Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

[famous bob]

Quieter is usually better.

wow, we don`t have those restrictions on our vintage plates. no mileage either, I have a 68 okla tag on my 68 barracuda. all we have to do is pay the specialty tag fee when registering it. will get the yearly sticker for the windshield, not put on the tag like normal. or so they told me at the tag office. will be doing it pretty quick.
67cuda: do you know of robs performance there in diller ?

 

[1967 'cuda]

If you are not driving like an idiot, normally the cops around here don't bother us "antique" car guys.

I suppose the decibel level might affect their reaction.

Quieter is usually better.

I know I need to quiet down the Barracuda. It's so loud that even mild acceleration draws attention from police. I haven't been terrorizing the neighborhood, - in fact my son and I are about the only ones around here that don't speed in this residential area. It does seem like we're more likely to get pulled over though. Most of the newer 'vanilla' SUVs, commuter cars, and even the police cars appear to ignore the traffic laws with impunity.

 

[1967 'cuda]

wow, we don`t have those restrictions on our vintage plates. no mileage either, I have a 68 okla tag on my 68 barracuda. all we have to do is pay the specialty tag fee when registering it. will get the yearly sticker for the windshield, not put on the tag like normal. or so they told me at the tag office. will be doing it pretty quick.

67cuda: do you know of robs performance there in diller ?

So does that mean you still have to pay yearly fees also? I like the fact they don't restrict driving down there. The restriction seems senseless when you consider that most of these cars aren't driven much.

I never heard of them but did an online search. I couldn't find any info other than (what I think may be) their contact number & address. They're about 100 miles away from me and I see that Diller, Nebraska is a pretty small town - less than 300 people.

Midwest Performance Products
71125 HWY 103
Diller, NE 68342
Phone: (402) 239--8740
E-mail: [email protected]

Just out of curiosity, why did you ask?

 

[1967 'cuda]

Waiting 40 years to assemble parts is not a good plan. The steering gear I'd bought 'back in the day' was rusted solid. It took me a few days to free it up & clean it up. I still need to replace bearings but otherwise it seems OK now.

I realize that it won't work with my rack &pinion setup but I've been debating which system to use. The rack setup is difficult to use because the steering wheel is centered behind the engine.

I still have no idea what this gearbox originally was off of. It's a ROSS box with casting #142978. I tried a Google search but didn't get any hits. I like the compact design but I wonder if the ratio is going to work. It's 3&1/4 turns lock to lock. Without making the rest of the linkage I won't be able to know. I assume I'll be able to adjust the lengths of the arms to compensate.

Tomorrow I'll be getting the cage hoops formed. I'll probably have a transverse hoop fabbed across the transmission to act as a combination gearbox and interior panel mount. To prevent interference with drivetrain removal I'll need it to be a bolt on piece.

 

[360DartGT66]

That's a sweet piece!

You know, you could use a little trigonometry to figure out how to design your steering linkage.

 

[1967 'cuda]

That's a sweet piece!

You know, you could use a little trigonometry to figure out how to design your steering linkage.

I figure that if I once measure how far the arm on the spindle needs to move to go lock to lock, - then I can make the arm for the box that will give me the corresponding throw. It may take some experimentation. One of the concerns is that a ratio that is too fast would take too much effort to turn.

With that butterfly wheel I'd like to keep the number of rotations to a minimum but I'm also concerned about a ratio that would be so touchy that minor movements would cause an oversteer.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I've been somewhat absent from FABO this week. I needed to spend time with trimming hedges, mowing, raking, cleaning off the driveway, etc, etc... I don't know if it improved my neighbor's property values but the lack of tools & parts in front of my house was probably appreciated.

Preparation for Halloween is still going on. This year we'll be running 5 projectors tied to 5 computers. I've been scouring eBay for bargains so we could afford to pull it off. So far I've managed to keep the cost down but I did have problems with a used laptop I purchased. They sent a slower one than advertised and the LCD screen was cracked. I've sent it back and am awaiting a refund. Some of the locals have already been asking what I've got planned for this year. I think they'll be entertained by what they'll see.

A few weeks ago Sedanman posted a 1/32- 1/24 scale Carrera racetrack for sale here on FABO. I debated getting it because I've seen a similar one pop up for sale the past few years at a swap meet that's coming up next weekend. As cool as I always thought it was I'd always passed on it but dreamt of having it. I don't know if it'll be back for sale this year but decided to go ahead and buy the one Sedanman had advertised here anyway. This thing is WAY COOL!! It's got 32' of track but I wish it had about another 60' so I could run some longer straightaways. I set it up in the basement on the floor for now to test it out. Most of it works perfect. I did have to solder one wire in one of the controllers, the lap counter isn't working yet, and the two 1/24 scale cars need attention. My only complaint is that there weren't any Mopars. I may have to add to the stable that came with it.

I ta;led Teresa into giving it a try and she liked it almost as well as I did. I always had HO scale tracks when I was young and loved them but the cars always looked like a blur when they moved so fast. This larger scale seems 10X better.

I did manage to replace my lug nuts on the front of the funnycar. Now I can roll it around without the wheels wobbling.

The good news is that the cage is in. The bad news is that I need to modify the body hinges AGAIN. After re-measuring for head clearance we found that the top of my helmet was going to be even with the top of the bars. Things are tight where height is concerned now but it works. If I have to raise the rear of the body further than what looks good (too much rake) I can compensate by mounting the rear end higher in the chassis to bring it back down. The bottom of my seat is about 3/4" above the driveshaft loop. I'll probably bring it down on top of it and put a solid plate between the two.

Compared to modern funnycar cages this looks pretty bare but it's not much different than some of those used back in the day. I may add a few more bars before I'm done and I'll gusset some of these.

I still need to finish fabricating a mount for the steering gear and then I'll be ready to start on the aluminum interior.

I had the driveway cleared off for a couple of days but now the Charger & funnycar are back in front of the house. I need to get some more work done on them before October 1st when they need to go away for the Halloween season. I've come to realize that I'm a slob by nature when I'm working on a project. I really need to keep the mess down to a minimum for awhile.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Why can't life be easy? After getting the funnycar back home I knew I had to re-do the body hinges. The roof of the car was resting on the cage and the front end couldn't come down far enough to latch. I cut the hinge brackets off and re-positioned the body with jacks. I shortened the brackets and welded it back together. I didn't take into account that raising the back of the body would change the pitch enough to cause the blower scoop to hit the Lexan windshield. I guess I'll have to enlarge the hole in the Lexan now.

I'm pretty sure I'll be lowering the chassis yet. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it on stands and cut the rear end loose. I can't go too far before I'll have driveshaft to seat clearance issues.

I did buy a can of that Metal cast red paint to try on the fuel cell. When I get a chance I'll see how it looks. Maybe I'll even start on the shroud & mounts for the electric fans.

 

[360DartGT66]

That roll cage looks great!

I bought two kits of Carrera track for my kids way before they were old enough to appreciate - much less handle or build - them. They are so much fun!

 

[1967 'cuda]

That roll cage looks great!

I bought two kits of Carrera track for my kids way before they were old enough to appreciate - much less handle or build - them. They are so much fun!

These days kids all want to sit around playing video games. I don't have anything against it except I think that too many of them spend too much time focused on the tube. There are so many different forms of entertainment out there. I still think that Play-Doh is one of the best toys ever invented.

The racetrack is a nice addition to the basement. With the pinball machines, X-Box, board games, and the movie theater there's plenty of variety downstairs. Outside they've got a park a few blocks away and a croquet set here. As important as I believe it is to learn a good work ethic when they're young, they're only going to be kids for a short time. Too many are influenced by television and want to get into serious boyfriend/girlfriend relationships (sex) when they should still be doing kid stuff.

Yesterday I was thinking that I needed some Mopars for the track so I went online and bought a few. Actually, I bought a pair of Mopars and a pair of Fords. I always liked late 60s/early 70s NASCAR racing so I got a Superbird, a Roadrunner, and a pair of Torinos.

Some day I'd like to have a collection of 'movie cars' for the track. I loved the movie GRAND PRIX and would like a pair of those cars from 1967. I thought the movie RUSH was awesome and would like to get replicas of James Hunt's and Niki Lauda's cars also.

 

[360DartGT66]

I saw Rush on a plane which unfortunately makes you guess the dialogue most of the time. I'd like to see it properly some day, though.

The cars are good additions, I think!

 

[1967 'cuda]

In another total waste of time I decided to make a Christmas present for a friend of mine. I've known him since he was a kid and he races sprint cars now.

Despite having most of the valuable die cast cars stolen from the farm I still have hundreds more. Among the ones left were several 1/64 scale sprint cars. These were made by RACING CHAMPIONS and they came with a card that had the driver's picture and a stand. I decided to make a replica of his car and give it to him.

So far I've removed one of the cars from it's blister backing and cleaned the adhesive off of the plastic. Then I used my computer/printer to make a new card with his image and a new name for the stand. I also re-made the backing for the blister pack. All that's left is to re-paint the car and print new decals for it. Then I can re-assemble it and it should look like one that was purchased at a store.

My biggest problem so far is finding high resolution images of his car. The only ones I've got are 300 dpi and I can't reduce them without losing all of the detail. He doesn't live close by and his car is dismantled now. I've considered trying to duplicate the pictures that I've got of his car by putting them up on a 50" TV and re-photographing them at a higher image setting. I don't know how well that will work.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I saw Rush on a plane which unfortunately makes you guess the dialogue most of the time. I'd like to see it properly some day, though.

The cars are good additions, I think!

When I was young NASCAR and local dirt track racing were the only forms I enjoyed until I saw the movie GRAND PRIX. Seeing the cars driving through places like the streets of Monaco was amazing. I never thought much more about Formula 1 racing until I watched RUSH. I haven't gotten Teresa to watch it yet but I want her to see it on the movie screen downstairs. I don't think you'd have to be a racing fan to enjoy it.

 

[69_340_GTS]

I hate to tell you this, when reducing any type of photo that small to make a decal, you will lose tons of detail. I have made decals for 1/25 scale models, and the only way I know of to get crisp lettering/graphics is to actually draw the artwork in a vector-based software. Most CAD programs will output vector graphics, but I'm sure someone in the decal business can suggest better software specifically for drawing images such as these. For some lettering (only) if you can find a true-type font for the style you wish to replicate, you can print the decals right from MS word all the way down to about 6-point type if needed (and if you use a color laser printer or an ALPS printer). For a while, I was making ALPS decals for a few models I built. I used CAD-KEY, plus MS Word, plus strategic layering of colors(decal on top of decal) to do these. Very time consuming and difficult!

Numbers and sponsor logos on hood & trunk done with MS Word, CAD, on ALPS:

All the magenta & black lettering done with ALPS and MS Word only:

 

[1967 'cuda]

I hate to tell you this, when reducing any type of photo that small to make a decal, you will lose tons of detail. I have made decals for 1/25 scale models, and the only way I know of to get crisp lettering/graphics is to actually draw the artwork in a vector-based software. Most CAD programs will output vector graphics, but I'm sure someone in the decal business can suggest better software specifically for drawing images such as these. For some lettering (only) if you can find a true-type font for the style you wish to replicate, you can print the decals right from MS word all the way down to about 6-point type if needed (and if you use a color laser printer or an ALPS printer). For a while, I was making ALPS decals for a few models I built. I used CAD-KEY, plus MS Word, plus strategic layering of colors(decal on top of decal) to do these. Very time consuming and difficult!

Numbers and sponsor logos on hood & trunk done with MS Word, CAD, on ALPS:

All the magenta & black lettering done with ALPS and MS Word only:

As much as I pride myself in learning new things I've had miserable luck learning to use a few of the non-Microsoft paint programs in the past. If I cannot get the results I want with my current plan I'll be taking your suggestion. So, is there a good image program out there that's designed for dummies? What's the simplest to use with good results?

 

[1967 'cuda]

I unbolted the rear end in the funnycar so that I could drop the back of the car further down. It's loose beneath the car right now and until I cut some brackets I can't bring it forward to center in the wheel wells yet.

In order to set the body back down I had to remove the carbs for windshield clearance. I didn't want to cut that Lexan until I was certain where it needed to be done.

I thought I'd see how far I could go and have dropped it 6" so far. I liked the look but dropping it this far is too much and won't work. My pinion height would be too high without raising the seat which I cannot do. I'll have to find a happy medium.

After I get the proper height set for the body again, I'll go back and modify the headers so that they're parallel and closer to the rocker panels. If I have to I may raise the back of the engine/transmission a bit to keep the driveshaft inline with the pinion location. - Once again, I can't go too far without having seat clearance problems.

 

[69_340_GTS]

As much as I pride myself in learning new things I've had miserable luck learning to use a few of the non-Microsoft paint programs in the past. If I cannot get the results I want with my current plan I'll be taking your suggestion. So, is there a good image program out there that's designed for dummies? What's the simplest to use with good results?

Seems like the various Corel-Draw products are very popular. I never felt like spending the money on them or spending the time required to learn them. Here is a site that explains how to make vector based graphics (and much more): Design your own Alps / OKI custom decals

 

[1967 'cuda]

Seems like the various Corel-Draw products are very popular. I never felt like spending the money on them or spending the time required to learn them. Here is a site that explains how to make vector based graphics (and much more): Design your own Alps / OKI custom decals

Thanks for the link GTS. It seems as though you and Anders are on the right track. It'll take awhile for my brain to absorb all the info in the link. What I've read so far is pretty interesting. I've got water slide decal paper that is supposed to work with ink jet printers. Although I haven't used any yet I believe they recommended a clear coat over the decals before transferring them. I hate to invest in another printer but if I could find a reasonably priced ALPS printer I might actually spring for it. I know they say you don't have to use one but the idea of having white ink is intriguing.

Tonight I'll try to read through the rest of that article.

 

[360DartGT66]

John, I think you should be able to shrink the pic you posted with preserved detail if you use a better program for it.

Try this one:
IrfanView

Just make sure you uncheck any additional stuff when you install it, like Bing search bar and stuff like that. Cnet likes to add that sort of stuff.

It is simple to use. Open the file, press ctrl-R and choose the output size you want. You can select algorithm, I believe, to get the result you like.

I could do it for you but I'm on my phone now.

IrfanView has one great feature. It can resize (or modify in other ways) a batch of files, like for instance all pictures in a folder. It can output all the resulting files to a different folder to avoid irritating duplicates. This is great for sizing photos that you want to post online if you don't want them to be overly large. You can also remove meta data from jpegs when you save them. This reduces file size and also improves privacy when location data and other stuff isn't posted online.

I use it all the time. One thing it will not do is let you add stuff to the image, like circles and arrows to point at things. I personally use Paint for that simply because it's convenient and loads really fast as opposed to Gimp, which is a really powerful - and free - albeit bulky alternative to the Adobe products.

 

[Abodybomber]

I know I need to quiet down the Barracuda. It's so loud that even mild acceleration draws attention from police. I haven't been terrorizing the neighborhood, - in fact my son and I are about the only ones around here that don't speed in this residential area. It does seem like we're more likely to get pulled over though. Most of the newer 'vanilla' SUVs, commuter cars, and even the police cars appear to ignore the traffic laws with impunity.

What mufflers,do you have now,John?... A friend had a way overbuilt 327 small journal ,with 3" exhaust out the sides(66 Nova..) He had packed mufflers from "Raven" ,a straight through design... Sounded like two uncorked Harleys,rolling down the boulevard... He was broke,all we had lying around was burnt out Magnaflows..We repacked the Magnaflows,installed inline.. That car was as quiet,as a mouse afterwards. Love the work,on the Funny...

 

[360DartGT66]

I'm back home now. Here's what I got with IrfanView, both pics are 200 pixels wide, one is a jpeg, the other a png.

 

[69_340_GTS]

Thanks for the link GTS. It seems as though you and Anders are on the right track. It'll take awhile for my brain to absorb all the info in the link. What I've read so far is pretty interesting. I've got water slide decal paper that is supposed to work with ink jet printers. Although I haven't used any yet I believe they recommended a clear coat over the decals before transferring them. I hate to invest in another printer but if I could find a reasonably priced ALPS printer I might actually spring for it. I know they say you don't have to use one but the idea of having white ink is intriguing.

Tonight I'll try to read through the rest of that article.

I doubt you'll find an ALPS printer anywhere. They have not sold them for years. Plus the ribbons have gotten super expensive and hard to find sometimes. I still have mine but rarely use it. Nice to have for special projects, but it is very expensive to have. The print heads have a very limited life span. I believe this is why they stopped selling them, at least in North America.

 

[famous bob]

I doubt you'll find an ALPS printer anywhere. They have not sold them for years. Plus the ribbons have gotten super expensive and hard to find sometimes. I still have mine but rarely use it. Nice to have for special projects, but it is very expensive to have. The print heads have a very limited life span. I believe this is why they stopped selling them, at least in North America.

back to the funny car. do you plan on running it at the dragstrip? if so, they may not let you w/o having an escape hatch of some sort. the first thing anybody wants to do after a wreck is -get out of the car !! not saying your going to have a wreck but----------------

 

[1967 'cuda]

John, I think you should be able to shrink the pic you posted with preserved detail if you use a better program for it.

Try this one:
IrfanView

Just make sure you uncheck any additional stuff when you install it, like Bing search bar and stuff like that. Cnet likes to add that sort of stuff.

It is simple to use. Open the file, press ctrl-R and choose the output size you want. You can select algorithm, I believe, to get the result you like.

I could do it for you but I'm on my phone now.

IrfanView has one great feature. It can resize (or modify in other ways) a batch of files, like for instance all pictures in a folder. It can output all the resulting files to a different folder to avoid irritating duplicates. This is great for sizing photos that you want to post online if you don't want them to be overly large. You can also remove meta data from jpegs when you save them. This reduces file size and also improves privacy when location data and other stuff isn't posted online.

I use it all the time. One thing it will not do is let you add stuff to the image, like circles and arrows to point at things. I personally use Paint for that simply because it's convenient and loads really fast as opposed to Gimp, which is a really powerful - and free - albeit bulky alternative to the Adobe products.

Before I had a chance to finish reading the link that GTS sent me I saw your post Anders and decided to download that IrfanView program. Sometimes I'm really bad at comprehending instructions. It gets worse when there is any terminology that I'm unfamiliar with. Nonetheless, I gave it a quick try (not knowing what I was doing).

The original image:

The original image reduced in size with the Windows Paint program:

After I modified the image with IrfanView and then reduced it with the Windows Paint program:

My second attempt at modifying the image with IrfanView and reducing it in the Windows Paint program seemed to be much clearer but I'm not sure it worked because when I view the image it 'looks' bigger despite showing the dimensions I want when I re-open it with Windows Paint:

 

[1967 'cuda]

I'm back home now. Here's what I got with IrfanView, both pics are 200 pixels wide, one is a jpeg, the other a png.

View attachment 1714969223 View attachment 1714969224

So are png images better? I've always been saving stuff as jpegs.