I should have done this when I was younger!!!

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2-66 Cudas

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I have been collecting parts for 2 66 Barracudas for 15 years and bought a 66 Signet last August. My buddy, who is 70, helped me build a 318 for the Black roller I bought at Carlisle in 2001. It is now up on jackstands in his garage, he assured me this was going to be a fun project. I am 6 months shy of 60 with bad knees, a bone spur in my shoulder and one foot and he just had a knee replacement and two bad ankles. It took us 4 evenings to get the engine in due to some bad information on mounts, having to steal the oil pan and pickup tube from my Green Cuda's 273 along with the engine mounts and water pump. Last Saturday we tackled the 904. Pulled the convertor to change the front seal, pulled the pan and installed a new filter and gasket and put a higher stall convertor back in. Got the trans under the car on a jack and we were laying on creepers - from 10:30 until noon on the first attempt. Decided it might go better if we ate something - took a lunch break. Pulled the convertor to compare to the stock one, looked like it should fit so we tried again with no success. Pulled the convertor and put the stock one in and at 5:15 we finally rolled out from under the car and tried to get up. We were like 2 turtles on their shells trying to roll over!!! We couldn't do much else but laugh at each other then roll off the creepers to get up. Weds. night I went out to put up the driveshaft I had made to match the none out of my Green Cuda. IT DIDN'T FIT!!! I was told they are all the same - WRONG!!! Apparently my Green car has a 7-1/4 rear and the Black one has a 8-3/4 rear - 2-1/4 in difference in length. Now it goes back to the machine shop Monday to get shortened. All I wanna know - ARE WE HAVING FUN YET!!! I know I sleep better after these wrestling matches with the old A-Body!!! Oh well - at least I'll know what I'm doing on the next 2. Don't they call that "Getting Schooled"?????
 
Join the club. I've got osteo/ arthritis which has progressed at an alarming pace, and this spring my right hand was nearly unusable for about a month. I figured on getting the disk brake front end under the 67 this winter, still don't, and spring weather is a month behind.

In a deal like yours, though, I like to put the engine/ trans in as a unit.
 
I'm with ya there guys! I don't get much done any more. We just have to pace ourselves. (slow) LOL
 
Hey.... Us ole guys work a little slower, but we can get the job done. I'm pushing 69, and plan on keeping going till I can't. I think this stuff keeps us young.

barracudadave67

PS remember a line from an ole Johnny Cash song. Quote " I was there when it happened, so I guess I outa know".
 
Kudos to you and your friend for still doing the stuff ... I know many guys in their 50's and older who can barely get up and down from the couch... it may take ya a while, and there may be some more pain and frustration than when you were in your 20's and 30's... but it'll be worth it

Keep it up :)
 
Yeah, my days of laying in the snow to finish a motor swap were over decades ago. These days it's sometimes hard to decide which part of your body hurts the most. If I don't feel like working on something, I just drive something else until I do. I'm always thinking up more "to do" projects, and finding it takes more time to get them done.
 
Yeah, sounds like fun all right. That's why I am doing all this while I'm still relatively young. If 49 is relatively young, anyway!
 
Thanks for the encouragement guys. I have some pics still in my digital camera - I will have the young lady who does all the computer work at my Print Shop figure out how to post them. She tells me I know just enough about computers to be dangerous - so I just pay for the one she uses, I'm not aloud NEAR IT!!!
 
If any of you live in SW Michigan, I'll do the wrenching if you do the teaching because there is a lot that I don't know and would like to learn.
 
If you guys are that old and doing this, then you're a lot younger at heart than the kids that sit on their asses and do nothing!

Keep at it. If I get old and can't do this stuff, I'll go crazy!
 
It's better to be sore having accomplised something at the end of the day, than stiff from sitting in a barco lounger with remote thumb! Way to go guys.

Grant
 
YOU ARE RIGHT about the money part. I had to work 2 jobs to get 3 kids through college! Happily, they are all still employed in the areas they went to school for AND MAKING MORE MONEY THAN MY WIFE AND I COMBINED! I still run my Print Shop, drive "Oversize Load Escort" for a friend, teach Graphic Arts as a fill-in at the area Vo-tech, do handyman work and remodeling and I just passed my Class A CDL on Saturday morning! God gave me enough talent and my Dad taught me the proper work ethic to ensure the wife and I will never starve! Can't stand the whiners who sit around and say they can't get a job in their "single minded" field! Its called "ADAPT". My brother's 45 year old daughter holed up in his basement for 2 YEARS because she refused to make a change in Vocation - lost here condo in Atlanta, lost her car and totally ruined her credit - "HERE'S YOUR SIGN"!
Hey Waggs - Pittsburgh is 0nly a 24 hour drive and we got 3 empty bedrooms !!!!!
 
The oldschool work ethic! People behind keyboards forget this.Keep it going,you are the best generation for getting things done.
 
I too am pushing 70 and what really gets me on my 64 Signet is the fact that 25 years ago I made a sheet metal glove compartment box for my RF fuse block so that it would be easier for me to get to the fuses as I got older instead of lying on my back under the drivers side when wiring in new goodies. Bottom line is that the electrical guy who did my wiring back 25 years thought it was stupid and so he wired it up exactly where the original box was installed by the factory. These days in regards to my vehicles, I too get tired and I hurt but that is part of life and we work though it.
 
Great story, what could be better than two buddies working on an old Mopar? not much.
 
You wouldn't happen to have a slant 6 power steering pump and brackets for the early 64 - 66 slant 6. I'm in a bind and need to find one asap. Engine to be in car by end of week and I have to get it out of the shop by Fri.

Thanks.


You 'ol farts move as fast as a herd of turtles... LOL!
 
Thats great we have members that are older then me still enjoying Mopars. Well, I am 50 and still having fun with Mopars. Its a great hobby and my Son is doing it too. I hope to be doing this for a long time.
 

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68dodge said:
Thats great we have members that are older then me still enjoying Mopars. Well, I am 50 and still having fun with Mopars. Its a great hobby and my Son is doing it too. I hope to be doing this for a long time.
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Inquiring minds are dying to know.....did you smoke that Cobra?

Loving your Scamp...it looks awesome.
 
So about a year ago at age 30, I told my wife, "I wish I felt like I did when I was 18 years old." My wife remarked, "You know, a 40 or 50 year old probably wishes to feel the way you do at 30."

Quite an epiphany. The amazing thing is it works for almost every age to wish for 10-12 less years.
 
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