68 Barracuda FB Build

[slimjim]

Alright, the time has come for me to finally begin the tedious process of building my 68 Barracuda Fastback. I bought the car in Nov of 2010, but because It was my first year at the California Maritime Academy I was unable to bring to car up to the shop on campus. Over the summer I had to go to the south pacific on the USTS Golden Bear so, now that I’m back from overseas and in school again, I can finally tear into it. I get 4k each semester from the navy that will all be going towards the car until I finish it. So here’s what I’ve got: :happy1:
Yes, I know that ive got my hands full with body work. Im not really sure what to do with my roof yet. As of right now im just taking off the body panels to really get into the car. Ill post more pics de la manana! Any tips would be nice haha

 

[340sFastback]

Maybe get a roof skin from a donor car and weld it in?

 

[slimjim]

Ok so I was able to get the front clip off today. Surprisingly enough, the rusted bolts didn’t give me too much of a hassle. Today was the 2nd day of the project and I already drew blood. Gotta love the sharp edges:hmph:

 

[68340fish]

Looks like a GREAT project. There is a fastback roof on Ebay, $250 obo in Colorado. Good luck with the FISH!

 

[unknownsnake]

looks like fun

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

Thank you for Serving and what a great project.

 

[Woodys_Cuda]

Looks like a good project for sure. That roof is definitely toast. But...you can do it!

 

[slimjim]

OK...How the heck do i get this freakin fender off. Its the driver side fender. I took off the driver side door so that I could reach that bolt behind the brackets. I have the bottom half of the fender completely unbolted. Every bolt on the topside seems to be off. Is there some secret bolt that im not seeing? It looks like theres some adhisive between the innner and outer fender. I hope thats not the problem. I should still be able to pull it off right? any tips would be great. thanks

 

[4spdragtop]

Hey slimjim, I cant help you, but start a new thread with any ??'s you have in the proper forum...you will get more responses that way..Good luck!

 

[68383GTS]

I will be following your thread.I would replace the roof skin myself.I also have my hands full on a 67 FB basket case that I am redoing.
Jim

 

[slimjim]

Ok, so I feel pretty stupid now. The 1 bolt that I had left was right in front of me the entire time. The fender is now off and the rust removal begins. haha in the picture you can see the pile of leaves and dirth that was collecting behind the fender.:glasses7:

 

[xlexl]

Dear god! Thank you for making me feel better about the amount of sheet metal work mine is taking! lol

Going to be a great project, subscribed

 

[slimjim]

Yeeeaaahhhhhh... its pretty bad lol. My car has stage 4 cancer haha. Lots and Lots of work :/.

 

[xlexl]

Most people would consider that terminal. LOL

 

[Big Jim]

Takes a giant pair of brass ones to tackle that! Good Luck-can't wait to see where it goes from here!

 

[Old Tired Rebel]

You're off to a great start.

 

[slimjim]

Oh, I just realized that I havnt shared what my goals are for the car. I plan on following the same style as the picture below. Although im keeping my emblems on. As far as the power plant goes, Im going to store the matching numbers 318 (which currently has little to no power due to the low compression from the 360 j heads on it) and then transplanting something with 400hp/450ft +. I havnt made up my mind on which motor to build yet. I want reliability, great power, and something street friendly. Yes I know that those 3 may be a little difficult to obtain together but hey, im still researching. 440 sounds great however, Im a little concerned about the install. Plus, I still want Power steering haha. the 408/416 stroker sounds great but I know that stroking an engine lowers the life expectancy. I want this engine to be able to at least handle 40k miles before I need to rebuild everything again. Boost on a stock stroke small block sounds the best in my opinion but, converting to efi would be a pain in the a** and reliability would suffer a little bit. SO yeah... Ill deal with that next semester. Oh, I also plan on using frame connectors, cal tracs, upgraded sway bars, and some nice wide rims and tires. I already have the discs in the front. Feel free to throw out ideas throughout the build. Thanks.

 

[slimjim]

Alright, so a buddy of mine and I put in a good 2 1/2 hours tonight. I threw my friend my grinder with a wire wheel and let him have at my driver side fender. Not too much rust actually. Theres about a whole the size of a quarter on the bottom of the fender closest to the door. Other than that, the fender is clean. Its nice having ocd friends haha, they do great work (he not really ocd hes just a perfectionist. not trying to offend anybody). I was able to get the passenger side fender off as well as the horn, all emblems, passenger door, and trunk carpet. In One of the pictures you can see my friend working on the fender in the background. What do you guys suggest for a bare metal protector? Should I just shoot it with etching primer or something like "1 step" for rust?

 

[slimjim]

Gahhhhhh! I hate rust :/. Sorry, just needed to rant a little bit. Ill post pix of all my progress tomarrow when i remember to bring my camera to the shop.

 

[mopardude318]

keep working at it buddy... you'll get there...you have a 68 fastback barracuda....thats a very desirable A-body to own....not everybody can get ahold of one...rust or no rust...

 

[invisabledog]

Oh, I just realized that I havnt shared what my goals are for the car. I plan on following the same style as the picture below. Although im keeping my emblems on. As far as the power plant goes, Im going to store the matching numbers 318 (which currently has little to no power due to the low compression from the 360 j heads on it) and then transplanting something with 400hp/450ft +. I havnt made up my mind on which motor to build yet. I want reliability, great power, and something street friendly. Yes I know that those 3 may be a little difficult to obtain together but hey, im still researching. 440 sounds great however, Im a little concerned about the install. Plus, I still want Power steering haha. the 408/416 stroker sounds great but I know that stroking an engine lowers the life expectancy. I want this engine to be able to at least handle 40k miles before I need to rebuild everything again. Boost on a stock stroke small block sounds the best in my opinion but, converting to efi would be a pain in the a** and reliability would suffer a little bit. SO yeah... Ill deal with that next semester. Oh, I also plan on using frame connectors, cal tracs, upgraded sway bars, and some nice wide rims and tires. I already have the discs in the front. Feel free to throw out ideas throughout the build. Thanks.

How about a modern powerplant? Say a 5.7 Hemi. Check out the other build threads, lots of good ideas.

 

[slimjim]

So, im currently cutting out the rusted sections on all the body panels(theres lots of them). I plan on getting all the pieces of new sheet metal welded in by next friday. Im procrastinating on starting the roof because well... it scares me haha. Ive never done anything that crazy before. If anyone has a roof for sale im looking haha.

 

[themachine]

awesome !!!

 

[unknownsnake]

Look in the parts car section

 

[slimjim]

Ok, so i extracted quite a bit of rust today. I also found a really crappy repair job that had half an inch of bondo holding it together. You can see it in the pics. I had to cutt a nice size piece of the driverside 1/4 too. Lots and lots of work still to be had. I plan on getting all the new metal welded in (besides the roof) by next friday.