65 Barracuda daily driver

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Went for the first longer trip with the new rear end and the Champion radiator to my friend's ranch out in the desert near Barstow, CA. No overheating of any kind - the temp gauge, once warmed up, did not move a bit even going up steep grades at 85 miles per hour... This is the best this car has ever run and I'm very happy!

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65barracudaLA said:
Haha, sure, if you're ever in Southern California
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I'll take you up on that offer if I ever get back out there. I've only visited twice. Once was to Tahoe, and the other I flew into San Diego and drove to Camp Pendleton for a week.

I love that you drive your car. You don't abuse it, but you use the hell out of it!!
 
66fyssh said:
I'll take you up on that offer if I ever get back out there. I've only visited twice. Once was to Tahoe, and the other I flew into San Diego and drove to Camp Pendleton for a week.

I love that you drive your car. You don't abuse it, but you use the hell out of it!!
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Haha, define abuse:

 
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Is this the same car I saw at the Spring Fling on Sunday? If so, it looks awesome in person. Even better than in the pictures.
 
cpreal said:
Is this the same car I saw at the Spring Fling on Sunday? If so, it looks awesome in person. Even better than in the pictures.
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No, I meant to go to Spring Fling, but I decided to join my friends at a ranch out in the desert last weekend. I usually go to Spring and Fall Fling, but mostly to find parts or to sell leftover parts. Never had it in the show section, though. My car is far from perfect, but it is a lot of fun to drive.
 
Finally some more progress on the A/C install. Took forever, but I mounted the condenser today. I had to make some spacers so it wouldn't touch the radiator. Now I just need to mount the compressor, which is really just 4 bolts at this point, connect all the hoses and hook up the vacuum lines. For that I need a vacuum port for the intake manifold. Does anyone know what thread size would fit on a super six intake? Are they all the same? Where can I get one?

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See that shiny bolt in the center? The original one was too long and poking into the fins, so I had to use a new shorter one. It's those little things that are soo time consuming.

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I'm gonna go on a trip up the cost early August, so by then the A/C needs to be finished. I'm hoping to get to it this weekend. I also noticed that the not only the speedometer needle was bouncing a bit, but also the gauge itself. I couldn't tighten the screws more, so I took the whole thing out and noticed that the rubber "washers" had disintegrated completely. So I took a piece of heater hose, cut it to size and poked a hole in it and it worked pretty well. Not pretty, but no one is ever gonna see it.

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I'm a little bit at a loss right now. The a/c compressor has trouble fitting with the fan, so once again a summer has gone by without a/c, haha... I also have a massive oil leak out of the front of the pan by the timing cover. And the suspension on the passenger side makes all kinds of noise and I can't find a way to bolt down the steering box. I have taken apart the suspension on the passenger side twice now. I cleaned and re-grease the lower control arm bushing. It's one of those poly-bushings and on that side you can just pull it out by hand. It's not really pressed in there. Yes, the sleeve on both sides is still intact. I noticed that the LCA itself itself has a good amount of play and will most likely needs some stiffening plates. The QA1 adjustable strut rods are also a bit problematic. I have trouble keeping them in a position where they don't bind. And since they have been binding I'm afraid they are worn out. I've replaced one so far, but I wish I had a bit more permanent solution. Also, the wheel bearings make a bit of noise. I suspect that the machine shop used drum brake grease on the disc brake bearings. Why can't you use drum grease on disc brakes? Does anyone know? The next issue is that the bolt holes for the steering box on the K-frame are worn out and the bolts just don't want to stay tight even after repairing the treads and using Loctite. Also, the steering box itself, even though it was just rebuilt a few years ago, is toast. I'm almost ready to just buy a brand new PST 16:1 box. Unfortunately I feel like all this exceeds my skill set and I need to take it to a shop.
 
I always use Bel-Ray water proof grease on all my bearings, you can buy it at most motorcycle shops.
It is a synthetic grease, and holds up well, I just bought an tub yesterday, it was reasonable like $10
 
65barracudaLA said:
I'm a little bit at a loss right now. The a/c compressor has trouble fitting with the fan, so once again a summer has gone by without a/c, haha... I also have a massive oil leak out of the front of the pan by the timing cover. And the suspension on the passenger side makes all kinds of noise and I can't find a way to bolt down the steering box. I have taken apart the suspension on the passenger side twice now. I cleaned and re-grease the lower control arm bushing. It's one of those poly-bushings and on that side you can just pull it out by hand. It's not really pressed in there. Yes, the sleeve on both sides is still intact. I noticed that the LCA itself itself has a good amount of play and will most likely needs some stiffening plates. The QA1 adjustable strut rods are also a bit problematic. I have trouble keeping them in a position where they don't bind. And since they have been binding I'm afraid they are worn out. I've replaced one so far, but I wish I had a bit more permanent solution. Also, the wheel bearings make a bit of noise. I suspect that the machine shop used drum brake grease on the disc brake bearings. Why can't you use drum grease on disc brakes? Does anyone know? The next issue is that the bolt holes for the steering box on the K-frame are worn out and the bolts just don't want to stay tight even after repairing the treads and using Loctite. Also, the steering box itself, even though it was just rebuilt a few years ago, is toast. I'm almost ready to just buy a brand new PST 16:1 box. Unfortunately I feel like all this exceeds my skill set and I need to take it to a shop.
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Hope you arent driving that on any public roads.
Seems to me you have quite a mess going on there. Hope you get it sorted out.
 
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Not a great photo, but nevertheless a very special moment. For the first time since I bought the Barracuda over 10 years ago I can park it in a garage. And soon I can start working on it in a garage instead of in a driveway.
 
That has got to feel good.

I thought about you this past Saturday when I drove 200 miles round-trip through Atlanta to attend a FABO meet and greet.

My car is a driver but, I gotta tell you, my head was on a swivel all the way through the city. Dang drivers darting in and out of traffic like they had somewhere to go.

Here's a picture.
IMG_20191116_150318.jpg
 
@66fyssh L.A. has some of the worst drivers, haha. This was taken by a friend that randomly spotted me on the road. The worst part is really just parking it on the street.
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First time actually working in the "new" garage. Salma had a leaky rear end and as you know that's never a good thing. No photos of the actual work, but maybe next time...
 
JDMopar said:
A tight garage is better than no garage any day! You might have to scoot it side to side to pull the axles, but at least you ain't out in the blazing sun doing it. :)
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Trust me I know my garage is also tiny, constant moving stuff around to work.
 
Haha, yes, it's not the biggest garage, but I'm very glad I have it. On the left there are some built in shelves, which are great for storage, but I might rip them out. That should help a bit.
 
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