67 barracuda notchback restoration

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moparmat2000

moparmat2000

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My 1967 barracuda coupe. I enjoy reading all the other threads on here and as such I had been contemplating starting a resto thread on this car for years as it progressed. Then as i got farther along with it i thought well damn, thats a lotta pix, a lotta remembering, and just where do i begin.

The story starts in 2008. I'm looking for a project car again. I used to be into 68-70 chargers back in the late 80s early 90s. Sold my 69 charger 440 4 speed car in 1994. The cost of these is now unreal and out of my price range. I turned to A bodies as an affordable way to get back into the hobby. I say affordble because they were way cheaper than doing a B body in 2008, but far from inexpensive to do on a budget. I realized this was going to be long term. I didnt realize just how long term that was going to be.

I am hoping as i post belated progress pix to get this thing up to date a little each day, your encouragement will help me get out there more often and get her farther along. My 67 has sat and not moved last registered in 1981 with a tick over 60K on its odometer. Was it rolled 160 or is it 60. At this point it doesnt matter as the car is a mess.
 
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As soon as i can i will start posting pix. I am using a loaner phone until my insured replacement one arrives. This one keeps saying low memory when i try to post pictures. Maybe later tonight i can continue with this
 
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I've been looking forward to this, Matt! I've seen pics of little bits that you've been working on but never the gran scheme of it.

I don't mean to put pressure on you, but with your attention to detail, I'm sure this project will turn out great!
 
Pix from the day i picked it up in 2008. Slanty 6 , 3 on the tree, bench seat car. Stripper really except for a Vspeed wiper, trip odometer speedo, and a vacuum gage

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All it really would have needed was 2 passenger side floorboard patches. The floors of the car were that clean except apparently the 3 speed column shift broke and the previous owner cut a nasty hole in the floor for a failed attempt at a home brewed 3 speed floor shift. During their torch session they cut completely through the transmission crossmember. This may have been when the car was parked and left. It never looked like they could get some sort of linkage figured out.

At this point it needs the floor pulled out to change the hacked in half crossmember. I levelled the car on jackstands and temp welded 2" square tube to the frame rails and up to the rockers to hold the rails straight. Then the floor and remainder of the crossmember was removed.

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Go Matt! 67 notches are the best. I find a cheap digital camera is the best way to document my builds. I keep a website build thread and a hard copy photo album of everything I do. I am looking forward to watching yours develop.
Best of luck!
 
Thanks DR. Since my pix go all the way back to 2008, and are scrambled now that i pulled em back outta the cloud and back into a new phone its gonna be fun putting this all together. Old phone had a micro SD slot. New insurance replacement doesnt. Newer model go figure. I do keep hard copy as well. Just have not kept up with that very well either lol. Thanks for watching.
 
moparmat2000 said:
All it really would have needed was 2 passenger side floorboard patches. The floors of the car were that clean except apparently the 3 speed column shift broke and the previous owner cut a nasty hole in the floor for a failed attempt at a home brewed 3 speed floor shift. During their torch session they cut completely through the transmission crossmember. This may have been when the car was parked and left. It never looked like they could get some sort of linkage figured out.

At this point it needs the floor pulled out to change the hacked in half crossmember. I levelled the car on jackstands and temp welded 2" square tube to the frame rails and up to the rockers to hold the rails straight. Then the floor and remainder of the crossmember was removed.

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Cutting the cross member in half. Slick. :BangHead:
 
Ok, so i put the cart before the horse so to speak. I went to my local police auction about 6 months prior to buying the barracuda. I was looking for a mopar either parts car or project car. Whichever bodyline i bought would probably determine what i would be building. I found a 1974 dodge dart. Hood wouldent pop, no biggie i looked underneath and saw a Y pipe and knew it had at least a 318, and BBP disc brakes. Carpet was torn out long ago so the sheetmetal floors were in perfect condition. Only had a 7&1/4 in the back. Oh well i cant have everything. The gavel dropped at $400. Now i had a parts car lol.

At this point an A body project was in my sights. Already determined prior that a B body was out of my reach but at the police auction anything was possible so i was still holding out hope but the only thing that was there was the dart. It had all the V8 and disc brake conversion parts in one spot and decent floor pans which i knew i would probably need anyways.

At that point i found the forlorn 67 barracuda and started to cut up the dart. I stripped it out for everything i would need including K frame, floor pan, and transmission crossmember, sold what was sellable and scrapped the rest.

I used spotweld cutters to seperate the floor from the rocker panels and crossmember this way i could reuse both pieces. A barracuda is a 108" wheelbase. Its a shorter floorpan than the dart. But that length is taken up at the back of the pan so i will need cut the dart pan short at the back and make 1 non stock seam. I figured $400 for a whole car with a lot of what i need or can sell to recoup my money verses a new AMD crossmember and correct length floorpan at over $600 plus truck freight. I will do the sweat equity and make the dart floorpan fit.

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With the slant 6 K frame still installed in the cuda, my temp welded in sq tube cross brace holding the framerails level and even and the car levelled on jack stands, i took the new to me dart crossmember after i cleaned it all up and applied a green epoxy primer to it, and some 3M weld thru ll silver weld thru primer at the weld joints, and fit it in place. I used the existing torsion bars i had as go / no go checkers. And kept adjusting fitment of the crossmember and clamping and re clamping until the torsion bars would just slide in and out of the crossmember hexes with the crossmember clamped in place. At this point i welded it in place.

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Your too kind. Only the roof, right side, trunklid and hood were straight.

Gonna be hanging 2 quarters on it, a different drivers door, different LH front fender, upper valance, bumpers, grilles etc.

The bonus is theres very little rust thru. Rails are super solid too.
 
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Holy crap, my eyesight must be worse than I thought. Gonna be a new car when your done.
 
Look closely at the first pic w grilles, all of it was trashed except plymouth letters signal lights and inner grilles. LH fender had 2 big dents and was tore up in the front. I pulled emblem, fender fish, and headlight bucket and got rid of it. Got a nicely bodyworked 67 fender from another fabo member to replace it. Front bumper was useable but i bought new. Rear was bent.
 
Its surprising what top notch chrome can do for a car. Are the grills OK, the trim around them look like they're in trouble. Been looking for decent replacements for my 69 for a couple years now.
 
I had to replace all of it w different grilles. What small grill pieces off that mess that were decent i sold off to recoup some money for decent grills and headlight surrounds. Got a 68 upper header panel. Need to fill the 68 emblem holes and redrill for the 67 letters.

LH rear quarter was socked in pretty good. I pulled it and bondoed it. Then decided later on it would probably be best to just replace it. RH one is full of door check dings..i could fix it but damn thats a lot of skim coat filler. I think id rather replace the pair.
 
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Next i readied the dart floor pan for install and welded it in. An unobtrusive non stock seam runs across the back edge it overlaps right where its boxed in in the back edge of the rear seat footwell running across. All the seat belt anchors were moved to where the barracuda floor pan had them. Remember the green is an epoxy etch primer. I added home made bucket seat reinforcing plates based on originals i had access to be able to copy..

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Good question DR. I have a 360 short block, and a complete and nice running 1974 318 out of the dart. I was thinking 3 things as money allows. Either do a quickie rebuild of the 318 with a mild cam and run that until i can rebuild the 360. Or i can rebuild the 360 from the get go. Problem w that is funds. Do i go stock stroke 360 or a 408-410 inch 360. I am going to try to build it into a sleeper thats dressed out like a 273 so a stroker would make the same power as a heavily cammed high compression 360 but with a milder cam and a little less compression so it wouldent be as rumpity bumpity and i can more easily hide it. For right now i have the 318 in there so i can mock up all my wiring and other items. Then its all going to be pulled back out.
 
For todays installment on my loooong delayed build thread, i have the trans tunnel 4 speed hump. I had this cut out of a 75 duster. I didnt care for the way chrysler just tacked these into place so i seam welded it all the way around. Since everything up to this point was done just to fix a hastily cut through crossmember, i finally think i can finally now move forward. The only pic i have of this is just prior to grinding the primer off around the edges of the cutout, and after its welded in. I used a red sharpie to trace out the edges of the 4 speed hump, then a black sharpie outline inside of the red. I did this so i could remind myself, "ok cut the black line, not the red" lol.

If you look closely the new crossmember. It looks like the floor mating flange is cut off on the back edge. That is part of the factory stamping. Its for a 3 or 4 speed shifter tower to clear.

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moparmat2000 said:
For todays installment on my loooong delayed build thread, i have the trans tunnel 4 speed hump. I had this cut out of a 75 duster. I didnt care for the way chrysler just tacked these into place so i seam welded it all the way around. Since everything up to this point was done just to fix a hastily cut through crossmember, i finally think i can finally now move forward. The only pic i have of this is just prior to grinding the primer off around the edges of the cutout, and after its welded in. I used a red sharpie to trace out the edges of the 4 speed hump, then a black sharpie outline inside of the red. I did this so i could remind myself, "ok cut the black line, not the red" lol.

If you look closely the new crossmember. It looks like the floor mating flange is cut off on the back edge. That is part of the factory stamping. Its for a 3 or 4 speed shifter tower to clear.

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Wow, that trans tunnel is mighty wrinkled behind the hump! Did they come out of the press that bad back in the day? Sheesh ...
 
Yes. I have seen some smooth in this area and some wrinkled to **** in this area. Thats 1974 build quality for ya. They prob said who cares the carpet and seat cover it up. I worked it somewhat flat with a hammer and a dolley where the hump covers it.
 
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Subframe connectors. Homemade 1/8" thick 2x3 box steel. I decided to relocate and run the parking brake cable inboard of the drivers side subframe connector this way it wouldent have to somehow run through it, or over it but instead run parallel to it. Pic #2 shows 3/4" non stock hole i put in there with a holesaw to run the cable thru at the front. 3rd pic shows temporary "cleco" pin holding it in place prior to welding and cable coming out the back side inboard of the subframe connector. There is also enough room for the clutch pivot bar or "Zee bar", and speedometer cable too.

I eventually welded the rear floorpans to the connectors. Not shown is how i tied them in at the back. I cut them into a U shape and capped over the rear framerails. They only stick up about 1/2" thru the rear footwell. I will put extra padding on either side then carpet. You wont ever see them.

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