Making My Dads Dream a Reality

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CrazyManInCincy

Smile and Nod, Smile and Nod
Joined
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Location
Cincinnati,Ohio
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My dad (One in the green) just passed away on April 13th at age 65 two days before my birthday. It was always his dream to travel Route 66 in his 66 Baracudda. Due to his health and money we never got to make that trip happen.

I am trying to put a list together of things I should do to the car before taking such a trip. The car is pretty much stock when it comes to brakes, suspension, lighting, and so fourth. In preparation for this trip we were able to have the wiring upgraded for vintage air, all front end bushings and tie rods replaced.

Any help or suggestion will be greatly appreciated! So I can start planning in hopes of doing this trip in the near future or next year depending on some life changes. The car does have a original rebuilt 904 in it with a 318 with 360 heads engine.

If anyone remembers this used to be Glow Worms car from the board.

Motor Specs from Glow Worm

Engine from Mike Liston (MRL PERFORMANCE) 318 is now in the car.
The engine started as a 1978 block. Balance and blueprinted. It was bored .020 over and Mopar Performance pistons/H beam rods were installed. A Comp cam (20-309-4 268/276 duration, 222/226 @ .050 lift and .464 I/E set to 112* ICL 110* LSA) was installed.
Mike was the first person to install 360 Magnum heads on an old 318 block. The heads are bowl ported and gasket matched with 2.02/1.60 valves. The compression is 9.25 to 1. It has a Mopar Performance windage tray/double roller timing chain and gears
It came from Mike's with a Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake manifold. I installed a 600 CFM Edelbrock Endurashine carburetor, Spitfire headers, Billet aluminum pulleys, Mopar Orange Box electronic ignition, chrome alternator, and chrome flex fan. A new water pump was also installed. Mike still has the build records. He estimates the car to be somewhere around 375 HP/375 torque. In his words: "It is putting out similar horsepower as a 70's factory 440.
 
Sounds like a cool idea. He’ll be with you. I’d plan on carrying spares. Right off the top of my head it’d be an extra orange ecu and ballast resistor, maybe spare fuel filter if you get some crap gas along the way. Maybe a spare voltage regulator. Biggest thing is to drive it now so any bugs will show up. Did this car by chance sit on st rt 48?
 
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Sorry for your loss. Wish you the best on your road trip sounds like a fun trip.
That is a beautiful car I'm sure its gonna turn alot of heads!!
 
Sorry for your loss.

I suggest:
- Install dual master cylinder for the brakes along with all rubber hoses if they are 50 years old.
- Check the age of the tires, there’s a date code and if they are over six years old consider replacing them.

As someone suggested; drive it regularly.

Cool car.
 
Sounds like a cool idea. He’ll be with you. I’d plan on carrying spares. Right off the top of my head it’d be an extra orange ecu and ballast resistor, maybe spare fuel filter if you get some crap gas along the way. Maybe a spare voltage regulator. Biggest thing is to drive it now so any bugs will show up. Did this car by chance sit on st rt 48?
We got the vehicle in 2013 out towards Portsmouth Ohio.
 
Sorry for your loss.

I suggest:
- Install dual master cylinder for the brakes along with all rubber hoses if they are 50 years old.
- Check the age of the tires, there’s a date code and if they are over six years old consider replacing them.

As someone suggested; drive it regularly.

Cool car.
We did put a dual master cylinder on it as well as rebuilt the calibers. We also converted it to power steering. My dad always said he was to do be fighting the car. I already planned on changing the wheels and tires. My dad always want to put cragars on the car. I figured I’d add that to the list.
 
Sorry for your loss!
First thing I'd do is make sure you can document the trip. Decent cameras with enough cards, batteries, etc to take tons of pics.
Next, the in car stuff. Tools, a jug of coolant, oil, brake fluid. Wire, duct tape. A couple of old plug wires (they have tons of uses, ask me how I know). A decent jack, not a bumper jack, and a spare that's good.. make sure it's good by putting it on and running around for a bit.. sucks to put a 20 yr. old spare on and have it go flat a mile down the road.
If you can have a 'chase car' (or a truck or van) with all this stuff in it follow you (with a tow strap) might not be a bad idea... and they can get pics of the car on the road :)
Good luck to you!
 
Sorry for your loss!
First thing I'd do is make sure you can document the trip. Decent cameras with enough cards, batteries, etc to take tons of pics.
Next, the in car stuff. Tools, a jug of coolant, oil, brake fluid. Wire, duct tape. A couple of old plug wires (they have tons of uses, ask me how I know). A decent jack, not a bumper jack, and a spare that's good.. make sure it's good by putting it on and running around for a bit.. sucks to put a 20 yr. old spare on and have it go flat a mile down the road.
If you can have a 'chase car' (or a truck or van) with all this stuff in it follow you (with a tow strap) might not be a bad idea... and they can get pics of the car on the road :)
Good luck to you!
Thank you for the great ideas! A camera and couple GoPros are worth the overtime so I don’t miss a thing.
 
My wife and I drove Route 66 for our honeymoon and had a lot of fun. We flew into Chicago and rented a car for the drive back to L.A.

It will be more expensive to do it this way, but don't make hotel reservations in advance, except for the beginning of the trip. There are a lot of cool things to see and do along the way, and you don't want to rush to make your hotel and miss stuff. While there are a lot of people doing their best to preserve the old road, stuff happens and the history is slowly disappearing. Also try to do your travel during daylight as much as possible, we almost missed a really cool abandoned 30's era gas station in Missouri because it was dark. It was one of my favorite stops on the trip, and none of my wife's photos came out.

As far as the car... There are LONG stretches of Rte 66 where you will see no one the whole time you are on the road. There are parts, (especially in Arizona and New Mexico) that are gravel, and parts that are very overgrown with brush. Your car will get scratched! Take food, water, spare gas, and some basic survival gear just in case, you'll be sitting for hours if you have a breakdown. Make sure your phone is fully charged before you hit the road each day for the same reason. Cell phone coverage was pretty spotty when we did it, things may have improved since then (has it really been 19 years?!?) but don't count on it.

Rte. 66 parallels the old Rock Island Railroad for a while, so if you're a railfan, there is some cool abandoned trackage and whatnot to see also. Most of all, have fun! And let me know when you get to Santa Monica, I'll buy you a cold beverage and we can swap stories!
 
Sorry for your loss .
Make pa pa proud on Rt. 66.

Be sure to flush the cooling system and change the hoses.

Also run a 8 gauge wire from the alternator to the starter . This will take the charging load off the dash connector , install a volt meter to monitor battery condition. Be sure to hook the volt meter to a keyed source so it won’t put a parasitic draw on the battery when in storage.

Pick up a book on Rt. 66 that has all the old alignments , it’s fun to find and drive on sections that have been bypassed.
Arizona has long stretches that parallel I-40 . Be sure to stop at the Snow Cap in Selegman .
Take the old alignment to Oatman from Kingman to Needles . BTW you will be close to Lake Havasu City for a side trip to see the London Bridge before Needles.

There’s a lot to see in Arizona, the meteor crater east of Flagstaff , the Grand Canyon out of Williams .
Santa Fe is on the old alignment north of Albuquerque.

The petrified forest off I-40 west of Gallup goes south and the west to Winslow where there is a guy standing on the corner with a flatbed Ford nearby.

There’s so much to see it should take 2 months to see a bunch of it.

Pick up some DVDs and make your plans.
 
Sorry for your loss... my wife and I are planning the same trip so please, please, please start a thread when you take off and tell us about your grand road trip adventure!!!
 
If you have upgraded all you say, then you are more interested in making the car a comfortable safe DRIVER than you are a restoration jewel. Good for you! IN that same spirit, I would recommend doing @crackedback's headlight harness upgrade and also adding these:

Hella 7

By adding those two things, you will actually be able to SEE and you will add relays that take the load off the headlight switch. I did it to my 64 Valiant and it is literally a night and day difference.

Good luck on your journey and my condolences on the loss of your father. What a great way to memorialize him!
 
My wife and I drove Route 66 for our honeymoon and had a lot of fun. We flew into Chicago and rented a car for the drive back to L.A.

It will be more expensive to do it this way, but don't make hotel reservations in advance, except for the beginning of the trip. There are a lot of cool things to see and do along the way, and you don't want to rush to make your hotel and miss stuff. While there are a lot of people doing their best to preserve the old road, stuff happens and the history is slowly disappearing. Also try to do your travel during daylight as much as possible, we almost missed a really cool abandoned 30's era gas station in Missouri because it was dark. It was one of my favorite stops on the trip, and none of my wife's photos came out.

As far as the car... There are LONG stretches of Rte 66 where you will see no one the whole time you are on the road. There are parts, (especially in Arizona and New Mexico) that are gravel, and parts that are very overgrown with brush. Your car will get scratched! Take food, water, spare gas, and some basic survival gear just in case, you'll be sitting for hours if you have a breakdown. Make sure your phone is fully charged before you hit the road each day for the same reason. Cell phone coverage was pretty spotty when we did it, things may have improved since then (has it really been 19 years?!?) but don't count on it.

Rte. 66 parallels the old Rock Island Railroad for a while, so if you're a railfan, there is some cool abandoned trackage and whatnot to see also. Most of all, have fun! And let me know when you get to Santa Monica, I'll buy you a cold beverage and we can swap stories!
Thank you for the great info and offer! Congratulations on 19yrs.
 
Sorry for your loss let me ay first. Best avice I can offer is drive the car enough before you go to feel 100% comfortable with it. Mechanicals and your body too!! Take a 3 hour road trip, and see how you fell after that tie behind the wheel. The drive another couple hours!!
I lived in Missouri for 39 years, 10 of which I travels old 66 to work!!! I saw many "pilgrims" travel that road!!! This will be a wonderful adventure I bet!!
 
Sorry for your loss let me ay first. Best avice I can offer is drive the car enough before you go to feel 100% comfortable with it. Mechanicals and your body too!! Take a 3 hour road trip, and see how you fell after that tie behind the wheel. The drive another couple hours!!
I lived in Missouri for 39 years, 10 of which I travels old 66 to work!!! I saw many "pilgrims" travel that road!!! This will be a wonderful adventure I bet!!
Thank you for the tip! There is still so much I need to learn about the car. I never thought about the comfort part and how I’d handle the drive in this car. I am no little guy at 6’3 270 so I really do need to plan a weekend trip.
 
If you have upgraded all you say, then you are more interested in making the car a comfortable safe DRIVER than you are a restoration jewel. Good for you! IN that same spirit, I would recommend doing @crackedback's headlight harness upgrade and also adding these:

Hella 7

By adding those two things, you will actually be able to SEE and you will add relays that take the load off the headlight switch. I did it to my 64 Valiant and it is literally a night and day difference.

Good luck on your journey and my condolences on the loss of your father. What a great way to memorialize him!
Upgraded light is for sure top of my list. I want to be seen and be able to see.

As much as I appreciate the jewels and the show cars my joy comes from driving them. I always told my dad if can’t drive it I don’t want it. He always laughed at me because I always told him if I won the lottery I’d buy all the rare cars. The first thing I would do is light the tires up. Memories are made by getting out and enjoying them.
 
Lost my dad a while back, I know it's hard, also he will always be with you in many ways.

Don't worry about what "might" happen, it's a '66 Mopar the toughest cars made.
 
Upgraded light is for sure top of my list. I want to be seen and be able to see.

As much as I appreciate the jewels and the show cars my joy comes from driving them. I always told my dad if can’t drive it I don’t want it. He always laughed at me because I always told him if I won the lottery I’d buy all the rare cars. The first thing I would do is light the tires up. Memories are made by getting out and enjoying them.

Then please get with @crackedback. His wiring upgrade is awesome! It gives full alternator voltage straight to the head lights.
 
^^^^^^^
What Rusty says about the headlights if you are driving at night.
When I've driven cross country in an A body I come off the road after dark because of the increased danger of just about everything happening in the dark.
That being said I drive at night everyday cross town for work at night in an A body.
So do that upgrade anyway.
You mentioned "extra orange box". I don't know about that.
But I gave up trying to find a reliable ECU and have installed these on more than one car with great results.
Even if you carry an extra ECU and resistor the coil needs a spare if it's old.
Check your ignition voltage at points in the circuit and be sure you have 12 volts at all points. (When starting)
I suspect it may be low with old connections.
Maybe not.
And lastly, related to that, carry some good prints in case you need them.

FBO Ignition Systems MOPAR Micro-Processor IGNITION SYSTEMS Digital Micro Processor Circuitry|EPROM Processor with|Built in DEAD STOP Algorithm REV Limiter|Eliminates Ballast Resistor|44KV Output on demand|Plug and Play|one simple wiring modification
 
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