1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I don't like 'expensive'. I guess I'm hoping to find an eBay bargain on a used one.
Last edited:
Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
- Thread starter 1967 'cuda
- Start date
-
I don't like 'expensive'. I guess I'm hoping to find an eBay bargain on a used one.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
After I re-positioned the body hinges and cut the Lexan for clearance I noticed that the front body latch will also need to be re-done. It's amazing how making one change can affect so many other aspects of a build.
The windshield now:
I went ahead and removed the Lexan from the sides of the car. It's going to be the easiest access point getting in & out when the body is down.
Next on my agenda was the headers. I knew I needed to fine tune the fit after I made them and now that I believe I've got the body sitting the way it will stay it seemed like a good time to take care of them. I did a lot of measuring before I cut the tubes. Rather than a single bend - they needed to have a second 'kick-up' to be parallel with the body and each tube had to be slightly different.
This is the way they looked before I modified them. The ends are parallel to the ground but not with the body.
And this is how they fit now after tacking them back together.
I had to jack the car into the air prior to taking my measurements and cutting them up. There wasn't enough room to work with the car on the ground.
Rather than cutting off the flanges I chose to cut each tube and angle them up before tacking them back together.
As I was working on them it occurred to me that it might be nice to fab some caps to keep rain out. I cut the end off of a Mountain Dew can and polished it out to see how it would look. I'd often seen beer cans used before and thought this would be a cheap way to go.
The cans looked OK and I thought I might even spray them with some of that translucent red paint. Before I got that far I decided to tie the exhaust tubes together before final welding. It would keep them from moving around and strengthen each header. Unfortunately I won't be able to use the cans for caps now. I guess I'll fabricate one long oval cap for each side instead.
I still need to pull them back off and finish welding them but they already look 100% better to me.
The windshield now:
I went ahead and removed the Lexan from the sides of the car. It's going to be the easiest access point getting in & out when the body is down.
Next on my agenda was the headers. I knew I needed to fine tune the fit after I made them and now that I believe I've got the body sitting the way it will stay it seemed like a good time to take care of them. I did a lot of measuring before I cut the tubes. Rather than a single bend - they needed to have a second 'kick-up' to be parallel with the body and each tube had to be slightly different.
This is the way they looked before I modified them. The ends are parallel to the ground but not with the body.
And this is how they fit now after tacking them back together.
I had to jack the car into the air prior to taking my measurements and cutting them up. There wasn't enough room to work with the car on the ground.
Rather than cutting off the flanges I chose to cut each tube and angle them up before tacking them back together.
As I was working on them it occurred to me that it might be nice to fab some caps to keep rain out. I cut the end off of a Mountain Dew can and polished it out to see how it would look. I'd often seen beer cans used before and thought this would be a cheap way to go.
The cans looked OK and I thought I might even spray them with some of that translucent red paint. Before I got that far I decided to tie the exhaust tubes together before final welding. It would keep them from moving around and strengthen each header. Unfortunately I won't be able to use the cans for caps now. I guess I'll fabricate one long oval cap for each side instead.
I still need to pull them back off and finish welding them but they already look 100% better to me.
Last edited:
I love the way the body sits on the car now!
About the picture size reduction, I'm not sure why you do it in Paint. IrfanView can do that too. Open your original image and press CTRL-R. You should get a window like this:
Now, look at this:
- Simply enter the desired width of your output pic in the circled 'Width' box
- Set desired output resolution in the circled DPI box
- Select Resample and Lanczos in the 'Size method' section (underlined)
- Un-check the 'Use fast Resample' box.
Click OK and you're done.
You can undo and re-do until you're happy and then press 'S' to save with a new file name.
About the picture size reduction, I'm not sure why you do it in Paint. IrfanView can do that too. Open your original image and press CTRL-R. You should get a window like this:
Now, look at this:
- Simply enter the desired width of your output pic in the circled 'Width' box
- Set desired output resolution in the circled DPI box
- Select Resample and Lanczos in the 'Size method' section (underlined)
- Un-check the 'Use fast Resample' box.
Click OK and you're done.
You can undo and re-do until you're happy and then press 'S' to save with a new file name.
Don't know, really. I just thought I'd try both to see which one looked better. I for one can't tell the difference.
bkd
No more Scoops
jpeg are better...and 360DartGT66 has got it right, stay in irfan viewer and do it all in that program...you will get use to it just hunt around in the program it does a lot of things.
Brad
Brad
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Thanks again Anders. I've become so used to using Microsoft Paint that I was still using it for cropping and re-sizing. I only tried IrfanView for modifying the resolution. I will use your instructions when I make my next attempt.
Last edited:
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Don't know, really. I just thought I'd try both to see which one looked better. I for one can't tell the difference.
Thanks Brad. What is it about the jpegs that makes them better? I used to save everything as a bitmap and eventually changed to the jpeg format. I don't recall why I made that decision. It may have had something to do with the size limitations of the files when uploading them to sites or sending them in emails. - It was a long time ago. I guess I should research the answer myself.
You guys are really helping me out overcoming the problem I ran into. I was getting so frustrated I almost gave up. The results that 69_340_GTS showed were awesome. I still want to try one of those ALPS printers some day. I'd be in 7th heaven if I could achieve results that good.
Last edited:
Since I have so little to offer in terms of expertise in the field actually associated with this forum, I take every chance I get to offer unsolicited pointers in areas where I DO have a little knowledge - or at least experience. I've been given so much that I feel a strong urge to pay some forward.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Anders, apparently you don't realize how often guys like myself read your build thread and pick up info. There was a time when I was hesitant to post my daily project shenanigans because I didn't think my work was up to the standards of the guys with tons more talent. Eventually I noticed that I learned as much from the guys doing stuff on a shoestring budget. I've picked up some good ideas from you several times. Thanks.
Last edited:
You surprise me. I'm blushing.
69_340_GTS
Well-Known Member
Far as I know, the jpg is a much smaller file size than the bmp. Therefore, it is somehow compressed, and some fine detail is lost in the process.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I know that I've opened up images with Paint in the past to modify them and sometimes they had a much lower resolution afterwards. - Not sure what I'd done. Maybe I saved a jpeg as a bmp or vice versa. I don't play around with this stuff often enough to master the programs.
Last edited:
69_340_GTS
Well-Known Member
Yep, I think a lot of these imaging programs will default to "jpg". I still say that no matter what size, or resolution your original is, shrinking it to 1/25th scale (or whatever) will cause the image to lose tons of detail. (But there is a lot I do not know too!) If you find something that works, let us know.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I'll let you guys know what I end up using to get results I consider 'acceptable' but I doubt it will be the best of options when compared to the results I could get spending more $$.
Last edited:
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I put some more hours in the funny today. This time it was the steering gear. Right now I've got the mounting brackets in place but they'll need more tweaking to look & fit better.
The crossbar needed to be designed to be unbolted later for when the transmission needs to be removed. I made pairs of 2" X 4" flats. One pair is welded to the crossbar and the other to the frame.
The bottom of the steering gear is about 1" above the top of the transmission. Right now it seems very sturdy but I'll add more gussets yet.
The steering output shaft will still need to be lengthened but I won't deal with that for awhile.
It may not be rocket science but it took me a few hours to figure out where to locate everything. I'm hoping it looks a lot slicker once everything is welded, ground, and trimmed. I also picked up some more tubing for the cage. After really looking it over I believe I saw weak points that could buckle in an accident and needed reinforcement.
The crossbar needed to be designed to be unbolted later for when the transmission needs to be removed. I made pairs of 2" X 4" flats. One pair is welded to the crossbar and the other to the frame.
The bottom of the steering gear is about 1" above the top of the transmission. Right now it seems very sturdy but I'll add more gussets yet.
The steering output shaft will still need to be lengthened but I won't deal with that for awhile.
It may not be rocket science but it took me a few hours to figure out where to locate everything. I'm hoping it looks a lot slicker once everything is welded, ground, and trimmed. I also picked up some more tubing for the cage. After really looking it over I believe I saw weak points that could buckle in an accident and needed reinforcement.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
It never seems to me that I've made much progress on the funnycar so I went back and reviewed some of the pictures I took this year.
I started with a bare rusty chassis and a pair of slashed slicks. There was a pair of hoops for a cage that were too tall to set the body onto.
The body was badly broken and there was no provision for mounting it to the frame.
After deleting the double hoops I finally made some hinge brackets and mounted the body. I also cut some Lexan to help the body maintain it's proper shape while I started doing fiberglass repair work.
Eventually I made motor mounts and installed the Hemi. I also bought a transmission adapter so the 727 could go in. Before long I had seat mounts, a radiator mounted and a fuel cell. I even made a latch to keep the front down. I notched the frame's main upper cross support to allow the seat to be moved further back. Floor supports added also.
The cage tubing made it feel more complete but I wasn't satisfied with what one of the local chassis builders had made. I added additional supports when I made the steering box mount. It's triangulated better now.
I started with a bare rusty chassis and a pair of slashed slicks. There was a pair of hoops for a cage that were too tall to set the body onto.
The body was badly broken and there was no provision for mounting it to the frame.
After deleting the double hoops I finally made some hinge brackets and mounted the body. I also cut some Lexan to help the body maintain it's proper shape while I started doing fiberglass repair work.
Eventually I made motor mounts and installed the Hemi. I also bought a transmission adapter so the 727 could go in. Before long I had seat mounts, a radiator mounted and a fuel cell. I even made a latch to keep the front down. I notched the frame's main upper cross support to allow the seat to be moved further back. Floor supports added also.
The cage tubing made it feel more complete but I wasn't satisfied with what one of the local chassis builders had made. I added additional supports when I made the steering box mount. It's triangulated better now.
69_340_GTS
Well-Known Member
It looks pretty dang cool to me.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Thanks GTS. It's getting pretty late in the year and I don't know if I'll get much more done. I know I still need to finish welding the headers up. It will probably be heading out to the back of the house while I start working on the Charger again.
I promised my son I was going to get the garage cleaned out and fit that Vintage Air system and route the Painless wiring harness. If I don't start back on that project it won't be ready for the motor when it's done.
The last I heard the aluminum KB Hemi is still scheduled to be shipped in October. Now he's having problems getting a fresh pair of Stage V heads for it.
Last edited:
No progress, huh?
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
No progress, huh?
I know that the car is further along than it was 6 months ago but it's still got a really long way to go. At my age I don't think I can afford to wait 5 years to get it done.
I've got a lot of circle burner friends that churn out new race cars in just a couple of months. I know they're not 'restoring' stuff (which is time consuming) and most of the components they use are brand new (although more expensive, it speeds the builds along). Trying to do things on the cheap with used parts takes time.
Last edited:
If you've got money - and time - there's hardly a challenge to doing this.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
You forgot knowledge & talent. I could use more of those too.
Last edited:
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
The annual Fremont, Nebraska Fall swap meet was today. I didn't have high hopes of finding anything we needed but ended up buying a 9" Ford pumpkin with a spool and a fresh set of 5.29 gears. My original plan was to scrap the 9" housing that was in the car and build a Dana for it. I would have liked to have stuck with that plan but by the time I would have bought another rear end, had it narrowed and bought a spool & set of gears for it - it would have cost me quite a bit more. I paid $180 for the swap meet find. I still need axles and brakes but I don't think I'll get those soon.
With the center section in place I can see just how little room I will have between the driveshaft and the bottom of the seat. There may be some future tinkering with the rear end's location yet. I know I'll have to modify the driveshaft loop position already.
With the center section in place I can see just how little room I will have between the driveshaft and the bottom of the seat. There may be some future tinkering with the rear end's location yet. I know I'll have to modify the driveshaft loop position already.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
That Carrera racetrack set that I'd bought was pretty cool (and large) but I tend to shoot for overkill when I start a project. I purchased 19 extra straight sections of track and 28 extra curved ones off eBay. The straightaways were barely long enough to allow full speed with the cars. I'm hoping that a few really long straight sections combined with a bunch of S curves will double the time it takes to make a lap.
I'd like to make a big table to set it all on. I think it might have to be about 8' X 20'.
I'd like to make a big table to set it all on. I think it might have to be about 8' X 20'.
SNKEBIT
Spending $$ on Mopars
Slippery slope there, John. Been down that road too. You need a large room dedicated to the track/train set up. There is never enough room on the floor in the spare room.
-
