1969 Barracuda Convertible resto project

[bricud]

Well, I have taken the dive into a Barracuda resto. Starting with a barnyard find of a '69 Convertible with 41K miles that is all original but been sitting in a barnyard for the past 22 years. It pretty much needs everything, but the body is complete and straight. It will need a interior as the racoons tore through the top and destroyed the seats. After pulling the seats, and carpet, it will need rear floor pans. The rear frame rails will need to be repaired or replaced.

I'll see if the engine is locked or spins and either do an upper rebuild or a total rebuild on the 318 2bbl. I plan to use the bottom end, but replace with heads with bigger valve heads and run the Edelbrock fuel infection system with fuel rails by the heads. So I'll be changing the gas tank and using an in tank fuel pump. I'll put in a mild cam to make it fairly lively. More research on this to come.

My initial problem is to fine a body shop to do the work. After going to 7 body shops including classic car restorers, the best I could do was to be on a list that will get the car into a body shop in about a year. I'll keep checking. In the mean time, I'll get is mechanically sound and add disk brakes. It has the factory 4 wheel non power drums. Had these on a '67 GTO and I drove through too many intersections unwillingly to keep this braking system. Anyway, Here are pics of my starting point.

 

[BWDart]

Great project just stay on track don't try to do it all at once have fun with it.

 

[toplscuda]

Looks like a good starting point

 

[Super-Cuda]

Just a suggestion .
Before you send the car to a body shop, remove all the trim, especially the front grill pieces.There are parts on a convertible that are pretty much unobtainable and are notorious for "getting lost" at bodyshops.

 

[69cudaownr]

Nice! Your body panels look excellent! I'm guessing its an early production for 69, as its got the 68 console. Good luck and have fun.

 

[69cudaownr]

Just a suggestion .
Before you send the car to a body shop, remove all the trim, especially the front grill pieces.There are parts on a convertible that are pretty much unobtainable and are notorious for "getting lost" at bodyshops.

Agree!!!! Strip the car down yourself. You have some really nice chrome there.

 

[HemiSSDart]

Looks like an early to mid 70's 318. I had a 68 in much worse shape, sold it to a guy in Canada, it is now a trophy winning car! Good luck!

 

[Super-Cuda]

Nice! Your body panels look excellent! I'm guessing its an early production for 69, as its got the 68 console. Good luck and have fun.

Interesting observation 69cudaowner!
Seats seem to be 68 as well. Also, I couldn't see the 69 Marker lights in the pictures although they may be there.
Love those Keystone wheels though. If it was me, I'd keep em!!

 

[Demonracer]

I like the Keystone wheels on the car, they take me back to the late 60's & early 70's when I had a 67 Dart about the same color with those wheels. Take your time on the restoration & do as much as possible yourself. By doing things yourself, you'll have a bigger sense of pride once the car is done. (As if they are ever complete.)

 

[69cudaownr]

Interesting observation 69cudaowner!
Seats seem to be 68 as well. Also, I couldn't see the 69 Marker lights in the pictures although they may be there.
Love those Keystone wheels though. If it was me, I'd keep em!!

His Avatar shows the correct 69 front fender marker opening.

 

[69cudaownr]

I like the Keystone wheels on the car, they take me back to the late 60's & early 70's when I had a 67 Dart about he same color with those wheels. Take your time on the restoration & do as much as possible yourself. By doing things yourself, you'll have a bigger sense of pride once the car is done. (As if they are ever complete.)

If you keep those wheels (small bolt pattern) and want to go to disc brakes you'll need to look for a Kelsey Hayes (sbp) set up. Which are still available. In fact a member here rebuilds and sells sets periodically. Someone will chime in on who that is.

 

[KosmicKuda]

Looks like a really nice solid car to start with.
Can you post a pic of the fender tag?
Red seat belts in a black interior has me wondering if it originally had a red interior. Fender tag would show it.
Crude patches on fender aprons and black engine compartment. Wonder if it once had fenderwell headers and later 318 swapped in?
Or just typical rust repair?

 

[Super-Cuda]

His Avatar shows the correct 69 front fender marker opening.

Yup!!

 

[Bobacuda]

The DS exhaust manifold looks wrong. The one originally on my car looked like yours. Was a terrible fit with the exhaust too close to the PS steering box. This is a 318 with the correct exhaust manifold, and the car has PS & PB with front discs.

 

[Bobacuda]

Save all of your old wiring and label them (the aftermarket wires won’t be labeled. Take LOTS of photos.

I was at a car show where there was a nice 68 Camaro. The before photos looked worse than yours. He found a local JUCO that had body shop classes. Said they did it for materials, but he had to agree they could have the car for a year (multiple classes worked on it).

 

[Bobacuda]

I replaced all of the wiring with direct fit M&H wiring - but those harnesses do not include labels or the light wiring harness that goes to the console. It does not have the wire to go from the back of the ammeter to the top switch. Another reason to save all old parts, bag and label everything and take lots of photos.

 

[bricud]

There was no fender tag on this one, but I did find the broadcast sheet under the back seat cushion. I traced over it and here is the pdf with what I could read. Any help deciphering it would be helpful.

 

[bricud]

The DS exhaust manifold looks wrong. The one originally on my car looked like yours. Was a terrible fit with the exhaust too close to the PS steering box. This is a 318 with the correct exhaust manifold, and the car has PS & PB with front discs.
View attachment 1715959383

Mine has the same DS manifold but has the heat shield over it that feeds heat to the air intake. It is a little hard to see in the photo but I checked and it is the same as the one you pictured but with the heat shield over it.

 

[340sFastback]

Looks like good complete car. I would carefully remove those front grills and keep in a safe place. They are one year only part and quite expensive to replace.

If there is floor rust a lot of times its easier to replace the entire floor with an AMD one piece floor. That also allows you to get the inner rocker panels, torsion bar cross member ect cleaned up and coated.