MA MOPAR BIT ME AGAIN or SO MANY MOPARS, SO LITTLE TIME

[1967 'cuda]

The headlight relays went in without a hitch. I ordered the kit from crackedback with a fan relay. I'm hoping on picking up a 727 dust shield later this evening so I can test things out. Right now, I've still got the starter dropped. I did try the headlights and the fan to make sure they operate but I still want to try them with the car running so I can see if there's less of a draw down on the electrical system and if the lights seem any brighter. One of the nice things about these kits is that they are custom made with all of the wire lengths you need. Everything is fused. No need to hunt down the right relays or relay sockets. If they work out as well as I've heard, I'm sure we'll be ordering kits for our other vehicles.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I bought a reproduction Barracuda owners manual and a Barracuda brochure off eBay. These darn car shows always seem to want the hoods and trunks open on vehicles so I figure it'll give me something to set inside the trunk area.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I've got an issue with the new shift light. The instructions called for taking the signal from the MSD box tach output terminal. That is the same location that my tach is getting it's signal from. The shift light was exhibiting erratic behavior when I first tested it. Sometimes it wouldn't come on and other times it wouldn't shut back off. I'm wondering if I shouldn't get the input signal from the coil instead. Anybody know?

 

[1967 'cuda]

Dust shield picked up, cleaned, and installed.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Now that the headlight relays are in place I started to bundle up the rest of the wiring.



You guys may have noticed that the left side spark plug wire holder has the back two wires routed on the opposite side of where most people would position them. It was the best way I could find to keep those wires away from the header.



My drive shaft guy (Spider Prososki) is going to bring the shaft to me tomorrow. He had a few concerns about the pinion splines and said he'd be most comfortable if he switched that rear yoke himself. - Sounds great to me. I'll have to do some shop cleaning today or plan on rolling the car out into the driveway.

 

[Budnicks]

IT LIVES!!!!!!
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! (that's my Frankenstein impersonation)

6/21/14 We fired the 408 up for the first time. Even though I don't have the drive shaft yet, I put 5 quarts of fluid in the transmission so it wouldn't be dry. Mike had recommended 18' initial advance and that's where I set it. It cranks a little hard with that much advance but fires pretty quickly. I probably will switch to a vacuum advance distributor some time down the road.

Even though I couldn't take it out for a test drive I can say that it sounds pretty healthy. The left header still needs the hole repaired but I am waiting until I can drive it over to a lift to fix it. It did cause a bit of a backfire on that bank.

This QuickFuel carb is the first one I've ever had with the fuel level sight plugs. I didn't realize how nice that feature was to have before.

It's still too early to tell if I like the exhaust tone. Inside the garage the sound reverberates off the walls. My son used his GoPro camera to capture the initial fire up but he won't be able to get me a copy of it for a few more days. Meanwhile, I've decided to use our old camera to catch some video to post.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...6389638&type=3

Congrats,
great progress,
soon you'll be tearing up them roads in Nebraska

 

[1967 'cuda]

I just can't win. Spider brought the drive shaft down this morning. It looked good. But the rear end yoke had the wrong spline.

Spider took my old yoke back with him to make sure that there won't be any more mistakes.





I rolled the car out of the garage and started cleaning. I've got to start sanding the truck.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I ordered a new fender for the 'Lil Red last night. Yesterday I finished sanding the box components. Today I'll re-assemble the box and try to get it to the painter.



I ran out to the farm yesterday and picked up more of the parts. There's some serious work needed to be done in the near future.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Yeah, I know, the garage still isn't cleaned out.

 

[quikbird]

Even if you get it cleaned out, it won't stay that way long. Mine never does. :stooges:

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well in an attempt to stay busy, I've re-assembled the truck box. There was heavy pitting behind the wood. I'm hoping some POR-15 will prevent it from coming back.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I know that this is supposed to be my Barracuda build thread but I've sidetracked over to the truck while I'm waiting for the drive shaft. It's been apart for so long that it's taking me awhile to remember how everything goes back together. I put together the stack brackets and hung the stacks. Tomorrow I'll have to get some new stainless bolts for the shields.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Spider finished the new drive shaft today! I ran to Duncan, Nebraska to pick it up asap.

Well, it fit like a glove. I had it in in no time after getting home.

Eager to take the car out for it's new maiden voyage, I fired it up and let it idle for a few minutes while I topped off the transmission fluid. Before I had a chance to leave the driveway I noticed a puddle forming beneath the car. The transmission AN fittings were leaking near the radiator. I shut it off and crawled under the Barracuda to see what the problem was. It turned out that I hadn't gotten them tight enough. A few minutes of wrenching and I was ready again.

As I backed up I could hear nasty u-joint noise. I pulled back forward and shut the car off again. I was pretty sure that I knew what the problem was. After jacking it up in the air I confirmed my suspicions. The front u-joint was rubbing on the drive shaft loop. I added a shim and was ready to try it again.

It's taking me a while to get used to the new shifter. You have to pull the handle up to get it into reverse and then pull it up again to go into neutral. After that you can ratchet it through the gears, but to start out in low I have to ratchet it back 3 times before starting out. It works well but it takes a little getting used to running this full manual valve body.

I'm still surprised at how loud this exhaust is. I hadn't tried the radio because I wanted to stay focused on how the engine sounded. But I know I'm going to have to quiet it down some if I'm ever going to be listening to some tunes. Maybe some screen stuffed inside the Hornies will provide a temporary solution.

It's about 11 blocks away from my house. I wasn't sure how much gas I had or how accurate my fuel gauge was. I pulled away from the driveway and headed for the nearest gas station. I didn't want to run it dry on the test drive and have to walk back to town. $15 worth of gas later and I was ready to take it to the highway.

The manual steering box feels good but I still need to re-adjust the steering wheel again because I don't have it centered quite right. - Maybe tomorrow. Although the sound of the exhaust is loud I can still hear the leak coming from the hole next to the steering gear. - Another 'to do' on my list of things to fix. I don't think the leak is audible from outside the car. The brakes work good but I think there's a little more pedal travel than I would like. I haven't adjusted the proportioning valve since switching the rears to disc from drum so I might need to.

There is a somewhat less traveled highway spur a half mile outside of town. I normally take our cars out on it to test things out. Although I didn't flog the 408, I did run it through the gears a few times. I didn't baby it either. It's a definite step up from the 318 with 2.90 gears, but it didn't seem to have as much power as I'd expected. The 4.10s that I switched to should have given me a noticeable performance increase by themselves. I only put about 8 miles on the car before returning home. I didn't want to push it too hard on the first time out.

When I pulled back into the driveway I could see the temp gauge inside the car was showing hot. I shut her down and popped the hood. The gauge on my radiator cap confirmed that I was running over 200'. I figure that I will re-check the timing with a different light to make sure I've got it right.

As I walked away from the car I could see another fluid stream coming from the transmission. This time it was coming from the dip stick filler tube. One more thing to put on my list.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully I'll get some more bugs de-bugged.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I started today by tackling the transmission leak.The transmission bolt that holds the dipstick in place was obviously positioned there by a GM engineer working undercover at Chrysler corp. Either that or by the guy that would eventually go on to create the Yugo. After an hour of struggling I had the bolt out. It wasn't so bad. - Nothing that a skin graft can't take care of. I didn't realize you could dislocate your wrist though.

I'm regretting the fact I hadn't cleaned out the garage yet. As enjoyable as it may be working in the driveway with the neighbors as spectators, I had the added benefit of the rain saving me time by letting me shower as I worked. I keep telling myself that things could be worse. - I could be working on a Ford.

The leak was caused by an unseated seal on the dipstick tube. Nothing too dramatic but enough to make me want to slap myself (if I could just get my wrist to snap back into place).

I know that many of you are naturalists. You probably look forward to spending time in the great outdoors enjoying mother nature and all she has to offer. I particularly enjoyed the swarms of mosquitoes.

As I'm typing this from the comfort of my garage, I'm looking out at the truck box that's still sitting on the trailer. It's nice to know that all of that time I spent sanding off that surface rust wasn't a waste of time. It was a good warm up practice for all of the new sanding that needs to be done.

 

[1967 'cuda]

With all of this rain I'm beginning to think that instead of working on the Barracuda I should have been working on an ark.

 

[1967 'cuda]

How can I sleep with all of these problems?

I'm beginning to think that God hates me. - Probably has something to do with sleeping in the pews when I was younger. Maybe it's His way of reminding me what an idiot I was when I sold that Hemi Superbird...

After fixing the transmission leak I took the car out again. I figured I'd best make sure it really was fixed before taking on the next issue. My shift light still isn't working (no surprise), and the temp gauge inside the car is still showing hot. When I got back home I opened the hood and checked the radiator cap temp gauge. This time it was showing around 180'. So I'll have to see if I've got a problem with the sending unit to the cab.

Looking beneath the car I was pleased to see that the transmission fluid was no longer leaking. But then I noticed that I had a drip coming from one of the AN fuel lines. I'm hoping that a little tightening will solve it.

Each (of the 2) time I've taken the car out of town I've met members of the local constabulary on my way back. It's nice to know that they haven't forgotten me. I think maybe it's time I find a new stretch of highway to test the car on. I have some left over screen from the shield I made for the carburetor. I think I may try shoving some of it in the exhaust.

 

[Budnicks]

I ordered a new fender for the 'Lil Red last night. Yesterday I finished sanding the box components. Today I'll re-assemble the box and try to get it to the painter.

View attachment 7066

I ran out to the farm yesterday and picked up more of the parts. There's some serious work needed to be done in the near future.

View attachment 7067

cool Lil'red Project too, you must have allot of caged up energy {or money he he ha ha}...
I have a hard time with my 99 Dakota 4x4 SLT DD & Ford f-350 Tow rig/trucks & bolt-on's
& my going on 9th years in Dec. on my 68 RR never ending/spending Resto-Mod project {spare time deal},
just keeping up with them, I'm not sure I could find more time, for a bunch more projects,
I'm a little envious/jealous...LOL... wish I had the time & especially the extra energy

 

[Basketcase]

yes I'm totally shocked to see truck pics in your cuda thread as we never stray off topic here....:jester:
a guy a couple hours from me bought a step side and wanted to trade for a regular bed, but mine's too new and he didn't want to deal.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well I finished re-sanding the truck box and delivered it to the body shop. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain again. I need to try to get the rest of the truck in the garage. As much as I'd like to concentrate all of my time on the Barracuda I still have to get the truck ready for paint.

I have a new temperature sending unit that I can try on the 'Cuda tomorrow and I scheduled some time on a friend's lift Monday. So I should be able to fix that hole in the exhaust and finish welding the subframe connectors then. Right now it's looking like I'll be able to make the Good Guys show in Des Moines next weekend.

I have toyed around with the idea of having the 'Lil Red painted a candy red instead of the factory color. I still plan on using it as a daily driver/tow vehicle though. A long time ago I purchased a 1/64 scale Johnny Lightning 'Lil Red Express diecast that was painted a candy-ish red. I thought it looked really good with the gold decals. Mine is almost 100% original still and I'm hesitant to make modifications.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Today was pretty uneventful. I spent most of my time cleaning the garage. It's amazing to see how little a person can accomplish even when he sets his mind to it.

Somebody should have let me know that the show HOARDERS was not meant to be an instructional video on housekeeping. I now know that I will never ever have a need for any of these old parts that are sitting around (until the day after I throw them away). Perhaps I need to change strategies. Maybe I should purchade a new set of spark plugs for a 426 and then throw them in the garbage. I'd love to find a Hemi in my driveway tomorrow.

The 'Lil Red is now parked in front of the garage. I left the windows open to air it out. 2 years ago I was almost done restoring the interior. Today the inside smells like a public rodent urinal. I should have put moth balls in it.

Teresa keeps popping into the garage to see what progress I'm making. I think that look on her face means she's unimpressed or she has really bad gas. She had that same look when I decided to use the Christmas tree as yard art. WOMEN! You can't live with 'em and you tend to run out of clean dishes without 'em.