SS Dana Axle?
I said I was not going to respond but I feel that this is very note worthy. I want others (appreciated or not) to benefit from my findings. I’ll see if I can use a language that everybody can understand. (I only say this because of the above comments)
I had a 1:54 minute conversation with Mark Janaky a few nights ago. For those of you that don’t know Mark he is one of the leading experts on BO and LO cars.
Subject matter and question:
Did Hurst modify the outer wheel opening of the BO Barracuda?
Mark has talked to many people over the years and had seen many cars first hand. Mark confirms that there is no documented evidence that Hurst modified the outer wheel opening on these cars. He talked to two gentleman who’s job was to cut open the Darts wheel openings and when asked “did you modified the Barracudas as well?” Both there reply’s were “No”. I talked to a gentleman years ago (sorry but I don’t remember his name) and he said that he talked to a person that did the modification to the Darts and he too also said that only the Darts were modified.
HOWEVER Mark did say “I’m not sure I believe that” Refereeing to the question of did Hurst modify he wheel opening. Mark said it seemed funny that many of these cars were altered in the front area but after years of research NO PROOF WAS FOUND.
Mark thinks that MAYBE there was an unofficial request by somebody with power to “rework” the front wheel well opening but in all these years he can’t prove this. Mark also said ( and I heard this as well ) the Hurst assembly plant was not a “assembly line atmosphere “...far from it. Employees came and went, they would jump from car to car to keep work flowing but were limited on what they could do because of limited parts supplies. These cars were assembled in a makeshift warehouse that from one month to the next had no idea what was going to be worked on. One month there working on Taxi cabs for New York and the next month there working on race cars. Another piece of info I heard is it only took 20 minutes per side to modify the Darts 1/4 panels.
One “thing” that did come up in our conversation and we both confirmed it was the racers would add spacers between the front hanger and the front hanger body mount and this would move the tire back for more tire clearance BETWEEN THE FRONT OF THE TIRE AND THE FRONT OF THE WHEEL WELL OPENING......the racers did this... Proof can be seen of this in many old photos where the tire looks more centered in the wheel well.
FOR ME.... the final answer to this question of “Did Hurst modify the wheel opening on the Barracuda?” My answer is, There is no documented proof that Hurst modified the wheel opening. The End.
P.S.........one more thing. I reached out to Jim Schild and he too agreed that there is no proof that Hurst modified the wheel opening.
Second question that came up. What were the specifications of the rear Differential as used on the BO and LO cars?
There was a good working relationship between Chrysler and Dana so custom parts were only a phone call away. For sake of the conversation I’m only referring to the Dana 60 differential. Bob Tarozzi figured out that he needed a diff that housed 4:88 gears, spring pads positions at 2.5 degrees and 6.00 degrees, all right hand studs and 10” drum brakes. This is not an off the shelf differential so one would have to be made. With all that being said here is what I BELIEVE happened. While all this was happening Bob was still figuring out what offset of rear wheel he was going to use. The choice was a 1.25” or 1.73” positive offset. Because of time and money Bob went with a 1.25” positive rim. With the wheels in place under the car a phone call to Dana Corp and a differential was made.. Was it a 1967 or a 1968 B body differential? It was neither. Did it share the same flange to flange measures of a 1967 or a 1968?. Not sure but I will say this. I have seen a picture of a original Hemi Dart with an 8 3/4” and there was a “B” on the back end of it. This indicates it’s for a “B” body but they did this for many years...1966 on up. When I asked Mark about this subject he is unclear what diff was used and what year. He thinks maybe a 1967 flange to flange housing ONLY because of the time frame when all this was happening.....Dec 4th 1967
Mr. SSing, if I remember correctly your building a “day 2” clone. On your car I would definitely trim the leading edge of the wheel well. You would be wrong no to. As for me I BELIEVE. I would be wrong if I DID trim the leading edge.
Ok, now I’m done commenting on this.
I said I was not going to respond but I feel that this is very note worthy. I want others (appreciated or not) to benefit from my findings. I’ll see if I can use a language that everybody can understand. (I only say this because of the above comments)
I had a 1:54 minute conversation with Mark Janaky a few nights ago. For those of you that don’t know Mark he is one of the leading experts on BO and LO cars.
Subject matter and question:
Did Hurst modify the outer wheel opening of the BO Barracuda?
Mark has talked to many people over the years and had seen many cars first hand. Mark confirms that there is no documented evidence that Hurst modified the outer wheel opening on these cars. He talked to two gentleman who’s job was to cut open the Darts wheel openings and when asked “did you modified the Barracudas as well?” Both there reply’s were “No”. I talked to a gentleman years ago (sorry but I don’t remember his name) and he said that he talked to a person that did the modification to the Darts and he too also said that only the Darts were modified.
HOWEVER Mark did say “I’m not sure I believe that” Refereeing to the question of did Hurst modify he wheel opening. Mark said it seemed funny that many of these cars were altered in the front area but after years of research NO PROOF WAS FOUND.
Mark thinks that MAYBE there was an unofficial request by somebody with power to “rework” the front wheel well opening but in all these years he can’t prove this. Mark also said ( and I heard this as well ) the Hurst assembly plant was not a “assembly line atmosphere “...far from it. Employees came and went, they would jump from car to car to keep work flowing but were limited on what they could do because of limited parts supplies. These cars were assembled in a makeshift warehouse that from one month to the next had no idea what was going to be worked on. One month there working on Taxi cabs for New York and the next month there working on race cars. Another piece of info I heard is it only took 20 minutes per side to modify the Darts 1/4 panels.
One “thing” that did come up in our conversation and we both confirmed it was the racers would add spacers between the front hanger and the front hanger body mount and this would move the tire back for more tire clearance BETWEEN THE FRONT OF THE TIRE AND THE FRONT OF THE WHEEL WELL OPENING......the racers did this... Proof can be seen of this in many old photos where the tire looks more centered in the wheel well.
FOR ME.... the final answer to this question of “Did Hurst modify the wheel opening on the Barracuda?” My answer is, There is no documented proof that Hurst modified the wheel opening. The End.
P.S.........one more thing. I reached out to Jim Schild and he too agreed that there is no proof that Hurst modified the wheel opening.
Second question that came up. What were the specifications of the rear Differential as used on the BO and LO cars?
There was a good working relationship between Chrysler and Dana so custom parts were only a phone call away. For sake of the conversation I’m only referring to the Dana 60 differential. Bob Tarozzi figured out that he needed a diff that housed 4:88 gears, spring pads positions at 2.5 degrees and 6.00 degrees, all right hand studs and 10” drum brakes. This is not an off the shelf differential so one would have to be made. With all that being said here is what I BELIEVE happened. While all this was happening Bob was still figuring out what offset of rear wheel he was going to use. The choice was a 1.25” or 1.73” positive offset. Because of time and money Bob went with a 1.25” positive rim. With the wheels in place under the car a phone call to Dana Corp and a differential was made.. Was it a 1967 or a 1968 B body differential? It was neither. Did it share the same flange to flange measures of a 1967 or a 1968?. Not sure but I will say this. I have seen a picture of a original Hemi Dart with an 8 3/4” and there was a “B” on the back end of it. This indicates it’s for a “B” body but they did this for many years...1966 on up. When I asked Mark about this subject he is unclear what diff was used and what year. He thinks maybe a 1967 flange to flange housing ONLY because of the time frame when all this was happening.....Dec 4th 1967
Mr. SSing, if I remember correctly your building a “day 2” clone. On your car I would definitely trim the leading edge of the wheel well. You would be wrong no to. As for me I BELIEVE. I would be wrong if I DID trim the leading edge.
Ok, now I’m done commenting on this.
