67 Barracuda convertible

Longgone · Sep 16, 2006

Captainkirk said:
WOW! That's incredible progress by my timeline! My resto is going quite slow...but steady. I'll begin posting prog reports and pix in "Part 2" of my Duster project soon.

Your part 1 is a great "read" and I`m sure part 2 will be equally entertaining. You`ll have to post lots of pics as you go, to compliment your excellent writing. I`ve made steady progress on my Cuda, but I think it`s because my mother has had some health issues lately and she`s had to go to nursing home. This has been tough on me and my family and my way of dealing with stress in my life is to work my A** off. So whether I`m working at WORK or on the restoration of the `Cuda, I`m spending an inordinant amount of time and effort at both. I hope for things to level off and return to normal soon. As I progress I`ll keep you guys posted. Thanks.

AdamR · Sep 17, 2006

Looking good, but slow down ! Your making me feel like a slacker.

1966 dart wagon · Sep 20, 2006

wow yeah i agree adam i look like a slacker too, man you sure are moving right along, lookin good :headbang:

Longgone · Sep 21, 2006

Guys, I just do what I can ,when I can, unfortunately life gets in the way! LOL! Today I pulled out the 4 fenders I`ve got for the car and started hashing out what parts to use of each. I had a visitor come by and check me out but didn`t stay to help. As Steve Irwin would`ve said, "a real beauty", an Eastern King snake about 3 feet long slithered out of my flower bed, stopped and stared at me. He sat in a patch of sunlight momentarily, but I was lucky enough to grab my camera and snap a couple pics of him before he left. I hope to get some work done on the fenders soon and get some pics posted on the progress.

1966 dart wagon · Sep 22, 2006

awh i hate snakes, good lookin project coming along :headbang:

daves66valiant · Sep 22, 2006

great pictures for sure. I'm in the same process as you. Luckily I had a great specimen to start with. This is very encouraging stuff to look at. Did you use an engine leveler to get the engine back in? I have never seen one before. looks like it made the job off putting the engine and trans in together easier. Wonder if i should pick one up or rent one.

Longgone · Sep 23, 2006

daves66valiant said:
great pictures for sure. I'm in the same process as you. Luckily I had a great specimen to start with. This is very encouraging stuff to look at. Did you use an engine leveler to get the engine back in? I have never seen one before. looks like it made the job off putting the engine and trans in together easier. Wonder if i should pick one up or rent one.

Hello Dave, I was checking out your resto and you are sooooooooooo lucky that your car is a California car. It looks so good compared to the northeast and east coast cars like my 67, dartcudas, and AdamR`s cars. You should be able to Rock-n-Roll through your restoration since you don`t have to deal with rusty panel replacement. I did use the engine leveler installing my engine and it is very nice, you can tilt the engine any way you want it. My engine installed in minutes,(literally)! I highly suggest getting one! Keep up the good work!- John/Longgone

Longgone · Sep 23, 2006

I have 4 fenders for the car that all have issues ,so I had to pick the best two and add a replacement lower panel to each. In addition one of the fenders had been radiused on the edge for tire clearance. It was the better fender though since the other had been hit hard on the top front corner. Here are a couple photos of the left fender as I worked the panel to it. I decided to butt the edges of the panels instead of lapping them to keep the fender/body line as straight as possible. I measured up from the body line 5/8 of an inch and cut the rotted fender off. I measured the panel and cut the same amount off the panel. After aligning everything, I clamped the panel in place with vice grips and welded about every inch along the back of the fender. I repeated that process over and over welding between each weld until it was completely void free. I flipped the fender and repeated the process on the front. I got one area in the middle a little too hot and warped the metal some but after a grinding and hammer and dolly work there shouldn`t be any problems. I also added a small piece to the lower front of the fender where it was radiused using the same technique.There`s a small picture of that repair as well. I`ll post more photos of the continuing work on the fenders. I`ve tried to put the pics in chronological order but the computer has other plans, but you can sort `em out. :salute:

daves66valiant · Sep 23, 2006

nice work on the fenders John. My other Valiant is in bad shape like your cuda. I plan on doing the same kind of work but I have no welding skills, yet. I'll be learning along the way. Hopefully, they will have the panels and floors I need by the time I get to the other car. The convertible is my priority for now. I am now sold on the engine leveler. Was it from Harbor Freight or something you picked up from a local parts store?

1966 dart wagon · Sep 23, 2006

wow and i though my fender looked bad, way to come along with those patches, they are kinda a pain to work with, they wernt very correct for my fender, i did a lap joint as compaired to ur butt weld also

Longgone · Sep 24, 2006

daves66valiant said:
nice work on the fenders John. My other Valiant is in bad shape like your cuda. I plan on doing the same kind of work but I have no welding skills, yet. I'll be learning along the way. Hopefully, they will have the panels and floors I need by the time I get to the other car. The convertible is my priority for now. I am now sold on the engine leveler. Was it from Harbor Freight or something you picked up from a local parts store?

I believe it was Northern Tool that I got it from ,but most every Auto/Tool place should have one. There are different quality levelers out there, so make sure the one you pick isn`t the cheapest. The price will reflect the quality!

Longgone · Sep 24, 2006

1966 dart wagon said:
wow and i though my fender looked bad, way to come along with those patches, they are kinda a pain to work with, they wernt very correct for my fender, i did a lap joint as compaired to ur butt weld also

This car had spent it`s entire 39 years in Scarsdale ,N.Y. so it`s had plenty of salty winter roads to traverse. The car looked pretty good until you got about 6 inches from the bottom( all the way around the car) there`s just tons of rust! The fender I ended up using was a boneyard piece, because the original had a big dent in the top corner. The donor fender also had it`s vertical rear mount/support still intact whereas the original`s was gone from around 6 inches down! Fender patches are just the beginning, next there`s the doors to patch as well as 1/4 panels to install. I checked out your resto and it looks like you have the same patch panels that I do, and I agree they are kinda crude and difficult to work. I thought the butt joint would help me maintain the exact position of the lower patch panel. Your patch looks good and if you have any pointers, please share them with me!

Longgone · Oct 4, 2006

It`s been very busy at work and home so my time with the B`cuda has been limited, but I did manage to install the hood and start work finishing the left fender. By installing the hood an aligning it with the cowl panel it gives me a guideline for the fenders. I worked the joint where I installed the patch panel on the fender and the joint looks great. The problem I have is there`s a bulge in the center and edge of the body line of the patch panel. The center bump is probably my fault for getting that area too hot when welding it up. The edge is just poorly formed. I`ll straighten them both, but I also need to work the bottom 4 inches on the side that mates with the door. As you can see in the photo the gap between the door and fender close up on the bottom 4 inches of the fender. This is another case of a very poorly reproduced patch panel. I hope that someone will start reproducing some of these sheet metal parts with more attention paid to the quality of the product. For now we have to work with what we`ve got. Next update should show both of these problems taken care of and the right fender worked. The photo of the car shows the wheels off, I`ve been hunting for the self adjuster parts for the brakes as well as some of the correct springs. All of the self adjusters were removed from the car, seems the guy I bought the car from liked to adjust brakes alot.

daves66valiant · Oct 4, 2006

Well I'm still impressed. Hope it get ironed out okay.

Longgone · Oct 4, 2006

I`ll get `em squared away. The patch panel was pretty poor quality and I didn`t help by overheating it but I`m thankful for any patch panels I can get. You guys with early A-bodies have even fewer choices!

Jim Lusk · Oct 5, 2006

You're keeping the front drums? I don't think that's advisable, but I do have a complete 10" front drum set out in the shed. Plus, I think most of the parts may be available new.

Longgone · Oct 5, 2006

This car came with the optional HD, 10" brakes and all of the shoes and cylinders were newly installed when I bought it. The brakes were one of the only things that worked well on the car. lol! The drums which have both been replaced at least once have one more turn left in them, they`re at .040 over now.The engine is no HP maker either so slowing her down shouldn`t be much of an issue.

Longgone · Oct 8, 2006

I forgot to mention this earlier in the threads ,but I when bought this car it was with the understanding that the engine block was cracked. Even before the car arrived here from N.Y. I was in search of a 273 block to replace the seemingly cracked block. The guy I bought the car from was getting water in the oil and thought it was blown head gaskets, so he removed the heads, had them shaved ,new guides and seals installed, and a 3 angle valve job done. Happy as a clam he reinstalled these practically new heads with new gaskets and filled up the radiator.Thinking he`d found the source of the problem and fixed it, he changed the oil and proceeded to crank it up. Instead of the big smile of a proud father he was horrorfied to find water in the oil again. Disgusted he took the car to his local mechanic. I don`t know what the mechanic did, but his diagnosis was that the block was cracked. I took his word for it when I bought the car, so I sought out a 273 shortblock and lo and behold ,a member had one here in the car parts for sale section. After a talk with Bob (the guy with the shortblock)who was looking to put a 340 in place of his 273, we worked out a deal and the shortblock was removed from his B`cuda ,palleted ,and sent to a terminal here in Va. where I picked it up. It was $200.00 and about $140.00 in shipping from Michigan to Va.. Bob had just rebuilt this shortblock and had installed .030 over pistons with Chromo rings,new cam,rod, and main bearings. As a bonus this block was cast on the exact same day as the original 4-17-67. What`s the odds of that happening? I ordered new water,fuel, and oil pumps and installed them along with the recently reworked heads. A new vintage Edelbrock intake was compliments of Ebay and Bob served up a new/used Eddy 500 carb and a timing cover. While this was in the works, I pulled the engine and couldn`t find any sign of a cracked block. What I did find was a timing cover that had corroded so bad that the water pump was pumping directly into the timing chain area. Bingo! The"cracked block" was found. So in the course of about one month all of these things transpired to put together one nearly completely rebuilt engine and find out the truth about the original engine.

lemonboy69 · Oct 10, 2006

Wow Longgone... you've got your hands full with that resto!! Reminds me of my trek with rust not too many years ago... My front fenders have over 20 hand made patches/braces that nobody reproduces - if that tells ya how shot mine were too! 4 new floor pans, new quarters, patched rockers, rebuilt torque boxes, hand fabricated trunk extensions... the list could go on... it's good to see these cars being fixed up, even with all the work required!

Longgone · Oct 10, 2006

lemonboy69 said:
Wow Longgone... you've got your hands full with that resto!! Reminds me of my trek with rust not too many years ago... My front fenders have over 20 hand made patches/braces that nobody reproduces - if that tells ya how shot mine were too! 4 new floor pans, new quarters, patched rockers, rebuilt torque boxes, hand fabricated trunk extensions... the list could go on... it's good to see these cars being fixed up, even with all the work required!

Yeah this one`s from the snow belt as yours was, but not quite as bad! Although by the time I`m done with the rust repair/metal fabrication ,I will have replaced almost everything you have save the torque boxes, rockers and rear floor pans.This car has been in continual service since it was new, so it hasn`t missed any winters or had any time off the road in nearly 40 years. I new what I was getting into when I bought it and I`m handling the challenge with a grand in sheet metal and the time it`ll take to do the work. One good thing about the car is the documentation for this car is phenomenal. I have the original vehicle request draft, invoice , window sticker, 2 build sheets, the salesman`s business card, owners manual , and every receipt for the car for the last 3 owners and 39 years. Here`s an example...

Longgone · Oct 10, 2006

Notice on the last image on the previous thread that the car salesman added the deposit instead of subtracting it from the total. They get it all squared away a month later when the car is delivered. LOL!

bobscuda67 · Oct 15, 2006

Hey John, You are really moving along. I'm glad you got the engine fired up. I was wondering which cam did you use? Bob

Longgone · Oct 15, 2006

bobscuda67 said:
Hey John, You are really moving along. I'm glad you got the engine fired up. I was wondering which cam did you use? Bob

Progress was fast for a while, but work is demanding right now so things have slowed down. I used a factory 2bbl. 273 cam, just had it mic`ed and polished, it spec`d within tolerances so in it went This one`s all about mpg. It should be great fun when it`s all back together. I recently got the radiator back from the shop, it was recored, which gave me the opportunity to run the car. Late the other night without any fenders/headlights on the car I cranked her up and stole away across the street to a primary school with a large well-lit parking lot so I could go through the gears and try out the brakes,etc.. My girlfriend thinks I`m insane but she did get a good laugh out of me driving the car without any fenders/frt.end with the top down! Thanks for all the help Bob and let me know how your 340 project is going.

Longgone · Oct 17, 2006

The car is mobile now, thanks to Steves Radiator Service in Yorktown Va.. Here`s a couple pics of the radiator as I received it and after Steve did the recore and straightened the tanks. I couldn`t resist but add a couple Mopar dress up pieces to the engine!