Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

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crackedback said:
Hope that wiring kit isn't hard to hook up. :)
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crackedback said:

Thanks for buying one and adding the fan relay will help out your bulkhead.
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Everything looks good so far. I've only glanced at the instructions so far but they looked to be pretty thorough. I should probably change my name to Murphy though because if anything can go wrong it usually does.

I had a lot of goals set for this weekend:

1) I wanted to get the Barracuda on the road. (I've come close but without a drive shaft I'm behind schedule)

2) I wanted to get the garage cleaned out. (refer to #1 where the Barracuda is still occupying the space)

3) I wanted to go to the Fremont swap meet. (had to skip it on Saturday because I had too many other irons in the fire, but I'm hoping to go tomorrow)

4) I wanted to get the Lil Red Express moved into the garage in town. (AAAAGH!!! I always knew I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer but today I think maybe I'm a spoon.)

I went out to the farm with my son and moved all of the parts and household items surrounding it out of the way so we could roll the truck out. Without a carb or battery I had planned on trailering it the 5 miles back to town. The brakes were dragging on the truck bad enough at first that I got stuck on the first few attempts to pull the Red with my Ford across the yard to where the trailer was. Eventually they freed up and everything seemed fine. That's when it occurred to me that I might as well use the tow rope to get Red to town instead of the trailer. That way I wouldn't have to use a come-along to load it.

With my son steering Red I drove the tow vehicle. We made it about a quarter mile before the left front wheel came off. I had forgotten that the scab tires/wheels that I'd put on the Lil Red were an odd (and incorrect) bolt pattern. The lugs couldn't be tightened up. When the wheel came off it smashed the left front fender (and inner fender) behind the wheel well. Doh!

We pulled the truck off to the side of the road and went and got the chrome slots that were original to the Lil Red. After replacing all 4, we started back down the road. The right front brake caliper was dragging and kept locking up every 100 yards or so. We made it back to town but it took a long time. For now, I've got it parked on the lot behind my house.

5) I wanted to get my son's Challenger dropped off to the shop that is going to repaint it. (That went without a hitch)

6) I still need to take my son back to Des Moines, Iowa tomorrow. - I just hope I don't run into problems. It's a 3 hour trip each way. - Wasn't that the scheduled tour length for Gilligan and the Skipper?
 
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It was raining when we got up at 6 this morning. - Not what a person wants to see when heading out to a swap meet. I took my time getting ready in hopes that the rain would subside. Fremont is about an hour away from where I live and they put on 2 swap meets per year. I hate to miss one. Every time I do someone tells me they've seen parts sold that I need.

The rain just about killed the swap meet. There weren't half as many vendors as usual. And half of the vendors that were there kept their stuff hidden under tarps. I did manage to find a dust shield for the torqueflite for $15. - And I got a lead on the whereabouts of a possible replacement fender for the Lil Red.
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The weather might have been getting rough but the trip to and from Iowa was uneventful. We took my son's Roadrunner out for a spin and it seems to be running pretty strong. He's planning on taking it to the upcoming Good Guys show.


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Well, I've been cleaning up the dust cover and the line lock in preparation to put them on. I'm not looking forward to having to drop that starter again. Headers make everything so much fun. - At least I'm running a mini starter. While the paint dries I'll run back to the parts store for some flare fittings to use on the line lock and some bolts for the dust shield.

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I need to get started on the headlight relays too.


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I know that the damage to the Lil Red isn't super serious but it's still a set back. I only have a narrow window of time to get it ready for paint. Knocking off the surface rust that had formed since it sat, going through the brakes, replacing the fuel pump, and rebuilding the carb have all become priorities. I wasn't planning on the fender.

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You will learn to hate those street ETs. That is good cause then you will not mind burning the tread off them.

You are getting close for sure!
 
airwoofer said:
You will learn to hate those street ETs. That is good cause then you will not mind burning the tread off them.
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airwoofer said:

You are getting close for sure!
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You guys are sure scaring the hell out of me about these ETs. I've already been checking into those drag radials. I will probably wait until I do burn the ETs up. I'd think about driving the car longer distances if I had tires on that were made to wear better too.
 
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SONUVA... The dust shield that I picked up at the swap meet is not for a 727. It's for a 904. After dropping the starter that is not what I wanted to find out.
 
The headlight relays went in without a hitch. I ordered the kit from crackedback with a fan relay. I'm hoping on picking up a 727 dust shield later this evening so I can test things out. Right now, I've still got the starter dropped. I did try the headlights and the fan to make sure they operate but I still want to try them with the car running so I can see if there's less of a draw down on the electrical system and if the lights seem any brighter. One of the nice things about these kits is that they are custom made with all of the wire lengths you need. Everything is fused. No need to hunt down the right relays or relay sockets. If they work out as well as I've heard, I'm sure we'll be ordering kits for our other vehicles.
 
I've got an issue with the new shift light. The instructions called for taking the signal from the MSD box tach output terminal. That is the same location that my tach is getting it's signal from. The shift light was exhibiting erratic behavior when I first tested it. Sometimes it wouldn't come on and other times it wouldn't shut back off. I'm wondering if I shouldn't get the input signal from the coil instead. Anybody know?
 
famous bob said:
last shift light I hooked up, I got lazy and hooked it up to the appropriate existing tach. wire, worked perfectly. will probably do it on the barracuda also------bob
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Thanks for the response famous bob. Well, I did it the same way. Rather than make another wire run into the engine bay, I tied into the tach wire inside the cab. I'd bought a cheap light off of eBay and I'm not sure if it's the light itself that's causing the problems. What light did you use? If I can't get it to work right I may be switching to a different one.
 
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Now that the headlight relays are in place I started to bundle up the rest of the wiring.

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You guys may have noticed that the left side spark plug wire holder has the back two wires routed on the opposite side of where most people would position them. It was the best way I could find to keep those wires away from the header.

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My drive shaft guy (Spider Prososki) is going to bring the shaft to me tomorrow. He had a few concerns about the pinion splines and said he'd be most comfortable if he switched that rear yoke himself. - Sounds great to me. I'll have to do some shop cleaning today or plan on rolling the car out into the driveway.


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I took the Demon to the track with the new MT 315/60 DRs. They blow as bad as the MT Street ETs did, so the ET streets may not be so bad afterall. With the 416 275-60 Drs worked OK but it was only 60' at 1.60. The Demon is a bunch faster and until I figure out how to launch it I suppose only slicks will work. Maybe releasing the TB at the 'vert limit (about 5500) isn't the best technique...

Man too bad about the rear yoke cause it looks like you are close to your first burnout. Don't forget - you can start your burnout in 1st but get into 2nd before you lay on the throttle. Your foot and ankle will thank you.
 
airwoofer said:
I took the Demon to the track with the new MT 315/60 DRs. They blow as bad as the MT Street ETs did, so the ET streets may not be so bad afterall. With the 416 275-60 Drs worked OK but it was only 60' at 1.60. The Demon is a bunch faster and until I figure out how to launch it I suppose only slicks will work. Maybe releasing the TB at the 'vert limit (about 5500) isn't the best technique...
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airwoofer said:

Man too bad about the rear yoke cause it looks like you are close to your first burnout. Don't forget - you can start your burnout in 1st but get into 2nd before you lay on the throttle. Your foot and ankle will thank you.
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OK airwoofer, traction isn't my only concern. How did the ride compare between the ETs and the radials? I wasn't really pleased with the ride of the ETs and frontrunners. I was looking at some 24X5X15s and some 28X10X15s - MTs.
 
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733404spdCuda was right about those Purple Hornies. They are loud even outside. I love the sound of this new motor but after the newness wears off I'm pretty sure I'll be switching.
 
1967 'cuda said:
OK airwoofer, traction isn't my only concern. How did the ride compare between the ETs and the radials? I wasn't really pleased with the ride of the ETs and frontrunners. I was looking at some 24X5X15s and some 28X10X15s - MTs.
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Help you,a little.... Ran Sportsman Pro's: fair traction, too much sidewall flex. Seen E.T.Street's in action: good hookup,not much for inclement driving (at all...). BFG drag radials: good hookup, decent in bad weather,j.m.o. As for fronts,I hate mixing bias plies & radials. Of course, suspension has everything to do with it.
P.S.: everything was more consistent, with drag radials. J.m.o......
 
I remember when radial tires first got to be a big thing to run back in the 70s. Everybody claimed their cars handled so much better than with bias ply tires. I thought that they were exaggerating the claims of how much better the handling was, but I did notice an improvement. I'm so accustomed to running radials now that I no longer like the feel of non-radials. I still want to maintain big and littles but I've never run radials that had that large a difference in size between front and rear. I'm hoping it's a step up from what I've got now. - Otherwise it's a lot of money spent with no gain.
 
Ride? What's that? I have driven the car 5 miles each way to the track on the DRs but how it rides is of little concern. Traction is my only concern. You'll see when you get that fish rolling.

My car uses C-16 fuel and has a 1150 Dominator if that is any indication of how the engine runs.
 
airwoofer said:
Ride? What's that? I have driven the car 5 miles each way to the track on the DRs but how it rides is of little concern. Traction is my only concern. You'll see when you get that fish rolling.
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airwoofer said:

My car uses C-16 fuel and has a 1150 Dominator if that is any indication of how the engine runs.
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I'm definitely wanting to get some time at the track but I still plan on using the car as a daily driver. My main goal is to have a nice ride feel while trying to maintain the drag car look. If I can't get it to hook up I'll get another set of rear tires/wheels that I can swap when it's raced. I was hoping on finding one set of tires that would achieve both goals. I'd hate to mess with the 'image' I was going for.

If it was my Duster that we were talking about, traction would be my main concern.
 
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I ordered a new fender for the 'Lil Red last night. Yesterday I finished sanding the box components. Today I'll re-assemble the box and try to get it to the painter.

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I ran out to the farm yesterday and picked up more of the parts. There's some serious work needed to be done in the near future.

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