's out of the warehouse, this will be the next thing to get done. Gonna be fun welding good quarters on here. Been turned onto another '65 Barracuda, 4 speed manual!! Debating on just selling this and going with another '65 Barracuda, that would put me at 3x '65 Barracudas... Don't see much sense in doing that but hey, 4 speed . Gonna pull the bearing caps off, make sure everything looks good in the Commando, had to of been starving for oil with that much S packed in the oil pickup screen. Got a job again, making bank once more so... Till next time!

 

[gwmax65]

Bought an awesome 1974 Plymouth Duster 3 days ago, so I'm done with this fish sadly. This 1966 Plymouth Barracuda is now for sale! Check the link out for more info.

1966 Plymouth Barracuda on KSL.com


Duster thread's here
1974 Plymouth Duster

 

[gwmax65]

I'm very bad at keeping my threads up to date lol. She's been sold to a guy in Illinois, from Utah, for an astounding $3,000. Before that happened, I swapped the '67 273 in her from the chocolate frosty colored '65 Barracuda. Built my own dual exhaust for her as well. I really loved this '66, was a great daily driver for the time being. In better hands now. On to the next!

The End, or another new beginning.

 

[memike]

Looking forward to your next project,. have you found one yet ?

 

[barbee6043]

Glad you have a project you want.

Your cuda sale? People are funny. Back In Missouri 1 1/2 years ago, I advertised a rust free, 95% restored 65 273 2 bbl cuda, best offer I got was $4500. I was moving to Tx and sold it. I had got it in a trade with new interior, I did the pain, had NO rust, added exhaust , dropped in the engine that came with it,.... nice running driving close to done little car, ....Yet people will buy rusty projects for $3000 grand and ship it half way cross the country!!! Ha