Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

[dragondan64]

Hey buddy, those panels look good, what exactly are you building? Just covering the fenderwells? Hey on another side note, thanks for sticking up for me on that dang thread about elite ripping me off. Gez that turned into a circus LOL!!! People running their uneducated uninformed mouths cracked me up. I just left a whole page of rebuttal for what some were saying about slandering that LIAR LOL!! Anyways don't want that to bleed into this post so im looking forward to seeing the finished product of your engine bay!

Hey my dad just called and said his representative from Chrysler/Dodge says our Hellcat is scheduled for delivery December 18th!!!! Gave dad the VIN #s and title number for verification and insurance! At least I will be back home in Florida to document the truck delivering it to his garage!! Here is a pic of the Hellcat parking lot full of Hellcats ready to ship!!!

 

[1967 'cuda]

Hey buddy, those panels look good, what exactly are you building? Just covering the fenderwells? Hey on another side note, thanks for sticking up for me on that dang thread about elite ripping me off. Gez that turned into a circus LOL!!! People running their uneducated uninformed mouths cracked me up. I just left a whole page of rebuttal for what some were saying about slandering that LIAR LOL!! Anyways don't want that to bleed into this post so im looking forward to seeing the finished product of your engine bay!

Hey my dad just called and said his representative from Chrysler/Dodge says our Hellcat is scheduled for delivery December 18th!!!! Gave dad the VIN #s and title number for verification and insurance! At least I will be back home in Florida to document the truck delivering it to his garage!! Here is a pic of the Hellcat parking lot full of Hellcats ready to ship!!!

Yup. I am strictly trying to improve the appearance with the panels. They don't weigh a lot but it will still add another 3 or 4 pounds to the front of the car.

I know that you were upset in that other thread and I understand why. I like FABO. I joined it for the sense of comradery with fellow Mopar heads. But there is a segment within this community that seem to live for the drama. Hopefully it won't leave a bad taste in your mouth.

I wouldn't have stood up for you (or anyone else) if I hadn't felt that you were in the right. I'm glad you started that thread. I'm sure that there are others that are grateful that you did too. It will likely save a few members from getting burned by that guy. I appreciate your effort.

I told my son that you guys had a Hellcat on order. You'd have thought that I'd just told him that I'd befriended Don Garlits or Richard Petty. Needless to say, he was impressed.

I am looking forward to hearing a detailed account of the car. That picture you posted of the parking lot full of Hellcats reminds me of the ones you'd see of the rows of Superbirds and Daytonas from back in the day. - Pretty cool!

 

[dragondan64]

LOL! cool! LEt your so know that my father is also good friends with Garlits and a lot of the old school drag racers from way back when real men raced real cars! YEah he was so excited telling me about the Hellcat coming early I thought he might need oxygen! My mom said he went straight out to the garage to get it cleaned up and make room for the new toy!

Yeah that pic of all those cars also reminded me of dads pics of car lots back in the day with all the mopars!!! Oh that would have been fun!

YEah it takes more then a few ignorant uneducated morons runningtheir mouth about things they know nothing about to leave a bad taste in my mouth lol! My tastes are more refined then they know! LOL! Like i said before IF their opinions mattered it might bother me but they DONT so why waste my energy? It actually makes me laugh at how ignorant and stupid they are. Ok buddy have a great week I am going to get my 68 ready to haul home to sunny Florida where we will be going to the beach very soon and kissing the snow goodbye!

 

[1967 'cuda]

I am going to get my 68 ready to haul home to sunny Florida where we will be going to the beach very soon and kissing the snow goodbye!

- Must be rough. The closest I get to escaping Winter is when I head 5 miles south to our farm. Good luck on the trip.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Now don't think that I'm jealous. Sunshine. Warmth. Girls in bikinis on the beach. A Hellcat on the way...

OK, maybe I am a little bit jealous.

 

[1967 'cuda]

OK. I decided I couldn't wait and made the trek to the nearest Harbor Freight (50 miles away). I picked up some wheels and compound so that I could continue on with the engine compartment. I keep hearing horror stories about snow on it's way and I can't afford to let things sit for weeks while I wait for supplies. Progress is slow enough the way it is.

I tried to photograph the front panel with a portion of the polish job started. Sometimes it's difficult to see the change because the buffed area acts like a mirror. I am such a cheapskate at times. The aluminum that I'm using has one side painted and a brushed finish on the other. It's time consuming to make it smooth. If I just spent the bucks to buy new polished sheets things would be so much easier.

It took me almost 2 hours to finish buffing the first piece. - And I haven't done the final polish on it yet. I'll most likely be up all night trying to finish all of the pieces.



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[dragondan64]

Now don't think that I'm jealous. Sunshine. Warmth. Girls in bikinis on the beach. A Hellcat on the way...

OK, maybe I am a little bit jealous.

Well looks like you had the getting busy bug! Dang nearest harbor freight is 50 miles? You live on a ranch or farm? Big property out in the Nebraska countryside? My dads property is about 10 acres with a small lake and my Florida home is on 1.5 acres with fruit trees about 1/8 mile from the beach access and boat marina on Siesta Key Island in Sarasota and yeah plenty of beaches there for people watching if you like to lol! Well at least you have the winter down time to get he race car ready for next year! Should look great!

Yeah yeah, with all your killer toys you understand! Yeah my wife and kids are looking forward to being back in Florida going boating and seadoo-ing! That reminds me I need to get my boat taken out of dry-dock and serviced!!

 

[Abodybomber]

OK. I decided I couldn't wait and made the trek to the nearest Harbor Freight (50 miles away). I picked up some wheels and compound so that I could continue on with the engine compartment. I keep hearing horror stories about snow on it's way and I can't afford to let things sit for weeks while I wait for supplies. Progress is slow enough the way it is.

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I tried to photograph the front panel with a portion of the polish job started. Sometimes it's difficult to see the change because the buffed area acts like a mirror. I am such a cheapskate at times. The aluminum that I'm using has one side painted and a brushed finish on the other. It's time consuming to make it smooth. If I just spent the bucks to buy new polished sheets things would be so much easier.

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It took me almost 2 hours to finish buffing the first piece. - And I haven't done the final polish on it yet. I'll most likely be up all night trying to finish all of the pieces.

Looks good , '67 Cuda. If tired of running the 100 mile round trip to Harbor, a small company named Dico polishing products , are occasionally stocked at Ace & True Value hardware. As for giving up ? Not a chance, in hell. The hood is on, trying to clean lots of odds and ends up.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well looks like you had the getting busy bug! Dang nearest harbor freight is 50 miles? You live on a ranch or farm? Big property out in the Nebraska countryside? My dads property is about 10 acres with a small lake and my Florida home is on 1.5 acres with fruit trees about 1/8 mile from the beach access and boat marina on Siesta Key Island in Sarasota and yeah plenty of beaches there for people watching if you like to lol! Well at least you have the winter down time to get he race car ready for next year! Should look great!

Yeah yeah, with all your killer toys you understand! Yeah my wife and kids are looking forward to being back in Florida going boating and seadoo-ing! That reminds me I need to get my boat taken out of dry-dock and serviced!!

I live in a small town of about 2500 people. When my folks passed away I bought their house in town and 3 acres of their farmstead with my portion of the proceeds from the land sale. The nearest Harbor Freight is in Lincoln, Nebraska. So, I'm still a poor slob struggling to make ends meet by most people's standards. If I hadn't accumulated so much junk from my younger days (when stuff was cheap) I'd only be able to daydream about owning most of what's here on the yard now.

But that's alright with me. I've always thought that I'd rather be good looking than wealthy. I'm just hoping that the good looks show up one of these days.

I've always been a land-lubber. Those Jaws movies have convinced me that it's the way to be. Them Sea-Doos look like they'd be a lot of fun for folks that are able to stay above water. I swim like a rock.

So the wife and kids are crossing the country with you? I think you should map out some stops along the way. Maybe see the world's largest ball of twine. There's a head in a weird storefront in Lebanon, Tennessee that they claim is from a bigfoot-like creature. You could visit Metropolis. Maybe stop at the future birth place of James T. Kirk. The lamer the attraction - the better. It'll have your wife rolling her eyes every time you suggest another family outing. But it'll make for some unforgettable photographs.


I snapped these when we drove the '68 Chevelle back to Nebraska from Georgia. (disregard the date stamps. I didn't know how to set up the camera at that time)

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[1967 'cuda]

Looks good , '67 Cuda. If tired of running the 100 mile round trip to Harbor, a small company named Dico polishing products , are occasionally stocked at Ace & True Value hardware. As for giving up ? Not a chance, in hell. The hood is on, trying to clean lots of odds and ends up.

We do have an ACE Hardware here in town but it's pretty dinky. Unless I'm in the market for common hardware items, they have to special order things in.

I SURE hoped you were staying in the game. That hood was really turning out nice. It made me want to build an air box setup beneath my 'Cuda's scoop.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I give up. I've spent most of the last 7 hours buffing these panels and I'm burnt out. It's about 4 a.m. and it's time to call it quits. I got about 2/3 of the way done. I'm not sure which I would choose if I was given the choice between being water boarded or buffing any more aluminum.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Buffing sucks. I hate it. Covered from head to toe with black dust.rotest:

 

[1967 'cuda]

Alright. The Charger. The Roadrunner. The 'Cuda. The Barracuda. The Challenger. The Duster. My carbon footprint may not be as large as Al Gores but I've been trying to do my part to bring on global warming. It's not working.

High winds and sub freezing temperatures are bringing me down. I may be inside the garage but it's far from toasty in here. I may have to stick my head inside the refrigerator to warm up. My only consolation is knowing the flies have to be as miserable as I am. I guess I shouldn't complain about today's weather. The forecast is worse for the next few weeks.

I put a delay on the buffing this morning because of the misery factor, but I know I've got to resume. How does that saying go? "There's no rest for the wicked". I most be one evil S.O.B.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Buffing sucks. I hate it. Covered from head to toe with black dust.rotest:

I thought we were supposed to be allowing all of the illegals into this country so we wouldn't have to do this kind of work.

 

[SNKEBIT]

I thought we were supposed to be allowing all of the illegals into this country so we wouldn't have to do this kind of work.

You are too cheap to pay the cheap labor anyway.......:cheers:

Besides, if you are like me, they wouldn't do it well enough anyway. rayer:

BTW, shitload of snow today. (I want to swear a lot right now.)

 

[1967 'cuda]

You are too cheap to pay the cheap labor anyway.......:cheers:

Besides, if you are like me, they wouldn't do it well enough anyway. rayer:

BTW, shitload of snow today. (I want to swear a lot right now.)

____________________________________________________________
You are too cheap to pay the cheap labor anyway.......:cheers:

(obviously you've been talking to Teresa)

Besides, if you are like me, they wouldn't do it well enough anyway. rayer:

(you overestimate the quality of my work)

BTW, shitload of snow today. (I want to swear a lot right now.)

(if you're saying this to cheer me up - it ain't working)

 

[SNKEBIT]

BTW, shitload of snow today. (I want to swear a lot right now.)

(if you're saying this to cheer me up - it ain't working)

Actually laughed out loud. (wife is lookin at me funny):cheers:

 

[1967 'cuda]

(wife is lookin at me funny):cheers:

Unfortunately this seems to happen a lot with us Mopar guys.

 

[Cuda68Scott]

My wife looks at me funny most of the time. I think it now may be just an unconscious reaction caused by repetition over the years....

BTW the orange on your grill in the newer photos look better or maybe it's just growing on me! You have my approval to keep it now! I know you were waiting on that!

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well I'm done with the first cut on my aluminum. Everything is nice and shiny. I used the brown compound and am now debating if I want to go back over with the white. My plan is to tint these panels a copper/gold color after I form them and I don't know if the extra effort is worthwhile.

I thought that I'd clean any of the buffing compound residue off with some WENOL. It didn't work too bad but it's difficult to do without leaving a smeary finish on a panel this large. I need a decent hand held buffer to get things better.

I'm sure that there are a lot of guys out there that figured out I was an idiot long ago. For those of you that weren't quite convinced, - let me describe the way I buffed out these panels.

First of all try to imagine that you're holding onto about 6 square feet of razor blade. You have a bench grinder with 8" buffing wheels on it. The bench grinder spins at 3450 RPM. That equates to around 7500 SFPM (surface feet per minute). I know that I've lost some of you already, but that's the approximate recommended speed for this work. That is roughly 85 miles per hour.

Now the trick is to keep the 6 square foot of razor blade-like material from getting snagged by the wheels that have that surface speed of 85 miles per hour as you struggle to reach every square inch of it you can. Things get really hairy when they don't go right. This isn't a job for the faint of heart. You need to be idiot enough to be willing to do it but not idiot enough to kill yourself. You'll know when I've reached that second plateau when these posts stop.




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[1967 'cuda]

My wife looks at me funny most of the time. I think it now may be just an unconscious reaction caused by repetition over the years....

BTW the orange on your grill in the newer photos look better or maybe it's just growing on me! You have my approval to keep it now! I know you were waiting on that!

My wife looks at me funny most of the time. I think it now may be just an unconscious reaction caused by repetition over the years....

Nah, she was most likely holding back when you were first married.

BTW the orange on your grill in the newer photos look better or maybe it's just growing on me!

It's funny you should say that. I was thinking the same thing.

 

[1967 'cuda]

There are a few more panels that I will need to fab before I'm done. Because they will overlap the side panels I didn't want to measure or cut them yet. If these first few panels fit right, I'll go ahead and start on the rest. This may end up looking like an ugly duckling without the firewall done to match. I still don't want to pull that motor.

 

[Abodybomber]

Well I'm done with the first cut on my aluminum. Everything is nice and shiny. I used the brown compound and am now debating if I want to go back over with the white. My plan is to tint these panels a copper/gold color after I form them and I don't know if the extra effort is worthwhile.

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I thought that I'd clean any of the buffing compound residue off with some WENOL. It didn't work too bad but it's difficult to do without leaving a smeary finish on a panel this large. I need a decent hand held buffer to get things better.

View attachment 1714766321

I'm sure that there are a lot of guys out there that figured out I was an idiot long ago. For those of you that weren't quite convinced, - let me describe the way I buffed out these panels.

First of all try to imagine that you're holding onto about 6 square feet of razor blade. You have a bench grinder with 8" buffing wheels on it. The bench grinder spins at 3450 RPM. That equates to around 7500 SFPM (surface feet per minute). I know that I've lost some of you already, but that's the approximate recommended speed for this work. That is roughly 85 miles per hour.

Now the trick is to keep the 6 square foot of razor blade-like material from getting snagged by the wheels that have that surface speed of 85 miles per hour as you struggle to reach every square inch of it you can. Things get really hairy when they don't go right. This isn't a job for the faint of heart. You need to be idiot enough to be willing to do it but not idiot enough to kill yourself. You'll know when I've reached that second plateau when these posts stop.

It's a *****. Been there a few times. The " brown compound" , should be the general working compound , to get a general polish. The Wenol is a damn site better, than jeweler's rouge. ( J.M.O....) Try stripping Porsche wheels, of their silver anodizing. Easy low buck trick, was easy off . Works sometimes, not this time. I spent more money wet sanding uniformly, (beer and wet/ dry sandpaper...) than it was worth. Hey, you learn....

 

[1967 'cuda]

It's a *****. Been there a few times. The " brown compound" , should be the general working compound , to get a general polish. The Wenol is a damn site better, than jeweler's rouge. ( J.M.O....) Try stripping Porsche wheels, of their silver anodizing. Easy low buck trick, was easy off . Works sometimes, not this time. I spent more money wet sanding uniformly, (beer and wet/ dry sandpaper...) than it was worth. Hey, you learn....

I've tried the Easy-Off before but didn't have as good of results as what I'd hoped for. I was trying to strip the anodizing off of trim for a '70 Camaro. For the most part I ended up just buffing through it instead. I had looked online for various stripping methods and tried several including one that used lye. I can't remember which solution that I mixed, but one of them that was supposed to dissolve the anodize ate most of the aluminum before the anodize was half way off.

I used up a half pound of the brown compound doing these panels and I had to stretch what I had to get them done. It took a lot of work to smooth out that brushed finish. The cheapest compounds I found were on eBay in the 1 to 2 pound bricks. Harbor Freight's prices on wheels was pretty good though. I've never bought those 'wavy' wheels. I know they cost more. Are they worth it? Are they any good?

I like the WENOL for polishing stuff with light corrosion but I'm not so sure I see much of an improvement on things that have already been buffed. It does a nice job of cleaning off the compound residue though.

 

[Abodybomber]

I've tried the Easy-Off before but didn't have as good of results as what I'd hoped for. I was trying to strip the anodizing off of trim for a '70 Camaro. For the most part I ended up just buffing through it instead. I had looked online for various stripping methods and tried several including one that used lye. I can't remember which solution that I mixed, but one of them that was supposed to dissolve the anodize ate most of the aluminum before the anodize was half way off.

I used up a half pound of the brown compound doing these panels and I had to stretch what I had to get them done. It took a lot of work to smooth out that brushed finish. The cheapest compounds I found were on eBay in the 1 to 2 pound bricks. Harbor Freight's prices on wheels was pretty good though. I've never bought those 'wavy' wheels. I know they cost more. Are they worth it? Are they any good?

I like the WENOL for polishing stuff with light corrosion but I'm not so sure I see much of an improvement on things that have already been buffed. It does a nice job of cleaning off the compound residue though.

On the brown/ Dico " Tripoli" compound : It tends to load up hard, when you are impatient. If you are leaving residue on what you are polishing, you are using too much. It's the main cutting compound,it's your " get quick work done buddy". What is the speed RPM on your buffer ?/ diameter of wheel ? Yes, you need something softer than a standard cutting wheel. (P.S .: You are dressing the buffing wheel(s) , every time you change compounds ?