Bought this car towards the end of 2018 from the grandson of the original owner. 318/904 car. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it when I bought it, but long story short, ended up with a 6.1 with 17K miles I bought from a friend. I bought pretty much everything that goes on the engine as well as the wiring harness and ecm. Here’s some pictures of it thus far. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do for a transmission or rear yet but I plan on leaving the body as is with a “grandpas car” look on it for now. The original driver’s door came with it. Just has damage at the front that prevented it from working properly. But that can be fixed and put back on.
6.1 Hemi in a ‘69 Barracuda
- Thread starter clinteg
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wanta68cuda
Well-Known Member
Got to keep that Red Baron Snoopy sticker! This is going to be an awesome build. Keep posting updates.
What’s funny is that this car belonged to my ex girlfriend’s grandfather. I saw the car back in 2001 in Chanute, KS in his garage while my ex and I were dating. He died about a year or two later. My ex’s brother eventually obtained the car and used it as a daily driver through college and such where it obtained more body damage (down in Texas). Sometime last year the car quit running and he started realizing he wasn’t going to be able to get it going like he wanted it due to time and $$$. I had been helping him here and there over the years with electrical help and such. The car actually has the electronic distributor that I sold him from my Dart several years ago.
But back to the Snoopy sticker. That was placed there by my ex when she was a little girl and has been there ever since. My ex’s mom wanted to have it removed from the car as a keepsake but my ex told me that the snoopy sticker had to stay on the car PERIOD! It’s funny that sticker is very sentimental to that family. I personally like the sticker myself. Kind of like a little nostalgic piece of the car’s history. So I plan on letting it stay there through the build. It’s been there since the 80’s so it’s not like I’d be able to remove it without completely destroying the thing anyway.
1969cuda
Well-Known Member
Nice!
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I have been stuffing a 6.1 in a 72 Demon. Feel free to PM me and I can tell you about the roadblocks I have encountered. I have a build thread on here as well. It has been a tough go but I think it is a blast and makes for a great ride. There are several on this forum that are exceptionally talented and have done what you are doing. I am more of a back yard get to it when I can vs real builder. Check out some of these guys threads under the Hemi swap tab. They are remarkable.
Thank you gents! I actually have scoped these two threads out very briefly before I started getting overwhelmed with all the info in this forum. I’m sure I’ll have a bunch of questions as I go along.
Having a hard time deciding right now whether to build the 904 a bit to handle the 6.1 or look to pick up a 46RH/A518 somewhere to rebuild and drop in.
The 7-1/4 won’t last long I’d imagine? Looking for either an 8-3/4 or 8.8 swap.
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Car looks very true for 69, all the parts look legit and someone has not did the plug and play deal to it and mixed 67/68 parts on it.
Lots of folks miss the dash detail as 69 was blacked out in the center of the speedo and gauge pods and not plastic chromed.
Enjoy your venture and look forward to seeing the progress!
Lots of folks miss the dash detail as 69 was blacked out in the center of the speedo and gauge pods and not plastic chromed.
Enjoy your venture and look forward to seeing the progress!
As far as I know it’s very original. The ex’s grandfather that owned it bought it off the dealership showroom floor brand new. So this is the first time it’s been outside the family. He didn’t seem like the modding type of guy. More of a “keep it like it is and fix it” type of guy. So I suspect he tried to keep everything as is. He had the seats recovered some time ago so I don’t know if those were redone to factory pattern or not. I’m surprised things weren’t changed when the grandson got it. Usually that’s when the stock items go bye bye when we’re young and ambitous to modify everything. But it doesn’t appear he did which is good. At least I know what I’m working with at least.
Alex5280
74' Duster
I'll will be watching!!!
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03JeepJeep
It's a hoot!
Awesome history. Glad your friendly enough with your ex and she let you save the car. Mine just try to kill me.
Well when I say ex, I mean ex girlfriend from college. Not a wife or anything. Ex wife would probably be a different story!
Very nice find with a great story!. You like Paw Patrol too?
That car reminds me a lot of mine when I picked it up in 1995.
But in much better shape lol
Oh man. My daughter won’t stop watching it! Get that song stuck in my head all the time.
dadodgekid
When in doubt... floor it
Clint, that engine compartment will clean up so good with some simple green and a pressure washer!! Tuned for progress! Let me know if you need any cuda parts, my dad has quite a bit from 67-69 cars.
wanta68cuda
Well-Known Member
Great story thanks for sharing.
Yes I think it will clean up decently as well. I won’t use a pressure washer under a hood anymore. Just a personal preference from bad experiences with electronics. But I can go to town with some simple green and some brushes and rags!
I really want to start moving forward on the project but my wife recently lost her job so I can’t throw any money into this thing at the moment. Not at least until we get another income going. Sooooo what do I do? I’d like to get the engine swap started, but I really want a different trans before that happens. It would be better in my mind to have the engine and trans to work with all at the same time. But maybe that wouldn’t matter. And we know that 7-1/4 isn’t going to hold so that’s another part that I will need to address.
Knowing that the car ran and drove not long ago, I almost want to just tinker with it and see if I can figure out what went bad on the 318 to see if I can get her to breathe life again. To be honest, I am a little torn about removing the original drivetrain that could possibly run and drive with not much work or money. But at the same time, I just don’t know how much I’ll enjoy the 318 even if it were going. So then I have to ask myself, why put the time in to fix it if I won’t enjoy it? Why not put that effort into something I WILL enjoy? So then I’m back to the 6.1 swap. And the never ending self argument of what the heck I’m going to do continues.
You see, this is the turmoil that goes on and on in my head and I can about drive myself crazy with “if I did this instead” scenarios.
bvt69dart
Technically Challenged!
I have those thoughts all the time. It's great being able to hop in my Valiant any time I want, and go many trouble free miles. I know I will face issues when installing the 340, but I love sound of cams and horsepower!
Alex5280
74' Duster
The same happens with me. Should I just put a simple 360 crate engine in and get it going..... or do I dive in head first and do what I really want to do???
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