'68 Barracuda Notch

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Nice finds!! I wish I had the moolah to take the red one off your hands once you're done swapping parts over...I'd still paint it blue ;)
 
Progress on the red car has been steady.



I have a couple small things left to do and then I'll add fluids to start it back up. I'm waiting on a 220 volt outlet to be installed in my garage so I can weld up the exhaust, but I'm not very far off. The front is sitting a little high, but it should settle down.
 
I got it fired today. Using a piston stop and some tape and a marker I was able to find TDC, but I can't find any timing pointer on this 318. The water pump exits on the passenger side, but I can't see that its hiding anything. This is a Jasper engine (so I was told), but I have no idea what year. I lined up the rotor with the number 1 plug, but other than by ear, how can I tune this without some timing reference?

I still need to bleed the brakes and weld up some exhaust hangers, but for the most part its ready. As so as I can get this sold, work will start on the blue car. While the motor is out, I think I'm going to have the engine bay painted, but I'm struggling with a color. I've considered 2011 Challenger "Green with Envy" or the current SRT Charger "Blue Streak Pearl" but I'm not set on anything. The only shades that I've ruled out are red and white (even though I love white on this car). I've been playing around with photoshop to see what I like and for the most part, I tend to think darker colors look better. The original color was GG1 and I love greens, but I think its a little too dark.

I've got some time to decide, but suggestions are welcome.
 
do you have a timing marker on the balancer or the cover? if the cover has the marks find tdc compression stroke again and mark the balancer with paint or something.
 
Rocky_JS said:
do you have a timing marker on the balancer or the cover? if the cover has the marks find tdc compression stroke again and mark the balancer with paint or something.
Click to expand...

I saw a mark on the balancer, but nothing on the cover.
 
rymanrph said:
I got it fired today. Using a piston stop and some tape and a marker I was able to find TDC
Click to expand...

If you found TDC you are good. Another trick is to see if TDC for #2 will line up with something convenient. All you need is one good mark to reference zero and a "dial back to zero" timing light.
 
It runs and it drives! I have just a couple little things left to do and then it will be for sale. When it does sell, then work can begin on the blue one.

 
Congrats! Doing great work!! For future reference the formula for circumference of a circle(balancer)i= 2 X PI(3.14) X radius. So whatever your circumference is, divide that into 360, as any circle has 360 degrees. Im probably making it more confusing than it is...LOL Good work!
 
I decided to assess the condition of the floor in the blue car today. Originally I thought maybe someone had tried to convert it to a 4-speed tunnel, but now I think maybe it was just some rust and someone got carried away trying to fix it.

The top doesn't look "bad" but it only tells part of the story.

6660EDCF-0B16-44E9-BAD4-65364899B5EB-6500-00000966FB18EFF4_zps80f21ec9.jpg


The patches go all the way up to the middle top of the hump, but not all the metal underneath is bad.

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8B427B03-1402-49A9-BCD7-130DA54EB4AE-6500-000009670A61E903_zps3205bd92.jpg


A friend and I were talking and it seems like an odd place for it to rust (on the side of the tunnel), but who knows. Anyone know where I can get a good replacement panel?
 
I got all of the odd patches out today. Here's what I'm left to deal with:



Up near the gas pedal you can see a piece hanging down a bit by two cuts. I'm hoping that I can pull that back up and stitch it back together. Its really kind of odd how much overlap was used. The torsion bar cross member has some damage too that I need to address. I'm sure its structurally OK, but cosmetically it just needs some help.

I'm also looking for some advice on my rear suspension/axle set up. If you have any input, let me know here:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=240884
 
I would imagine you could just stitch in a reinforcement and all would be well with the world-at least you got the cobbled up crap out of the way. I'm sure you'll do fine, and I can't wait to see more pix!
 
I've done a little work on the floor. I found someone with a floor section that is going to help me out, but it will probably be a couple weeks until I can get it.

I filled in the two slots near the gas pedal. There was a pretty big gap in some spots and it took a while to get it filled. The metal was a little thinner than I thought and my Harbor Freight welder doesn't adjust down very far on gas. Its pretty solid now though. Admittedly there are a couple tiny pin holes that some seam sealer will take care off. I also patched the torsion bar cross member too.

Both are a little rough, but this is my first welding project, so I'm happy.

 
I finally got a patch panel for my floor (thanks Dave!) and got a short time to work a little bit with it tonight. The first order of business was to remove the several pounds of undercoating from beneath. I started trimming it down some, but didn't get very far.

Here's what I'm starting with:

 
After a little bit of work today, this is what I ended up with:



I'm not done and its not perfect, but for my first welding project, I'm happy with the progress.
 
It doesn't look much better on the top, but its all one piece and seam sealed. The bottom is a different story. I'll post some pictures of it tomorrow after I can get some undercoating on it.

 
I've been working on the rear spring relocation. Everything is mocked up. I'm just waiting on a helping hand to measure everything so that its all square before I weld it up.

In the mean time, I started cleaning up the 360. I still need to strip and repaint the oil pan, the pulleys and several brackets. I'm also going to repaint the valve covers.

Here is the before:



And here's the halfway done:

 
I'm pretty much done with the motor. I think I'm going to swap out the valve cover gaskets (unless the rubber ones can be reused?). I got the valve covers, pulleys, oil pan and several brackets repainted. I'll still need to do the power steering stuff, but I'll do that once the car goes out to have the engine bay painted.

 
Here is the only rot that I've found on the car so far:



I'm going to try and have this patched when I have the engine bay painted. There may be some more surprises somewhere, but the body really does seem to be in good shape.
 
I finally got the rear spring relocation completed. The 8.75 and the 295s are back under the car now.

B2FA96CF-7A02-4337-935B-34AE2793968F-9485-00000A11B00E54C1_zps98c4b6ca.jpg


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Now its time to get the engine bay painted so that the motor can go back in.
 
I'm prepping to have the engine bay painted, but I've had the hardest time deciding on a color. Right now I'm thinking Dodge Brilliant Black Pearl, but yesterday it was Patriot Blue, then Lexus Starfire Pearl, Challenger Green With Envy, etc.

I also have come to the conclusion that the wheels and tires I have now, will not work. The 295s are just too wide. They'll clear the leaf springs now that I've moved them, but they'll still impact the wheel wells under compression. I know I could put a skinnier tire on, but the wheels appear to be about 12" wide, so I'm not sure how skinny I can go.

I could mini tub, but I'm not comfortable doing that myself and so I'd rather spend the money on a new 17" wheel and tire package. I'd sell my current setup to offset the price of new, but I have no idea what they're worth. Just going by Summit prices, new its an over $1,500 package. Obviously, these aren't new, but I'm not sure I would know what a fair price would be.

Any suggestions on paint color or wheel price?
 
If you want 17s and same height front / rear you can go 245/45-17 front on an 17x8, 275/40-17 on the rear on a 17x9.5 I had to run the "low profile" ball joint with my '75 upper control arm spindle combo on the front to make that work. I have a few pictures if you need clarity. It would be best if you have a way to fit test before you buy on the front wheels! Can you fit an 11" wide tire in the back?

Second picture in post #3 of the following link is a 245/45-17 on a 17x8 on the front. A 275/40 is the same sidewall height.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showpost.php?p=1285701&postcount=3
 
mosleyme said:
If you want 17s and same height front / rear you can go 245/45-17 front on an 17x8, 275/40-17 on the rear on a 17x9.5 I had to run the "low profile" ball joint with my '75 upper control arm spindle combo on the front to make that work. I have a few pictures if you need clarity. It would be best if you have a way to fit test before you buy on the front wheels! Can you fit an 11" wide tire in the back?

Second picture in post #3 of the following link is a 245/45-17 on a 17x8 on the front. A 275/40 is the same sidewall height.

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showpost.php?p=1285701&postcount=3
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I have a running list of pictures I've bookmarked for cars I like (color, wheels, interior, etc.) and yours is one of them because I really like the way those Torq Thrust wheels look. Your car and my car probably started out life looking very similar since mine was originally GG1.

The rear tires don't rub at ride height, so I was thinking maybe once I get it running again I can take it to the tire shop and have them test fit a couple different size wheels or tires to see what works.

I know that I have the newer A body disc brakes up front. Would that mean I have the same upper control arm and spindle as you?
 
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