65 Barracuda daily driver

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So now that the car is running great, I immediately disassembled the interior to put in some sound deadener.

After I pulled the carpet I discovered some surface rust and suddenly this became a much larger project. I wirewheeled the floor, which appears to be relatively thin (but no holes), so the sound deadener is gonna be almost structural haha.

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I painted it with some Rustoleum and let it dry. Not pretty, but it was gping to be covered with the sound deadener and carpet on top anyways. In the meantime, while the seats were out I finally started on some seatbelts in the back. Luckily it already had holes from the factory in the center. I've had this car for 15 years and have taken it apart many, many times and never realized that that holes were in there - with a tiny plug in them. I had bought some belts at a swap meet that came with hardware, but two sets of belts and only one set of hardware.

Anyways, I started with the sound deadener:



I started in the back while the paint was still drying. I figured that cargo area with metal, some air in between and then some metal again close to the mufflers was like an echo chamber. I also added some to the floor that goes over this:

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I left out the part where it mounts, because it's already difficult to get those screws in there and was afraid it might interfere with the folding seat if it stuck out further.

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I got some more hardware at a local Classic Porsche parts store. There were no holes where the other side of the belt attaches. There were some dimples that I guess were suggested locations for the holes, but that wasn't going to work with these belts and the hardware. I think the factory ones were eyebolts that you latch into. Anyways, I drilled my holes within an inch of those dimples. If you're doing this to your car, pay attention to the frame rails. You can kinda tell by the spot welds where they are. You wanna be far away enough so the big flat washer fits from the bottom. Oh yeah, there is also a brake line right there on the passenger side that you don't want to drill into.
Unfortunately the belts are way too long and I'll have to get shorter ones in the long run.

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So I covered everything that's under the rear carpet section. I have two of those sheets left out of the 36 sq ft Kilmat I bought. I wanna use some in the doors to make it quieter when you slam the doors and in some other places like under the dash. I might do the front of the floor as well and I know that there is also some rust that needs to be addressed.

But first I wanted to know if it made any difference...



It was already dark when the car was re-assembled so I drove over to a bar where a friend of mine was playing. It's not necessarily much quieter, but the drone is gone and it sounds sooo good!

I plan on daily driving the Barracuda once again, so I might eventually get some quieter mufflers or add a resonator, but for now it's just so much fun.

There's still a little stumble when you accelerate from a stop which I'll investigate. Also, apparently I hadn't tightened the transmission pan and the valve cover bolts enough, so there was a bit of a leak, but that should be good now.

Anyways, I'm stoked!
 
Lots of work!!! Looks great.

If you have an Edelbrock carburetor try moving the pump lever to the hole closest to the carburetor. That may help with the stumble.
 
Lots of work!!! Looks great.

If you have an Edelbrock carburetor try moving the pump lever to the hole closest to the carburetor. That may help with the stumble.

Thanks! I tried that, but in the upper hole it wouldn't start and in the lower hole it didn't really make much difference. I ended up using some carb cleaner and then adjusted idle, timing and idle mixture and the stumble is gone. Also adjusted the choke and fast idle and now it starts really well.
 
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The transmission was still leaking, so I got this newer style of pan and gasket:

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I don't think I need the extra capacity, I just wanted a pan that's not 60 years old and bent. The drain plug is a big plus too.

Transmission Pan

Gasket

Unfortunately on a cable shifted early A904 it interferes with park lock cable housing. So it was time to break out the Dremel and cut a bit off the lip. Shouldn't be a big deal I hope.

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There's one bolt that's a bit hard to reach and it's pretty close to the exhaust, so I'll probably wrap the pipe there. I haven't filled it with fluid yet, but I sure I hope the ATF leak is now finally a thing of the past.
 
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I worked on quite a few things on the Barracuda. This was one of my favorites - only one of the three bulbs in the gauge cluster was working, which meant you couldn't really read any of the gauges. I took the cluster out, cleaned everything and changed the (LED) bulbs, but that only fixed the right side. Then I swapped out the bulb holder and that fixed it! Now I just need to find a bulb that makes the tach match the rest...

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A couple of weeks ago one of the arms of the quarter window regulator on one side broke. Both sides were always poorly adjusted and on the other side one of the bolts broke probably 10+ years ago. I got a set of regulators on ebay and fixed both sides now. One side is near perfect now, but I might need to make another adjustment on the other. It's way better than it's ever been. I took the car to a coin-op car wash and for the first time there was no water coming in through those windows. I was trying to find the rubber spacers for the windows, but couldn't find them other in a whole set that I didn't need, so I realized that 3/8" fuel hose works and is even a touch tighter than the original.



I had been aware that the manifold vacuum was too low, but hadn't figured out why. I finally sprayed some carb cleaner around the base and sure enough there's a leak around the base. Strangely enough when you install an Edelbrock Performer carb on a Edelbrock Performer intake you need a gasket, a square bore adapter plate and another gasket under the carb. I changed the bottom gasket and sprayed it with some high heat copper spray, but the leak remained. Apparently I had gotten the wrong insulated Edelbrock gasket (#9265). The Edelbrock #9266 is made for the Performer and I guess you can eliminate the adapter with that one. They're 30 bucks though, and even though they are supposed to be reusable, I don't think they really are. I'll take the insulated one off and replace it with a simple gasket. Really just to see if that's the issue with the vacuum leak. I also read it could be the throttle body shaft, which I guess would be harder to fix. We'll see.

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Another issue is that there's still a ATF leak. I figured out that it's the neutral safety switch. It would have been nice if the guy who rebuilt the transmission had replaced that gasket too... I already ordered one and I still have another switch from the slant 6 transmission. And luckily the new pan has a drain plug, which makes draining the ATF a whole lot easier. Unfortunately the 2-1/2" TTI exhaust pipe makes it near impossible to get to the switch, so I might have to drop the exhaust a bit. I'd like to avoid that because it's pretty well adjusted right to where it doesn't touch anything, but it'll probably need to happen. It'd be worth it if it finally fixed the last leak...
 
So that cut I did on the transmission oil pan was apparently too much and it was leaking from there. So I can't really recommend that pan for an early, cable shifted A904. Anyways, I got the neutral safety switch out and the gasket had barely any rubber left on it. Instead there was more bathtub silicone... By now I'm not only extremely mad at the guy who rebuilt the transmission, but I also wonder what he really did internally. The switch itself was mangled and was probably also leaking from around the post. You'd think he would at least recommend to replace it?

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Luckily I still had the one that was in the slant 6 904 and that one was in pretty good shape (I cleaned it up a bit more more after snapping the photo).

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I had ordered a gasket online, but that didn't arrive in time, so I got a switch for a '73 Dart from O'Reilly's for like 8 bucks and used that gasket.

With the right combination of extensions I was able to get the switch in and out without removing the exhaust. I was even able to get a torque wrench on it and torqued it to 25 ft lbs. The '65 manual said 25-35 ft lbs... 35 seems way too much and why couldn't they make up their minds?

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I also still had a vacuum leak, so I replaced the gasket with this Holley 108-18 insulated gasket:

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Edelbrock makes a similar one and they say you don't need that spread bore to square bore adapter plate with it. The Holley one seems to be better quality in my opinion. The insulation definitely helps on hot days.

The bottom side of my Edelbrock 1406 does not look great, but I hope it will seal now.

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I started on prepping a better deck lid for paint, but I didn't take photos of that yet. Last night I started refinishing the letters though.

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In this photo the chrome looks a lot worse than it actually is. First time using an eyedropper instead of spraying or brushing. Not bad, cleaned the messy parts with Q-tip soaked in paint thinner.

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Went to Spring Fling on Saturday and actually found some parts I needed. Well, I bought the ECU as a spare, but only noticed later it's a 5-pin. Came with the plug/ wiring, which is not bad to have as a spare as well. The A/C bracket supposedly only works with power steering and a shorty Sanden compressor, but I think I can make that work. The sun visors are the wrong year and I'll have to paint them red, but I'll use the chromed hardware that's in the car and they were only 15 bucks and in great shape. Two guys from Canada, who were in town for the show, came by my place and bought a hood and some hubcaps and I met up with someone who wanted some slant 6 parts at Spring Fling. Ended up making twice as much money than I spent and that without having a swap meet spot...

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"Salma" turned 59 years old today! Built 4/29/1965 in Hamtramck. Hopefully I'll have all the bodywork done by the time she turns 60...

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I'm still chasing an ATF leak. It's still at that spot where the pan has a little cut out for the park lock housing. I think that modern gasket is not made for those early ones. At least it's not leaking from the neutral safety switch anymore! While I was under the car I installed the transmission-to-engine braces and that little inspection cover plate that I got at Spring Fling.

Anyways, I finally got started on some body work again. I bought this deck lid a long time ago and at some point I stripped the paint down to bare metal on the exterior side and sprayed it with self-etching primer. Someone had painted it purple and that paint was pretty thin, so now I sanded the interior down to where I feel comfortable that self-etching primer will be stick to it. It still needs a bit of bodywork inside and out, but I hope soon I can finally test out my Fuji turbine/ HVLP paint gun soon. After that I'm gonna tackle the hood that I just got from the junkyard and the both fenders (that are from the same yard).

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Finally grabbed the junkyard hood from my Jeep after it's been sitting in there for weeks... Inspected it a bit and test sanded some spots. I was under the impression that it's original paint even though there appears to be some corrosion that has been painted over?! Plenty of runs, but that would only suggest it's all original haha. Regardless, it's in really good shape with just one ding under the hood and the exterior is near perfect.
 
I thought I should test fit the deck lid before I do more work on it. I appears the weatherstripping is too thick. It's still the one that was on the car when I bought it - I took it off and put it back when the car was painted. I guess I should probably replace it and test fit again. Just ordered the correct Y-profile weatherstrip from Detroit Muscle Technologies.

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It neither looks good nor actually seals that well (photo from the archives...):

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The brakes were screeching a bit so I thought I should take a look. The rotors could use some turning, but the pads are still ok. Both rotors and pads were new when I swapped to discs about 6 years ago.

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The screeching likely came from the rear brakes. The shoes were still good as well as the drums, but there was tons of brake dust. I showered everything in brake clean and the screeching is gone. (Photo was taken before cleaning)

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While the wheels were off I gave them a good cleaning. I just love these Cragars!

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Finally did some extended highway driving this weekend. My band was playing at the L.A. County Fair in Pomona yesterday and I couldn't resist taking a photo next to the Pig Racing...

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Today I drove to Orange County to pick up a set of 675 heads from FABO member @MonkeyMadness in exchange for a bottle of Jack Daniels (Thank you!). I already started cleaning them up, but I'm not sure when I get to installing them. I also have a set of 273 closed chamber 920 heads sitting around, but they have a broken valve and what hopefully is only surface rust?! I think they use the same valves and springs, so I guess I could swap them over, but I wonder how much difference that is actually going to make in the real world. It would be a lot easier to just bolt these on.

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Also had a chance to check out his Hemi powered Barracuda!

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Turns out that 5 minutes away from where I lived some 25 years ago - the actual apartment I lived in is in the background.

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After all I drove about 150 miles this weekend. Got 14 miles/ gallon on the highway, which is not horrible, but I'm sure there's still room for improvement.

When I got home the rear end started making some noise, so I should probably change the gear oil. It's a 7.25" sure grip and I think last time I used some of that Ford friction modifier.

On the drive back from Pomona last night the lights were flickering a bit and I remembered that I was going to swap out the dimmer switch and check the condition of the wiring.

Other than that the car ran great. In two weeks we're playing a festival in Bakersfield, which is 100+ miles from here, so I'll have to address the rear end and the dimmer switch before that.
 
Do you think that might have been the reason why headlights were flickering?

:rofl:

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When I pulled it out the red wire was still touching the connector - I'm so glad I checked... I had already gotten a new switch a while ago, but I just ordered a new connector as well.
 
The connector had already started melting...

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Soldered the new connector on. In addition to the heatshrink I wrapped everything in electrical tape for extra protection.

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While I had my homemade speaker enclosure kick panela off, I stuffed them with 10 bucks worth of cotton balls. I had been wondering if that would help and it did! A lot louder and especially more bass!

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I really like the look of these clamps, but they're not worth a fuel leak. Gonna replace them with regular hose clamps and a new hose. The metal line from the pump isn't flared, so I should consider flaring or replacing it.

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It takes a couple of road trips to efficiently shake down a car... Always travel with tools and a few spare parts. I should throw some fuel line and hose clamps in the box.
 
After the rear was making some noise going around corners I pulled the cover yesterday. Some of the blackest, nastiest stuff came out. Figured out that it's a clutch type sure grip with the 4 spider gears, which is supposed to be the "good" 7.25" sure grip. Yeah, I know, it still sucks, but it's what I got and this car came with a 7.25" sure grip from the factory. Out with the gear oil also came a bit of metal. I hosed everything down with a couple of cans of brake clean until it was running clean. Not until I loaded this photo did I realize where that metal might have come from. See these wear marks on that "drum"?
At some point I was chasing a leak that showed up at the bottom of the cover. I replaced the gasket a couple of times until I just used RTV and no gasket. Still, there were drops on the bottom of the cover. I kinda gave up on that until one day I was driving on the freeway and the rear was making a hideous whining noise every time I got off the gas. I limped the car home, which wasn't far and noticed the pinion nut had come loose. Turns out the leak was also coming from the pinion seal. So I replaced the seal, used some thread sealant and torqued the pinion nut to spec. The leak was gone for good! Unfortunately I never cared to pull the cover then and just checked that there was enough oil in there. The pinion must have rubbed against that drum and that made the noise.

Anyways, these carb studs are handy to hold the gasket and cover in place until you have a couple of bolts in.

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While I was at it, I also took another look at the transmission that's still leaking. Like the rear end, the leak is probably not coming from the pan, but somewhere else. So I used my little borescope and snooped around. I thought I checked the neutral safety switch before and though it was hard to see, it was leaking. I had replaced the gasket/ washer thing. The manual said to torque to 25-35 ft lbs. I thought it was weird that they give a range, but I didn't want to overdo it, so it stuck to 25. Seeing it still leaking I torqued it to 35 today. If that didn't fix it, I will have to get a new switch - it might be coming from the wire side. The cheapest one I could find so far is 60 bucks... So I'll wait and see.
 
After I filled the rear with 80W-90 gear oil mixed with a can of Motorcraft XL-3 friction modifier I took the car up to Scholl Canyon where I know the only parking lot around that is usually empty enough to do some figure 8s. Absolutely no noise from the differential! There is some whining from one of the bearings I think. When I replaced them a couple of years ago I could only find one Timken bearing on short notice and the other one was some cheapo brand. I'll have to investigate, but for now it's not a big concern.
The neutral safety switch is still leaking, so I ordered a NORS one on ebay for 65 bucks. I bought a newer, 3-prong one for 8 bucks just for the gasket, but apparently they don't work with the early 904s.

Anyways, when I testfitted the "new" deck lid I noticed that it wasn't closing all the way, which the current one also did, but I thought it was because it was all bent up. I ordered new "marshmallow soft" Y-profile weatherstripping from Detroit Muscle Technologies, because what was on there was the wrong style.

After I removed the old weatherstripping some paint had come off with the glue and some paint had been scraped off by loading stuff in the trunk.

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I hadn't really thought about that and thought glueing it down was gonna take an hour max. If I didn't paint it now it would have been tricky and messy in the future. So yeah, scraping, sanding, priming and painting took all afternoon.

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I let it dry for 24 hours. I used the 3M Super Black Weatherstrip adhesive. Steele Rubber has some instructions on their website. They said to spread a thin layer on both surfaces with a popsicle stick and let it get tacky and then add some more on one side and press it down. It got tacky so quickly that spreading it wasn't really working. So I just spread it right out of the tube and I think it worked well. The clothespins weren't really necessary - just added insurance.

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Once it's pressed down you can't adjust anymore, so it's not perfect, but good enough.

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The lid (latch) still needs some more adjustment, but it's already way better than before. The latch could probably also use some lubrication. And on the hinge side it's also sticking up a bit. Here you can also see why want to replace the lid...

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