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

[1967 'cuda]

Larry (my paint guy) does a pretty quick turn around on his restorations/paint jobs. He's usually got 2 or 3 going on at a time and averages 2-3 months to complete most of them. There's a list of guys waiting to get their cars in to him. So, he agreed to take on shooting the 'Lil Red because it was supposed to be a quick in and out with minimal body work.

I do have a couple more door leads to check out today. An ex-classmate of mine from high school asked me if I was interested in his white club cab dually when I met him at the last car show. I think it's a '75 but not sure. I know it's got a big block and a 4 speed. The last time I saw it I was surprised how clean it looked. If he'd be cheap enough I could swap doors between the two. The second lead is another truck about 30 miles away. If I can't find a door I can get to him within the next few days, I'll order the patch panels.

 

[1967 'cuda]

If I can, I'll snap some pics of that dually. Years ago I'd put together a 1972 crew cab dually and I loved it. I don't believe a dually was offered in '72 but I resurrected a '72 crew cab, added an '85 dually box and put a 1 ton suspension / dually rear under it. When I'd seen the movie "Heart Like a Wheel" I decided to clone it into a look alike of the red one Muldowney was using. It turned out really cool. - Sort of hard to parallel park it in my small town though.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I spent a few minutes yesterday looking over the 'Cuda. It runs really rough on initial start up but gradually tends to smooth out. I'm still getting a backfire too. The other day I thought I'd noticed that there was no fuel showing in the rear sight plug. But when I looked more closely I discovered that it was actually too full and I couldn't see the level showing. Maybe it's been flooding itself. That might explain why it tends to clear after being revved a few times. One other thing that I wanted to do was to read the plugs but I haven't taken the time to do that yet. I did take the time to search out potential vacuum leaks and did a visual on the plug wires again. I had to replace 2 of the spark plugs that came installed on the motor before I put it in the 'Cuda. They had gotten broken during transport. There is a possibility I may have another one cracked that I hadn't noticed earlier.

Although I consider it a daily driver, I have been driving the Ford truck most lately instead as I've been hunting down parts. I don't want to sidetrack from the truck build right now because I'm in a rush to get it done. - And I'd like to be thorough when I start to really focus on the Barracuda again.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The replacement 360 should be here this Saturday. I'm hoping that I'll have all of the accessory brackets from the original motor removed, cleaned, and repainted before it arrives. I was told that this other engine is painted orange and as much as that's my preferred engine color, I want it to look right for a 'Lil Red. No one had Chrysler blue paint in town so I'll have to make a 25 mile run to Columbus for some. - Or order from JEGS. I decided to clearcoat the exhaust manifolds. The NAPA store here listed a 2000' temp clear that I ordered.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Normally I would have ordered decals from Phoenix Graphix. They seem to be great at reproducing factory decals perfectly. But when Chrysler made the door decals for the 'Lil Reds they made them as a gold print with a clear overlay. The tailgate was made out of die cut vinyl though. My experience has shown me that the factory door design does not hold up as well as the rest. I've noticed severe fading on the door decals of several of these trucks. I chose to get new decals from Graphic Express instead. They seem to be another good company and when they reproduce the 'Lil Red Express door decals they make them out of die cut vinyl. It may not be 'factory correct' but I believe it will stand up better.





I'm still cleaning and detailing parts.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The Challenger is coming along without any big issues. It will probably be another two weeks before it's done. As we were researching the car we found out that the damage on it had likely happened after it'd been stolen and the thieves went joyriding in it. Despite the salvage title the car will be every bit as nice as new when it's done.

 

[1967 'cuda]

OK. The insanity continues. I bought the club cab dually today. It's got a 400 with a 4-speed. Bedliner, wheel covers,headers, etc... I plan on taking the drivers door off of it for the 'Lil Red and putting the old door on it. The front bumper looks perfect so I will probably swap it too. After I get the 'Lil Red done I'll take care of whatever issues the dually has, put it back together and most likely sell it. I know it needs a new starter and a new tailgate. If I can get the few parts I need off of it for the 'Lil Red, put this back together and break even I'll be satisfied. I only paid $2000 for the dually.





















As I got home from buying the truck, the guys showed up with the replacement 360. They tossed in a fresh radiator, alternator, etc, and even knocked another $100 off the purchase price. It's going to be busy around here over the next few weeks as I try to keep juggling everything. I think my son may be bringing the '70 Roadrunner back by tomorrow too.

 

[1967 'cuda]

It was not a productive day here today. I had errands to run for household needs and for my uncle. I needed a break anyway.

This evening I finally moved the Barracuda into the garage to check things out. My first focus was on the carburetor. The back bowl took a little over one full turn of adjustment and the front took about 1/4 turn. The levels look good now.





Next I figured that I better try to read the plugs. I hadn't pulled any of them since the motor went in and was surprised that those aluminum header gaskets interfered with access when I tried to slip a socket on a few of them. It was no big deal. I just smushed the gaskets a bit with a pliers and all was good.






The plugs were not so good though. Black, sooty, and wet. I don't know if the bowl fuel level adjustment will take care of this or not. I may have to drop a few jet sizes if I don't see an improvement.











One thing that has me bothered is that the outsides of the plugs were sooty also. I looked the heads over and did not see any traces of exhaust soot coing from the sealing surfaces around the header gaskets. The soot looks as though it was coming from the plugs themselves. It's almost as though the plugs weren't fully seated in the heads. None of them were loose when I pulled them. But I'm not sure that they were tight enough. I know that I was very conservative when I'd replaced the two before the motor went in. I was worried about over-torquing into the aluminum heads.



A search online tells me that even with aluminum heads I should go 1/2 to 3/4 turn past snug or 18-22 ft lbs.

I guess I'll clean these plugs, re-check gaps, and re-install them as close as I can to the proper torque. Tomorrow I'll find out if things improved. I'll no doubt have to pull the plugs again to re-read them when I get a chance. It's too late tonight and the 'Cuda's too loud for me to want to do any test driving right now.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Everything's all put back together. I cleaned the plugs, checked the gaps and put them back in. There was no way I could get another half turn tighter after snugging them but I did go over a quarter turn. I know that's tighter than they used to be. I didn't come up with a second timing light to verify my timing so I bumped it back a few degrees for now. I didn't go far enough to screw up the total too much but I figured a couple of degrees retarded might be a move in the right direction if it was off. Tomorrow will be the test. I'll take it to the Dwight car show and see how it behaves. If it's still running rich I'll re-jet when I get home.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I just returned from the Dwight car show. Dwight is a very small town but they managed to attract over 100 cars this year. Mopars were well represented. There was a '71 Charger R/T, a '66 383 Charger, a 440 SIX PACK Challenger, a convertible Challenger, a '70 383 Super Bee, 2 - '69 440 SIX PACK Super Bees, a 2010? Yellow Jacket Challenger, a '71 slant 6 Barracuda, a '74 'Cuda, a '50s Dodge pickup, a 4-door Valiant, a newer Dodge 4-wheel drive pickup, and my '67 Barracuda.

Despite the nice percentage of Chrysler products, Mopars didn't fare very well. I believe the only one that the judges gave an award to was the Yellow Jacket Challenger. - And that may have been due to the fact that there were only a couple of entries in that class. This may not be Chevy country here but the majority of car clubs that put on these shows are comprised of bowtie owners. They have nice cars but unless you want to field a GM product you feel like it's the 60s and you're sporting a dark tan in the back of the bus.

The weather was awesome though and with the increased Chrysler showing, it was still a lot of fun. One thing that I couldn't help noticing was that the crowd (excluding the judges) spent a lot of time around the Mopars. - And when we fired them up there was no mistaking the fact that folks were impressed.

Oh well, you know it's like I've said before, "It's better to lose in a Mopar than to win in a Chebbie."





















Today's classic trivia :

Wasn't it John Milton that wrote "Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven but better to serve in a Mopar than to reign in a Chebby"

― John Milton, Paradise Lost

 

[1967 'cuda]

I didn't drive it much today, - maybe a mile or so. It seems to run great but loads up really quick when you're idling around. Within a half minute or so it wants to start running rough and will pop and bang a bit unless I rev it to keep it clean (or so it seems). I haven't had a chance to re-read the plugs but I'd bet they're sooty again.

It acts like it really wants to run. Very responsive. Revs fast. The power seems to be there. But I'm guessing I won't be able to drive it around town without those plugs carboning up right away. I still want to re-check the spark plugs for that soot on the outside. Maybe the plugs don't have the correct seating surface (I'll check to make sure I don't need a tapered seat).

 

[1967 'cuda]

I took more pics of the dually. There was nasty rust underneath the bed liner. It's in the backmost foot of the box floor and the tailgate. The left front fender has it coming through too. Althogh the engine doesn't use any oil and is supposed to have been well maintained, it's a greaseball. Believe it or not I still think the truck is awfully clean for it's age.

 

[1967 'cuda]

More pics of the dually.

 

[Budnicks]

you've been busy, cool ol' Dually

 

[1967 'cuda]

you've been busy, cool ol' Dually

Thanks Budnicks. As much as I'd like to keep the dually I shouldn't have bought it. It's a case of being penny wise and pound foolish. It just seemed like too good of a deal to pass on. I'd always missed the old crew cab dually that I had years ago. - But 4 trucks on the yard is probably 3 too many.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I took more pictures of the 360 from the 'Lil Red and pictures of the 360 that I'd picked up after pressure washing them. The orange paint was flaking off of the motor I'd gotten so I started stripping the rest of it off before I paint it blue.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Although I have purchased a new air cleaner decal, I'm still going to need to get the lid re-plated.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I ordered 2 cans of Mopar blue from JEGS. It's probably the best engine paint in a poof can I've ever used. Coats quickly, seems to have good adhesion, no issues with fish eyes like the ceramic paint I'd tried.



The new engine was really clean under the valve covers but the old oil was pretty dark. I still have to swap intake manifolds and extract a few broken bolts. I'd be tempted to run a Holley but I checked and the factory air cleaner won't clear. There is quite bit of emission stuff on the original intake and no provision for it on the hi-rise so I'll make sure it all looks correct with the original intake.

 

[1967 'cuda]

- New semi-disaster today on the home front. Teresa was driving the Sebring convertible this morning when the receiver hitch on a truck in front of her came off. - Luckily it didn't bounce through her windshield but it did a lot of damage to the underside of the car. It lost oil immediately when it punctured the pan. I'm waiting for a chance to get it up on a hoist to make sure the block isn't damaged.

The hitch put a 6" dent in the passenger side floor board. My 10 year old granddaughter was struck in the face by a glass coffee jar that was in Teresa's purse. The purse was on the floor right above the spot that the hitch struck. She's got a bruised jaw and swollen cheek. We're having her checked to make sure she's OK otherwise.

Although the car does not have outward signs of damage I'm afraid they will total it if the drive train has anything serious broken.



You can't tell it in this photo but the back end of the car is covered in oil.



It took Teresa about 50 yards to get pulled over and stop. The right rear tire tossed oil into the wheel well.





The underside is drenched with oil.

 

[1967 'cuda]

The driver of the truck saw it come off and bounce down the road behind him. He did stop. When he told Teresa that there was no way it could have done the damage to the floor she told him that she wanted to call the police to file an accident report.

Lesley (my granddaughter) is still swollen and sore. They took x-rays and said nothing is broken.

After getting the Sebring up on a lift we saw how spooky the damage really was. Underneath the big hump in the carpet was a 6" diameter gaping hole. We were lucky that the hitch hadn't come straight through the floor at 60 MPH. Farther back there was a 12" slice through the floor in the back seat area that had even cut through the carpeting inside. Further back yet you could see where the hitch had struck the exhaust resonator. Naturally the aluminum oil pan was toast. There was also signs of a very fresh oil leak on the cam seals. (no traces of any old oil anywhere around that area, but fresh dripping from them)

Teresa and I aren't destitute but we don't own any credit cards or carry collision insurance on our vehicles (only liability and comprehensive coverage). We couldn't rent a loaner car around here for those reasons. As many dang cars as I've got around here you'd think I'd have a spare one to use. - But until I get the Barracuda running better, we're down to just the pickup. I guess I'd best get some of these projects completed already.

The next time I get a chance to snap some pics of the underside of the car I'll post them. I didn't have a camera with me when we stopped at the garage.