Pro Touring on a budget

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Thanks guys.
Very good, it's currently getting narrowed right now since the rear end I bought was from a 68 Charger, so hopefully should be back sometime this week.

I haven't done anything around the car for a little while except clean out the under side of dirt and stuff. Most of the stuff done to it recently was all engine* Although, while poking around the garage I found some Rustoleum black hammered finish paint, saw that my trans was still unpainted, and thought, "why not?"

transpaint.jpg


If I end up not getting my piston ring tomorrow, then I'll probably get the radiator mounts all in and put the dual cig lighters in for my trip to maine in a couple weeks.

*see my signature link for that rebuild.
 
Thanks guys. I like them more and more every time I see them.

The engine and transmission are together, thanks to a 318 torque converter.* We also fixed the kick down so it works correctly now. I also have a triplet of gauges (oil, voltage, water temp) so I don't have to worry about the 3 that don't work (fuel, oil, water temp). With the exception of the fuel gauge... http://s436.photobucket.com/albums/...?action=view&current=transengineconnected.jpg

*see engine rebuild thread
 
Finally got everything hooked up in the car and started it up today. This engine is the first one in 20 years that my dad has done this where he just poured fuel in the carb and it fired right up, we barely even had to adjust the timing. It idles a little weird and the front driver's side water jacket leaks (yes, the bolt is plenty tight) so we have to take the intake manifold off and redo it again because the silicone didn't seal. *sigh* at least the rear end isn't done (yet *growl* friggin guy needs to get his **** together, he's had it for a month now) so I'm not too impatient to get it done, just hopefully by the time I work tomorrow and if not, wednesday will work fine. I'll get pictures up later. gimmie a sec.
 
Alright, so we think we figured out the issue with it idling weird and running kinda like it was only knocking off on 7 cylinders instead of 8. well it was... We replaced the cap, and wires, and spark plugs then thought to look at my pertronix unit. It works like the Mopar electronic perfomance unit but is entirely self contained in the dist. Well it uses little magnets in a plastic trigger cylinder, and one of them had flown off as they aren't glued in for some stupid reason. So a little dicking around with tiny magnets and silicone later and I'm now waiting for the silicone to dry, even though it's probably done by now. I have a couple videos, but I'll be putting them out in a little bit. The guy should have the rear end done sometime today, hopefully soon enough to get it in the car and all together before I work.

Some pictures from teh past couple weeks.

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newcrank.jpg


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donerear.jpg


donefront.jpg


transengineconnected.jpg


shorttermgauges.jpg

you'll see how I ended up mounting this in the video
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We picked up the engine hoist about 10:30 that morning too.
alltogether.jpg

oh yeah, the battery in the picture was 6 yo, so because of that and that you can see it's digging into the hose, we replaced it with a skinnier one from..........a honda civic. :D also gotta figure out how to get that paint off the MOROSO.

Update: put it all back together, runs like a dream. Very smooth idle now. I guess that's what happens when 8 cylinders run on 8 cylinders instead of 7. :eek:ops:
 
Well, I said that I wouldn't post pictures of the whole thing until I could drive it. Today was the first day I took it out in 2 months and even longer that I've driven it more than a mile.

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newengine.jpg


sidewithcivbattery.jpg

There's the Civic battery.
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Can't wait to drive this thing and race it against the Cimprice. :D

Right now, it still stops like it has drums and the pedal goes all the way to a floor on a panic stop without locking the wheels up. We think it still has some air in the lines. This thing chirps the tire even with 2.76s in back just giving it a little gas. :D
 
Very cool! The wheels turned out nice did you go with a stock width A body rear end? What back spacing did you order on those 17X8's
 
Nice looking car! Try fine steel wool on the valve covers to get the paint off. Coarse will scratch the finish, but the thin stuff is great. I recently used it on a chrome steering wheel for rust and it looks new.
 
Thanks guys, and no I bought a 68 Charger 8.75 to replace my 7.25 and had Skeeter at LA Welding narrow it to fit the wheels. You can't see it, and I don't have the car atm but one perch is off so that it'll fit even in the wheel wells. Thanks Falston, I'll try that when I get it back. These wheels the 17x8s with the BBP only come in 4.25 back spacing.

The reason I don't have it is that when we were rebuilding the engine, the transmission sat outside for 1.5 months and we had two large rain storms. A quart of water got into it and made it act like the bands were too tight so right now it's at the transmission shop getting cleaned out.

A quick question answer thread is here on the Motech vender subforum: http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=195325
 
For anyone who needs to replace their heater/AC control unit in the early A bodies, or at least the 66-68. You can use the 69-72 controller from year one. You just plug in the outside and the middle spade connector on the back here:
fd5790.png

brown in the center, and the black w/ white stripe on the right one. (on the picture, in real life it's flipped around and would be on the left)
 
Nice ride! You've done way more to your Barracuda in 2 months than I've done to my Dart in 4 (granted my plans are a little more ambitious and costly)! Anyways it looks great. From one young gun to another.
 
Oh, I'm nowhere near done. I still have a 5 spd manual, new wiring, potentially a 4 link out back and the RMS up front, and an interior to finish redoing as well as upgrading the engine. I just ran out of money. :D Thank you.
 
Muad'Dib15, (is that from the movie "DUNE"!?) I am building/helping my Daughter with HER '65 Barracuda and we have loved your Thread ! I hope you keep us posted on updates. QUESTION, if I were to run the same Wheel Tire combo you have ,would or can you see any potential issues with the Front if I lower Her Car 2" all the way around?Turning,scrubbing,etc. ? She has all Factory stuff as far as Drivetrain with K/H Disc. up front. A good S.W.A.G. is all I'm asking for (scientific wild a** Guess) any help will be welcome. She wants em I got to give them to her!

Thanks, Tim:happy1: I did see that you had to Trim your Fender @ front of Wheel opening thats no big deal to me.
 
one mile said:
Muad'Dib15, (is that from the movie "DUNE"!?) I am building/helping my Daughter with HER '65 Barracuda and we have loved your Thread ! I hope you keep us posted on updates. QUESTION, if I were to run the same Wheel Tire combo you have ,would or can you see any potential issues with the Front if I lower Her Car 2" all the way around?Turning,scrubbing,etc. ? She has all Factory stuff as far as Drivetrain with K/H Disc. up front. A good S.W.A.G. is all I'm asking for (scientific wild a** Guess) any help will be welcome. She wants em I got to give them to her!

Thanks, Tim:happy1: I did see that you had to Trim your Fender @ front of Wheel opening thats no big deal to me.
Click to expand...

Thanks Tim, rlevs, and tqfastfish, and yes it is, (Well, technically it's from the book but tomato tahmato)
Something that I haven't mentioned, as it happened after I got everything done. I was leaving a friends house and went down her driveway a little fast. I ended up scraping the edge of the tire on the top of the front fenderwell and now have a few gouges on the side blocks. I suspect it may have to do with the fact that I still have \6 torsion bars on the front. If I could pull the wheels in a little more or if I had rolled the lip up, I don't think I would have had an issue with that. But heavier bars probably would have kept that from happening. In the back, with the width of the wheels I'm using and the way the body on the car is shifted I can't lower it in back anyway. Which is fine, I don't want to as it already looks like the car is dragging its *** anyway even though it's damn near level. As to steering, I haven't had any issues with it rubbing at all, or if it is it's right at the very end. With the 8 inch wide wheels and a 4.25 back space you don't have that much room to work with in these narrow wheel wells. I like the way the car is right now, so I'll keep the wheels on for a while. But if you want to lower it, I'd go with 17x7s as it'll give you a little more wiggle room. You can run exactly the same tires, but the wheels will be a little narrower. So, a round about answer, probably not on the front, most likely in the back. But that's a S.W.A.G. answer, you'll probably get a better one from people who know more about the suspension systems on these cars than I.
 
Could you post some photos showing the clearance of the front fender, lower front lip, when turning?
 
Saw you cruising coming toward me in the other lane today... car looks and sounds GREAT! I saw you coming WAY off in the distance and knew immediately what it was from the color and grille.
 
Really, that's awesome. Where was this? I went to the walmart in Gtown and then carquest. If you waved at me, I'm sorry I didn't see you. Was too absorbed in awesome music and cruising to look around and wave to others like I usually do.
 
Pilgrim. I didn't wave, you know how Pilgrim is with the 4 lanes of traffic. You looked very happy with the window down and arm hanging out, enjoying the weather! It's Spring, enjoy your running car. With the tiniest bit of luck I'll be cruising again in a couple weeks here. I'm sure you'll see me, just watch for the calico-looking Dart!
 
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