65 Barracuda daily driver

[JDMopar]

8' or 10' ?

 

[65barracudaLA]

8' or 10' ?

8'! Other than seven 2x4s there were also two 4'x8' sheets of plywood, but they already had been cut down into 6 pieces of 16"x8'. I'm building benches

 

[JDMopar]

I was just checking to see if you opened the glove box and shoved the 10' 2x4's thru the back of it to make them fit!

 

[65barracudaLA]

I haven't worked on the Barracuda in a while, because I was too busy... Well, now that's over and all of my work projects are on hold. So time to do all the things... First I drove up the Angeles Crest Highway and found a ton of snow. That was pretty fun. Now I'm gonna start with replacing the steering box with a brand new one from PST. The A/C still needs to be finished up. A few things need to be painted. Speakers need to be mounted (hidden). I'll try to take some photos along the way. Stay healthy and happy!

 

[65barracudaLA]

So, I took off the steering coupler housing and it seems to be an older style - missing the 2 pins. It's got a clamp instead of one pin and it does not have that little pin at all. Does anyone have a spare housing that they are willing to part with?

 

[66fyssh]

Definitely post in the wanted ads. Someone on here is bound to have one.

 

[65barracudaLA]

I haven't driven the car since I went up the Angeles Crest Highway. Like always you just want to replace the steering box and then that turns into rebuilding/ replacing every part that attaches to it, haha. First, I noticed the pitman arm was junk and soon thereafter I took the entire steering column out and now I'm cleaning and painting everything and replacing rubber and gaskets and it looks like I'm gonna paint and fake wood grain the steering wheel. It's really not that bad for being 55 years old and the cracks are minor, but need to be addressed. I guess everyone is using PC-7 for the cracks, but The Steering Wheel Guy recommends resin. I'd have him restore my wheel, but it's a daily driver and needs to be done soon and I can't afford it right now. Anyone any idea what resin to use? Fiberglass resin? Any links? Anyways, I decided to keep the old steering coupler and I'm going to rebuild it as best I can. I think I'll drill a little hole and add that little pin that's in my rebuild kit. The steering column housing is still in process to be painted and not pictured as well as the steering shaft that is painted, but not in the photos. Still waiting for anew cancel cam that should be here Thursday. By the way, the steering box I bought from PST is really a '67-up box and the mounting holes are too large. So I bought two 7/16 id x 9/16 od x 1 long "oilite bushings" on ebay and cut them to fit. The outer diameter is a it too large, so I slipped them over a 7/16" bolt and tightened them with a nut and washers, put the bolt in a drill that I put in a vice and then ground off the excess material with a flat file. Not ideal, but it kinda works (see photo). Not sure why manufacturers like PST don't throw in these 3 little sleeves for the early cars when you buy a box. Or at least offer it for an additional charge. I emailed them about it, but haven't heard back. Anyways, now back to painting the steering column...

The worst crack in the steering wheel (sorry it's blurry):

Been practicing the wood grain, haha. More about that later:

 

[66fyssh]

Nice work!!! I can't help you on the resin. Hopefully someone will chime in.

Mohawk makes fine tip graining markers in about 20 different colors. They have to be top coated though. I got pretty good at matching woodgrain when I repaired furniture.

Were you able to find a coupler?

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks! I'll look into the graining markers! Thanks for the tip! I was gonna go over the grain with semi gloss or matte clear anyways.

Were you able to find a coupler?

No, I decided to fix the one I have. I'm sure it'll be fine - it worked for the last 55 years, haha. Gonna add that little safety pin though.

Also, took another photo with the column (that is about to get some primer):

 

[66fyssh]

Yeah, the coupler should be fine after a rebuild.

Here's a repair I did with 2-part epoxy and graining markers. Fun stuff. Oh, and sometimes it helps to soften the markers by lightly rubbing with a finger.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Not a great photo, but the column housing turned out pretty nice:

 

[65barracudaLA]

Column is freshly painted, rebuilt and ready for the steering coupler. Getting there.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Got a lot done, but didn't take a lot of pictures. Dropped the car off for an alignment today and I'll talk to him tomorrow to weld the stiffening plates (already bought them) under the LCAs. Unfortunately I can't weld. But I got the steering box, pitman arm and steering column in. Finally put the brand new 15" Cragars on the front! Haha, and first time I actually drove a car in over a month!

I also started refinishing the buckets. Herb's paint works really great. Looks almost better than new. I had reupholstered the seats with PUI covers about 3 years ago, but they were no match for the California sun and faded quickly into a pale pink. I didn't take a before picture, but I will with the driver seat (when I get the car back), so you can see the drastic difference.

Also working on a better trunk lid, because I can't stand the nightmare that is currently on the car anymore.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Got the car back from the shop and took the driver seat out. Now you can see the difference between old and new. The photo doesn't even do it justice! Already took the chrome off the driver seat and cleaned it good as I could and repaired a small tear. Gonna spray them with Herb's paint tomorrow. It was too cold tonight - it got late. Also been cleaning the seat belts and carpet while the seats are out. More to come!

 

[65cuda340]

The seat looks great; the difference between the two looks the same as when I had mine reupholstered 30+ years ago! That is a great product! The ribbed seating surface areas on mine were still in good shape, so the upholstery shop re-used them, and they still looked good when I went down the restomod path and the seats were removed a few years ago.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Salma Barracuda turned 55 years old today! Born in Hamtramck, MI on April 29th, 1965! (Also first photo with with 15" Cragars all around and new stance).

 

[66fyssh]

Looking great!!!

 

[65barracudaLA]

Since I bought this car, the console light has been kind of a pain in the ***. At first, none of the dash lights were working, because the wire for the console light had gotten into the shift mechanism and shorted out any time you'd turn on the lights. After I figured that out, there was still the problem that bulb socket was broken and kept falling out of the hole, which at least for a short time I fixed with duct or electrical tape. Far from a permanent fix, so I started looking where to find a new bulb holder that would fit that hole. I couldn't find one for years, but finally came across one for '63-'76 Corvettes and Mustangs. So here it finally is, the long awaited installation.

"Dash light bulb socket, 5/8" hole, two wire, single contact for 57 bulb"

https://www.topflightautomotive.com...let-corvette-dash-light-bulb-socket-5-8-hole/

1963-1976 Ford Mustang Dash Light Bulb Socket. 5/8" Hole | eBay

It's the same company and the same product. I should email them and tell them to advertise for the A-body consoles, because they click in perfectly.

I added connectors, so I can disconnect the console without having to pop out the socket. You can also see what the California sun does to a carpet, haha.

Let there be light!

 

[65barracudaLA]

Also, the Plymouth hood badge had come loose and I finally took it off and realized that one "stud" had come off. Apparently they just used screws and epoxied them in? I guess that's what I'll do to fix it?!

 

[66fyssh]

Thanks for posting the console light info. Something mine needs too!

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks for posting the console light info. Something mine needs too!

Like I said, I had been looking for years and I wanna save everyone else the hassle... Not sure if '66 uses the same, though.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Nice little car! That sucks how those seat covers faded in such a short time. The one you resprayed looks great.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Nothing too spectacular, but I finally got the splash shields back in after 5 or 6 years. I also had the DMT seals and new bolts laying around for quite some time. I think I'll have to spray some black paint on these rear bolts. Too shiny!

I'm missing one of these click-in nuts (?) that mount the front splash shield to the inner fender (like on the left) - does anyone know what they're called and where I could get one? Using a regular old nut obviously works (on the right), but if I could find one, I'd like to make it original. (And yes, I need clean up the dirt that's still on the car from driving through the desert).

 

[65barracudaLA]

I don't really want to know how long I've been working on getting A/C for my Barracuda. But now I'm hopefully a lot closer to getting it done. The problem I ran into was that with the compressor bracket that I bought the compressor interfered with the fan. I'm sure it fits fine in bigger engine bays, but as far as I did my research, you either go with a rare, original bracket or you are screwed. But I figured that I could move the compressor to a different location. First I was gonna cut it with a dremel out of a flat piece of 1/4" steel. I'm a an architect, so I thought I could draw up a template in CAD and then transfer that onto the steel. Then I realized that I could also just take that template and send it to get laser cut. That turned out to be not that expensive, so here it is:

I am beyond excited and I will post the progress and hopefully before the summer is over I will have working A/C in my Barracuda! Problems I foresee is finding a belt that is long enough and getting the belt tensioner to get to touch the belt.
Once I have figured it out, I may offer a kit that should make a slant 6 early A-body A/C install much easier!

(The smaller pieces are basically just spacers and I really only need two of them, but the other two didn't cost extra, because I still wasn't at the relatively low minimum order value, haha.)

Old photo (I was too lazy to go outside): Right behind the radiator cap you can see the compressor bracket that came with the kit I bought a while ago. Moving the compressor towards the battery will hopefully solve the fan issue.

 

[barbee6043]

The F body Mopar, ie Volare, Aspen many came with slants and AC looks like that would have been an easy solution?? Maybe the aftermarket radiator is the issue dunno. Glad you will have AC!