'68 Barracuda Notch

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I decided to black the grills out this weekend. I painted the actual grill inserts, but on the surrounds I used plasti-dip.

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I think they turned out pretty good and for the most part, its not permanent so I can change it if I want to.
 
I got the quarter window fixed on the driver side. This is the first it has been rolled down since I bought the car almost two years ago. One broken and one missing roller replaced.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjlW1GP_TI"]'68 Barracuda notchback quarter window - YouTube[/ame]

I know its not that big of a deal, but that's the second time I've done it (by myself) and I don't ever want to do that again. The passenger side glass still needs adjusting because the door glass and quarter glass somewhat overlap if they're both rolled all the way up. Once that's done, it might be weather proof and can be parked outside without worry of rain.
 
I was so happy to get the driver side quarter window fixed and when I went to adjust the passenger glass, I found a broken roller on that side as well. I got that fixed so now all four windows roll up and down and line up correctly. I still have so many little things to do, but I'm itching to get the rest of the car painted.
 
rymanrph said:
I recently posted a thread asking for opinions on this car I found on Craigslist. I got some great advice from you guys and finally decided to take the three hour drive to check it out.

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After a test drive, some examination, discussions and price negotiating, I brought it home Saturday evening.

It's a '68 with some '67 parts. The previous owner gave me the following engine info: 360 engine bore .30, ( less than 2000 miles on engine), Holly 4bbl, 480/280 comp cams, KB 107 pistons.

I highly doubt the less than 2000 miles statement. The oil was black and needed changing. One of the lifters developed a tick on the way home. Marvel mystery oil to the rescue.

It has disc brakes up front, but the rotors need turning. Anything associated with the heater doesn't work. The factory oil pressure gauge doesn't work, but an after market gauge has been added. Most of the dash lights work. All the glass is in good shape and the trim is pretty good.

The seat covers look brand new and the carpet is in good shape. There is a little bit of rot on the rockers, but I think it can be patched. The floor pans have been patched before in some spots. I found a couple small holes, but nothing major (at least not yet). The trunk pan is solid, but needs a couple small holes filled as well.

The car sits way too low in the front and the wheels have impacted the fenders before, so while they look no worse than the rest of the car, they will need to be replaced whenever I end up painting the car. One of the down tubes on the driver side header has taken quite a beating because of the height, so that will need to be addressed as well.

I know fully well that I have bought a basket case of a car, but its my basket case now and I can't wait to start working on it. I certainly could have saved some money in the long run buying a much nicer car to start with, but half the fun is working on them.

My immediate goal is to get the car running well and make sure everything is functioning properly. Then I can begin to address cosmetics.

It certainly is a head turner. I've had multiple people stop me to talk about it and got thumbs ups from drivers on the way home. This thread will be as much for me to chronicle my progress, but I'm looking forward to the journey.

Now to find some '68 tail lights....
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Real nice car except the body says 1968 but the tail lights say 67 or 69
If who ever plans on buying new tail light and the proper trunk deck lid moldens
Exspect to pay around 1500.00 for all of it without installation
Real nice car tho
 
6cuda8 said:
Real nice car except the body says 1968 but the tail lights say 67 or 69
If who ever plans on buying new tail light and the proper trunk deck lid moldens
Exspect to pay around 1500.00 for all of it without installation
Real nice car tho
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Looks alot like mine
Mine being matalic blue with a black vynal top and an automatic
Mine is a 1968 notchback the same year
Nice car tho.
 
I still consider a '67-'69 notchie 'Cuda, my favorite body style . Nice progress....
 
The red car is long gone. The guy I sold it to has already re-sold it too. I did buy a second set of tail lights, upper trim and badging for the red car. I will pick the best of what I have and probably sell the rest.
 
My gas gauge hasn't worked since I bought the car and I decided if I was going to drive it, I needed it to work. I determined that the gauge wasn't bad by grounding out the wire before the sender and the needle moved. I figured the sender was bad so I ordered a new one and proceeded to install it tonight.

As I was hooking everything back up, the connector for the ground broke off (terrible picture I know).

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Can I splice on a ring terminal and secure it with a nut since the stud is threaded or do I really need to have it insulated? Obviously, I can't re-splice this one since it broke right at the connector. It's possible that it was already about to break off and that's why my gauge wasn't working, but I'll never know.
 
Ring terminal is all you need. Insulation is for simplicity and extra security that nothing touches it and shorts it out, but if something else causes it to short out you probably have other issues.
 
I finally got around to replacing my speedometer gear tonight. I knew it was off, but wasn't sure what I needed. Turns out I have 3.23 gears (open ugh) and with my 26.6" tall tires, the charts I found told me I need a 32 tooth gear. It's a good thing I've kept all of my jeep speedometer gears around. I had a short shaft 32 and a spare long shaft already divorced from the gear, so a quick swap and I was able to fix something on my car for free!
 
I'd like to get someone to take a look at the car and do a little tuning on it. It starts up fine, but wants to die without a little gas and until it's a little warm. Putting it into gear without a little gas will do the same. I'm not the best technician when it comes to diagnosing sounds, but at WOT I occasionally hear what I think could be pinging.

All in all, I think the car feels like a slouch. 360 bored .30 with a Holley 4 barrel 670, 280.480 cam, 727 with 2800-3200 stall converter, 8.75 rear end with 3.23 gears. Are my expectations too high? My brother's '09 Challenger 5.7 feels like a race car compared to it and I think my old 4.0 Jeep could give it a run for its money. The throttle response is lousy and it just doesn't have the get up and go that I expected.

The car sounds fantastic, but I just want the bite to be as good as the bark.
 
rymanrph said:
I got my Flaming River steering column couple this weekend. I wasn't too happy about having to spend $190 just for header clearance.

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I ordered TrailBeast's HEI upgrade and I've got a new distributor, cap, rotor, wires and plugs ready to go.
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whats the part number on that u joint cupler ? did you have any spline issues?

where was it purchased? :burnout:
 
rymanrph said:
I'd like to get someone to take a look at the car and do a little tuning on it. It starts up fine, but wants to die without a little gas and until it's a little warm. Putting it into gear without a little gas will do the same. I'm not the best technician when it comes to diagnosing sounds, but at WOT I occasionally hear what I think could be pinging.

All in all, I think the car feels like a slouch. 360 bored .30 with a Holley 4 barrel 670, 280.480 cam, 727 with 2800-3200 stall converter, 8.75 rear end with 3.23 gears. Are my expectations too high? My brother's '09 Challenger 5.7 feels like a race car compared to it and I think my old 4.0 Jeep could give it a run for its money. The throttle response is lousy and it just doesn't have the get up and go that I expected.

The car sounds fantastic, but I just want the bite to be as good as the bark.
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I would say it's not atypical for a Mopar to be a little cold natured, but much of it is to do with how your carb and timing are set. If your choke isn't set right, it can cause cold idle issues, or if the idle mixture is too lean. If it's too rich, it'll load up and you can definitely feel that, and see it on your plugs. Talking about timing though, if you think you hear pinging, it might be too far advanced, and that would certainly make the car feel slower because the engine is essentially fighting itself to gain rpm. Have you timed it or actually done any tuning?

EDIT: I'll just amend my statement now; if you haven't checked out some of the tuning threads over in the tech section, grab a soda, cup or coffee, or a beer and start reading. There are likely over a hundred threads on conditions exactly like what you explain above...guys like rustyratrod, moper, abodybomber, etc are all very knowledgeable and could help you out quite a bit. That being said, check out the tech section and search tuning, or timing, or something related and just check out all the hits you'll get
 
BIG-B-Barracuda said:
whats the part number on that u joint cupler ? did you have any spline issues?

where was it purchased? :burnout:
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Part number is FLA-FR1506P and I got it from Summit Racing. It's kinda pricey but got the job done and gave me the clearance that I needed.
 
txstang84 said:
EDIT: I'll just amend my statement now; if you haven't checked out some of the tuning threads over in the tech section, grab a soda, cup or coffee, or a beer and start reading. There are likely over a hundred threads on conditions exactly like what you explain above...guys like rustyratrod, moper, abodybomber, etc are all very knowledgeable and could help you out quite a bit. That being said, check out the tech section and search tuning, or timing, or something related and just check out all the hits you'll get
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I think I will go this route. I'd rather learn something new and spend my money on new tools than labor at someone else's shop. I just run the risk of learning incorrectly or getting stuck, but at least maybe I'll be more informed about how to explain my issues. I actually did have someone look at the timing last summer, but I'm not sure what he did or where the timing was set.

I guess I just wanted some input on whether my expectations were too high, or if my components weren't optimally matched.
 
Well, as for your expectations, if you could time your 0-60, standing 1/4 mile ET and trap speed, etc, it will give a good baseline for expectations. Obviously it shouldn't ping, and if the timing is too far advanced (which is usually part of the problem if it's pinging), you won't have the acceleration it's capable of. Similarly, if you have mixture problems it won't run up to par.

The best thing you can do right now is go somewhere and establish baselines. Also get a timing light, find your initial and total timing, and figure out what all's done to your carb (or if it's untouched OOTB), then read those threads or start your own in the tech section with the specific conditions and symptoms you observe and go from there.

You'll probably get someone helping you within a day or less...just depends who all is hovering over their computer and willing to help.
 
Oh-add a compression tester to your list of things to buy...

I saw something else on there you mentioned...said it has poor throttle response. If parts and tuning are properly config'd, it'll run and respond well. But if your off idle sucks, I'd say you need to check your timing, make sure your vacuum can is connected to the correct port, and check your accelerator pump shot...
 
I got a timing light that also has a digital tach. I got my idle RPMs down around 850 and set the timing at 12° and took it for a drive. It is much better than before. No pinging at WOT. It still wants to stumble at start up a little though. I got a vacuum gauge and tried to adjust with it, but the needle jumps around too much to get a stable reading. I also found that my timing mark was pretty jumpy at lower RPMs with the light on it which made setting the timing a little more difficult.
 
You said the vacuum needle jumps? Jumps with the lope, or sporadically? And if your timing jumps around with the vacuum signal your vacuum advance must be hooked up to a manifold vacuum source, either that or the mechanical advance starts way too soon. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong here, but I'm pretty sure advance is supposed to be plugged into a timed vacuum port on the carb so it doesn't do that.
 
Could need a good timing curve,that can smooth things out quickly. Stock distributor?
 
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I thought that I wasn't supposed to have it connected while setting initial timing. I unplug the hose from the distributor and plug off the hose coming from the carb. I do believe I have it connected to a timed vacuum source. I am using a stock electronic distributor. I converted to electronic using Trail Beast's HEI upgrade.
 
Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I thought that I wasn't supposed to have it connected while setting initial timing
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You're correct. All I was saying is that if you're hooked to a timed vacuum port, you shouldn't have timing jumping around unless it's picking up a vacuum signal or the mech advance is spinning up a little too soon.

I also have the Trailbeast HEI conversion kit--worked well on my Scamp. My 5.2 has a stock dizzy; I never got a chance to really tinker with the advance curve, despite my desire to...

Tim's correct though--you might need to curve the distributor. There are some threads about that in the SB tech section also...but with the timing will come some possible need for tinkering with the carb also...idle settings, mixture, pump shot, etc. Speaking of that, with the off idle hesitation, you may need to mess around with the pump cam or squirter size.
 
I sold my house and I won't be near my body guy after I move, so I'm considering biting the bullet and painting the rest of the car.

I have a couple body mods in mind that I want some opinions on. The first is the exhaust cutouts in the rear fascia. I only have one and it doesn't line up with my exhaust tip at all. I have dual exhaust and both tips just exit under the fascia. Should I fill in the existing cutout, add a second cutout and rear do my exhaust or something different? Here are the best pictures I have at the moment.

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The second body mod is the antenna hole. I don't even have an antenna right now (much less a radio), but I do like listening to FM radio. If I fill in this hole, are hidden antennas reliable enough to use?
 
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