I fell in love with the giant back glass. I should write a separate post of all the incredibly trashy design and manufacturing choices. They were clearly in a hurry to get this car to market
1965/64/68/70 Barracuda
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I fell in love with the giant back glass. I should write a separate post of all the incredibly trashy design and manufacturing choices. They were clearly in a hurry to get this car to market
I had bad firing problems with mine, alleviated when I ran with no air cleaner.
AJ/FormS
68 Formua-S fastback clone 367/A833/GVod/3.55s
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Well that's a just a tuning issue.
It's pretty hard to starve a 273 for air no matter what air cleaner is on it.
missing linc
Loose nut behind the wheel
Try a K&N Extreme filter top, plenty of air flow with them.
The factory air filter assy. should never be the cause of something like that, unless the replacement element is a real POS. Either way, those foam bug-eyes are a fire waiting to happen, seen it more than once.....not that others can't catch fire either(seen that also more than once), but the foam & it's position right over the carb is plain bad news, they go up quick.
Air filter housings are not going to "cause" a backfire problem, poor tuning will though. Get the engine tuned up, starting with the basics.
mygasser
Well-Known Member
trim the commando filter base plate to the outer diameter of the filter element. you'll have 1/2-3/4" gap all around for extra air flow but it won't show as it's under the lid. if the base is special to the commando setup use any drop base and adapt it to suit.
neil.
neil.
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I have never felt that way about the '65 Barracuda. I was in awe in my younger days when I first saw this car. I have owned 4 of the '65 Barracudas (2 for parts) over my lifetime. I have never considered the design and manufacturing choices as "trashy".
The trunk latch as a hood latch, The trunk rods as hood hinges, the captive plates holding on the trunk latches come to mind immediately.
Those three off the top of my head are absolutely terrible. I accidentally snapped one of the trunk hinge bolts in that little floating plate, it was incredibly tedious to hold the plate steady to redrill and tap the hole. The plate floats around inside stamped steel, it was clearly an afterthought during manufacturing, and not at all related to quality
I still think it is a cool car, I love the looks and the pedigree, but digging into some of the engineering decisions showed that they were scraping the bottom of the parts bin at some points. The hood latch release mechanism is so flimsy, and you realize that it is a 1950s trunk release
The captive floating plate was commonplace for decades among multiple maunfacturers, how is this new to You? Captive floating nuts/plates prevented removing panels for access to nuts, and allowed for service/adjustment of doors/latches/strikers etc., the age of computerized robotic control of mfr. was a ways off then.
P.S. they are still in use to this day, just FYI...
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It's not very captive is the problem, that plate has a ton of play in every direction, making it extremely difficult to work on. The other times I have dealt with them, the travel is extremely minimal.
If we assume I got a badly stamped example with much more slop than normal, the hood and door hardware choices are still bitter pills to swallow, not to mention those paper thin trunk hinges were underbuilt for the job of hoisting up that beefy decklid.
Lol, yeah, some of those loosey-goosey ones show a lack of confidence in the build tolerances. Check the quarter lips to each tire side wall in the back, a variation of 1/4"-1/2" side-to-side is 'normal', and so on....a Friend of Mine is a bodyman & a perfectionist, He spends at least as much time fixing what wasn't "on" to begin with, as He does repairing/replacing rust/damage, it's a tough row to hoe.
jeff alder
Well-Known Member
These are great cars and highly undervalued which is good for us. The car was and is a glorified Valiant so there really wasn't a lot to re-engineer. The trunk lid hinges are not the greatest for sure but if you keep them lubricated, they will last a lifetime "as is." The hood release mechanism is just another example of moving mechanical parts that need lubrication. I particularly like how it is easy to get to yet hidden behind the hood emblem. I have never had a problem with any of these components even though they are over 50 years old except trunk hinge pins which are a cake walk to replace.
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