Pro Touring on a budget

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Muad'Dib15

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I have a 66 barracuda from Alabama that I got from my grandfather Thanksgiving 2007 as kind of a late birthday present, annnd it wasn't exactly in the best of shape.

So, we took it up to Wisc and cleaned the outside, and let it sit for the winter.
The next spring we started work on it with me basically ripping out the entire interior, then getting new seat covers, headliner, and carpet and repainting the trim which went over the period of 2 years.

As the pictures show, it is a light blue car paint code CC1 with a dark metallic blue interior, 2 year option only, 66 and 67. This was pretty much all that happened in 08.

Last year, we bought an 360/727 engine tranny combo from a neighbor for $500.

For about a month all I did after we yanked the \6 was clean that engine bay. Working weekends because of school. WE got the car completely driveable by about the middle of July. And when trying to take off fast from a stop sign blew the trans up...:angry7: Had to take the motor out again, it was hard enough getting it in and take the trans to a shop so, $700 dollars later, I have a new transmission and a $500 360 with a rod knock. (found that out a couple weeks ago...) I also have a new paint job by this point as of March. which is my avatar. Before this (trans prob) happens I get an exhaust put on with 2 1/4 inch pipes and genaric flowmaster 40s. (not flowmasters but sound the same)

and squirrels got in my car in the fall since I was replacing the heater motor and core.

May 2010: door panels in, door locks finally connected. Drives but has a surge that worries my dad. Replace coil, still does it, replace Carter that was on there back with the Holley, still does it, $300 and new Edelbrock 1406 carb later, problem fixed. I drive it to school the first day of the last, last week of school and get a $10 ticket for not having a permit. Worth it? Yes.

Next on the list, 15in Cragar mags and 245/60s and new radio. Wheels are coming this week.
 
That's a great story of keeping Grandpa's car in the family. Also those interior pics are priceless.
 
Thanks guys.

So, huge bump, I've ordered B quiet ultimate for the interior, it's ridiculously loud in there right now. I'll try to get pictures up and a before and after video of me driving it around for comparison.
 
[ame="http://youtu.be/lcUVMLdkJaM"]before sound deadener[/ame]

vid explains it all. unfortunately, the mic on the video camera I was using really isn't that great, so you can't really grasp how loud it is. that's just at 25 mph. At 40, the drone from the mufflers is so ungodly loud that conversations are held by shouting. I wish I had been able to take it out on the road to show you, but it's not insured for driving, just sitting and having things fall on it so I only had one take possible. As for the grunting, you try driving a car with manual steering and a foot in diameter steering wheel with one hand after 6 months of power steering.
 
Found out why my shifter was wiggling like crazy right before I stopped driving it.
shifter.jpg


I've starting pulling apart my interior. So far, i just have the sill trim, kick panels and all the stuff around the shifter off, but I'm under the car right now unbolting the passenger seat. Hopefully getting it and the driver's seat off tomorrow. Then the whole front carpet can come out and I can put down sound deadener there. Also love that the cuda actually moves "quickly" when shifted manually. I also have enough money to get the engine rebuilt. yay.
 
Glad to see your fixing the car up to your liking.A fresh 360 will make you want to drive it alot more than before.Your Granpa should be proud your looking after his baby.:DGood luck.
 
Oh you bet. I can't wait to get that engine fixed. He saw it in the condition it was in at the time of the original posting. Which is essentially what you'll see in my PB account without the cragars (got them about 2 months after he saw it).

So today, I finished taking all the seats and carpet out then put down 50 sq feet of Be-quiet ultimate. I don't know how well it'll work, but hopefully should make it alot quieter and cooler to drive in the summer.

before and after pictures are in the link below as well as other pictures of it.

http://s436.photobucket.com/albums/qq88/MaudDib15/Barracuda/
 
What I accomplished on Wednesday. yeah, it took 5 hours but give me credit, I've never done this before by myself.
3intheafternoon418.jpg


8atnight419.jpg


If someone has a better idea on how to remove these engines without removing the trans please let me know. I'd love to do less work.
 
Engine was pulled today. It took two hours from picking up the hoist to taking it back to the hardware store. Only 1:20 hrs total to get the whole thing out and apart. Pics later when I get home. Awesome. I'm hoping to get the block over to C&S tomorrow to get rebuilt, then working on my 8 3/4 with 2.76s that I got for $125 to get it all sorted to be narrowed and put in to replace the weak 7.25 in there now. Also gonna paint the spindles and try to get the front disc brake set up in this week.

The only picture I have of the engine currently:
engineout.jpg
 
So, got home and decided to get the new Disc brakes that I got from MrMan on today.

puny9s.jpg


Started with taking the whole spindle, drum assembly off. (my dad show me how to do the passenger side, then I did the driver's side, with some help and yelling.)

takingthedrumbrakeoff.jpg


Then when attempting to put the new spindle on, we ran into a problem. While I had heard that you can reuse the lower ball joint, that simply isn't true. You can drill it out but that leaves you very little material for the bolts to sit in, and we weren't willing to risk it, so I bought a set of 74 scamp lower ball joints, works just fine with the old tie rod ends. So while I was at the store getting LBJs, dad found out that the seals wouldn't fit while putting the bearings in the rotors, I get a set of seals, come back home, and they are the same as the ones I got from MrMan. So we went up to Bearings Inc. and bought a new set of seals. They are Chicago Rawhide (CR) part number 19226. We got back home, put the seals in and they fit perfectly. We then put the rotor on the spindles.

newrotoron.jpg


The rest of it was pretty straight forward. Put the calipers on, swore at the little shim on the brake line connections, and bled the brakes. I'm now waiting for the rear disc conversion kit from Dr. Diff as well as a set of ball joint sleeves that will allow me to reuse the ball joints on the UCA. (which are brand new)

keepingtheoldBJs.jpg


I had 1 issue on the driver's side. Unlike the passenger side, the bump stop for the UCA was actually intact after 45 years so I couldn't get it back at least partly together for now. Once we get weight on it, it'll pop right in.

issues.jpg


So everything is all good, and waiting on the next thing to do.

assembled.jpg


notes:
1. you need at least the spindles, caliper brackets, and dust shields, and the bolts for all three. Everything else can be bought off the shelf.
2. The rotors come with bearing races. You'll have to buy the bearings separately.
3. lower ball joints from a 73-76 Dart, Duster, Demon, Scamp will work and are almost required for the swap.
4. The stock dust seals on the back of the spindles DO NOT WORK. What you need are Chicago Rawhide (CR) 19226 seals, then just tap them in.
5. UCA from said Darts, Dusters, Demons, and Scamps are nice to have, but you can get sleeves for the uppper ball joints from Dr. Diff for 30 bucks.
6. The brakes can't really be seen on 15 inch Cragars. Which is why I'm upgrading to 17 inch Motech Streeter wheels for $498 for all four wheels and lug nuts.
 
looking good , are you out in the brookfield area? thought i saw the car last year on a lunch run up to Carls.
 
yeah you did. I live in the falls area, right by Karls actually.
 
GOT MY WHEELS TODAY!!!

4wheels.jpg

AW YEAH!!!!!!
side.jpg

and because my dad and I can't wait to see what they look like on the car.
wheeloncar.jpg
 
Those discs are going to look nice behind those wheels. I like them, newoldschool.

Grant
 
yes, and the best part, it was only 623 including shipping for all 4. This is turning into a pro touring build for only 11K. Awesome.
 
I FREAKING LOVE THESE WHEELS!!

the more keen eyed among you may notice that something is missing, you are correct. I'm putting locking lug nuts on it. but there's something else missing. figure it out.

wheelsback.jpg


sidetire.jpg


rearside.jpg


frontwithtire.jpg


frontboth.jpg

my newfie, looking for attention.
frontangle.jpg


back.jpg


backwheel.jpg
 
So, not much to report. I cleaned out the engine bay, so it looks like it did before I decided to put an engine in that leaked oil everywhere. :D My dad found a cross flow radiator in the garage that wouldn't fit his 50 Cadillac, but just barely fit in the barracuda. So we cut out a little of those shelves on the side in the front of the engine bay to ghetto rig a mounting surface for it. I also finally got the gaskets made for the indicators on the fenders so we are mounting that now. The engine will hopefully be done Thursday as well as the rear end. I'm going to have one week to get it all back together and running. Pictures tomorrow.
 
cleanenginebay.jpg


thenewrad.jpg


radinplace.jpg

that sheet metal on top, will be cut down to create a small over hang to both channel air into the rad, keep it in place, and look good. The black car in back is my dad's 1950 Cadillac 62 series.
cutout.jpg

we cut out about maybe a 1/4 inch on either side to get the 26x20 radiator to fit. It looks great and looks stock almost.
transcoolertop.jpg

But the radiator didn't have a transmission fluid cooler built in, so $30 and a trip to Autozone later, and I have an external oil cooler. Probably over kill, but hey cheap insurance for later.
transcooler.jpg

you can barely see it from the front. perfect. :D
frontshotofcar.jpg

I also finally got the gaskets made and the wires to connect the fender indicators up. I just wish they made these lights in leds to make them easier to see, but that's price you pay to be steezy. :D (stylin)
 
I FREAKING LOVE THESE WHEELS!!

the more keen eyed among you may notice that something is missing, you are correct. I'm putting locking lug nuts on it. but there's something else missing. figure it out.
There is no Rear end present in the pictures:burnout:
 
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