65' Boise Barricuda new project, new member

Hi
My names Jeff and I guess that I'll go back to the start.....I was kicking around with my girl a few weeks ago and came across a dusty Barracuda in a trailer park outside of town. I decided to stop and poke around, knocked on the door..no answer. I then brushed the dust off the windows and looked inside. There is an old, yellowed, broken "for sale" sign in the back seat...numbers still legible. I called the lady. She said that she just moved and she would be willing to sell it. The numbers on thee old sign said 8000.00.....bad starting point, I think to myself. We exchanged numbers. I took a few pictures, opened the hood not knowing anything about Mopars. It looked like a V-8....Good. The more I kept peeling away the neglect, the more I noticed how good the overall condition of this car was. Every bit of chrome from bumpers to molding was straight (a little pitting here and there). The seats looked intact under the rubble. Carpet wasn't too bad. No idea if it would run at all, the lady said that she had not driven it in 5-6 years. She told me that it was not the original motor, so they put a different bigger one in. She said she didn't like it cause it was too fast. Hmmm? That's my girl Trudy by the way....We swapped numbers and agreed to meet a week later to take a closer look and possibly try and drive the car. In the meantime, I go home and started my homework. I find out that these cars were the earliest version of a muscle car just before the Mustang....Not the most successful, but still super cool in my book. Because of the relative obscurity of these cars, reproduction parts are not very commonly available. Good thing to know going in. I checked values and I was right, 8G was a little deep in the end zone to start your drive. I dug around and found out that there are a few communities of guys out there that exchange ideas about these cars. I stayed up way too late geeking out about old Barracudas! I've never really "restored" a car ever before, but I thought that this might be just the thing to get my fat *** off the couch this winter and keep moving around!
Needless to say I've taken several steps forward so far and I would love to continue to share my progress as well as ask questions and correspond with you guys out there. I started to work on the car and stumbled on the forums section and I guess I started a thread! I was wondering about taking out the dash and to ask a few other questions to start me off. The response from you guys in Mopar nation was awesome! Solved my first problems easily, showed interest in what I was doing, offered suggestions, links to web sites...really anything I needed. I can't find that original thread in this web site, so I don't know how to link up to it. But that thread is the starting point of all of this. Any suggestions on how to keep rolling along in a simple way. Maybe attach that first thread? Then I will hit you up with the most recent stuff I've done.
Thanks for being out there guys!

Welcome. A lot of guys on this site have a soft spot for the 64-66 Barracudas. Now for a few questions!
1. What engine does it have?
2. Did you get the engine started?
3. What did you wind up paying for it?

Sweet ride... good luck! 65 barracuda owner also

harrisonm said:

Welcome. A lot of guys on this site have a soft spot for the 64-66 Barracudas. Now for a few questions!
1. What engine does it have?
2. Did you get the engine started?
3. What did you wind up paying for it?

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I showed up early for our appointment to see the lady about the car with my jumper cables and gasoline in tow. I hooked my truck up to the car and let it charge. Scraped the sludge off the top of the intake and took pictures of the numbers.... I found a reference for that number on line and it looked like a 340 number. I have a guy who works with me who's dad is a big Mopar guy. He was excited for me because apparently the 340 is a great engine. After doing some more on line research, I found the numbers stamped on the front of the block on the drivers side. PM318R. So I guess that this is indeed a 318, regular gas. Yes? Long story short, the lady's daughter showed up with the keys, we poured some gas down the carburetor and turned the key.......started right up, and it sounded mean! The odometer read 76000 miles, body is straight as a string with no apparent rust anywhere. Offered 4000.00 she took 4500. I gingerly drove home with sketchy brakes, erratic shifting and old gas. I stopped along the way, ran it through the car wash, added new gas and took her home.
The first thing I did was change the oil and filter, tranny and brake fluid reservoirs were both bone dry. So I added those fluids. I cleared out a work space in my garage, got my tools in order and started digging in!

What a great car to start with. Also a worthy car for restoration, in my book.
Stock or modified.........

Congrats to the fish!!!

Maybe you also want to post some pics here:
Pics of early Barracudas
They can also help you with questions concerning your fish

Dude, that is an awesome story. Don't feel bad about it being a 318 as opposed to a 340. Although the 340 IS an outstanding motor, the 318 is no slouch (as MANY guys on this forum can tell you). I remember about 25 years ago, Hot Rod Magazine had a contest with a 318, a 351 Windsor and a 350 to see which engine could make the most horsepower with a meager budget (about $1500 or so). They all started out as 2 barrel low horsepower versions. The 318 came out on top. They respond well to performance parts, and if well maintained, they are practically bullet proof. Have fun.

First of all, welcome to FABO and you will find what you need on here, lots of great people to help.
Great story and thanks for posting pics!
Looks like you'll have a lot of fun with this one!

harrisonm said:

Dude, that is an awesome story. Don't feel bad about it being a 318 as opposed to a 340. Although the 340 IS an outstanding motor, the 318 is no slouch (as MANY guys on this forum can tell you). I remember about 25 years ago, Hot Rod Magazine had a contest with a 318, a 351 Windsor and a 350 to see which engine could make the most horsepower with a meager budget (about $1500 or so). They all started out as 2 barrel low horsepower versions. The 318 came out on top. They respond well to performance parts, and if well maintained, they are practically bullet proof. Have fun.

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1st Question Instrument cluster removal
Here is a link to my first group of messages, so there is some continuity in my thread.
Since I last posted info about my progress, I have done a couple of things....I started with the trunk. Since it was filthy and could be worked on easily, I thought that I would polish up at least one part of my new baby.
As you can see, the trunk was pretty crusty. No real rust eaten through yet, so it looked like a good thing to get done. I picked up an abrasive disc for my drill and got to work. I cleaned up all of the surface rust, pulled out the plugs and ordered a full replacement set. I primed the trunk area and picked up some bomb cans of what turned out to be a green trunk splatter paint along with a can of undercoating spray for the insides of the fender wells at Napa. That trunk paint has a lot of solids, so it took quite a few (7) cans of paint to get a good finish. I am really pleased with the results.
I finished the trunk splatter paint, masked off the trunk area and got to work on the filler panel. Took off the latches, oiled them up and buffed them out. Cleaned the muck off the bumpers and sprayed the entire back panel and trunk hinge satin black. Even though you won't see most of this stuff when the car is done. it feels good to put a finish on some part of the car.
Since this might be the last nice driving day I have before I put the car up for the winter, I had my daughter's boyfriend help me de-grease the engine bay, add some Sta-Bil and Seafoam to the gas tank and take one good last, drive around town in order to get the additives into the fuel system adequately.
By the way, I really need a trunk prop and new trunk hinges for the car. If anyone knows where I can get those without getting bent over by the repro parts guys, that would be nice!

That's Jake, my daughter's boyfriend, I call him Ringo. He's a bit of a cowboy, but a great kid who is excited about helping me work on the car....I'm glad to have his youthful enthusiasm around. Here is a picture of Jake and my daughter taking a final drive around the block before we put the Cuda up for the winter.

I'll talk to you guys later!

BY the way, there are 3 small holes above what appears to be a couple of vents at the top of the inside of the trunk....visible in one of my photos. Is there supposed to be a trim piece covering those vents that I am not aware of?

JeffreyLee said:

BY the way, there are 3 small holes above what appears to be a couple of vents at the top of the inside of the trunk....visible in one of my photos. Is there supposed to be a trim piece covering those vents that I am not aware of?

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Rubber(I think) pressure relief flaps.

Welcome aboard. Great story, awesome find. There are still cars out there. Just have to look around.

Congrats, nice pick up! '66 318 2 1/2" dual exhaust, fun fun fun!

Well done & Welcome aboard!

Welcome and congrats on a great project car.