mopowers
Well-Known Member
That looks awesome. Thank you! I needed to buy a new gasket anyway, so I can get this instead and get an upgrade.
1968 Barracuda Notch 340
- Thread starter I8NEMO
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jeff alder
Well-Known Member
This reminds me of like a Lina Dart Charger or some of the Brazilian Mopar variations. I tried to grasp your whole post and I see the Gorilla tape. I think it would look pretty good with the top of the black nose recessed back a few inches. It certainly is a totally different look. Keep going and see how it turns out! Good Luck!
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Thanks Jeff, I've read back through that part of this build a few times, man I was like a kid, my excitement level sure came out in those posts in length and the tape, mock-ups and black fabric was confusing. Not easy to see/follow. Here's an artist's rendition that shows a probable paint scheme and a current pic. of the front roughed in with factory color.
jeff alder
Well-Known Member
Yes I am with you now...you have the top nose matched up with the fender extensions...please take this as constructive criticism...Can you drop the front bumper a bit? to where it matches the artist's conception a bit more. Giving more reveal to the lower inner gray "grille" assembly and covering the lower front valence gap more. Splitting the difference would even the opening size for the "grille" and valence. Or do you have something else in the mix? I actually like it and I try and keep my cars mostly original. It doesn't look out of the realm of what a car sculptor would do when planning a new model nor does it look too modern where it doesnt match the rest of the car. I actually think the inner headlamps look better in the actual version than the artists. Keep up the good work. Send me a pic or post when you get the hood insert variation incorporated please.
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No worries, I'm always open to
No worries, I'm always open to constructive criticism. I cannot lower the bumper because the top surface of the modified E Body bumper is almost right on the lower part of the grille, the bumper sort of swallows the grille. The bumper also serves to fill the gap below the grille. You can see in the 2 grille pics it is a late model Chally grille "cap" i've reinforced as a stand-alone grille and bows out from my cars relatively flat front considerably. Luckily the E body bumper angle was close to accommodating the bow, I only needed to close the bumper angle slightly. The E body lower valance was a relatively simple mod. and I love the gaping fish mouth comparatively. The left front pic of my car shows some work I did on the valance to close the valance/bumper gap more so it matched the right side, when doing this work I looked up E body car pics and found the gaps seem to be present from the factory albeit mine are a bit bigger.
jeff alder
Well-Known Member
Cool thanks for the additional photos...nice wrap where you cut and welded the bumper to curve around your fender extensions. That bumper/valence gap on the yellow cuda is perfect and I totally get what you are doing now. I have 9 of these old girls but none of them are modified. I do not have a notchback all fast backs but we do have a 67 convertible that I am acquiring parts for now. It is for my girlfriend of 28 years. It was a 180 hp 273 but we have a 67 cast 202 valve x head 340 and all of the parts to covert it into a hybrid 67/68 formula s car. My god how many hours do you have in this car so far? You guys that do these over the top restoration modifications should punch a time clock every time you work on the cars. I think you are really on to something here...I am certainly "feeling it" Keep up the good work! I will love to see it when you are done. P.S I like the stance as well it looks ****!
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9! that is awesome! You have plenty to keep you busy for sure. yeah, no clue on hours man, When I'm juiced about something I just dive in I guess! Thanks for the kudos and good luck to you and the "old girls"
Finally fired up the Barracuda with exhaust finished. No X or H pipe on purpose for the bumpity. I've always been a Flow Master fan and I like how this sounds especially inside the car, with the pipes all the way out back it's massively quieter inside. I'll take it.
Jeff, I Forgot to mention that Amazon cap is not a direct replacement, you will need to drill new holes. That's a pain if fuel has been in it. Here's what ive heard over the years but have never done: fill the tank with water, sand or dry ice.
Not much today, working on the 71 Cuda Gill mod and farting around with the C pillar strobe. Sprayed body color over the Lime Green, then blacked out the top stripe. Meh
Got a metatarsal fusion surgery Friday, I've put it off for years. Favoring this foot has caused issues in the other foot so got it done. Supposed to be non weight bearing for 4 to 6 weeks. Off pain killers yesterday, good to be clear headed again and have things " moving" lol. Ordered a new idler arm and tie rods from Andersen.
Unfortunately, your videos aren’t viewable.
Got that sorted I think, thanks
A little stir crazy with this foot surgery so thought I'd show my thru valance exhaust journey. Interior frame ring has 3 centering screws to center and capture the exhaust tip. Duplicating the valance curve for the test bunk was easy and used some on line soft ware to print the elongated hole template. My mistake was, I was too cavalier about the bunks' actual relationship to parallel/ car. Ultimately the holes were too big. The repair piece work was intense but Im happy with how it finished.
Here's a short on the radio delete part of the instrument panel journey. For the missing coping rail plastic proved to be impossible to shape so I used wood and duplicated the detail by fashioning a quick " router table" for my dremel tool. Ive talked about the E6000 adhesive in other posts, it was the clear winner in the bond testing on this old plastic.
72smallairparticler
Well-Known Member
Cool render
Still on crutches, looking forward to working on the car again. Here's another video. This part of the 4 month instrument panel restoration focuses on 3 aesthetic additions. 1. I added a plastic half round at the waist line for a cleaner look and to cover the back to back coping. The half round, gauge circles and centers were painted one of my body colors Dodge Metallic Gray, then cleared. 2. After finding some doner hemispheres ( round plastic spoons) I made the gauge centers convex. This included developing a system to polish the old clear lenses. Mind numbing. To reattach the centers to the lenses I drilled holes and used micro machine screws. I found that lubing the screws was mandatory or the old plastic would crack. The second color used was black and the 3rd color is the color of my 05 Ram, I think it's called Bright Metallic Silver. Touches of the metallic gray are also on the knob faces and lettering boxes. Then the entire unit was clear coated with 2 part automotive urethane. Wish I had taken better pics back then.
Before all the fun creative stuff began, I made several structural repairs on the back side of the panel. The most significant was probably the wooden truss brace to stiffen the thin area between the temp. Slide control and defrost slide control. Age and use had allowed a lot of deflection so when the selectors were moved the head knobs dragged on the panel face. This video shows the use of the Dodge Metallic Gray on knob faces and lettering backgrounds. Also, gauge pointers were sprayed Lime Crazy, green l.e.d. lights installed, I rolled the odometer back to 1968 and pulled the gear out keeping it frozen in time and finally a custom hi- beam lens. Challenging and fun.
Rear valance finally getting welded on
Finished all the welds yesterday and got a bunch of the grinding done. Top weld is right under a reinforcing rib and although it's hidden by the bumper, good chance to practice detail grinding and not gouge the rib.
Shout out to everyone: anyone can do this type of fab work. I stayed away from the body sheet metal welding until I was forced to dig in. It just takes patience and practice. Get the heat and wire speed dialed in. Get comfortable, get close, lighting and good vision are important. If you can't see the work happening, the work will show it. Exercise patience and spread the welding around to keep heat from warping the metal. Same goes for grinding.
Shout out to everyone: anyone can do this type of fab work. I stayed away from the body sheet metal welding until I was forced to dig in. It just takes patience and practice. Get the heat and wire speed dialed in. Get comfortable, get close, lighting and good vision are important. If you can't see the work happening, the work will show it. Exercise patience and spread the welding around to keep heat from warping the metal. Same goes for grinding.
Here's a tip: my eyes are 60 years old so they don't dilate as quickly. Here's a sequence of what is happening with this type of sheet metal spot welding with an auto lens ( highly recommend):
1. Ready to weld, protective lens is automatically off. Work is lit via shop light. ( though too much light and the auto shield will engage)
2. Weld arc contracts pupils, even after lens automatically shields vision. Even with lens on full, my eyes are still like " oh ****" and im semi blinded.
3. Arc terminates, auto lens instantly off, pupils begin to open and my next step here in this instant is to " see" the red glow of the spot weld to ensure the next spot welds' placement is on the joint. This instantaneous step used to be no problem but has changed with age, now Ive found a way to squint/train my focus during an arc, to better see the glowing weld in between arcs.
This enables a pace. Pace is important even if im doing 3 or 6 spot welds at a time because that first spot weld is colder and usually clunky, the next 2 or 6 in succession are always laying better, on point, and over the joint because I'm tracking the placement in between arcs and making tiny adjustments based on the vision of the glowing weld after an arc . If I did one spot weld at a time stopping in between, the placement is never as good and its chunkier because it's colder which generates more gaps and more grinding. For me, the first welds placement always has a certain amount of guess work. There's a half inch nozzle in the way and somewhere a tiny wire will show itself. Tracking this via " glow" in between arcs really works well for me.
1. Ready to weld, protective lens is automatically off. Work is lit via shop light. ( though too much light and the auto shield will engage)
2. Weld arc contracts pupils, even after lens automatically shields vision. Even with lens on full, my eyes are still like " oh ****" and im semi blinded.
3. Arc terminates, auto lens instantly off, pupils begin to open and my next step here in this instant is to " see" the red glow of the spot weld to ensure the next spot welds' placement is on the joint. This instantaneous step used to be no problem but has changed with age, now Ive found a way to squint/train my focus during an arc, to better see the glowing weld in between arcs.
This enables a pace. Pace is important even if im doing 3 or 6 spot welds at a time because that first spot weld is colder and usually clunky, the next 2 or 6 in succession are always laying better, on point, and over the joint because I'm tracking the placement in between arcs and making tiny adjustments based on the vision of the glowing weld after an arc . If I did one spot weld at a time stopping in between, the placement is never as good and its chunkier because it's colder which generates more gaps and more grinding. For me, the first welds placement always has a certain amount of guess work. There's a half inch nozzle in the way and somewhere a tiny wire will show itself. Tracking this via " glow" in between arcs really works well for me.
Rear valance and left rear quarter welding/ grinding done. Hopefully I get the welds on the right rear ground this weekend then body work.
Big changes coming in my life, good ones, so tearing this car apart for real paint is in the future. Again, my short term plan is minimal body work in areas without paint, then squirt this green factory color as needed. Watching too much Vice Grip Garage I guess.
Big changes coming in my life, good ones, so tearing this car apart for real paint is in the future. Again, my short term plan is minimal body work in areas without paint, then squirt this green factory color as needed. Watching too much Vice Grip Garage I guess.
SpikeWills69
Live Free or Die
My eyes are 74 yrs. old and surely not what they used to be. Thanks for the tips. Need all the help I can get.
Your Notch is coming along nicely.
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