Just got this 1969 Barracuda Vert. Looks great, it is an older restoration. It is a 318 4brl. This is my first mopar and I am going to put a larger engine in it eventually. My question is this where should I start as far as suspension etc? Being that I am a newbie I want to try to limit my mistakes by getting a plan before starting. It appears that when it was restored none of the suspension or anything under the car was done. The tranny was rebuilt along with the engine.
Need help with a logical plan
- Thread starter Roccos69
- Start date
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Eric_S68
Well-Known Member
Rocco, 1st Question is what is the intended use for the car?
Lots of options.. with plenty of opinions .. with $ Spent...
By the way ... Palm Bay Here :headbang:
Judging from the pic thats an Awesome car!! I like :blob:
Lots of options.. with plenty of opinions .. with $ Spent...
By the way ... Palm Bay Here :headbang:
Judging from the pic thats an Awesome car!! I like :blob:
Eventually I want to put a big block in. Intended use, I drive it around town, I would like to cruise at old town every once in a while. Wouldn't mind taking it to the track every once it is done to see what it can run. But mainly a driver with HP.
By the way we have a Condo on Cocoa Beach and we try to get there most weekends. Thats not too far from you is it?
By the way we have a Condo on Cocoa Beach and we try to get there most weekends. Thats not too far from you is it?
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Beautiful car you bought! Good luck with it!
I'd suggest a set of KYB gas shocks and a polygraphite bushing package. Just DON'T install the lower control arm bushings with the ploy's... unless they've been re-engineered. The lower poly's bushing have a habbit of moving around. Otherwise, the poly kit really tightens up the front end. If the joints and tie rods are questionable this would be a good time to think of re-building the front end. A complete kit will run about $400 for all the bushings and hard parts (ball joints,tie rods, sleeves, idler arm, etc...) Next up would be a set of sub-frame connectors. These tie the front and rear unibody frames together making the car stiffer, a serious consideration for a convertible. These need to be welded in, although they do sell bolt-in connectors, which just seem to be another flex-point for the chassis.
http://www.p-s-t.com/mopar/mofekpgs.html#PLYMOUTH
BTW: My Sister moved to Orlando a few months ago. When I come down to visit her I'll have to beat the drum and round up all you Floridians for a get together.
I'd suggest a set of KYB gas shocks and a polygraphite bushing package. Just DON'T install the lower control arm bushings with the ploy's... unless they've been re-engineered. The lower poly's bushing have a habbit of moving around. Otherwise, the poly kit really tightens up the front end. If the joints and tie rods are questionable this would be a good time to think of re-building the front end. A complete kit will run about $400 for all the bushings and hard parts (ball joints,tie rods, sleeves, idler arm, etc...) Next up would be a set of sub-frame connectors. These tie the front and rear unibody frames together making the car stiffer, a serious consideration for a convertible. These need to be welded in, although they do sell bolt-in connectors, which just seem to be another flex-point for the chassis.
http://www.p-s-t.com/mopar/mofekpgs.html#PLYMOUTH
BTW: My Sister moved to Orlando a few months ago. When I come down to visit her I'll have to beat the drum and round up all you Floridians for a get together.
Well not saying it can not be done and done good with a big block. But man that is a lot more weight and twist in a convert. I would reccomend a stroker small block.
Less money and will handle better for less $$$. Go with a 360 stroker 408. Best bang for the buck!
And I would do a complete restore of the entire suspension and at the same time add a nice set of disc brakes up front and maybe some .890 torsion bars too!
Great looking ride!
Less money and will handle better for less $$$. Go with a 360 stroker 408. Best bang for the buck!
And I would do a complete restore of the entire suspension and at the same time add a nice set of disc brakes up front and maybe some .890 torsion bars too!
Great looking ride!
flyboy01
Its almost done!
If you are going to a big block, here is what I would do.
On a budget:
$260.00 PST Poly suspension rebuild kit.
$150.00 PST KYB shocks
$175.00 Mancini XHD 5 leaf rear springs (MRE19811982)
$100.00 JUST SUSPENSION front sway bar
$100.00 JUST SUSPENSION rear sway bar
$150.00 PST Complete brake rebuild kit
$ 70.00 New front rotors (auto parts store)
$300.00 Mancini .920 torsion bars (P5249151)
Mancini Racing
Just Suspensions
PST Suspensions
All out:
$1799.00 RMS 4 link rear suspension kit
$3500.00 RMS Alterkation front kit (include susp & brakes)
RMS (Reilly Motor Sports)
On a budget:
$260.00 PST Poly suspension rebuild kit.
$150.00 PST KYB shocks
$175.00 Mancini XHD 5 leaf rear springs (MRE19811982)
$100.00 JUST SUSPENSION front sway bar
$100.00 JUST SUSPENSION rear sway bar
$150.00 PST Complete brake rebuild kit
$ 70.00 New front rotors (auto parts store)
$300.00 Mancini .920 torsion bars (P5249151)
Mancini Racing
Just Suspensions
PST Suspensions
All out:
$1799.00 RMS 4 link rear suspension kit
$3500.00 RMS Alterkation front kit (include susp & brakes)
RMS (Reilly Motor Sports)
ValiantMike
Well-Known Member
Just a couple of questions. Is this a numbers matching car? Is car as nice as it appears in your pics? If the answer to both of these questions is yes, you may not want to do radical changes to it, hurting its value. If you are looking for opinions on having a strong running car that isn't too wild to drive on the street, then my opinion would be to get a 360 and build it up to the power you want. Beef up your trans, get a good converter for your needs, make sure you have at least an 8 1/4 rear, 8 3/4 even better, with a mid 3.00s ratio and suregrip and pinion snubber, absolutely install frame connectors, and fit the largest tires you can in the rear. If original motor is numbers matching, save it. you can build 360 to unbeleivable HP amounts, without the extra weight of a bigblock. JMO, Mike
flyboy01
Its almost done!
Rocco,
The smartest thing to do on any mopar you get is:
1. Brakes. Make sure to replace all wearable parts and hoses. If you have drums in front, chuck them and get a disc setup at least. This should be the first upgrade for any Mopar.
2. Upgrade the suspension, at least install new shocks, if the suspension is worn, replace all the front bushings, upgrade torsion bars to at least .920, this will make it a fun, stable, ride. You would be stupid not to add a front sway bar for $99, this will make your car predictable in emergency lane changes amd give you better handling, add the rear bar to make it even better.
3. Now its time to go throught he steering system, check the steering bushings and maybe add a new steering box.
Now you can go through the engine. I agree a 360 is a great place to start if you are doing a budget engine build, add a set of Magnum 360 heads and you will have an easy 375 HP engine. Stick with a Magnum RPM Air-gap intake and a 650 CFM Edelbrock Carb, go with the Performer RPM Cam too.
If you take it to the next level, go with Edelbrock heads with the same combo above and you will get about 425-450 HP easy. Dont forget to add a good higher stall TQ converter and a set of 3.5-ish gears.
Want to bust some balls on the street, go with a a 408 stroker, it really is not going to add much in cost to the above combo, maybe another $1K. Now you up to 500Hp, but you will get a serious increase in torque. Be prepared, at this level you will need to make sure your trans and rear end are up to snuff. Did I mention you will probably be running 11's with this combo?
Now for the serious stuff. Think about this. You ever wanted an engine that makes small children break out in spotaneous crying when you start it? Try getting a 400 Block and dropping in a 440source.com stroker kit with Edelbrock heads. Now we are talking 500 ci, if that dont get you respect, the 550-575 HP will, and the 600 ft/tq will make grown men piss themselves in fear. Run it with a 250 @ .050 duration cam, an 850 Demon carb, a set of 2" TTI headers, and a victor intake. This is serious big boy territory here, might weigh about 100 lbs more than the small block above, but, oh yeah, it will cost about the same as that 408 stroker. :headbang:
The smartest thing to do on any mopar you get is:
1. Brakes. Make sure to replace all wearable parts and hoses. If you have drums in front, chuck them and get a disc setup at least. This should be the first upgrade for any Mopar.
2. Upgrade the suspension, at least install new shocks, if the suspension is worn, replace all the front bushings, upgrade torsion bars to at least .920, this will make it a fun, stable, ride. You would be stupid not to add a front sway bar for $99, this will make your car predictable in emergency lane changes amd give you better handling, add the rear bar to make it even better.
3. Now its time to go throught he steering system, check the steering bushings and maybe add a new steering box.
Now you can go through the engine. I agree a 360 is a great place to start if you are doing a budget engine build, add a set of Magnum 360 heads and you will have an easy 375 HP engine. Stick with a Magnum RPM Air-gap intake and a 650 CFM Edelbrock Carb, go with the Performer RPM Cam too.
If you take it to the next level, go with Edelbrock heads with the same combo above and you will get about 425-450 HP easy. Dont forget to add a good higher stall TQ converter and a set of 3.5-ish gears.
Want to bust some balls on the street, go with a a 408 stroker, it really is not going to add much in cost to the above combo, maybe another $1K. Now you up to 500Hp, but you will get a serious increase in torque. Be prepared, at this level you will need to make sure your trans and rear end are up to snuff. Did I mention you will probably be running 11's with this combo?
Now for the serious stuff. Think about this. You ever wanted an engine that makes small children break out in spotaneous crying when you start it? Try getting a 400 Block and dropping in a 440source.com stroker kit with Edelbrock heads. Now we are talking 500 ci, if that dont get you respect, the 550-575 HP will, and the 600 ft/tq will make grown men piss themselves in fear. Run it with a 250 @ .050 duration cam, an 850 Demon carb, a set of 2" TTI headers, and a victor intake. This is serious big boy territory here, might weigh about 100 lbs more than the small block above, but, oh yeah, it will cost about the same as that 408 stroker. :headbang:
When I get the car up on ramps today I will snap some photos. I am a green horn so maybe you can see the pics and tell what I may have already. I know there is a front sway bar, and I do have front disc brakes (Factory) I believe and the brake lines look new. I will post pics today. Thanks for all of your help people.
ValiantMike
Well-Known Member
Well said, Flyboy. Another option to consider, is to build the 318 that is in the car now. That is what I am doing. Don't think that you can't get power from this motor. There are members here that have 318s that run the quarter in 12s and I know of at least one member that runs in the 11s, and are still streetable. You stated that engine has a recent rebuild. You could start by getting a better set of heads(302s,Magnums,915s,etc.), a better intake and carb, good cam with a set headers, and a good ignition source(MSD,etc) and leave the bottom end alone for the time being, and get a substancial increase in power, and you do all this with the motor in the car. You can go on from there. Below are two of many articles on building a hot 318. Mike
http://www.geocities.com/alwest_83/318?200721
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/116_0401_318/index.html
http://www.geocities.com/alwest_83/318?200721
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/116_0401_318/index.html
I am a much better photographer than mechanic. Her are some pics that I thought might show the condition of the underside. Tell me what you see. I am not even sure what transmission I have. I was told when I bought the car that it was a 318.
redfastback
Don't ask me... my garage is empty
thats already a pst swaybar. im not fond of their frame mounts. try firm feel sway bars. hellwig is redesigning theirs as we speak. the rear of theirs is great, i have a prototype on a 67 vert. the front is pretty good now, just waiting for its new prototype. to make the job nicer, paint/powdercoat the arms so they look as good as the rest of the car.
Longgone
John/68 Barracuda & Dart
Wow ,it looks like someone`s already put on the post 72 disc system with sway bar. The rearend you have there appears to be the 7.25 which would certainly need replacing if you add more hp. It looks like your leaf springs are heavy duty. Your steering coupler could use a new seal or maybe just reattaching. The brake lines in the front should have gravel guard on them which will appear as if the tubing is encased in a spring. Just some insight from your pictures. HTH.
player1up
Well-Known Member
Roccos69, Damn thing looks FANTASTIC, just needs some regular maint stuff. I'm in east O-town , hope to have mine on the road by the end of summer, look forward to seeing yours around town
welcome to the light side of the force!
welcome to the light side of the force!
Eric_S68
Well-Known Member
Rocco..... I'm Exit 172 off I-95. Cocoa Beach is roughly 40 mi north of me.
flyboy01
Its almost done!
Rocco,
Obviously you have an aftermarket sway bar, a 73+ disc conversion, new metal lines, and newer monroe shocks. Thats the good news, all the bushings appear to be rubber, and they look crusty, so it would be a good idea to replace them. I would add stainless braided flex lines for the front and rear, this will give you better brake feel. It also looks like you have 5 leaf rear springs, so I would just clean them up. Another thing I noticed is your gas tank is leaking in the typical A-body seam, this was caused by rust from the inside and a partially filled tank (full is always best). And like said before, you will at least need an 8 3/4 rear once you upgrade the engine. But, in my opinion, clean up the underside and suspension before you do that.
Click on the link by my car's picture, I started my car's resto by doing the underside. Looks your car is worthy of a spotless underside. CHeck out what I did, it was pretty easy and just required minimal tools.
Obviously you have an aftermarket sway bar, a 73+ disc conversion, new metal lines, and newer monroe shocks. Thats the good news, all the bushings appear to be rubber, and they look crusty, so it would be a good idea to replace them. I would add stainless braided flex lines for the front and rear, this will give you better brake feel. It also looks like you have 5 leaf rear springs, so I would just clean them up. Another thing I noticed is your gas tank is leaking in the typical A-body seam, this was caused by rust from the inside and a partially filled tank (full is always best). And like said before, you will at least need an 8 3/4 rear once you upgrade the engine. But, in my opinion, clean up the underside and suspension before you do that.
Click on the link by my car's picture, I started my car's resto by doing the underside. Looks your car is worthy of a spotless underside. CHeck out what I did, it was pretty easy and just required minimal tools.
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