'69 Barracuda T56 swap, floor, cross member

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Cut out more carpet forward of shifter, trim around front console brackets a bit, and that allows it to lay down much better around that tunnel. At this point fit is pretty good.

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Pulled carpet out, bolted seat in, pulled out and squirted hose in front and rear wheel wells to check if any water gets it. Bone dry. I washed car recently zero water got in. So its cleared to proceed with sound deadener and final carpet install.

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Those type checks allow you to find glitches before they get buried. Great work.
 
Need to address some minor surface rust on firewall before new firewall insulation goes in. Start by pulling driver side vent off.

Some surface rust under that insulation push pin hole. But after hose in front wheel well its dry there? And bicycle inner tube for vent door seal?

I do have a DMT inner fender splash shield kit but need to strip epoxy prime inner splash shields first; circle back to that in a while....

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With light inside car shining on firewall insulation push pin holes, one on each side, are in wheel well and let water seep in soak insulation and surface rust inside firewall below push pin hole. But not enough water to run on floor. I will seal new push pins with caulk strips in wheel well after new insulation is installed.

Insulation I just removed wasn't wet I just hosed off in there yesterday. But if driven in rain for long periods is prob when it happens.

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Went over firewall course grit sand paper by hand cause don't wanna kick up a dust storm with power tools at this point. Wiped down mineral spirits, let sit over night, then brushed on rust converter, let that sit a couple days. Then brushed on semi gloss rustoleum. I verified car doesn't leak water so we are ready to move forward putting together....

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Original 1/4 window sweeps/whiskers rotted out next to the new Top Cat whickers. Spent hours drenching 1/4 window lifts with WD40, wound them up and down, then wiped white lithium grease what ever I could see reach.

Wanted to get that taken care of before carpet.

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Wiped floor down one last time with mineral spirits got it good and clean. Then laid down sheets of Boom Mat sound/heat insulation. It sticks down good but can peel up easily, is flexible, and its pretty thin too.

Bought a box of 15 sheets and 1 extra sheet from another project car was used so 16 total sheets.

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Next get seats carpet out and take a look at floor rust that has not been seen in 40 years. Been so long wasn't really sure what was there cause from bottom of car a bunch of under coating spray bombed covered up the mess from below. Luckily I did a super half assed fiber glass patch and was able to easily pull them off the floor. Red primer area passenger's side rear foot well is a snow shovel buried in caulk to patch a big hole back there cause by a spot weld hole in rear wheel well allowed water to fill that area up. But hey I did stop all the water leaks decades ago kept it from being worse.

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Understand that a rusted floor on the passenger side is par for thr course.
 
Just went out to get som more pictures as you can see the the right front frame rail is swiss cheese along with passengers floor. I will be picking up better frame frame rails with a clip of another car on Monday, from Mopar Man in Monmouth, Maine which is about an hour from here. Anyone know if this is stock air conditioning or add on? He had heard what I was dealing with when checked out my Facebook page. Had to tell him to stop giving me things. A great guy Included a couple pictures of some of the cars he has available for parts or sale

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Understand that a rusted floor on the passenger side is par for thr course.
Not always. If the car never had water leaks the floors don't rust. Usually when there is rust in the floors water was leaking in. Mine rusted due to water leaks. Carpet sat wet too many years early in its life.
 
Firewall and upper cowl insulation is in. Put boom mat on under side of cowl. Trimmed a few inches off sides of carpet. Trimmed carpet around firewall and console brackets.

Wanted to get carpet fitment better before HVAC boxes get installed. Because after that it will be tough to take front half in and out due to tight clearance between floor heat ducts and raised tunnel.

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I might have missed it. But did you use a special carpet to fit the T56 or a standard manual carpet kit? Thanks
 
I might have missed it. But did you use a special carpet to fit the T56 or a standard manual carpet kit? Thanks
I ordered carpet for an auto trans car. Fit is good except top of tunnel up by firewall is baggy/loose but that wont be visible once HVAC unit is back in. Carpet fits good otherwise and once console is in no one is gonna know a bigger trans tunnel is hiding under there.
 
The HVAC units are bolted in.

There isn't much gap between floor heat ducts and top of trans tunnel. But if I peel padding off back of carpet I will be able to wiggle push squeeze it under there. Won't be easy, but carpet will go under those floor heat ducts.

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Sitting around house last week wife says 'box from Antique Auto Radio on front porch'? I ordered radio back in January, no email, no tracking number, just box shows up on porch? So decided lets get radio in before carpet.

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Reverse light. Not wired up yet I put wire to 12 volts to test. But will be wired through bulk head per '69 wiring diagram.

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LED bulbs but only for dash lights. Blinkers, high beams, brake used 194 regular bulbs. LED are polarity dependent make sure bench check before installing cluster....

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Reverse indicator light wired up through the firewall bulk head connector per 1969 wiring diagram:

 
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