1969 Barracuda Fastback

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340mouse said:
Wolgfgang,
I bought my 68 383 S from Dave in I believe Smithsville close to where you bought your 69
Cuda, I do believe the Dave I bought my Cuda from was a friend of Dave that you bought your 69 Cuda from, I do believe they both took them to Toronto Motorsports Park(Cayuga) for some fun, motors are very similar, mine 400, 383 crank KB pistons, 557 solid MP cam, edelbrock aluminum heads and intake, like you changing the motor, I want to detune mine so I enjoy cruising it, or rebuild the #'s engine.View attachment 1715451025
Cheers Dave
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I just returned from a long vacation. Yes I do know Dave from Smithville, in fact here is a picture of our cars at a cruise in Stoney Creek years ago. We did go to the track together one weekend and as I recall he was faster than me at the time, but that was when I was running the stock stroke 400, which dipped into the high 12's.

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Power steering pump:
Finished rebuilding my power steering pump. I got the pump from a member here on FABO. The pump was complete, but I discovered a few small dents on the housing. After disassembling and cleaning, I removed those dents on the housing and repainted it. The Edelmann rebuild kit I used, seems to be of good quality and also included a new bushing. The bushing, which was originally installed, sat too deep in the shaft bore and had some burrs. I decided to remove it and install the new one. Warming up the housing with a heat gun and putting the new bushing in the freezer, before installation makes this job easier. I also marked the bushing, so it eventually lined up perfectly with the oil groove. The blades on the rotor also need some attention - round side pointing outward. That is more or less the only tricky part, the rest is Lego for adults.
BTW, I kept the old bushing. If you bend it open a bit, in combination with the steering wheel lock nut and a thick washer, it's works great as a upper steering column bushing driver.

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Machmeter1 said:
Finished rebuilding my power steering pump. I got the pump from a member here on FABO. The pump was complete, but I discovered a few small dents on the housing. After disassembling and cleaning, I removed those dents on the housing and repainted it. The Edelmann rebuild kit I used, seems to be of good quality and also included a new bushing. The bushing, which was originally installed, sat too deep in the shaft bore and had some burrs. I decided to remove it and install the new one. Warming up the housing with a heat gun and putting the new bushing in the freezer, before installation, makes this job easier. I also marked the bushing, so it eventually lined up perfectly with the oil groove. The blades on the rotor also need some attention - round side pointing outward. That is more or less the only tricky part, the rest is Lego for adults.
BTW, I kept the old bushing. If you bend it open a bit, in combination with the steering wheel lock nut and a thick washer, it's works great as a upper steering column bushing driver.

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Great pics, always wanted to do mine, but don't trust my abilities.
 
qkcuda said:
I just returned from a long vacation. Yes I do know Dave from Smithville, in fact here is a picture of our cars at a cruise in Stoney Creek years ago. We did go to the track together one weekend and as I recall he was faster than me at the time, but that was when I was running the stock stroke 400, which dipped into the high 12's.

View attachment 1715457252
Click to expand...
Nice to hear from you Dave,
I guess most Daves have Cudas.
Dave
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340mouse said:
Great pics, always wanted to do mine, but don't trust my abilities.
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340mouse, why not, you grow with the task! Get a service manual and the necessary tools, it is not witchcraft. But if your pump works and does not leak, I would not touch it. In the worst case, you can send it to me.
 
ACE hardware store, metal primer and semi gloss black - strictly follow instructions on the spray can - done!
 
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Rear end:
I just finished overhauling the rear end on my Barracuda. Originally it came with a 7 1/4 housing, but since the 8 3/4 housing was also an option on the 69 Barracuda, I decided to keep the bigger axle housing.

Components already installed were:
Moser axles
489 differential case with 3:55 gears and Detroit locker
traction bars
performance aluminum pivot bushings
11" drum brakes
heavy duty leaf spring package

This setup would be an overkill for the direction I am planning to go. After disassembling the rear end, I cleaned the axle housing thoroughly. Luckily I found a 489 case with 2:76 open gears - supposedly in very good condition.
I started with installing new rubber pivot bushings on the leaf springs and attached the differential, using just the dry gasket - no l don't use sealer here.
Now it was time to take some accurate measurements with the axles preinstalled. The new differential had still the thrust block in it, and I wanted to keep it there. A technician from High Performance Rear-Ends and Aftermarket Parts | Moser Engineering confirmed, that the axle shafts must clear the thrust block. Adding the measurements of the packing plates, the axles were still slightly touching the thrust block. Taking a close look at the prized Moser axles, I noticed that they were not cut in a 90-degree angle. After filing them straight, they cleared the thrust block. With a quality file you can work off material from the hardened axles, cheap tools won't work.
Next on the checklist were the axle shaft oil seals - yes I wanted them in. The machined surface didn't look too good and the bottom end seat for the oil seal on one side was barely visible and worn. Again I had to take some measurements, specific to the non-snap ring design axles. In my case, I ended up with exactly 40 mm from outside axle flange - that's how deep I drove the seals in.
Prior to that, I applied a very thin coat of sealant on the area were the oil seal finally sits.
I also replaced the old O-rings on the Moser axles. Moser engineering sells them under part #9500, but could not see them on their webpage. Ordering them directly at Moser was faster and cheaper than with other well-known suppliers.
Finally, I could install the axles with new 10" drum brake assemblies. Rear end gaskets set and drums brakes were purchased at DoctorDiff Drivetrain Components. His set looks quite good and is pretty much preset. I only applied some high temperature grease on the brake shoe tab contact area. Adding 2 quarts of 80W/90 completed the job.

Here are some pictures:

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1969cuda340, thanks for asking, but I found already an year and date correct engine.

Cheers Wolfgang
 
Wolfgang
You might want to check to see how true your axle flange face is. My Moser axles were way off and I had to machine them. I was not impressed with the quality of Moser machining.
Jim
 
Thank you Jim, I appreciate every advice, especially from an expert like you. I fully agree with your statement about the axles. Highly prized, but not cut in a straight angle - very controversial to engineering standards. Since I bought the axles with the car, I can't return them. The axle flanges appeared to be ok, but one of the bearings had a drop of grease comming out. I guess the axles touched the thrust block on the old 3:55 differential. For now I have to get the car ready to get the engine in. But for sure those Moser axles will be replaced in the future. Do you have any recommendations regarding axles?

Thanks Wolfgang
 
I have no experience with other axles. maybe Dr Diff or others on this forum can help. Once you have it running and wheels on, I'd suggest, put the rear axle up on jack stands and run the drivetrain at idle and see if the wheels run true.
 
Midland and Ross brake booster installation:
The last days I devoted some time to the brake booster and master cylinder. Since Mopar is new to me, I always go through the service manual and 69 parts list before putting hands on something. I found out, that I am missing two parts on the brake booster:
Gasket to the firewall (which was somehow logical - bare metal to paint is rare) and the spacer with a filter element to master cylinder.

The gasket was an easy task, cut it out of a Felpro rubber/fiber gasket material.
The spacer was a bit more of a challenge, but I found a nice NOS piece on eBay.

Ok, since I got all the parts I could start doing some measurements for the brake booster pushrod setting. The brake system will stand or fall with the setting of the pushrod - so I measured everything a couple of times.

- The good thing on the Midland and Ross brake booster is, that you can remove the pushrod which makes measuring and setting easier.
When I inserted the caliber in the Master Cylinder, I got a reading which perfectly matched the specs in the manual. Also, BoosterDewey preset the pushrod exact to factory specs - BTW, very nice move.

Well, but that would have been too easy. I did not trust this appearance, especially since the master cylinder is a reproduction piece. After putting some chalk on the pushrod nut and inserting it in the master cylinder, my concerns got confirmed. The radius machined in the master cylinder did not perfectly match the radius of the nut on the pushrod. Just inserting the gauge on the caliber would have given me always a wrong reading - but the nut did not touch the very bottom of the cylinder. That would have caused a too-long set pushrod.

In order to determine the length needed, I inserted the pushrod into the master cylinder and measured it this way - the first step completed.

- The bad thing about the Midland and Ross Brake booster is, after installing the spacer you do not really have a flat surface to take accurate measurements. Like on my previous project, I used one of my little handy, homemade multitools (use it also for pulling the steering wheel and many other jobs).
It helped me to keep the pushrod centered and simulated even distributed tension to the spacer. Master cylinder bolts were tightened to specs (9ft pounds).
I grew up with the metric system, so measurements taken for myself are in mm, but might be a reference for somebody using the same components.

I am sure there are better approaches, but many ways lead to Rome - that's the one I took.
Here some pictures:

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3-speed windshield wiper switch:
My windshield wiper system (variable speed) is a construction site - that's what I have:
-two incorrect windshield wiper motors #3431905 and #379942
-2 correct wiper switches #2770378
-1 correct windshield motor arm (would fit on motor #379942)
-1missing spring washer
-some cut wires
-a wiper motor arm bushing which does not look like its right for variable speed system - but it fits the motor arm.

Today I started slowly to go through all the components. First, I reconnected the wires and tested the motors by following the procedure in the service manual. Good thing, both turn and also go back to the park position.

Second, I disassembled and restored one of the wiper switches. I used a fiberglass cleaning brush to clean all the contacts - this tool works best for me. It is important to wear latex gloves and don't get any fiber on the skin. Cleaned everything again, applied some contact spray and reassembled the unit. With patience and care, it's possible to bend the ears on the housing back and forth, without damaging the plastic cover or housing itself. Finally, I tested the unit with an ohmmeter - Et Viola!

Here is a great article - dodgedifferent2 explains it way better than the manual - thank you:
Testing a wiper motor

Some pictures:

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The final check on the brake pushrod is that there should be a very small clearance with the recess in the rear of the Master Cylinder piston. Have someone lightly start to press on the brake pedal while looking in the MC through the small holes in the bottom. There should be a small delay before the piston starts moving. If piston starts moving right away, then pushrod is too long.
Jim
 
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