69 Notch Barracuda - Rebirth

[JAndrea]

Priming and Painting the cases with Dupli-Color Engine Ceramic - Cast Coat Aluminum.

I wish I would have painted the calipers this color, but whatever.

I wire wheeled all the orange paint and got rid of the loose stuff, then washed it all down with mineral spirits and let it dry. I figure this will All chip and get gritty looking over time anyway, so I wasn’t too picky about paint prep.

 

[JAndrea]

The thickness of the bearing separator, and the close proximity of the bearing to the gear was such that I couldn’t get even a fraction of the separator under the gear to be able to press it off. This was mainly because the support bars for the bearing separator are a couple of inches too short. The hardware stores were closed, so devised a solution that required me to weld an old motorcycle sprocket to the bearing (wear item that comes new with the rebuild kit) to give the bearing some reach beyond the width of the gearset. Luckily the sprocket fit perfectly and gave me enough weldbite into the bearing. It only took a few minutes and worked really well.

 

[JAndrea]

Tailshaft disassembly...

A snap ring on the front side removes the front half of the mechanicals. Then a large snap ring hidden in a slot toward the back side. Once that one is free and slid forward, just tap on the output side of the Main shaft with a beefy socket to free the bearing from its seat.

View attachment 1715185837

View attachment 1715185838

View attachment 1715185839

View attachment 1715185840

View attachment 1715185841

View attachment 1715185842

View attachment 1715185843

View attachment 1715185844

View attachment 1715185845

This last pic shows how close the bearing is to the gear...

 

[mosleyme]

Trick I learned for reassembly, if you are not aware already: Find a wooden dowel the same diameter as the shaft that goes though the case that the countershaft floats on. Cut it to the same length as the countershaft so it can sit inside without protruding. Pack the needle bearings in grease and put them around the dowel. You will have an assembly which is the countergear, the bearings, and the dowel. You slide the whole assembly in place. The dowel keeps the needle bearings where they belong. You then use the shaft that presses in from the outside of the case to displace the dowel as you install it.

 

[JAndrea]

Trick I learned for reassembly, if you are not aware already: Find a wooden dowel the same diameter as the shaft that goes though the case that the countershaft floats on. Cut it to the same length as the countershaft so it can sit inside without protruding. Pack the needle bearings in grease and put them around the dowel. You will have an assembly which is the countergear, the bearings, and the dowel. You slide the whole assembly in place. The dowel keeps the needle bearings where they belong. You then use the shaft that presses in from the outside of the case to displace the dowel as you install it.

Excellent. Very much appreciated!

 

[JAndrea]

Removal/installation of new a833 tailhousing bushing...

 

[JAndrea]

Main shaft assembled... I bought a replacement for the 1&2 shift fork, and will be buying one for the 2&3. Mine were very worn. There is a massive slop difference between new and old. I probably need new hubs as well, but I’m sticking with the originals for now.

 

[JAndrea]

Driving in the tailshaft seal with an old brass syncro laid on the new seal, and a 2” pipe fitting.

 

[JAndrea]

Main geartrain assembled and cluster gear mounted... then found that the countershaft was broken on the end where the woodruff key slot is. I may have even broken it driving it in, not sure. So I have another one the way from Brewers. BTW, the rebuild kit that Brewers sent me was excellent, especially the $9 needle bearing mounting tube. It was precisely sized for length (including thrust washers) and diameter inside the cluster gear. I used chilled, Brewers assembly lube to install the bearings and slapped the thrust washers on the end of the cg. The whole thing dropped perfectly into the grooves inside the case and the helper tube pounded out smoothly with the installation of the countershaft.

Removing the seal inside the bearing retainer was a bit of a challenge. But came out with careful tapping of a small, sharpened screwdriver at intervals around the circle.

 

[JAndrea]

Broken countershaft. New one should slide right into its place with the key removed, but with more focused tapping with a punch.

 

[JAndrea]

Trans complete!! Had to wait for another tailshaft gasket... ripped mine while bringing the main gear train into the box the first time.

 

[JAndrea]

Bellhousing...

 

[JAndrea]

Dry-fitting the Hurst shifter and linkage... found out that I have the wrong bushing/washer kit, so just used some temp cotter pins to make sure of movement and shifting. Gears shift as expected... so far All looks good.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Nice work! I gotta say, I love your pic of JC taped to the framed cafe racer.

 

[JAndrea]

Cut the notch for the oil pump tonight... 318 mounts to 383 conversion.

 

[JAndrea]

Built an engine cradle much like others have done. I don’t like the top-heaviness, so will be separating the casters as far as I can (beyond how they are pictured). Also adding eyelets for ratchet straps. Casters are awesome. $10, 350 lb rating each... super easy rolling.

 

[340sFastback]

Great build thread. Love how you get in there do it all yourself.

I also have orig manual disc on my "69. You might already know but thought I mention some things I did to make my brakes work better. I went with 15/16 bore master cylinder instead of the larger bore to increase brake pressure reduce leg effort. The other thing which is a must is smaller rear wheel cylinders. I believe originals we're 15/16 and cause excessive premature rear wheel lock up. I ran 7/8 rear wheel cylinders much better. Recently swapped in 13/16 rear wheel cylinders they work great. I run red EBC pads up front adjustable prop.valve full pressure to the rear along with newly rebuilt front calipers. Brakes feels well balanced front to back. I can lock the tires up without much leg effort. Sorry if you already know but I struggled to get my brakes working well for decades so thought I share.

 

[JAndrea]

Great info! No, didn’t know any of this, and it will come in handy down the line if I have problems!

Great build thread. Love how you get in there do it all yourself.

I also have orig manual disc on my "69. You might already know but thought I mention some things I did to make my brakes work better. I went with 15/16 bore master cylinder instead of the larger bore to increase brake pressure reduce leg effort. The other thing which is a must is smaller rear wheel cylinders. I believe originals we're 15/16 and cause excessive premature rear wheel lock up. I ran 7/8 rear wheel cylinders much better. Recently swapped in 13/16 rear wheel cylinders they work great. I run red EBC pads up front adjustable prop.valve full pressure to the rear along with newly rebuilt front calipers. Brakes feels well balanced front to back. I can lock the tires up without much leg effort. Sorry if you already know but I struggled to get my brakes working well for decades so thought I share.

 

[JAndrea]

Widened the stance of the cart casters and installed some eye bolts for safety straps.

 

[JAndrea]

Dialing the Bellhousing next...

 

[JAndrea]

Dialed in the Bellhousing. This went very well. The most difficult part was setting up the damn dial indicator . I tried a couple of different methods but liked the Hurst method best. In the end my runout was .013” from farthest to closest of centerline. Divide that by 2 to get .007” from center... so that’s the size offset dowel pins I’ll buy from Robbmc Performance. Pins will be clocked to shift Bellhousing in the direction of the silver mark (0), the side closest to the centerline. At least... I think I’ve got it all figured out ;)

 

[moparmat2000]

Dialed in the Bellhousing. This went very well. The most difficult part was setting up the damn dial indicator . I tried a couple of different methods but liked the Hurst method best. In the end my runout was .013” from farthest to closest of centerline. Divide that by 2 to get .007” from center... so that’s the size offset dowel pins I’ll buy from Robbmc Performance. Pins will be clocked to shift Bellhousing in the direction of the silver mark (0), the side closest to the centerline. At least... I think I’ve got it all figured out ;)

View attachment 1715206496

View attachment 1715206497

Yep that's a pain in the butt

 

[JAndrea]

Installed the clutch (McLoed 75209 Super Street Pro Clutch Kit), Bellhousing, and soon to mate the transmission. Also picked up some 15x8 (SBP, 4.5” back spacing, or so) steelies from a fabo member, and just had some new Mickey Thompson ET Street Slicks (255/60r15) mounted to the wheels just yesterday. Gaaahhhhh!!!!

 

[Cuda68Scott]

I like the looks of steelies on these A bodies. Those M/Ts look like you mean business!

 

[moparmat2000]

Looks great, and the blk n wht pic makes it look like it was being done 50 years ago. Awesome progress.