1966 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S - Restoration

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tone

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
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Location
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Ever since I sold my 64 Barracuda (a 273, 3 on the tree, on here) about 9-10 years ago, I've been searching for another. I've had a lot of rough drivers in between - two Checker Marathons, a 67 Barracuda, a 68 Datsun 1600, a 66 Ford F100 longbed, and a couple of other rough cars. After I got t-boned in an intersection in my 70 Checker this spring, I figured it was time to get to what I've really been craving. A 1964-1966 Barracuda Formula S with a 4-speed. I was close to buying one a few years ago, ended up getting out-bid and out-bought. Fast forward through a divorce, I bought a semi original one here.

Paint, rough. Looks great in photos, terrible in person - at some point, it had a poorly prepped clear coat put on a questionable respray. Doesn't look like it was stripped, which is probably better anyways. They added a white stripe - I plan to remove that when I get it repainted. The electrical, questionable. The gauges and blinkers don't work, but, it drives - and for the most part, I haven't run into a ton of rust yet. The trunk floor has been hacked up and poorly welded - not a huge issue. I'll probably reweld the **** seams and remove the thick paint/undercoating in the trunk at some point. The interior, it's shot - but, mostly original. I need to source some parts for the folding back seat. Like my 64, looks like the shitty wiper seals rusted out the passenger side. I haven't pulled the carpet yet - but when I do, it's done - completely sun baked and dry rotted. Haven't found a broadcast sheet - guessing it's gone or never existed on this one.

I pulled the gauge cluster this week - fuel, temp, tach - none working. The tach itself is bad, I ordered a new 8k rpm replacement from Vans today. Since the tach is bad, no sense in dealing with the remote sender. I'll replace the point with electronic ignition at some point anyways. I'm also replacing the paper circuit boards with replacements from Classic Industries. I've got a voltage limiter coming, I plan to replace the non-functional limiter in the gas gauge with an external limiter. I work in software/electrical engineering by trade, but getting a prebuilt limiter in a can is worth the expense, despite parts costs. I learned that lesson years ago. If someone makes a replacement, dont try to make your own - pony up - don't spend time on stuff that other folks have already fixed and dealt with.

Right now, since there's nobody in the house except me and my dog, I've got my cheap harbor fright ultrasonic cleaner filled with evaporust and I'm rebuilding the 4bbl carter. It has the clean air package (CAP) on it - we'll see what that means. Hopefully no surprises. I got the K4051 carter 4 bbl rebuild from Mikes Carburetor in Chehalis, WA. I've bought a couple of rebuild kits from there in the past and they're always pretty spot on, never had an issue.

Hope to keep a thread going, mostly for my own record keeping, hoping someone else gets something out of it. If anyone has any questions about a 66 Barracuda Formula S - let me know, more than willing to talk. It's not my first rodeo, but I'm still learning more every day.

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Nice car! Where in NC? @66fs is over in SC, and has forgotten more about early Barracudas than most of us know! I have a 65 Commando Barracuda, but it isn't a Formula S. Looking forward to watching your progress. :)
 
I seen that one for sale, sadly the guys wife passed away and either lost interest or something, he’s a FABO member here too, hope he’s doing ok.

Nice car to start with, looks decent in the pictures but heard it was worse in person but still an awesome car, should be an easy restoration! I personally like the stripe with this color, looks good! You could also add the factory pin striping back on the side In white and would look great too.
 
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Do you have the correct 14” wheel covers? My dad has a 66 Formula S he’s owned since 1976, it’s his first car! I also have a pair of 66 Valiants so if you have any questions let me know.

Look on the back or top side of the glove box behind the dash, I found a build sheet there on my 66, my car actually had 2 of them...I have heard people also found them under the carpet, and behind the seat backs too. Might not hurt to look behind the side/door panels as well.
 
Nice car! Where in NC? @66fs is over in SC, and has forgotten more about early Barracudas than most of us know! I have a 65 Commando Barracuda, but it isn't a Formula S. Looking forward to watching your progress. :)

I'm in Raleigh.

Do you have the correct 14” wheel covers? My dad has a 66 Formula S he’s owned since 1976, it’s his first car! I also have a pair of 66 Valiants so if you have any questions let me know.

Look on the back or top side of the glove box behind the dash, I found a build sheet there on my 66, my car actually had 2 of them...I have heard people also found them under the carpet, and behind the seat backs too. Might not hurt to look behind the side/door panels as well.

I'll check there, haven't looked yet. I have 3 of the 4 correct wheel covers. I'll probably end up going with some cragers at some point.
 
While waiting on gauge/dash parts to come in (getting going on that this weekend), I started working on the original Carter AFB 4121S carb. The carb was pretty filthy and the fast idle didn't seem to be working correctly. Reason enough to get a rebuild kit and go through it. It still had the 4121S tag and the green CAP tag on it. The green CAP tag broke removing it, but the original tag is still in tact. It doesn't really matter though, the carb casting has the 4121S on it, and I'm not going for concours.

It has the CAP (clean air package), I'm guessing because it originated from California. The only thing I've been able to find that was different on the CAP carbs was the idle screws were supposed to be non-removable, the float level is a little deeper, and the fast idle seems higher than the non CAP. I dont understand the fast idle difference from the carter adjustment charts. The non CAP shows 625rpm fast idle (600rpm normal) on the low step of the fast idle cam and the CAP shows 1600rpm on the 2nd highest. Seems like fast idle on a CAP car would burn more fuel, but if anyone has ideas, I'm all ears. I could speculate, but it probably doesn't really matter.

I gave it a soak in some old berrymans (and subsequently ended up spilling most of the good stuff being clumsy), rinsed it, then soda blasted the body and internals. I soaked all of the steel parts in a cheap harbor freight ultrasonic cleaner with evapo-rust. The brass parts got polished and cleaned with some fine steel wool. Its turned out pretty clean - the internals weren't terrible, but all of the linkages move very freely and I know it's clean.

I still have to get the rest of the linkages and externals reattached - that comes this weekend, along with working on the gauges and dash. I got an IVR from RTE and I'll neuter the dead limiter in the gas gauge. I plan on repainting the needles with some testors orange model paint and I may throw a coat of spray chrome on. Maybe someday I'll have the plastic re-vacuum plated, but for now a coat of spray will clean it up enough. Don't want the dash to look too good until the rest of the car matches it.

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So, I got the carb back in. It's a lot more responsive, but still runs like ****. I'm going to have to retune the carb with a vacuum gauge and a timing light and re-check the timing. It drives, but hesitates some. I haven't bothered to do more than do a rough adjustment on the idle air screws using a vacuum gauge.

The clutch pedal is still really sticky - I've been having to pull it back off the floor. It's also engaging/disengaging across the full travel. The previous owner said it needed a clutch, but I'm not convinced yet. I don't know if the return spring is trash or what - I'll get to that eventually. I'm OCD enough that I like to try to fix things in a certain order - first, electrical, then engine, clutch/trans, brakes, suspension, tires. I'm still early in the electrical stages at this point.

I repainted all of the gauge needles this weekend - and found that the gas gauge is also completely inop. The temp and oil pressure gauges are functioning. The tach is also seemingly dead. I plan to replace the ignition with a HEI setup at some point, so I bit the bullet and got a replacement tach (8k rpm, no pancake sender needed) from Vans. I'm not super pleased with their customer service - ordered, called 5 days later after no shipping notice and got told "oh, sorry, we ordered it but it hasn't gotten here yet, i'm sorry nobody called you - it wasn't in stock but the website said it was". It's not essential, but I probably won't buy from Vans again unless I have to. They claimed it was 'on the way' to them, but I suspect it's not and that it's just backordered from whoever is making them.

On the gas gauge, I pulled the face back a bit and can see one of the nichrome wires just dangling. I thought I could just disable the non-functioning voltage regulator, but the gauge is also inop. I bought a semi-cheap 66 valiant gas gauge on ebay and plan to just swap faces, now that I'm running the external limiter. I'm starting to suspect there are some bulkhead wiring issues. The temp/oil gauges still aren't really moving much, with the IVR working. The other suspect piece about the bulkhead connectors is that it's only intermittently wanting to start when I release the key from the 'start' position, like the coil isn't getting power when it's cranking. After I fix all of the lighting issues, that's next on the list. It's probably the bulkhead connector or the ignition switch - time will tell.

Does anyone have sources on places to buy pins for the instrument gauge wiring? The female side on the gas guage on mine has been replaced with a lug, probably because of a broken pin. Also, any ideas on the single contact tail light housing? The pin/wire are broken and it's not repairable. I'll probably just get a universal push in socket replacement, but it's worth asking.
 
Scratch the taillight question - I think an SMP S23 will replace the pin perfectly.
 
Nice find , enjoy the build .
Does yours have disc brakes ? Power steering ? A/C ?

The C.A.P. Is a good thing , it gives full advance on deceleration and normal vac advance other wise . The result is it gives more time to burn off the rich fuel ratio on deceleration. And Chrysler was able to not add A.I.R for a number of years . Not bad for such a simple device and it saved them millions.

On my ‘73 Dodge van with a mere 300,000 miles I find when cranking it won’t fire until I back off a bit on the key . So I think the switch has served its purpose and time for a new one .

If yours acts like that you now have an answer .
 
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Nice find , enjoy the build .
Does yours have disc brakes ? Power steering ? A/C ?

The C.A.P. Is a good thing , it gives full advance on deceleration and normal vac advance other wise . The result is it gives more time to burn off the rich fuel ratio on deceleration. And Chrysler was able to not add A.I.R for a number of years . Not bad for such a simple device and it saved them millions.

On my ‘73 Dodge van with a mere 300,000 miles I find when cranking it won’t fire until I back off a bit on the key . So I think the switch has served its purpose and time for a new one .

If yours acts like that you now have an answer .

Thanks. No disc, no power steering, no AC. I'll probably be adding AC this winter, it's just too brutal around here in the summers to not have it. I'll probably also eventually do a disc conversion. The power steering - up in the air. It's nice for the city, but the car is light enough that it's manageable without it.
 
Got some tuneup parts today. The plug wires weren't terrible, but it's cheap. Got a new cap and rotor, both apparently for a 66 273 w/ dual points, but they didn't fit. The rotor has some pretty good scoring on the tab, I'll probably just have to order one of those. The cap is servicable, I cleaned it up with some steel wool and it's in decent shape.

I pulled the instrument cluster, again, and pulled the non functional gas gauge. I got a cheap used unit off ebay for a 66 valiant (that doesn't have the integrated voltage regular), drilled out the face rivets on mine, painted the needle, and used some jbweld and just put the new face on it. The offset on the posts in the back is slightly different, but there's enough flex that it should fit fine. The valiant cluster is probably 2-3mm shallower, I'll probably just add a spacer so it's the same depth as the other gauges. The epoxy will cure overnight and this weekend I'll throw it in.

I also got a new ignition switch and went ahead and replaced the lock cylinder as well - it's cheap and the new setup is a lot tighter, which is good.

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Got the cluster back together and pulled the 12v from the round connector out to the new IVR ... started up, ran for about 5 seconds, and blew the fusible link. Pulled the cluster back out, yet again ... found the A1 hot wire to the ammeter with a hot to the touch crimp and a worn spot on the sheathing. Great.

That said - any advice on the fusible link? It seems to be melted into the bulkhead connector. I'm tempted to completely replace the A1 (red) primary lead between the bulkhead and gauge, but Im also just tempted to completely remove the in dash ammeter. In my 64, I removed the in dash ammeter and put in a voltage gauge - tempted to do the same thing. I'm guessing one the hot ammeter lead arced to something near that worn spot in the wire - the fusible link is toast. I dont plan on replacing the entire wiring harness and it's probably safer to just bypass it. I'd hate losing the ammeter, but at the same time, I've got some trust issues with the existing wiring at this point.

Any opinions or thoughts? Can the fusible link be replaced easily? I dread the thought of trying to hack up the connector to get the pin out, but it seems like I need to do it either way.
 
I know yall are probably getting tired of text only posts, but the latest update - I had to drill out the main A1 voltage post. There was no removing it, both sides were melted. I ended up adding a new fusible link and just bypassing the bulkhead connector and drilling it out. I tinned all of the crimps and connectors, used lineman splices, soldered the splices, and covered everything with 3 sizes of heatshrink tubing. The old line had at least 2 spots where the insulation was bad - one rubbed all the way through (probably the one that caused the short) and another spot that was almost all the way through. I only cut the ends - wasn't worth removing all of the wire wrap. Maybe someday I'll replace the entire harness, but for now I'm trying to get everything in good shape from a wiring and mechanical perspective and from a resistance perspective, it looks to be serviceable, given the other issues I've found.

If you're looking for a great guide on splicing, soldering, joints - https://standards.nasa.gov/file/2615/download?token=2TwNY-Aq .. it's the NASA workmanship standard for wiring. Lots of good information - and if you're tired, it's great bedtime reading material. Either way, I've learned a lot from it over the years.

I traced through the rest of the electrical issues tonight. It didn't take that long to go through the issues and nail down causes - spent about 2 hours tonight in the garage. The list - as follows.

The temp and oil sender are both completely wrong - they're both for an idiot light, not a gauge, so that's the reason they're not working. Rang them out with an ohmmeter and discovered they're both reading way too high for a gauge application. I ordered new senders for both (for a gauge, not a light). From an engineering perspective it's really frustrating that it's not easy to get datasheets for senders, switches, etc. I fully understand why someone probably installed the wrong ones, trying to get the gauges working. The in-gauge voltage regulator was shot - so without ohming out a sender and knowing what the resistance should be, its an easy mistake. That said - with both the temp and oil senders being new, that should have been a clue. I spent more time than I'd care trying to find resistance specs on the temp and oil pressure senders, with little luck - what I did find mostly came from forum posts and educated guesses. I ordered a SMP TS-17 for the temp sender and a SMP PS-59 oil pressure sender. They both appear to be for gauges, not lights - and hopefully they're within the resistance specs. I plan on measuring both when they get here and posting results so at least this post will come up if someone searches the same parts.

The instrument lights not working - the headlight switch needs either refurbished or replaced. It gets up to about 5-6 volts before cutting out completely on the dimmer. They're kind of readable at 5-6 volts, but .... might as well fix it. I'll pull it once the new tach comes in and take a look at it when I have more room to work.

I rewired one of the rear light sockets - the single post bulb contact was basically snapped off - used lineman splices and soldered/heatshrinked it. Rear lights are all working again.

The drivers side fender mounted turn indicator - the mechanical switch on the column is all loosey goosey. I pulled off the broken cam and tested it .. I got it mostly working with a couple of real thin plastic shims, but everything is flexing too much to try to rely on it lasting. The cam had the mopar stamp, so I'm assuming it's original. I ordered a new one from old car parts NW (which I assume to be affiliated with slantsixdan). Either way, his posts and knowledge have been super helpful over the years, especially with my first 64 Barracuda.

The horn issue - the column/shaft has no ground. Fixable, but I'm not entirely sure where the original grounding would have come from. It looks like the shaft/column should have been grounded fine through the steering box and the under dash support that holds the column up. Does anyone know where the original grounding should have come from? The column is insulated with a rubber sleeve at the dash, but it really seems like the steering shaft should have served as ground. At there's no rag joint to have to jumper like in my 66 F100.

I'm starting to feel like I have a boat (break out another thousand). But at least it's not that bad yet and electrical is my forte. After the electrical is completely sorted, I need to sort out the clutch. I kind of suspect it has a 3 prong pressure plate thats worn, or the return spring is just completely shot. I can't imagine it's the huge under dash pedal arm spring. It's engaging/disengaging over most of the travel of the clutch pedal and sticking to the floor pretty regularly. Before I dig in - ideas are welcome. Thanks for reading!
 
Ever since I sold my 64 Barracuda (a 273, 3 on the tree, on here) about 9-10 years ago, I've been searching for another. I've had a lot of rough drivers in between - two Checker Marathons, a 67 Barracuda, a 68 Datsun 1600, a 66 Ford F100 longbed, and a couple of other rough cars. After I got t-boned in an intersection in my 70 Checker this spring, I figured it was time to get to what I've really been craving. A 1964-1966 Barracuda Formula S with a 4-speed. I was close to buying one a few years ago, ended up getting out-bid and out-bought. Fast forward through a divorce, I bought a semi original one here.

Paint, rough. Looks great in photos, terrible in person - at some point, it had a poorly prepped clear coat put on a questionable respray. Doesn't look like it was stripped, which is probably better anyways. They added a white stripe - I plan to remove that when I get it repainted. The electrical, questionable. The gauges and blinkers don't work, but, it drives - and for the most part, I haven't run into a ton of rust yet. The trunk floor has been hacked up and poorly welded - not a huge issue. I'll probably reweld the **** seams and remove the thick paint/undercoating in the trunk at some point. The interior, it's shot - but, mostly original. I need to source some parts for the folding back seat. Like my 64, looks like the shitty wiper seals rusted out the passenger side. I haven't pulled the carpet yet - but when I do, it's done - completely sun baked and dry rotted. Haven't found a broadcast sheet - guessing it's gone or never existed on this one.

I pulled the gauge cluster this week - fuel, temp, tach - none working. The tach itself is bad, I ordered a new 8k rpm replacement from Vans today. Since the tach is bad, no sense in dealing with the remote sender. I'll replace the point with electronic ignition at some point anyways. I'm also replacing the paper circuit boards with replacements from Classic Industries. I've got a voltage limiter coming, I plan to replace the non-functional limiter in the gas gauge with an external limiter. I work in software/electrical engineering by trade, but getting a prebuilt limiter in a can is worth the expense, despite parts costs. I learned that lesson years ago. If someone makes a replacement, dont try to make your own - pony up - don't spend time on stuff that other folks have already fixed and dealt with.

Right now, since there's nobody in the house except me and my dog, I've got my cheap harbor fright ultrasonic cleaner filled with evaporust and I'm rebuilding the 4bbl carter. It has the clean air package (CAP) on it - we'll see what that means. Hopefully no surprises. I got the K4051 carter 4 bbl rebuild from Mikes Carburetor in Chehalis, WA. I've bought a couple of rebuild kits from there in the past and they're always pretty spot on, never had an issue.

Hope to keep a thread going, mostly for my own record keeping, hoping someone else gets something out of it. If anyone has any questions about a 66 Barracuda Formula S - let me know, more than willing to talk. It's not my first rodeo, but I'm still learning more every day.

View attachment 1715612280

Hello,

I have a 66 Formula S also.

Is there any way you could take a couple pictures of the leaf springs?

just wondering as I bought what I believe is an original set an now wondering a bit.

Thanks

Dave
 
So finally back at it now that I have some garage space again - I've pulled the complete drivetrain, stripped the interior and removed the exterior trim.

All in all, the body doesn't seem to be hiding a lot. I found some rust behind the leaded roof to pillar seam, cut that out and welded in a patch connecting the roof skin to the pillar. The floor pans - after some wire wheeling and a needle scaler - found a lot of holes, but mostly in the center of the floor pans on both sides. Cut out the spot welded sections and put in fresh metal, gave a coat of por-15, and some rattle can over it. I plan on putting some sound dampener in before the interior goes in. I have a fresh hood (the original had some filler in the one corner, but it's mostly because I ran across one in some semi-local classifieds for the right price) that'll go on soon. After I finish pulling the bumpers and likely the vent frames, I'll start the search to find a shop to do body and paint on the shell.

The original 273 4bbl was pulled, stripped, and sent to the machine shop. The block has never been bored, so it only took an overbore of .030 to clean up the cylinders. The crankshaft was checked, cleaned, and polished. Bought an Isky E-4 cam, new Egge .030 overbore hi-po pistons, solid lifters. The heads are currently being worked (replacing valves and springs) and cleaning up a previous head job. I plan on reusing the pushrods (after confirming everything still looks good) and the adjustable rocker arms as they're in good condition. I plan on putting the original 4bbl manifold back on since it cleaned up fine and had no cracks under the heat shield. I should have the heads and short block back from the machine shop in the next few weeks.

Will post a few photos next week, time permitting.
 
Photos attached. Still had the blue streak goodyear in the trunk. Looks rough, but I think it's gonna clean up fine. Not quite ready for paint, but getting closer (once I finally locate a place to paint it in NC).

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If anyone needs any disassembly type photos of any areas of their 66' barracuda, please let me know. It's apart and it's easy to get a shot of what appears to be a stock 66 formula s. I was able to help @dschem above with his request.
 
I've got a friend that lives in Zebulon and is a Mopar guy. I'll ask him if he knows anyone in the Raleigh area he would recommend for body and paint. Are you going to the Mopar show coming up at Farmington Dragway? If you are, I may set up selling some parts and will have a nice dash cluster with the tach sending unit for a 66 FS there. I bought it with the bright idea that I was going to use it in my 65 Barracuda, but changed my mind.
 
Hey, JD,

If you don't mind, could you let me know the Mopar paint/body guy in Raleigh area when you find out?

I'm right outside Raleigh and found more rust than I thought in Mabel.

Thanks,
Steve
 
I've got a friend that lives in Zebulon and is a Mopar guy. I'll ask him if he knows anyone in the Raleigh area he would recommend for body and paint. Are you going to the Mopar show coming up at Farmington Dragway? If you are, I may set up selling some parts and will have a nice dash cluster with the tach sending unit for a 66 FS there. I bought it with the bright idea that I was going to use it in my 65 Barracuda, but changed my mind.
Hey JD - dont plan on heading to it. And thanks for checking on body/paint!
 
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