68 Barracuda Fastback build

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Thanks for the photos, nice lookin Cuda (just not a fan of the 18s but the rest is cool!).

I actually might drop the ducktail idea and build an adjustable spoiler as I'm going a lot further than initally planned for the build. I had some fun the other day with one of my photos when i bought the car, and photoshopped it into a trackday toy :p

Love the pic. I do like the wheels on mine, but in fact I have actually been thinking about changing them. These give me problems with rubbing, especially on bumpy roads, though I need to redo the suspension which will probably make a big difference. I have been thinking of going a bit smaller wheel and bigger tire, traditional 5-spoke in black. Thought that would look nice. Of course, that requires less lazy.

I do like ducktails on the fastbacks though. Seen a few and dig that. Works well with the lines to my eye.

Keep up the great work! Been watching as you move along. Inspiring stuff, though my lazy is still whipping my inspiration right now
 
some of the work done this weekend :

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Sandingit clean prior to a final coat with the spray gun.

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Power washed the car and the grease and dirt out prior to final disassembly.

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Cut out the rusty and bondo body panels

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Cast iron 4 speed...Why? Those things weigh a ton.
Later years featured Aluminum housing, same trans. Plenty strong, too.
Much easier to work on. You drop this thing, you feel it, Big time.

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Why? Because I could find one and it didn't cost me 2500$ like a fully rebuilt from Brewer's ... And I've got a cast iron block, heads and crank, so I'm not really at 40 pounds more or less now... oh and i'm not building a pro touring thing either so i don't really give a f... :)
 
Why? Because I could find one and it didn't cost me 2500$ like a fully rebuilt from Brewer's ... And I've got a cast iron block, heads and crank, so I'm not really at 40 pounds more or less now... oh and i'm not building a pro touring thing either so i don't really give a f... :)
would liked to have seen you do a little smooth up and bowl blending around the exhaust seats. you would be surprised at how much diff. that makes on a flow bench ! even a little finger nail clipping size ledge around the seats shows up big time !
 
If you're talking about these, i've cleaned up around the valve seats since this photo, and I blended in all the rough edges on the exhaust side after the new seats were put in :)

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Why? Because I could find one and it didn't cost me 2500$ like a fully rebuilt from Brewer's ... And I've got a cast iron block, heads and crank, so I'm not really at 40 pounds more or less now... oh and i'm not building a pro touring thing either so i don't really give a f... :)

When you try to discuss an issue with ignorant people, you always get a smart *** answer back.
 
Thank you for calling me ignorant... Like i said, i'm not chasing weight savings, and i don't have an infinite budget. If you want, my birthday was yesterday, you're welcome to send me an aluminium block crate engine and a Tremec 5 spd... Now that's being smart-*** fyi...

It's a muscle car, not a freaking Lotus Elise... But whatever.

Oh, and to be even more smart-***, my build is a 68 Barracuda, which had numbers matching engine and trans, so I'm keeping with 68 parts on the car, including the new trans and rear end. And as the aluminium cases were introduced only from 1971, that doesn't "fit the bill" for me anyway.
 
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Engine finally fired up! I switched to roller rockers, changed a few other things, relocated the oil filter, fitted lifter valley baffle and oil pan baffle, etc etc. Now I have to break it in, setup the carb, fuel, ignition timing.

I've done some work to the shell of the car also, started welding in some reinforcement plates, got my rollcage test fitted, etc. The rear driver side frame rail needs an alignment though so the car will be going to a shop in a few weeks, and then I'll weld in the cage and all the chassis, test fit the engine, trans, suspensions, brakes, etc before painting the car.

 
That must have been loud inside the garage lmao! Congrats!
 
Ears were buzzing for about 20 minutes after that, and it was only 3500 rpm max... :)
 
Done a lot of work over the past months, trying to get it on the road for Dream Cruise :

I finished my front suspension with rebuilt and reinforced LCAs, new tubular UCAs, etc etc.
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I also welded the torque boxes under the car, and reinforcement plates for the rollcage

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I've also started getting the body down to bare metal, with some bad surprises... driver side fender is bad, lots of rust behind the wheel (and patch panel was made of shitty metal from Taiwan, impossible to weld...)

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I also shaved some weight off the trunk, and cleaned the doors and trunk too

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And I relocated the shock plates on the 8-3/4 rear end back to their original position.

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I had a week off when Ford had its summer shutdown last week, so that helped me to get a lot of stuff done. And now I have my girlfriend starting to help on the car too, so we're aiming for the Dream Cruise to drive it et test fit everything on the car before taking it apart again this winter for paint.
 
That’s pretty true, but that’s not really the reason why there hasn’t been much progress lately :(. We had to take apart and rebuild her car during the summer to fix some engine and transmission issues before she could take it to a trackday, so that kept me away fromthe Cuda for several weeks. We’ve just restarted working on the old fish tonight, working on the rollcage which requires a lot of adjusting, cutting, grinding, measuring... so we’ve done the main hoop properly, and adjusted the roof hoop too. Next on the list (probably thursday) will be the diagonal bar under the roof and the a pillar bars.
 
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