1964 Plymouth Barracuda Build CAUTION Resto Mod

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nerd racing

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Last fall I decided I had the muscle car itch again. I've always loved the look of B bodies, and some of the A bodies. Well since my budget was low I looked to A bodies. Found a craigslist ad for this car for $5000, saw it was listed before for $6800.

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I figured I could haggle the guy some. According to his listing the car was in storage from 1974-2012 and all it needed was exhaust. Had the factory push button 904, limited slip rear end, but was swapped with a 360.

I showed up to look at the car and first thing I noticed was that the paint was old and cracking, the hood was full of bondo and the driver's side was buckled. The car ran, but rough, and there was only manifolds and that was it on the exhaust. The car had a huge dent on the passenger door and the trunk lid took a shot too. I decided right then and there that I didn't want the car for what he was asking. So I told the guy I didn't want to insult him with what my offer was.

Got a text later in the day from him saying he had to get rid of it because he was out of cash and had nowhere to store it. (He was a Chevy guy and figured the car would be cheap to build). He said no one has ever made him a cash offer and he didn't want to trade it for a rust bucket pos daily driver. So I told him best I could do is $2500 cash. He said no. So I went out with my nieces and nephews to a fall festival. No cell service there or anything. So when I get back to cell service area I have 10 texts of him negotiating with himself until he said $2500 and he'd deliver it. Next day it was mine.

How she currently sits:

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What I've done to it so far:

Replaced the hood with a good used unit (flat black for now)
Dougs Headers
Mopar Performance Aluminum Right angle oil filter adapter and short filter
New Plugs, Wires, cap and rotor, and coil
New fuel pump
Carb Rebuild
2.5" Exhaust (wanted to duals but ran out of time)
Park Cable Replaced
Grounded 2nd Field Loop on Alternator so it would Charge
Newer Mini Starter
Replaced Stripped Oil Drain Plug
Added Front Bumper

List to do this summer:

Rear Leaf Springs (Factory ones have reverse arced, have SS springs but not sure if I want to use them)
Shocks all around
Front sway bar
Replace Radiator (OE one weeps, was supposedly sealed once)
Front Disc Conversion (LBP 74+ A Body Style)
Locate or repair rear trunk lid
Swap passenger door (have a good one already)
HID style sealed beam headlight conversion

Long Term Modifications:

Sub Frame Connectors
Torque Boxes
Front end reinforcement (J bars?)
Mini Tub with Spring Relocation 3" inward
9" Rear Axle Swap
5.9L Magnum or new Hemi Swap or SRT-4 Swap Still Deciding
5 or 6 speed manual swap (Have a T5 WC needs re-assembly)
1.03" Torsion Bars
Bilstein Shocks
Rear Disc Brakes
Modern Front Bucket Seats and harnesses

2004 Dodge Ram Dark Gray Exterior Color
Chrome Pieces redone Satin Black
65 Dodge Dart Front Clip swap with 64 dart Front Bumper and Lower Valance
Black Interior Change
Redo Instrument Cluster with modern gauges but keep retro bezels



Should keep me busy well into my 30's (26 now).
 
I plan on doing a good amount of pictures. I think my first step will be stripping the spare door. It was re-painted canary yellow, might have been red originally. I'm going to get a feel for what it will take to strip the car down. If it's tough going I might try and get a hold of the college I went to and see if I can get it in line for the body program to work on.

First things first though, I want to get the handling dialed in.
 
The color looks totally different in the two pictures, which is why best to see a car in person. Looks like the p.o. added "cuda" with a Sharpie so people didn't keep commenting on his "nice Mustang". Figured that added $1K value. Looks like you got a reasonable price, and at least the seller didn't go crazy and attack you with a shovel. Smart that you let him haggle it out with himself, remotely. Most of your planned mods are bolt-on, so won't affect the OE value. The mini-tub and probably the tranny swap will involve permanent sheet metal mods.
 
That's one of the first things I want to go actually. Most of the time people still ask what it is, or say why did I call it that when it isn't one. I tell them I'm sorry I guess they know my car better than I do.

I was glad he didn't, but I think I could have held my own. I'm a stocky guy.

The mini tub is still up for debate in my mind. I don't care much for drag racing, and tire technology has come a long way, I could probably get away with tires that fit without sheet metal mods.

As far as transmissions go, If I can find one I wouldn't mind an aluminum housing overdrive 4 speed like I had in my 81 D150. They aren't too easy to find around here though.
 
Picked up some 05' mustang bullitt wheels last night. Paid $100 less than new and they came with spacers for the front and almost new performance tires.

Also picked up some body working tools and an edelbrock performer intake at a swap meet/flea market over the weekend.

Ordered an aluminum 3 core champion radiator as well.

I'll get pics of the haul later tonight.
 
Here's the rims:

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Old radiator was weeping out of the core:

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New 3 core Aluminum Champion Radiator:

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Jaguar fan Clutch: (I should have blasted and re-painted the fan, and went with stainless fasteners but I had a cruise night the next day I wanted to make)

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And Installed pic:

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Pardon the image quality, lighting in my storage unit is nil and the phone camera is lousy.

Also visited a friend of mine who is big into Mopars and we set the timing, tuned the carb, and set the idle. Man it livened up the 360 quite a bit!
 
It is still growing on me. I like most of it, the front clip still has some growing to do on me though.

As far as starting with a solid car, this thing has almost no rust on the original sheet metal. The hood has some rust through on the bottom of the leading edge, but it was off a northern car.

My buddy who did the tuning had never driven a push button trans car and he had a blast with it, even wound it up through the gears. I think that's the part I liked the most, everyone asks about the push button shifter.
 
I laughed out loud at that hood comment!

I drove the car Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to work, and then took a 40 mile round trip drive after work Friday. But then the dash lights and tail lights shorted out on me. The steering column was hot I noticed. So I'm taking the wheel off and pulling the wires to check for a short before I throw in a new fuse.

Better notes:

Wheel adapters came in for the BBP bullet wheels! Hopefully I can mock up at least one wheel tonight.

And I just need to buy rotors, castle nuts, and my brake MC and I'll be all set for my front BBP and Late A body disk conversion.

After that the handling upgrades begin.
 
I noticed you said you grounded out your 2nd field wire...I was pretty sure the pre-70 cars only had a single field wire, and if you grounded it, you'll push full charge out of the alternator...probably over 15V...good way to torch stuff...or you could've just had too much current running through the ignition wiring. Either way, it's a known issue with these cars to have electrical problems.

Recommend you modify your charge wire with at least an 8ga directly from the alternator charge post to the battery terminal on the starter relay and bypass your ammeter.
 
I noticed you said you grounded out your 2nd field wire...I was pretty sure the pre-70 cars only had a single field wire, and if you grounded it, you'll push full charge out of the alternator...probably over 15V...good way to torch stuff...or you could've just had too much current running through the ignition wiring. Either way, it's a known issue with these cars to have electrical problems.

Recommend you modify your charge wire with at least an 8ga directly from the alternator charge post to the battery terminal on the starter relay and bypass your ammeter.

Someone put a dual field alternator in my car before I bought it. I found the grounding the second field loop on here, there was even a stud for it built into the alternator. Is there a better way to do it, or should I buy a new alternator with a single field loop?

I'll pick up some 8 Gauge wire after work and run that. I've been contemplating running aftermarket gauges in the gauge cluster to update it and make the electronics more reliable. I was hoping to get though a summer first though.
 
Well, if your voltage at the battery is <14.5V, you should be good...anything beyond that, and you'll start cooking the electrolyte and hurting components.
 
Looks like a well planned build you got there! One thing I'd suggest (and as a suggestion you can do whatever you want and it won't bother me) if it were me I think I'd swap in an 8.8 rear from an explorer instead of the 9" there's threads on here about how to do the swap and the 8.8s have factory installed 5x4.5 disc brakes.

Edit: the 8.8 swap is sticky'd in the drivetrain subforum.
 
Looks like a well planned build you got there! One thing I'd suggest (and as a suggestion you can do whatever you want and it won't bother me) if it were me I think I'd swap in an 8.8 rear from an explorer instead of the 9" there's threads on here about how to do the swap and the 8.8s have factory installed 5x4.5 disc brakes.

Edit: the 8.8 swap is sticky'd in the drivetrain subforum.

I have been considering this quite a bit lately, especially since I want to run Bullitt wheels, the ones I have need spacers to clear the springs. If you use the 8.8 rear end out of the exploder I won't need to narrow it.

The only thing that puts the 9" ahead for me is the quick change gears. But realistically I won't need that sort of setup.

Swapped the alternator out Thursday. Just need to put the column back together (cleaned all of the contacts and checked for bad wires.

I also think my doug's headers are too close to the steering column. Deciding how I want to address that.
 
I went ahead and pulled the rear leaf springs. From the look of the fasteners and the hangers and what not they were the original ones that came with it.

Did the whole removal job with a 1/2" drive rachet and 12 point sockets. EVERYTHING loosened right up and didn't fight me at all. I was amazed at how nice the car is underneath. I'm hoping either tonight or tomorrow to get the SS springs in, then I'll snap some pics.

I found this online:
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I'm thinking a possible tribute build similar to the one without the nose cone. Maybe a nose cone later on? Companies make them for chargers out of fiberglass with flip up headlights.

I would do the circle track equivalent though, not the drag racing one.
 
Finished up the SS leaf spring install. Picked up newport shocks but I still have to press the upper sleeve out of them so I can mount them on my car. The car sits almost perfect on the driver's side. Passenger side is a bit high.

First impression, holy cow the car peels rubber a lot more than before. I did it on accident twice and on purpose once and scared the crap out of my girlfriend! I LOVE it!

I'm thinking I may have to get drop hangers though, and the Dr. Diff degree wedges.

Went to the Niagara County parts swap meet with my dad on Saturday. Picked up a pair of sway bars and mounting hardware for $40. Also got a 4 bolt dual reservoir master cylinder with manual brake rod for $20. Can't wait to put the new parts in! I also ordered a pair of LBP rotors so once those come in I'll be all set to do the disk conversion.
 
Im all about the resto-mods, there aint chit stock on my 65 except the exterior sheetmetal! updated motor, trans, rear, rad, suspension, brakes, seat covers, headliner, lights, wheels...yeah. still looks stock but its all safer-better 2nd gen A Mopar stuff. I like the top pic wheel well arch delete Big Willie did. Opens up a whole new world of rear wheels. You can make it look almost like it was stock.
 
I'm getting more and more into it myself. So far the deviations from stock are things that give the car more performance. Aluminum radiator and corresponding clutch for the fan, and the SS rear leafs. I figure the best thing for the car is an upgraded cooling system.

I broke my brake master cylinder I just picked up trying to get the brake push rod out of it. My arbor press broke the tabs off and the rod was still in there. Guess I need the 2 bolt adapter and newer brake MC after all. Going to see if one of the guys at work can get it out.

I've got a short in my brake lights and dash lights circuit. driver's rear brake light keeps blowing and the fuse goes too. I've got to trace the wire and look for the short.
 
Figured out the short, it was a bulb that was bad, but the filament was not blowing out, instead the fuse was going.

Also adjusted the brake light switch properly so those work now.

Hoping this weekend I can get the shims under the motor mounts in hopes of getting the header tube off of the steering column, and hopefully sealing the #8 tube at the block. Has a funky exhaust leak note.
 
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