BBP swap, 65 Barracuda

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go-fish

go-fish

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Cart is in front of the horse but here goes....

I am going to be purchasing 1965 Barracuda for my daughter from a good member here (70% my money, 20% Grandpa's, and 10% hers). All three of us, plus my 12 y/o son, are very excited. I will shut up about the specific car because heaven forbid something prevent the sale. I have never had an SBP car so I'm unfamiliar with the nuances.

On to the meat and potatoes, if not for said car but for general knowledge.

Prospect:
Small Bolt Pattern car, front and rear. Manual brakes.

Parts on hand:
Front -
Donor parts from my 1973 Duster. Front and rear. I recently swapped to a Doctor Diff 11.75" front kit.
- Rotors
- Calipers
- 73+ spindles
- 73+ OEM upper control arms-
- Large ball joints
- QA1 Dynamic strut rods.
- Aluminum 15/16" master cylinder
- Pair of front Hotchkis/Fox front shocks

Rear - 8.25 / 3.21 rear out of my 1973 Duster.

Brakes:
Large bolt pattern 10.95" discs.
1996 and later Jeep Grand Cherokee brakes

Needs:
- Flex hoses
- Brake line
- Moog Problem Solver upper ball joints
- Wheel bearings
- 1996 Jeep GC rotors/calipers
- Rear caliper brackets
- LBP 15' Rallye Wheels (wheel spec and tire suggestions welcome
- Rear shocks
- U-bolts
- Shock plates
- Driveshaft

Please, list any additional needs or comments/tips.

Questions:
Some questions I have surround around the Jeep Grand Cherokee brakes. These are widely regarded as the easiest brake swap on an 8-1/4. How does the caliper mount to the rearend? I have read in searches , " Just go buy any 1996 or Grand Cherokee brakes. I assume there is a Jeep caliper bracket or a custom fabricated bracket. I can't find the brackets anywhere. I would like to pick up a Rock Auto caliper and rotor kit but there has to be a bracket out there somewhere.
Anyone got anything on re-using a '73 Duster / 8-1/4 driveshaft? If it is longer I can just have it cut, right? Yoke's the same?

I'll also be looking for a large sway bar and 1.03 torsion bars, used. If I could find some used tubular upper control arms that would be awesome! I am cleaning out my stash and trying to keep this as cheap as possible. By using the parts I have I would like to keep it manual so I don't have to buy power brake components and we will go to 15" tires for availability and longevity. Another thing that is a bonus is that while doing the driveshaft I will get rid of the ball and trunion.

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
go-fish said:
Cart is in front of the horse but here goes....

I am going to be purchasing 1965 Barracuda for my daughter from a good member here (70% my money, 20% Grandpa's, and 10% hers). All three of us, plus my 12 y/o son, are very excited. I will shut up about the specific car because heaven forbid something prevent the sale. I have never had an SBP car so I'm unfamiliar with the nuances.

On to the meat and potatoes, if not for said car but for general knowledge.

Prospect:
Small Bolt Pattern car, front and rear. Manual brakes.

Parts on hand:
Front -
Donor parts from my 1973 Duster. Front and rear. I recently swapped to a Doctor Diff 11.75" front kit.
- Rotors
- Calipers
- 73+ spindles
- 73+ OEM upper control arms-
- Large ball joints
- QA1 Dynamic strut rods.
- Aluminum 15/16" master cylinder
- Pair of front Hotchkis/Fox front shocks

Rear - 8.25 / 3.21 rear out of my 1973 Duster.

Brakes:
Large bolt pattern 10.95" discs.
1996 and later Jeep Grand Cherokee brakes

Needs:
- Flex hoses
- Brake line
- Moog Problem Solver upper ball joints
- Wheel bearings
- 1996 Jeep GC rotors/calipers
- Rear caliper brackets
- LBP 15' Rallye Wheels (wheel spec and tire suggestions welcome
- Rear shocks
- U-bolts
- Shock plates
- Driveshaft

Please, list any additional needs or comments/tips.

Questions:
Some questions I have surround around the Jeep Grand Cherokee brakes. These are widely regarded as the easiest brake swap on an 8-1/4. How does the caliper mount to the rearend? I have read in searches , " Just go buy any 1996 or Grand Cherokee brakes. I assume there is a Jeep caliper bracket or a custom fabricated bracket. I can't find the brackets anywhere. I would like to pick up a Rock Auto caliper and rotor kit but there has to be a bracket out there somewhere.
Anyone got anything on re-using a '73 Duster / 8-1/4 driveshaft? If it is longer I can just have it cut, right? Yoke's the same?

I'll also be looking for a large sway bar and 1.03 torsion bars, used. If I could find some used tubular upper control arms that would be awesome! I am cleaning out my stash and trying to keep this as cheap as possible. By using the parts I have I would like to keep it manual so I don't have to buy power brake components and we will go to 15" tires for availability and longevity. Another thing that is a bonus is that while doing the driveshaft I will get rid of the ball and trunion.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
By "get rid of the ball and trunion" do you mean you are also swapping to a later transmission, or are you going to go with the adapter driveshaft and retain the transmission output flange?
https://earlycuda.org/techdocs/ConvertFrontUJoint.pdf
If going with the adapter driveshaft, you'll just need to have one made since it involves a slip joint in the middle of the driveshaft.
As far as brakes, don't forget some type of distribution block/proportioning valve setup, since you'll be going from a single-circuit to a dual-circuit system.
The GC rear discs have a caliper bracket that bolts to the rear end housing. Those, the dust shields, and most of the parking brake hardware are going to be salvage yard items. You can also use Jeep Liberty rear discs, they have a little beefier rotor and pad (the early ones are still 5x4.5- what year the cutoff is I don't recall offhand). You will need to fab up some cable adaptors for the parking brake linkage with whichever ones you use.
Since they are floating calipers, you will need consider how you will anchor the rubber brake hoses to the rear end housing, maybe cut those brackets off the Jeep while you're at the boneyard getting the caliper brackets and other stuff.
 
Professor Fate said:
The GC rear discs have a caliper bracket that bolts to the rear end housing. Those, the dust shields, and most of the parking brake hardware are going to be salvage yard items. You can also use Jeep Liberty rear discs, they have a little beefier rotor and pad (the early ones are still 5x4.5- what year the cutoff is I don't recall offhand). You will need to fab up some cable adaptors for the parking brake linkage with whichever ones you use.
Since they are floating calipers, you will need consider how you will anchor the rubber brake hoses to the rear end housing, maybe cut those brackets off the Jeep while you're at the boneyard getting the caliper brackets and other stuff.
Click to expand...

As far as the Jeep GC brakes, I'm starting from scratch and I don't know of any yards around here anymore. Our state was cracking down on salvage licenses. A lot of the yards are now just scrappers. Maybe @mpgmike knows where some GC's or Liberty's are in salvage yards.

Looks like Liberty was 5x114.3 all the way from '02 to 2012.
 
Last edited:
go-fish said:
Needs:
- Flex hoses
- Brake line
- Moog Problem Solver upper ball joints
- Wheel bearings
- 1996 Jeep GC rotors/calipers/ brackets
- LBP 15' Rallye Wheels (wheel spec and tire suggestions welcome
- Rear shocks
- U-bolts
- Shock plates
- Driveshaft
Click to expand...
- Proportioning valve
 
my goodness those backing plates are spendy!

you can yoink them off any mid 90's to early 2000's JGC with discs and then source the consumables from rock or [insert your local parts depot here]. some people think that the GC stuff is a little light duty and "upgrade" to the liberty rotors and calipers, i've found it to be sufficient though.

you'll need to get *slightly* creative with the soft hoses to the axle and from axle to the the calipers, but that's straightforward work. hoppy posted the e-brake cable fix that works a treat.

a slight tweak may be going with the smaller 11" rotors and staying with drums out back. it'll have more than enough stopping power and then you can source 14" rallye wheels which would be easier and cheaper to find. 205's all the way around would make the car sit right, as well without too much fuss.
 
Yeah, pretty pricey but if I can’t find any yards with GC’s or Liberty’s it might have to do.

Edit- found a local yard that has a 1998 GC complete rearend for $250. They don’t sell parts so hopefully one will have an LSD.

I’ll just need to make sure it’s a Dana 35, which is compatible with 8.23. The Dana 44 in my ‘98 GC 5.9 Limited has the Dana 44A. I think the 35’ came in the 4.0 models.
 
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