1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
- Got to pull the brownies out of the oven and hit the sack. - Have a happy Thanksgiving bomber.
Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback
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1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I hadn't done any Christmas shopping yet this year so I decided to make an early run at some black Friday specials. It's been years since I got myself up early to join the lines of bargain hunters willing to wait outside for stores to open. I told myself this will be the last time I'll ever do it.
There aren't any stores in our town that advertise black Friday bargains (or bargains any other days) so I headed 25 miles away to a Menards hardware/lumber yard in Columbus. I didn't think they'd have big crowds. Their flyer listed door opening time as 6:00 a.m.
I drove past a Walmart on the way there and saw their parking lot was nearly empty. I took it as a good sign that I might be first in line. It was 5:00. As I pulled into the entrance my jaw dropped. Even without their parking lot lights on I could see that it was packed. I threw out my plan of waiting inside a warm vehicle until just before 6:00 and hurried to get in line. It was 30' outside. I'd estimate there were about 500 people ahead of me. By the time the doors opened there was another 1000 behind.
There were only a few items on my list that I really wanted to get. Although I could have gotten them elsewhere, this sale would save me almost $200. Waiting in line I was picturing each of the people ahead of me carrying my sought after goods to the checkout before I could find them. Worst case scenario I figured I'd buy some alkaline batteries and light bulbs. Surely they wouldn't run out of those.
The wait wasn't as miserable as what I thought it would be. There wasn't any wind so the cold temperature was somewhat negated by the heat radiating from fellow shoppers in the 5 wide line. My biggest annoyance was the 100-150 extra people that came later who had friends allow them in line ahead of me.
When the doors finally opened there was a mad dash for the shopping carts. I could see that it looked like a rush hour traffic jam. The folks with the carts could barely move. I made a quick decision to skip the cart. Without being tethered to one I was able to avoid the jam and head straight to the place I thought I'd find the holy grail. - The SNAP-ON power washer!
I was in luck! When I got there, - there were still 2 left. It was a bit heavy lugging it around the store with me but I had it! HAH!! What's a few more aches and pains from my back compared to the satisfaction of making the score.
I'm sure I was grinning ear to ear as I struggled to carry it around the rest of the store. I was invigorated by my first kill and eager to see if I could land more bargains before hitting the check out aisles. Luckily I was pretty familiar with Menards. It's where I usually go for hardware supplies. Not only did I find everything that I had on my list, I also found a handful of unadvertised bargains. I even bought the batteries!
In their toy section I saw they had more of those light up billboards on sale for $3 each. The basement racetrack already had enough but at that price I figured it could gain some more. I picked up 6 of them.
As I drove home I started thinking to myself, maybe I could do this again next year.
There aren't any stores in our town that advertise black Friday bargains (or bargains any other days) so I headed 25 miles away to a Menards hardware/lumber yard in Columbus. I didn't think they'd have big crowds. Their flyer listed door opening time as 6:00 a.m.
I drove past a Walmart on the way there and saw their parking lot was nearly empty. I took it as a good sign that I might be first in line. It was 5:00. As I pulled into the entrance my jaw dropped. Even without their parking lot lights on I could see that it was packed. I threw out my plan of waiting inside a warm vehicle until just before 6:00 and hurried to get in line. It was 30' outside. I'd estimate there were about 500 people ahead of me. By the time the doors opened there was another 1000 behind.
There were only a few items on my list that I really wanted to get. Although I could have gotten them elsewhere, this sale would save me almost $200. Waiting in line I was picturing each of the people ahead of me carrying my sought after goods to the checkout before I could find them. Worst case scenario I figured I'd buy some alkaline batteries and light bulbs. Surely they wouldn't run out of those.
The wait wasn't as miserable as what I thought it would be. There wasn't any wind so the cold temperature was somewhat negated by the heat radiating from fellow shoppers in the 5 wide line. My biggest annoyance was the 100-150 extra people that came later who had friends allow them in line ahead of me.
When the doors finally opened there was a mad dash for the shopping carts. I could see that it looked like a rush hour traffic jam. The folks with the carts could barely move. I made a quick decision to skip the cart. Without being tethered to one I was able to avoid the jam and head straight to the place I thought I'd find the holy grail. - The SNAP-ON power washer!
I was in luck! When I got there, - there were still 2 left. It was a bit heavy lugging it around the store with me but I had it! HAH!! What's a few more aches and pains from my back compared to the satisfaction of making the score.
I'm sure I was grinning ear to ear as I struggled to carry it around the rest of the store. I was invigorated by my first kill and eager to see if I could land more bargains before hitting the check out aisles. Luckily I was pretty familiar with Menards. It's where I usually go for hardware supplies. Not only did I find everything that I had on my list, I also found a handful of unadvertised bargains. I even bought the batteries!
In their toy section I saw they had more of those light up billboards on sale for $3 each. The basement racetrack already had enough but at that price I figured it could gain some more. I picked up 6 of them.
As I drove home I started thinking to myself, maybe I could do this again next year.
Cuda68Scott
Well-Known Member
My son in law and I decided to hit the black friday at Cabelas at 5am and had a similar experience to your Walmart expedition. He was looking for a pair of nice hunting binoculars that were about 1/2 off, and I was along for the ride. Cabelas was giving the first 600 people some type of gift which included a rifle. So we got there about about 4:45 am and they had a line of maybe 1000 that circled almost the entire store. As we walked towards the back of the line we could see that many had been camping out for much of the night, lawn chairs, picnic tables, and lots of fast food remnants littered the area. It had an eerie feel walking to the back of the line, kind of felt like we were refugees that were late to the crossing boat! Once they opened the doors the line moved fast, and there were plenty of the binocular remaining that my SIL wanted. I ended up buying 10 boxes of Remington 9mm shells that were on sale at $11.99 box with an additional $5 rebate, making them 6.99 a box. They seemed to be well staffed and check out was fast. I would also try it next year, but I have read where Bass Pro Shop has bought them out so it should be interesting if they keep this store in Phoenix. Anyway after Cabelas we drove over to Dicks Sporting Goods to get some rifle ammo for my SIL that was on Black Friday sale, and that place was practically empty.
Cabala's must be ,an absolute mad house.... Enjoy ,the holiday...( buzzed,and listening,to Kiss...first album...) see ya ,soon...
famous bob
mopar misfit
now back to the real cars !!
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Glad to hear the day went well. I remember years past when I had to wait an hour after the store doors opened to get inside. It was discouraging to find everything on my list gone before I got there. I doubt I'll ever get to the point where I'm willing to camp outside the night before. They'd have to be giving out new Hellcats before I'd be that crazy.
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1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I've only gone to Cabellas a few times during the holiday season and they were packed both times. I can only imagine what they were like on black Friday.
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1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Speaking of which, UPS dropped off the new tti headers for the Charger today and FedEx brought us a triple pass radiator. We're still waiting for the new ATI harmonic balancer so we can finish measuring our pulley assembly and order the blower snout.
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1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
The new tti headers showed up along with a new power steering pump. We've done some measuring and we're certain we won't have enough clearance to mount the radiator in the stock location. Our solution will be to move the radiator forward and recess it through the support wall. My son is OK with chopping up the car some more but doesn't want to lose the portion of the radiator support that has the numbers stamped on it because it's an R/T. He ordered a core support from U.S. Cartool and we'll be modifying the bottom portion of the support wall.
It's built heavier than the factory part so it should provide some extra strength.
It's built heavier than the factory part so it should provide some extra strength.
hotrodvince
Active Member
Hi John. Haven't talked to you in a long time. The 68 cuda is all painted. Your hood was a lot of work to fix,but it looks great now. I am looking for upper dash pad for my car. Any one you know have one. ^8 is 1 year only. I have a beautifull 67,69 pad ,but doesn,t line up with lower pads. Any help would be very helpful. Thanks. Vince
Took me five years of searching junkyards in the late 80's / early 90's to find one that was passable. They make them new now... Mopar A-Body - Barracuda Parts | MA4727100 | 1968 Dart / Barracuda / Valiant Black OE Style Dash Pad | Classic Industries
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I don't know of any off hand but I'll ask around here and see if I can come up with something. There have been a few cars recently that guys have put out for sale nearby but none that were very clean. I doubt I'll find you one that isn't cracked. Maybe the link from mosleyme will be your best option.
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John ...: Any updates on the Road Runner's F.I. issues..? Merry Christmas....
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
The latest on the Roadrunner is that my son still has it in Des Moines. When he took it to one of the shops down there to have the efi tuned further they couldn't do it because he had an exhaust leak that would have screwed with the O2 sensor. He took it back home and pulled the headers off thinking that the driver's side was so close to the starter that it might have been touching (and held out away from the head). After banging around on it he couldn't get it back on.
I wasn't down there so I'm not sure what's going on other than what he's told me. He said that the header flange seems to be tilted away from the head mounting surface on the bottom.
It's been quite a while since he tore it apart and although I realize that it's common to fight header installation, I'm beginning to wonder if he's bent it wrong. If he doesn't get it eventually I'll have to make the trip there to figure it out.
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SNKEBIT
Spending $$ on Mopars
John, where you at???
ariffle
Fish Shouldn't Rust
He was on today, guess he didn't want to talk. What's up John?
SNKEBIT
Spending $$ on Mopars
Starting to worry.................. Anybody know how to get ahold of him?
Cuda68Scott
Well-Known Member
I had his phone number, will have to check to see if I still have it. A year or so ago he got busy and took a hiatus from FABO so hopefully that is the reason this time. John, if you are reading this you know we are addicts and you can't just cut us off cold turkey like this! May have to check into a mopar detox center if you keep this up.....
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
I'm finally back. It's been a rough year so far. - Worst flu season I've ever seen. With one after another, I've been sick most of the time since Christmas. To top it off I spent the last few days in the hospital undergoing tests after experiencing severe chest pain. Despite the fact I thought the rescue squad ride was going to kill me I guess I'll survive. Either they found a 50 mile rout that was solid potholes or someone stole the shocks off that ambulance.
I've tried to pop onto FABO from time to time but just never felt up to posting. My time hasn't all been spent in bed though. Whenever I could, I still made it out to the garage and I tried to tinker with the basement racetrack when I was feeling worse.
Thanks for all the concern but I'm afraid you guys are going to have to put up with me for awhile yet.
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Cuda68Scott
Well-Known Member
This story all seems to be a little suspect, pretty sure I saw that you were arrested again and again over the holidays. Well at least I saw some reports that the cops had been nabbing a lot of Johns in some sort of sting operation in Nebraska.
Really happy to see you back John, hope you are recovering quickly, taking the docs advice, and milking this for all you can from the wife. Sounds like it may have been a bit serious for awhile. You still probably got more car work done in your weakened state than I did, although I did have a hangnail along with an extreme booboo on my head that almost required some neosporin with a bandaid. I was able to milk maybe 2 minutes of wife sympathy.
Really happy to see you back John, hope you are recovering quickly, taking the docs advice, and milking this for all you can from the wife. Sounds like it may have been a bit serious for awhile. You still probably got more car work done in your weakened state than I did, although I did have a hangnail along with an extreme booboo on my head that almost required some neosporin with a bandaid. I was able to milk maybe 2 minutes of wife sympathy.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
When it comes to progress made in the garage, - it hasn't been much. What progress has been made is all on the Charger project. The new tti headers are still in plastic but I'm hoping to be doing a test fit in the next few weeks.
The ATI harmonic balancer finally arrived in January and I was able to determine the proper length for our blower snout.
The idler pulley bracket from The Blower Shop wasn't properly machined. - Not a major issue but they didn't drill & tap the hole for the clamping bolt correctly. It took a few calls to them to determine why I was unable to get the bolt to thread in. At first I thought they might have used an odd size and was hesitant to modify it. After being assured it was supposed to be a 3/8-24, I simply re-drilled & tapped it.
It's been so long since I posted that I don't remember what progress I've reported before. One of the things we'd bought was a mini-battery from braile. It's heavier than what it looks but still provides a weight savings over a conventional sized battery and frees up some space in the engine compartment.
The ATI harmonic balancer finally arrived in January and I was able to determine the proper length for our blower snout.
The idler pulley bracket from The Blower Shop wasn't properly machined. - Not a major issue but they didn't drill & tap the hole for the clamping bolt correctly. It took a few calls to them to determine why I was unable to get the bolt to thread in. At first I thought they might have used an odd size and was hesitant to modify it. After being assured it was supposed to be a 3/8-24, I simply re-drilled & tapped it.
It's been so long since I posted that I don't remember what progress I've reported before. One of the things we'd bought was a mini-battery from braile. It's heavier than what it looks but still provides a weight savings over a conventional sized battery and frees up some space in the engine compartment.
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
The new smaller battery will require the fabrication of a small battery box. Our plan is to attach it to the radiator wall close to where the factory location was.
One thing that I find disturbing is that the guys at Keith Black say we'll need a 4" exhaust. HOLY-CH-MOLY, - that's big! I'm wondering how hard it will be to fit that over the axle and alongside the fuel tank. Every time I look at the collectors they remind me of the difficulty we'll be facing later. My son is considering squashing the 4" exhaust into an oval shape to gain ground clearance. Another concern is if huge exhaust pipes would be really ugly sticking out the back. One possibility might be to split the two pipes into 4 separate exhaust tips.
Even though we already had a new power steering pump for the car my son opted to buy a billet aluminum replacement. Naturally, he also got the matching pulley.
Some of you may remember that the Charger did not have a radiator when Spencer bought it. When we were planning on the 512 build we purchased a new Champion aluminum 4-core. After doing some research my son decided to scrap the Champion and go with a 2-core 3 pass radiator instead. A lot of guys had said that the air flow through a 4-core was less and that the 3 pass radiators were more efficient. A few months back he ordered another radiator from Northern.
With the side tank design it was going to take some fab work to install it in the car. The combination fan/shrouds that they sold (designed for their radiators) were about 4" thick. The 3" blower belt drive didn't leave enough clearance. We were going to have to relocate the radiator farther forward. Before I had a chance to make any brackets for it he changed his mind again. He still liked the idea of running a 3 pass radiator but thought we might as well fit a wider one in the car if we were going to be modifying the radiator wall anyway. So-o-o-o, now we've got 3 new aluminum radiators for the car.
I guess a person shooting for 1200 HP in their daily driver has reason to be concerned about whether or not it's going to be boiling over at stop lights. Time will tell but according to his research we should have the best setup we could get.
Years ago when Spencer first decided he wanted to get a Charger, it was important to him that it be an actual R/T. He didn't want a clone. Well, this Charger is a true R/T. Despite all the modifications he'll be able to keep it badged as an R/T without having to say it's anything but. So when it comes to making modifications, he wants to keep all of the areas with factory stampings as intact as possible. The upper radiator support is one of those areas.
It took a lot of measuring to figure out the optimal size radiator. I knew we were going to have to do some cutting but felt we could retain that top support. The lower crossmember didn't matter. We had a beefier replacement for it. The wall itself was going to need several holes filled and Spence didn't mind me enlarging the opening for the larger radiator. Part of the dilemma was going to be that I needed to drop the lower support over an inch which would affect the hood latch support and the attaching points for the front valance panel.
I started by cutting the center bracket off of the lower crossmember after taking reference measurements.
Once the center bracket was out of my way I began to fit the radiator into the opening.
From this point I could see wherever I needed to gain more clearance so the radiator could eventually be mounted flush. Next, I slid the bottom support crossmember over the original factory piece as a test fit.
I still had to drop the lower support farther after testing the fitment. Once I was confident it would work I began chopping things up. The original lower support is a Z shape. The replacement is just an L shape. To make things work properly I needed to combine the two.
Once I had the height of the opening right it was time to start fitting the shroud and radiator again. As much as I didn't want to cut the upper support I was going to have to if I wanted the flush fit. I ended up notching it but left the factory stampings intact.
I still have to finish off the edges of the opening and am planning on a reinforcing lip that the radiator will slip into. Once everything is welded and ground down it should have a fairly factory look to it.
I went ahead and fit the fenders and grill assembly back on the car. So far it looks like everything is fitting pretty good.
One thing that I find disturbing is that the guys at Keith Black say we'll need a 4" exhaust. HOLY-CH-MOLY, - that's big! I'm wondering how hard it will be to fit that over the axle and alongside the fuel tank. Every time I look at the collectors they remind me of the difficulty we'll be facing later. My son is considering squashing the 4" exhaust into an oval shape to gain ground clearance. Another concern is if huge exhaust pipes would be really ugly sticking out the back. One possibility might be to split the two pipes into 4 separate exhaust tips.
Even though we already had a new power steering pump for the car my son opted to buy a billet aluminum replacement. Naturally, he also got the matching pulley.
Some of you may remember that the Charger did not have a radiator when Spencer bought it. When we were planning on the 512 build we purchased a new Champion aluminum 4-core. After doing some research my son decided to scrap the Champion and go with a 2-core 3 pass radiator instead. A lot of guys had said that the air flow through a 4-core was less and that the 3 pass radiators were more efficient. A few months back he ordered another radiator from Northern.
With the side tank design it was going to take some fab work to install it in the car. The combination fan/shrouds that they sold (designed for their radiators) were about 4" thick. The 3" blower belt drive didn't leave enough clearance. We were going to have to relocate the radiator farther forward. Before I had a chance to make any brackets for it he changed his mind again. He still liked the idea of running a 3 pass radiator but thought we might as well fit a wider one in the car if we were going to be modifying the radiator wall anyway. So-o-o-o, now we've got 3 new aluminum radiators for the car.
I guess a person shooting for 1200 HP in their daily driver has reason to be concerned about whether or not it's going to be boiling over at stop lights. Time will tell but according to his research we should have the best setup we could get.
Years ago when Spencer first decided he wanted to get a Charger, it was important to him that it be an actual R/T. He didn't want a clone. Well, this Charger is a true R/T. Despite all the modifications he'll be able to keep it badged as an R/T without having to say it's anything but. So when it comes to making modifications, he wants to keep all of the areas with factory stampings as intact as possible. The upper radiator support is one of those areas.
It took a lot of measuring to figure out the optimal size radiator. I knew we were going to have to do some cutting but felt we could retain that top support. The lower crossmember didn't matter. We had a beefier replacement for it. The wall itself was going to need several holes filled and Spence didn't mind me enlarging the opening for the larger radiator. Part of the dilemma was going to be that I needed to drop the lower support over an inch which would affect the hood latch support and the attaching points for the front valance panel.
I started by cutting the center bracket off of the lower crossmember after taking reference measurements.
Once the center bracket was out of my way I began to fit the radiator into the opening.
From this point I could see wherever I needed to gain more clearance so the radiator could eventually be mounted flush. Next, I slid the bottom support crossmember over the original factory piece as a test fit.
I still had to drop the lower support farther after testing the fitment. Once I was confident it would work I began chopping things up. The original lower support is a Z shape. The replacement is just an L shape. To make things work properly I needed to combine the two.
Once I had the height of the opening right it was time to start fitting the shroud and radiator again. As much as I didn't want to cut the upper support I was going to have to if I wanted the flush fit. I ended up notching it but left the factory stampings intact.
I still have to finish off the edges of the opening and am planning on a reinforcing lip that the radiator will slip into. Once everything is welded and ground down it should have a fairly factory look to it.
I went ahead and fit the fenders and grill assembly back on the car. So far it looks like everything is fitting pretty good.
SNKEBIT
Spending $$ on Mopars
Was starting to wonder if i should make a trip with the trailer.....
1967 'cuda
Dropped on Head as a Baby
Was starting to wonder if i should make a trip with the trailer.....
Dang Mitch, a few days ago I felt like someone might be showing up with a coroner's wagon but I guess I shouldn't be surprised if the plan was to toss me onto a trailer and haul me to the local landfill. If it's true that 'only the good die young' I may just end up living forever after-all.
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