1968 Barracuda resto 13+ years in the works! 383 Six-Pack 4-spd??

[Crazy73]

I bought this car back in November 2003 and just came across some (gasp) Polaroid photos of the first day I had it, when I immediately began taking it apart. It is just weeks away from being finished, and I'll be updating this thread with pictures as I scan and upload them.

This Barracuda started life in January 1968 as a /6 automatic in seafoam green, as a fleet vehicle for "U-Drive-It" out of FL, wound up in New Hampshire in the '80s, and finally made its way to CT in 1990/1991. The owner swapped out the /6 and installed a 340/727 on a pre-'73 K frame, added an 8-3/4, ripped out the windshield, jacked up the front end for a '73+ disc brake conversion, and left the car in his buddy's front yard for the next 8-10 years to catch all the rainwater and house as many mice as it could.

As part of the deal we worked out he gave me all the spare parts he had collected while junkyard hunting over the years, most of them higher trim level pieces like Rallye dash clusters, a few extra dash panels in addition to the original, extra doors, wheels, driveshafts, etc etc etc. It was a total basket case and in addition to a new interior it needed replacement quarters, decklid, hood, fenders, a rear bumper, and new floorpan sections.

Goal:
Convert it to a 383 6-pack 4-spd road warrior, and black it out.

Pics to start off the thread:

 

[Crazy73]

Not having a garage in which to work I was left with doing what I could on the patio. It made for great conversations at summer BBQs!

In these photos (also from November 2003) I gutted the interior and put in some floor patches. I used a stripping wheel to get to bare metal and cut out the offending sections. I welded in a replacement rear floor pan on the driver's side, and did a few small patches on the passenger side. These were the areas that collected water (see original post). I etch primed, then sealed with POR-15.

The inner fenders only needed minor patching and a sealing coat of paint

 

[Cuda68Scott]

Be careful, organizing and scanning 13 years of pics may take you more than 13 years! I am interested in seeing your project and if you ended up with 383 six pack.

 

[Crazy73]

Be careful, organizing and scanning 13 years of pics may take you more than 13 years! I am interested in seeing your project and if you ended up with 383 six pack.

Fortunately most of my pictures are already in digital format and on old hard drives. The downside is that my power supply for the old computer is dead, and the old drives are IDE while new drives are SATA (and use different power connectors). I have ordered a conversion adapter but it won't be here for at least a week.

 

[Crazy73]

I was able to access my old hard drive, so here are the pictures of the car in the yard on

the night I picked it up.

Can you say

BASKET CASE!

 

[Crazy73]

I organized and sorted out the parts while emptying the car, figuring out which piece would be kept and which would be sold to help fund the project.

I had 2 header/grille panels, 3 dash boards with instrument clusters, 2 sets of bucket seats, extra parking lenses, hubcaps, wheels, junk fenders, an extra set of doors and seatbelts, and a bit of upgraded interior trim.

 

[Crazy73]

Gutting the interior introduced me to my new best friend nemesis... rust!

Because the windshield had been taken out of the car and placed off-center while the car was stored outside for the better part of a decade, water collected inside and the mice had their own swimming pool. This car must have felt like a resort to them, the seats were destroyed as was the insulation under the dash and numerous wires were chewed through!

 

[Crazy73]

I ripped out the 340 and traded it to fellow member Moper in exchange for some work on a 340/416 Dart Sport I had at the time. The Barracuda had already been repainted on top of the original paint, so after the engine was out I began by stripping the engine bay down to bare metal and giving it a quick etch prime via rattlecan. Getting rid of the multiple coats of paint underneath what would eventually be gloss black could only help the engine bay look even better, with more defined edges and contours. At this point in time I also removed the rear windshield and installed a new Legendary headliner (via Dante).

 

[Crazy73]

stripped down the dash and primed.

 

[3rdLM23P9]

Boy, were you ever brave! Rough starting point!

 

[Crazy73]

Boy, were you ever brave! Rough starting point!

I was only brave because I lucked out from '01-05 by working 2 jobs and having essentially zero living expenses. I wouldn't dream of touching a car like that right now!

 

[Crazy73]

In addition to the floor patches, I welded on new replacement/half quarters and trunk extensions, sections of rocker, replaced the doors with some rust free ones, and found a decent trunk lid and hood.

When I did the 1/4 panels I was a bit sneaky and slightly widened the wheel openings to fit the new oversized wheels and tires. This car would be sporting 275/40R18x8.5 rear, and 245/45R17x8 front, on some black & silver Rogue wheels from American Racing.

Here are some shots of the prep work fellow member "moper" did getting the car ready for blocking back in May 2007. Some of the new Legendary interior is visible, I reupholstered the seats myself after installing the new headliner.

When it rains, it pours - I was only able to pull a few more photos off the old hard-drive before it decided to give me the "click of death"

 

[Crazy73]

After the car was blocked we trailered it to an undisclosed location deep in the hinterlands of rustic CT for paint.

 

[Crazy73]

Black is "in"

 

[Crazy73]

The next steps circa 2006-2007 (missing photos right now) were for me to add welds to the K frame for strength, box the lower control arms, install the new front suspension w/ tubular upper control arms, install the new 13" disc brakes (all 4 corners), stainless steel brake & fuel lines and gas tank, drop in a new wiring harness, and build the engine.

The engine build was simply a warmed up cam into a supposedly-running 383 shortblock, topped off with a brand new six-pack kit (intake, carbs, air cleaner). The exhaust came from Accurate, with their reworked HP manifolds.

Little did I know that this engine (as built) wasn't going to run.

No progress made from late 2008 to roughly 2010/2011.

At this point I was finally able to get some time with a friend to wetsand, cut, and buff! We managed to get the front clip of the car done, and roughly 6 years later it was still half/half.

 

[davescuda]

Looks awesome, love the Black. Way to go "mopar"

 

[Cuda68Scott]

Enjoying this build, keep it coming. I foresee some engine rebuilding.....

 

[Crazy73]

Towards the fall of 2016 I brought the car back to moper's house so he do the work to finish it for me, as my free time over the past several years had essentially been zilch. I had incredible difficulty installing the bellhousing and transmission, and we would soon find out that
1) Bellhousing was out of alignment with engine block
2) The wrong helicoils were in the bellhousing
3) The wrong helicoils were in the transmission
4) A family of mice decided to use the engine as their own Taj Mahal and filled it with debris, nest material, and urine.

First step was for moper to rip out the engine and transmission, and then detail the front end and suspension components while awaiting the parts to rebuild the engine. He also re-shot the engine bay since it had gotten so many chips and dings over the past years.

 

[Crazy73]

The past 2 months moper has been working like a busy bee on this car, and I have stopped over the past several weekends to help out - our initial goal last fall was to have the car ready for the last week of March 2017, and we are very very close to meeting that date.

I crawled into the engine bay and did the new wiring & bolt-ons while he worked on the motor & rear axle.

 

[Crazy73]

At last, some real engine pics!

We were able to save the 383 by turning the crank, reaming the cylinders, and replacing the rings, bearings, camshaft, lifters, pushrods, rockers, oil pump, etc.

The engine ran well on the break-in stand and didn't have any leaks, we detailed it and tossed on the carbs. Moper had the wonderful job of bolting everything back together and putting it back into the engine bay.

 

[Crazy73]

Installed the hood, radiator, and started getting the rest of it back together for test-driving.

 

[Crazy73]

Drove it home on Saturday thanks to moper, now on to finish the wetsanding and buffing! And I guess I'll have to install the seatbelts, as well - this car SCOOTS!

 

[davescuda]

I like the look. Make sure you bring it to the CT Dragway reunion show in June. It's usually the Monday after fathers day. Last year they like a 1000 cars, great show. Get there early Its free with just donation.

 

[Crazy73]

I like the look. Make sure you bring it to the CT Dragway reunion show in June. It's usually the Monday after fathers day. Last year they like a 1000 cars, great show. Get there early Its free with just donation.

Weekdays are tough but I will certainly try to make it!

 

[Crazy73]

Got into the buffing yesterday with a friend. I had wetsanded the whole car around 6-7 years ago with 1500 then 2000 grit, back when he buffed the front clip (we will need to cut and buff the front again from all the scratches over the years).

After wet sanding some areas I touched up, he followed with a wool pad & ClearCut compound. Final polishing was done with an 8" foam pad and Meguiar's Mirror Glaze.

The roof and decklid are done, we are working top to bottom on this. Today's goal is to finish the top edges of the doors, redo the hood & fenders, then start working down the sides.

Carnauba wax will go on at the very end.