65 Barracuda daily driver

[66fyssh]

Sure looks good!! Those engine bays weren't well done at the factory. Yours looks great from the pictures!! You've put in a lot of work to make that a great looking...and running and driving car!!

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks, 66fyssh! Here's a photo from "Take-your-Mopar-to-work-day" (Oh wait, that's every day):

Also, I keep finding photos of my car on instagram (by people I don't know). This one is probably photoshopped quite a bit, but I like it a lot:

 

[68HAVOK]

Amazing job on this car man! Glad to see someone doing what others think is impossible. I applaud you for what you have accomplished, without the luxury of a garage and lack of tools as you said. I just read this entire 10 page thread and it just made me as happy as can be. I live about five hours north of you. Look what I have sitting in my driveway. Nothing like a 65 Barracuda!

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks, 68 HAVOC. I really can't recommend what I did, but I didn't really have much choice. And now that most of the work is done, I love driving it every day. It's still my only car. Your 65 Barracuda looks amazing, by the way.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Overall "Salma" has been pretty reliable for a 52 year old car. Last week I had some trouble with starting and also stalling while driving. It was cranking, but not starting. First I changed the oil, filter, air filter and spark plugs, mainly because it had been a while. I also changed the thermostat, because it was overheating just a bit recently. I bought a new balance resistor, because that is usually the first thing that causes ignition issues, right? But for some reason I decided to swap the ECU with the old one that was on the car when I bought and sure enough, it solved all the problems. Anyways, I'm pretty sure this happened, because I took everything off the firewall to paint it and it's possibly just a wiring/ ground issue. I would really like to swap in HEI or pretty much anything that is more reliable. I attempted HEI once before, but I couldn't get the wiring right (or maybe the module was bad?!). I've been thinking about the FBO ignition, but I'm not sure, if I want to shell out 200 bucks for it. Any other ideas? Not necessarily looking for more power, but improved reliability and gas mileage. It's a daily driver!

 

[66fyssh]

Cool picture!!!

Check out the Pertronix Ingiter II. That's what I run. It fits in place of the points. You can also replace your coil with a FlameThrower Coil for added voltage. If you get the 45011 coil you can remove the ballast resistor or leave it and run a wire between the two terminals. In the end you can keep the stock look and have a very nice ignition. When I added the FlameThrower coil, I increased the spark plug gap to .045.

Mine starts up nearly immediately after turning the key.

Overall "Salma" has been pretty reliable for a 52 year old car. Last week I had some trouble with starting and also stalling while driving. It was cranking, but not starting. First I changed the oil, filter, air filter and spark plugs, mainly because it had been a while. I also changed the thermostat, because it was overheating just a bit recently. I bought a new balance resistor, because that is usually the first thing that causes ignition issues, right? But for some reason I decided to swap the ECU with the old one that was on the car when I bought and sure enough, it solved all the problems. Anyways, I'm pretty sure this happened, because I took everything off the firewall to paint it and it's possibly just a wiring/ ground issue. I would really like to swap in HEI or pretty much anything that is more reliable. I attempted HEI once before, but I couldn't get the wiring right (or maybe the module was bad?!). I've been thinking about the FBO ignition, but I'm not sure, if I want to shell out 200 bucks for it. Any other ideas? Not necessarily looking for more power, but improved reliability and gas mileage. It's a daily driver!

View attachment 1715062237

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks!
That seems to be a great system and not very expensive. I do not care about a stock look under the hood and I really want to replace and reduce the old wiring as much as possible. I'll read up on it!

 

[sireland67]

For budget and reliability, use a stock electronic mopar distributor and a hei conversion.
I ran my 71 Dodge forever like that and never had any issues.
I am also running an hei conversion using stock distributor in my Duster and current truck.
A quality module and good wiring is the key to keeping it reliable.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Good point- I tried HEI before, but I'm not sure, if the module was bad or if I just wired it incorrectly. I wasn't able to find a wiring diagram that also showed the 70-up charging system. I will look into it again...

 

[67redcudavert]

FABO member Trailbeast offers a HEI conversion kit for $100 that works great, I put one on my car and am happy with it. You need a Chrysler electronic ignition distributor to go with it.

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks, I'll look into that as well. It seems like a lot of it is just the old wiring, though. I either need to re-wire everything or buy a harness.

 

[65barracudaLA]

I still don't have much time to work on the car. The only exception is the window chrome locking strips that had gone bad- they looked like they rusted. So I complained to Classic Industries about it and they were nice enough to send me new ones for free- even though it was 6 months after the warranty expired. I also stopped by the beach today (before I replaced them), but it was too overcast...

 

[65barracudaLA]

I'm back from a trip to Europe and I finally tackled the last 4 missing pieces of trim on the interior. I should have done this a long time ago... I am still missing the trim at the rear window, but it's not that noticeable and as far as I know there are no reproductions and they are impossible to find on ebay etc.

Next I hope to start with the A/C, which I've had sitting around for a while now. I'll keep you updated...

 

[65barracudaLA]

The Monroe shocks that I installed last year were complete garbage... These KYB that I installed last weekend seem to do the job much better!

 

[Hyper_pak]

Your Barracuda looks great, you should be very proud of your daily driver!

 

[Deucemopar]

Awesome car and story!

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks guys!

 

[68HAVOK]

Lookin good man. Our 65 has been my daily as of late. Been fun driving it on the regular. Been trying to solve the whine in the new altenator by tuff stuff. Swapped it for another of same model and same thing. They are never done.

 

[Deucemopar]

Lookin good man. Our 65 has been my daily as of late. Been fun driving it on the regular. Been trying to solve the whine in the new altenator by tuff stuff. Swapped it for another of same model and same thing. They are never done.

Have you ensured the pulley alignment is straight? Even the smallest offset can cause that. Since you’ve replaced the alternator - that could be it. Does the belt show any differing wear side to side. Things like that ? If your way ahead of me ... ignore me. Lol.

 

[Rustyfish]

I've read the entire thread and it's definitely an inspiration. I don't have a garage either, but living in the Midwest puts a real limit on available work time. Between snow and cold temps it's hard to get anything done on your own. But I'm hoping to have my front suspension including beefier torsion bars and kyb's rebuilt before too long. Also have a bunch of engine (318) upgrades waiting to put including cam, intake, and 4bbl eddy. Mine came with the 273 originally probably like yours. Oh and I'm a transplant from NoCal about 14 years ago.

 

[Tooljunkie]

Well,I’M impressed!
Nice (driveway) job!

 

[RichB]

More progress on the deck lid... Exterior is pretty nice now:

On to the inside:

And some paint:

Once the paint has fully dried, I'll put it on the car. Anyone have a spare deck lid hinge? One of mine is bad...

I have a trunk lid hinge already painted red and clear coated. What $ would you offer?

 

[65barracudaLA]

Thanks, I found a trunk lid hinge back then.

 

[65barracudaLA]

I've been mainly just driving the car lately and have only done minor things. I installed a new Carter BBD, a Lokar kick down cable, a mini starter (starts so quickly now!), new dash vents, changed the bulbs to LED's in the cluster, console and radio. The kick down still needs adjustment and I assume it's not the cable, but the kick down band. Ever since I bought the car the kick down lever was just held in place with a piece of wire. Unfortunately I broke the shifter slide plastic thing, when I changed the bulb in the console to LED, but I ordered a new one and installed it. I now have all the parts to install the Kelsey Hayes disc brakes and the a/c that's been sitting on the shelf for a year now... Hopefully to be installed soon...

That was before I installed the mini starter and I'm still tweaking the kick down...

I don't think the texture on the slide is original, but I like it.

 

[ESP47]

Such a cool thread! Has me inspired to get to work on my rig.

What kind of spray set up are you using to paint the doors, engine bay etc red at home? Looks beautiful.