Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

[1967 'cuda]

I think the late 80:ies, early 90:ies cars, well, what are you going to do to make them special? The 24" rims could be the natural route. It's not like the tricks used on 40, 50, 60 or 70:ies cars would work as well on them. They're too blocky. You can't turn a 1986 Cutlass Ciera into a slammed and chopped 1950 Mercury no matter how hard you try.

The rat rod circus is a lot of fun. Enormous amounts of creativity. Anything goes. Semi truck wheels, re-bar grilles, three foot shifter handles. I like it. I wouldn't go there myself but that's just me.

First of all, let me start by stating that I don't think I'm a racist. It just dawned on me that one trend that's different between whites, blacks, and Hispanics is that Caucasians are more likely to build cars that are horsepower orientated and mimic race cars (either drag or road course).

The donks and lowriders seem more laid back with a concentration on creature comforts like DVD players, subwoofers, sunroofs, heavily padded diamond-tucked upholstery, gold plating, wire wheels, etc...

There does seem to be a mix between the cultures with the rice burners. Again, they're not my cup of tea but that's generally because I don't care for the body styling.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Myself , I don`t understand what a run of the mill mustang, corvette, or new car is doing in a car show. there are hoards of them and their nothing special no matter what u do to them. a hummer, come on , really !

My son and I were talking about this yesterday. We could acknowledge that the fleets of Camaros and Mustangs consisted of some nicely detailed cars but couldn't see ourselves wanting to invest our time building something as common at the shows.

 

[1967 'cuda]

FedEx just dropped off the wiring harness from Painless. I'll start checking it out and reading the instructions but I won't start any installation until we get the parts from Vintage Air. My plan is to route all the wiring and figure out what mods I'll have to do to hook into the Dakota Digital cluster and that Vintage Air equipment. I'll try to buy or fabricate whatever clips we'll need to keep things tidy. It will all have to come back out before we move onto the body work.

I wanted to take a closer look at that purple '68 Charger that was at the car show. The owner had a Painless harness on it.

 

[360DartGT66]

That looks like a lot of hours saved.

 

[1967 'cuda]

That looks like a lot of hours saved.

I hope so. Every wire has labeling printed along it the full length and is color coded. We'll be able to eliminate the bulkhead connector on the firewall and avoid most splicing.

When we pulled the cluster out of the Roadrunner last week I hated having to squeeze my hands behind it to connect the switches. If possible, I'll try to plan out this wiring so that it's friendlier to work on by adding a little extra length.

I wanted to install the fuse panel behind the glove box and make a 'false back' that could be removed for easy access. Spencer wants the panel mounted under the dash on the left side of the steering column. I hate having to kneel next to the car to inspect and change fuses.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Why does your kid wanna do everything the hard way????

 

[1967 'cuda]

Why does your kid wanna do everything the hard way????

1)- Maybe because I'm the one that actually has to do the work?
2)- Maybe he's into S/M?
3)- Could be he hates me and wants to see me suffer?
4)- He enjoys seeing the perplexed look on my face?
5)- public school system?
6)- He's now 'college educated'?
7)- Probably a genetic trait. (I'm constantly battling my 'inner idiot')

 

[69_340_GTS]

8) Old guys are stupid and know nothing of any value.

(by the way I'm 60 and I feel your pain John)

 

[1967 'cuda]

8) Old guys are stupid and know nothing of any value.

(by the way I'm 60 and I feel your pain John)

I'm just a few months behind you GTS. I guess that means we're both stupid.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Have you not told him that there are a bunch of us on here that have "been there, done that"? The kid should be "listening". lol
Or, a boot to the ***.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Have you not told him that there are a bunch of us on here that have "been there, done that"? The kid should be "listening". lol

Or, a boot to the ***.

I love the kid dearly but I do get frustrated sometimes. There have been a few times when we butted heads and came up with a compromise that was better than anything I'd have done without his input. I do like brainstorming with someone and am a firm believer that two heads can be better than one. BUT, a lot of times he refuses to listen to sound advice.

I want the Charger to be HIS build. I don't want to be the one making all the decisions. - If I did, I think it would seem more like my car than his. His taste in cars isn't that much different than my own so I don't usually have to worry much about the direction the build is going. - And I do like many of his choices already. - The Dakota Digital cluster, K-frame, and drivetrain were his ideas and I like all of them. We didn't butt heads on those.

The problems usually show up when it comes to implementing the ideas he gets and when he totally disregards advice.

He chose an awfully expensive route on the vent system. I think I'd have saved him at least $500 if allowed to modify the original parts. I felt I gained a small victory getting him to install any form of ventilation at all.

When he wanted to eliminate the wipers I thought I won out again when he accepted my plan to move the motor inside the driver's compartment.

He still wants to convert the hideaway headlights to electric despite the fact I've already rebuilt the vacuum setup. I guess I won't fight him on that but it seems wasteful.

I'm sure we'll continue to disagree as things progress.

 

[ssba]

Thanks for sharing the show John. Your funny looks bad a$$ opened up in the sun.
Looked like it was a perfect day to be pressing the pedal down on this one. Gots ta be so much fun with that little red ram.

 

[360DartGT66]

He chose an awfully expensive route on the vent system. I think I'd have saved him at least $500 if allowed to modify the original parts. I felt I gained a small victory getting him to install any form of ventilation at all.

When he wanted to eliminate the wipers I thought I won out again when he accepted my plan to move the motor inside the driver's compartment.

I'm sure he'll (silently?) thank you dearly for both of those.

He still wants to convert the hideaway headlights to electric despite the fact I've already rebuilt the vacuum setup. I guess I won't fight him on that but it seems wasteful.

A working, re-built vacuum headlight hideaway setup for a Charger must be possible to sell att a pretty decent price.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Thanks for sharing the show John. Your funny looks bad a$$ opened up in the sun.

Looked like it was a perfect day to be pressing the pedal down on this one. Gots ta be so much fun with that little red ram.

View attachment 1714959258

It's a 315 in there and that's a new intake from HOT HEADS on it. - Didn't seem to be putting out much for power but it still looked pretty cool. I think he put it all together earlier this year.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I'm sure he'll (silently?) thank you dearly for both of those.

I'm not sure whether or not he'll be glad he's got the wipers and vent system after the car's done. All I know is that I'll be glad he's got them. That blower is gonna restrict his vision already. I don't want a fogged up windshield with dew or raindrops making matters worse.

A working, re-built vacuum headlight hideaway setup for a Charger must be possible to sell att a pretty decent price.

We tend to sell off unused parts at a significant loss just to get them out of our way. I don't know how much of a demand there is for the vacuum setup. - Maybe from guys that buy a Charger without a front clip?

 

[1967 'cuda]

It was a lo-o-o-ong day today. I already had the Roadrunner loaded and the truck gassed up. Spencer was heading back to Des Moines from Columbus and was going to meet me in Des Moines when I dropped the car off. He wasn't going to leave too early so I waited until 10:00 a.m. before leaving from here. I grabbed a couple bottles of Mountain Dew and an extra pack of smokes in preparation for the trip. Hmmm, - maybe I should have grabbed a spare for the truck instead...

Despite running into a lot of roadwork I made pretty good time. No flat tires or truck problems but I did have a number of close calls with other traffic. I swear some people intentionally try to make me swerve when they see me pulling a trailer. There were at least a half dozen times when I had to slam on the brakes and move over to avoid cars that were cutting me off as they changed lanes in front of me.

I've come to the conclusion that everybody on the road (except me) is an idiot and out to get me. I made doubly sure that I kept the Roadrunner in my rear view mirrors. I knew I had it securely cross-strapped down but I wanted to make certain the swerving and rough roads didn't cause anything to shift.

I wouldn't describe the trip across I-80 as scenic. According to my odometer it's about 220 miles each way and each one is as mind numbing as the one before. They do have a crapload of windmills along the interstate halfway through Iowa. - Otherwise you better love the sight of cornfields if you want to enjoy the view.

When I got to Spencer's house I unloaded the car and went out to eat with the boys. It would have been nice to relax and have spent the night but my ex was supposed to show up there tomorrow and I had to get back for the funeral in Nebraska. We stopped at Popeye's and grabbed some chicken.

Before leaving Spence handed me the yoke from Moser. It had been shipped to his house. I should be able to use it to determine the driveshaft length we'll have made.

I ran into a lot of traffic delays when I returned through Omaha. With 8 lanes of road, it was so jammed up that traffic was totally stopped. I guess I don't usually drive through Omaha during rush hour so I don't know if this was normal. Maybe there was an accident up ahead. The way people there drive I'd say it'd be surprising if there wasn't.

I didn't get home much before 8:00 p.m. While I was gone UPS dropped off the transmission adapter from HOT HEADS. I was excited to see it but too tired to do anything more than open the box. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a chance to fit things together before the wake service.

 

[360DartGT66]

Looks like you need to balance the front end on your truck judging by the shaking in that last pic.

Man, those RR:s are looong. That trunk lid must weigh a ton.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Looks like you need to balance the front end on your truck judging by the shaking in that last pic.

Man, those RR:s are looong. That trunk lid must weigh a ton.

The non-Mopars here are my redheaded step children. - Yeah, they do tend to get beat more than their share. The red truck is pretty stable although it could use more power for towing. I don't have to flog it too much pulling one of the A-bodies or the funnycar. Asking it to tow a B-body is akin to abuse. When I pulled Spencer's Challenger it felt like I had the e-brake on and I prayed for a tail wind.

That last picture was taken in the garage. The shakiness was due to a combination of fatigue and excitement. LOL.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I think the FedEx guy feels he's got job security as long as I'm still working on projects. He dropped this box off today.

 

[1967 'cuda]

It'll take me a while to sort through the parts and read the instructions. I'd felt that I could have built a custom system that would have worked but I'm sure it wouldn't have been as nice as one of these kits.

Some of the parts I was glad to see were these duct adapters that tie into the dash vents.

Rather than the odd ductwork that starts round on one end and is formed rectangular on the other, this kit uses standard round ducting.

Another nice thing is the elimination of cable controls and a replacement switch panel that fits into the factory location. The slider controls don't give away the electronics behind them.

Elimination of the cables for controlling the various doors is accomplished by using servo motors that are mounted on the main box. The fan motor no longer protrudes through the firewall but rests under the dash on that main enclosure.

I have yet to read those instructions so I'm not sure where all the brackets are used.

One of the packages included a wiring harness with a relay.

Another package had adapters for the coolant lines and heater hoses. If I'm not mistaken, the purchaser could choose a custom location passing through the firewall. Because we're not going to set up anything more than a venting system I don't think we'll be using these.

Also included were the block-off plates that were meant to cover the holes left in the firewall from the original equipment. We chose to weld the firewall holes shut so I doubt we'll need these either. Although the finish was acceptable on most parts these plates arrived pretty scratched.

This piece must attach to the main enclosure. I'll know more after additional reading. I'm guessing it protrudes below the dash to direct the air for heat to your feet.

 

[360DartGT66]

Looks like a great kit, John!

 

[1967 'cuda]

Looks like a great kit, John!

Gosh, I sure hope so. I haven't ever heard anybody disparaging Vintage Air yet. I did help a buddy install one in his '70 Camaro awhile back and we didn't run into any problems. The only thing I didn't care for was the flat steel plate that covers the original firewall holes. Although they're custom cut for each application, they still look out of place. My personal advice to anyone installing one of these setups would be to consider welding the holes shut and tossing the plate. The factory firewalls are never flat. Unless you're planning on replacing the original firewall with a flat smooth one I don't think they look right.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Sad day today.

It was good to see so many of my relatives that I hadn't seen in years, but it was a bittersweet reunion. My aunt kept her composure through the funeral but broke down crying at the following reception.

I hadn't known that my cousin had regained consciousness after being struck by the bicyclist. I found out that my aunt had gotten to the hospital before the brain surgery. Even though her eyes were closed, Paulette (my cousin) clutched my aunt's hand and had tears streaming down the side of her face as they wheeled the gurney down the hall. Paulette couldn't speak but my aunt told her not to worry because she would be waiting for her when the procedure was over. That was the last time she saw her.

She had been struck so hard that she suffered several internal injuries in addition to the head trauma. They estimate the woman on the bike was traveling almost 40 mph when it happened.

It was a closed casket funeral.

It's hard not to be angry. That bike trail is frequented by many people that walk along it as well as little kids that play there. They say that no charges will be filed. If it was an out of control motorist driving at an unsafe speed that had killed someone I'm sure it would be viewed as a homicide.

Life's not always fair. It goes on even when tragedies take away those dear to us. I find myself questioning what is wrong with me. I'm sad. I feel numb. - but I can't cry. As much as I want to console my aunt, I find myself wanting to avoid her so I don't have to see the pain on her face. I don't have the words...

Paulette is survived by her mother, husband, and daughter.

 

[Cuda68Scott]

Sorry to hear about your cousin John. I am sure your aunt appreciates you being there, that in itself is more help than you realize.

 

[SNKEBIT]

So sad.............................