1966 Plymouth Barracuda Formula S - Restoration

[tone]

Haven't updated in a while - trim is all removed, only chrome is the vent windows on the door. Patched a couple of small bubbling spots on the passenger side door, welded up the passenger side chrysler emblem. Ended up botching the removal of the drivers side drip rail (followed some bad advice, ignored it and removed the pass side with no warping), but I'll deal with it. No luck finding anyone to paint yet - at this point, I'm leaning towards just finding a regular shop to block and paint it - I've done all of the trim removal, not much more left to do than get a good surface to paint and do it. Can't find anyone locally with any interest/availability. One shop refused because I did too much already - guess they just want the shop hours.

Got the engine back from the shop. Used egge 0.030 oversize hipo pistons, cleaned up everything .. polished and mic'd the crankshaft, all std. Surfaced the block, cut 0.010 off the top. Had the cam degreed. Had 0.010 cut off the intake sides and head surfaces. Turns out the heads had valve guides, guess its been reworked before. The shop put in CC 986 springs - seems a little stiff - but I'm going to rely on their experience. Just got the reworked heads on today ... used mahle gaskets, coated with copper coat. Went with an E4 isky cam and isky solid lifter replacements - things aren't as cheap as they used to be. I don't plan on installing lifters/intake and finishing up the engine until I get the body work done so I have a better timeframe for when I might be able to do the cam break in.

 

[tone]

Things always go slower than you expect - I've finished completely stripping the 66. No glass, no chrome, no trim, no interior, no handles/locks/etc, removed dash pad, removed dash components. I've finally found a local painter with availability (if his health holds out, the good ones seem to be fading fast - I can't afford 40k for a body/paint job and shops that used to do classics seem to only be doing insurance work now), so hopefully in the upcoming months the shell will be painted.

I've religiously bagged and tagged everything that's come off the car, but I know there will eventually be challenges. The body has turned out to be pretty decent, aside from the floor pans, a small piece of the roof seam on the drivers side, and a little of bubble on the passenger side door that got cut out and cleaned up.

I've cleaned up and painted the k frame and sway bar. Installed a new rear->front brake line. After it gets painted, I plan on installing a front disc brake upgrade (input welcome, considering going original Kelsey Hayes from a local user and getting some cragar 15-7, selling my existing 14-6 that never got mounted .. I don't really want to change the existing 7 1/4 rear for BBP, or a 8 1/4. It's getting a rebuilt 4bbl 273 so it's not going to be a power monster.

Haven't posted much, but I've been enjoying reading and watching other folks restorations! Hopefully after paint, I'll have more to post.

 

[clifftt]

Tone, just saw this thread for the first time, will be following this. I have been through a lot of what you're doing now, have probably forgotten most of it. Your last photo of the rear of the car with the back glass out reminded me of the two tiny cracks in the quarter panel metal at the forward opening of the back glass. I alerted member Bob Jasinski about this and he found them on his Barracuda, too. Just pointing this out before you get too deep into body and paint work.

Early Barracuda body cracks under rear window

Check out Bob's posts and you can learn a lot from where he has already been.

Search results for query: *

 

[tone]

Tone, just saw this thread for the first time, will be following this. I have been through a lot of what you're doing now, have probably forgotten most of it. Your last photo of the rear of the car with the back glass out reminded me of the two tiny cracks in the quarter panel metal at the forward opening of the back glass. I alerted member Bob Jasinski about this and he found them on his Barracuda, too. Just pointing this out before you get too deep into body and paint work.

Early Barracuda body cracks under rear window

Check out Bob's posts and you can learn a lot from where he has already been.

Search results for query: *

Thanks - I'll definitely check that area. No issues on the surface, but I haven't stripped it back yet. The body seams are pretty wild - I had to cut out a small piece in the roofline by removing the lead, cutting out the rusted seam, and replacing with fresh metal and weld, rather than lead.

 

[tone]

Progress continues - slowly. The guy that was going to do the body/paint is having health issues, so no idea when the car is going to be painted now (if anyone knows a body/paint guy on the east coast that's reasonable, let me know).

Everything suspension related on the car is crusty - most of it seems to be factory original, never replaced. The torsion bars were very difficult to remove - I built a tool similar to the factory tool that helped, but they were real stuck/seized in there. Finally got them out without resorting to anything that would damage them. Fair amount of rust on the hex ends that cleaned up pretty well. Stripped them, painted them, will install them after the LCAs. Got new boots from DMT.

I worked on finishing up the lower control arm refurbishment, following Jim Lusk's incredibly helpful videos on pressing in the pivot pins and bushings. Ended up using one of my pipe cutter heads as a spacer to get it pressed in. All went relatively smoothly. I couldn't use the bump stops on the LCA on the kit I used (they didn't have the proper head to lock into the spacer plates), but the originals were still in decent shape. Got things installed loosely, won't torque anything until its back on the ground.

Waiting on a socket to come in for the upper control arms before I get back to those.

Is the ball joint on the pitman arm replaceable? Seems like it might be integral - only seeing the full arm w/ ball joint installed.

 

[tone]

So it's been a while since I've updated. I wrapped up all of the front end work, most of the rubber was beyond end of life, so I'm glad I did.

More than a year later, the stripped body has been with a local painter for 7 months - and his health fell apart soon after dropping it off (multiple back surgeries). No clue what the timeline for getting the body back is. I dropped it off in September last year in bare metal with the expectation that it would be worked on, and only part of it has been sprayed in etching primer. No clue how bad the rest of the car is rusting, but I know it is. I don't have the heart to go see at this point and don't have the time, to be honest. My first child was born around the same time the car was dropped off, so I only get a few hours here and there to work on stuff. In the meantime, I've gone through and cleaned/painted all of the engine parts, horns, splash shields, welded in new trunk drop pieces, welded new lower quarters on both sides, rebuilt the A833 completely and repainted the exterior (that was the holiday work over Christmas this year), replaced the cable in the inland shifter and cleaned up that mechanism. If anyone wants pictures of any of the piecemeal parts that have been stripped, for any reason, let me know. Just don't have the energy to post photos regularly anymore. As I work on engine and body parts, I've been wrapping and tagging them, putting them into bins.

Got humiliated in the mechanical forum for calling it an inland marine shifter ... not sure why that keeps sticking in my head. Also got chewed for not being thankful enough to those answering questions. Don't really care, but when I get the body done and back, I'll try to keep documenting as I go so hopefully someone else gets some benefit. Every question someone posts will probably help someone else, so keep on humiliating the one asking questions, as long as the questions are answered, someone might benefit.

These are the last two photos I have of the body. At this point, it might be another several years before I finish the car, but I'm still chugging along slowly on what I do have to work on here. The body, I may be recovering this summer at a heavy loss if I don't see progress soon.

 

[tone]

Here's a few more from what I shared with local friends.

 

[tone]

@clifftt so after I got it stripped completely, the lead joints looked ok on mine. no separation. good looking out - the lead joints I found the most problematic were the roof seams. the drivers side I had to cut and weld a small patch over a rusted seam.

 

[RAT ROD AL]

So , it looks like you got your car back from the Paint Shop ?

 

[tone]

Nope, it's still sitting there.

 

[RAT ROD AL]

Why can you Not get it back ?

 

[tone]

I'm still in limbo about what to do. I've paid the guy a deposit on it and don't have other reasonable quotes for paint. He still claims he's going to do it when his health issues clear up, but who knows at this point.

 

[RAT ROD AL]

Good luck, I've seen alot of guys horror stories like this.

 

[Miranthis]

When you rebuilt your Inland Shifter (Inland Marine, that sticks in your head, is an insurance coverage, and now that I typed it, it will be stuck in my head too ) did it still have the internal shifter gate spring? This one inside the shifter itself, NOT the one in the shifter handle.

It seems MOST of these just pop out at some point and a lot of folks don't even know they are supposed to have a gate spring. I am working to spec a suitable replacement for mine in my 66 and working a retention method. If you DO still have the spring I would really appreciate a set of measurements with a caliper and some good pics.


I have a thread on my 66 Barracuda restoration here. My 66 is at media blasting at the moment. Already rebuilt my steering gear and just tore down my A-833 tonight. Did you go with Brewer or Passon on the rebuild kit?

I would love to compare notes on the projects. Yours is gonna be a sweet looking car.

 

[tone]

Nope, gone on this one! I got everything from Brewers.

 

[Miranthis]

Nope, gone on this one! I got everything from Brewers.

I got the idea from another user for a set screw that will help retain the gate spring. I have the set screw, tap, and appropriate drill bit. As soon as I find the "right" spring (trial and error is a PITA when the spring company has a $40 minimum order and the springs at only a couple bucks ) I will post something on it. The shifter appears to be hardened, so it may be a chore to drill and tap, but we will see.

 

[66fs]

I got the idea from another user for a set screw that will help retain the gate spring. I have the set screw, tap, and appropriate drill bit. As soon as I find the "right" spring (trial and error is a PITA when the spring company has a $40 minimum order and the springs at only a couple bucks ) I will post something on it. The shifter appears to be hardened, so it may be a chore to drill and tap, but we will see.

I have a low mileage inland shifter, I'll check to see if the spring is still present.

 

[mpgmike]

... is a PITA when the spring company has a $40 minimum order and the springs at only a couple bucks ...

Try McMaster-Carr, McMaster-Carr

 

[tone]

I got the idea from another user for a set screw that will help retain the gate spring. I have the set screw, tap, and appropriate drill bit. As soon as I find the "right" spring (trial and error is a PITA when the spring company has a $40 minimum order and the springs at only a couple bucks ) I will post something on it. The shifter appears to be hardened, so it may be a chore to drill and tap, but we will see.

If you need help or a tester, let me know. The shifter is still obviously out of the car, though it does have a boot on it now.

 

[CudaJason]

what part of North Carolina are you in? I have a lot of friends in the Charlotte Concord area (we all have a bunch of early ford hot Rods) and can get you pointed in the right direction for a good shop in that area if needed.

 

[tone]

what part of North Carolina are you in? I have a lot of friends in the Charlotte Concord area (we all have a bunch of early ford hot Rods) and can get you pointed in the right direction for a good shop in that area if needed.

I'm in Raleigh - I'll let you know later if I need some recommendations! Appreciated!

 

[Miranthis]

Try McMaster-Carr, McMaster-Carr

Should have some delivered today. the selection is less than that on the "Big Spring" sites, but then McMaster-Carr has quick delivery (next day, so today) and i was able to spend $25 to test out a theory instead of a $40 minimum order plus shipping.