Front end help

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Matt68

Matt68

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I've never owned an A body and I'm looking to pick up my first; a 1968 Barracuda. Slant six auto, but the engine is sitting really low. We had the car jacked up pretty high at the front bumper, and it still seemed to be sitting low. I'm sure the shocks are done, and I did'nt see any crack in the cross member. It's been suggested that the torsion bars or cross frame may be bad. Can I get some help from knowledgeable members based on a few pictures I have? TIA

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Can't see the torsion bars or rear crossmember in the photos. 65'
 
Hard to tell by the pics but everything is rusty, crusty, and in need of rebuilding. If it were me I would rebuild the whole thing before driving.
 
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Driver's side torsion bar is broken. That's a rusted out POS. I'd leave it sit right where it is.
BROKEN TORSION BAR.jpg
 
That car is pretty crusty. I'd leave it right where it sits. Look at the backside of the torsion bar cross member and see if the hex sockets are rusted loose.

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This will be a money pit!. If you have the money to fix just what we see here, you can afford to start with a better car........

Guess RRR beat me to it. :thumbsup:
 
Matt68 said:
Thanks guys! I'll avoid this one, even though its a convertible.
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Good call! Dust to dust as they say.

When you look at these as well, as far as the front end, the top of the frame rail will collect crud and rust out the "ears" for the Upper Control Arm" if that is rusted out then there is now way to adjust.

Good luck on your search

Roached Upper Control Arm.jpg
 
I've restored rustier, but it usually involves swapping an entire front clip off a good A-Body, here is a 67 convertible that we started with...

67 Barracuda vert 001.JPG
 
HemiSSDart said:
I've restored rustier, but it usually involves swapping an entire front clip off a good A-Body, here is a 67 convertible that we started with...

View attachment 1716056594
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Floors and frame rails are surprisingly decent on this Convertible; it's just that front that is really gone. Maybe one for you to pick up. It's in NJ and I'm sure you could probably get it cheap.
 
Matt68 said:
Floors and frame rails are surprisingly decent on this Convertible; it's just that front that is really gone. Maybe one for you to pick up. It's in NJ and I'm sure you could probably get it cheap.
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I am officially retired from buying parts cars, moving to Tennessee later this year and still have tons of stuff to sell and give away...
 
Post pictures of the rest of the car so we can determine a value for the car. It may turn out to be a good parts car.
 
rough and tumble, but it appears to all be there...

all of the PB blast, some blue wrench, tons of bottles and miles of wire. easy project.
 
junkyardhero said:
rough and tumble, but it appears to all be there...

all of the PB blast, some blue wrench, tons of bottles and miles of wire. easy project.
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I'm all about putting in the work, but some cars are beyond my capabilities. Like this one. Too bad because it's a pretty rare fish. Something like 2800 convertibles made in '68.
 
Good call Matt... that car is well past PB blaster... there will be frame sections that need replacing, if the person was basically giving it to you then i would say yes.. that's bout it

P.S. real shame though since it's kinda of complete.. that's one thing that's hard to find anymore and the one of the reasons i bought my car.. i'll be the first to mess it up :)
 
$2400.00 USD. Still alot of good parts for resale.
This is from cars report price guide magazine as of August 2022.
 
Icetech said:
Good call Matt... that car is well past PB blaster... there will be frame sections that need replacing, if the person was basically giving it to you then i would say yes.. that's bout it

P.S. real shame though since it's kinda of complete.. that's one thing that's hard to find anymore and the one of the reasons i bought my car.. i'll be the first to mess it up :)
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Well, we were at $3000 last time I talked to him. Knowing the front end rust and repair needed, not sure if he will go any lower.
 
The top side is its best feature and that ain't good.
 
Matt68 said:
Well, we were at $3000 last time I talked to him. Knowing the front end rust and repair needed, not sure if he will go any lower.
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yeah. .that sucks... shame to see a car get that bad.. but literally every panel would end up needing work/replacing.. sooo much money/work it would have to be something you REALLY love
 
It might be an 800 dollar car. I wouldn't give that for it.
 
Matt68 said:
Well, we were at $3000 last time I talked to him. Knowing the front end rust and repair needed, not sure if he will go any lower.
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i mean if you *had* to have a 68 vert and you wanted a massive project, that's not too far off.

it probably has about that in parts on it but that would be all uphill sledding
 
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