Vmanmopar
Active Member
Hi all,
Not sure if this the right spot to start with but it will end up here. i'm a new one to the board and liked the things i have read and found out so far. Anyway this is the back ground to my current saga while it is a little long to begin with but I feel you should know what the facts are. My involvement started as a someone I knew, who knew someone who knew my love of all things Mopar and asked for some help with this car, it needed to get it running again and has turned into a mini-restoration. Not that I mine, the car is really solid and looks great. Just needed a lot of attention to detail items and normal wearing parts replaced for the most part.
I have been working on a 1 owner 1969 Barracuda convertible for the last few months and it has been fun and frustrating. I'm a "B" body guy mostly and have played with "A" bodies before, just not to this level of detail. As an Engine inspector by trade during the day, some of the thing's I find when working on this car I just really have a hard time dealing with as to the why was it not done the right way the first time. This car through the years had different "Caliber" of people working on it including myself. This has lead me to correct a bunch of things big and small. My goal is not a Barrette-Jackson car but a good, safe period correct car like my own Road Runner. This car started life as a 318, 2 barrel with a 904 automatic and a 7 1/4 rear with 2.78 gears. The owner a while ago had some work done to include rear end replacement and the engine rebuild. Here is what I know and or have found out.
When i can in the car had not been running for 2 to 3 years i found that the fuel system was shot. When the car came to me the rear end was leaking all matter of fluids and had worn out axle flanges and axle bearings. The trans did not shift into 2nd, only 1st and 3rd. The engine had a 1978 4-barrel intake with a very leaky thermoquad carb with points ignition. Car ran ok but no power with lots of vacuum leaks. So far I have fixed the rear end (replaced axle flanges, bearings), front end (Rebuilt, new bushings, ball joints etc) all 4 brakes (lining, wheel cylinders, lines etc.), transmission (serviced and band adjustments), installed power steering (this was fun) and completed some engine upgrades and engine bay dress up.
I replaced the thermoqurd carb and intake for a 1969 340 cast iron "915" intake and Elderbrock 1806 Thunder series, carb straight out of the box. During the intake change I found the rocker arms not installed correctly (fixed). Changed out the points dist. for ProForm electronic ignition with orange box. The Car runs smooth, good vacuum, idles good and sounds nice and strong but out on the road it has no power when driving.
The current drive line combination is the following:
318 engine, 340 cast iron intake, New Elderbrock Thunder jet 1806 (600 cfm) carb, ProForm Electronic ignition, Stock 904 Trans and converter, 8 3/4 (open) rear with 3.23 gears and 215/70/14 inch tires.
Since running the car the owner has told me a few other things.
When the engine was rebuild it was:
- Bored out, do not know how much. I'm going to borescope it in the hopes of seeing something on the piston tops.
- Camshaft and timing chain replaced. Again don't know what cam.
- 360 heads installed with casting # 4027596 (71 -74?)
Additional info:
- Car has what looks like 2 1/4 sized duel exhaust.
- Stock exhaust manifolds, believe to be 68/69 273/318 type with 1 5/8 opening.
- Mopar Performance air cleaner.
He also told me that the car would light up the tires with the 2 barrel and old 7 1/4 rear but wanted to add more power and the people told him that they rebuilt it like a 340. While I know the exhaust manifold are part of the problem I don't think it's the only issue especially based on what I have found and corrected all through out the car. I'm going to start with the basic's and do a compression test (should have done that first but was blinded by the light of a cool car) to see if these heads have lower the compression and also check static timing since the dist. likes being pushed up against the coil bracket to run better.
Like I said the car is nice, when I fixed the drives mirror and the pass side window the doors for the most part were virgins, I don't think anyone has ever had the the door panels off of them the way it was still factory sealed. I have a few other items to upgrade and do down the road, installing power brakes, K.H disc brakes and a bigger radiator, fix the oil pressure gauge, fix the dash lights..............
Any suggestions would be welcomed...
Not sure if this the right spot to start with but it will end up here. i'm a new one to the board and liked the things i have read and found out so far. Anyway this is the back ground to my current saga while it is a little long to begin with but I feel you should know what the facts are. My involvement started as a someone I knew, who knew someone who knew my love of all things Mopar and asked for some help with this car, it needed to get it running again and has turned into a mini-restoration. Not that I mine, the car is really solid and looks great. Just needed a lot of attention to detail items and normal wearing parts replaced for the most part.
I have been working on a 1 owner 1969 Barracuda convertible for the last few months and it has been fun and frustrating. I'm a "B" body guy mostly and have played with "A" bodies before, just not to this level of detail. As an Engine inspector by trade during the day, some of the thing's I find when working on this car I just really have a hard time dealing with as to the why was it not done the right way the first time. This car through the years had different "Caliber" of people working on it including myself. This has lead me to correct a bunch of things big and small. My goal is not a Barrette-Jackson car but a good, safe period correct car like my own Road Runner. This car started life as a 318, 2 barrel with a 904 automatic and a 7 1/4 rear with 2.78 gears. The owner a while ago had some work done to include rear end replacement and the engine rebuild. Here is what I know and or have found out.
When i can in the car had not been running for 2 to 3 years i found that the fuel system was shot. When the car came to me the rear end was leaking all matter of fluids and had worn out axle flanges and axle bearings. The trans did not shift into 2nd, only 1st and 3rd. The engine had a 1978 4-barrel intake with a very leaky thermoquad carb with points ignition. Car ran ok but no power with lots of vacuum leaks. So far I have fixed the rear end (replaced axle flanges, bearings), front end (Rebuilt, new bushings, ball joints etc) all 4 brakes (lining, wheel cylinders, lines etc.), transmission (serviced and band adjustments), installed power steering (this was fun) and completed some engine upgrades and engine bay dress up.
I replaced the thermoqurd carb and intake for a 1969 340 cast iron "915" intake and Elderbrock 1806 Thunder series, carb straight out of the box. During the intake change I found the rocker arms not installed correctly (fixed). Changed out the points dist. for ProForm electronic ignition with orange box. The Car runs smooth, good vacuum, idles good and sounds nice and strong but out on the road it has no power when driving.
The current drive line combination is the following:
318 engine, 340 cast iron intake, New Elderbrock Thunder jet 1806 (600 cfm) carb, ProForm Electronic ignition, Stock 904 Trans and converter, 8 3/4 (open) rear with 3.23 gears and 215/70/14 inch tires.
Since running the car the owner has told me a few other things.
When the engine was rebuild it was:
- Bored out, do not know how much. I'm going to borescope it in the hopes of seeing something on the piston tops.
- Camshaft and timing chain replaced. Again don't know what cam.
- 360 heads installed with casting # 4027596 (71 -74?)
Additional info:
- Car has what looks like 2 1/4 sized duel exhaust.
- Stock exhaust manifolds, believe to be 68/69 273/318 type with 1 5/8 opening.
- Mopar Performance air cleaner.
He also told me that the car would light up the tires with the 2 barrel and old 7 1/4 rear but wanted to add more power and the people told him that they rebuilt it like a 340. While I know the exhaust manifold are part of the problem I don't think it's the only issue especially based on what I have found and corrected all through out the car. I'm going to start with the basic's and do a compression test (should have done that first but was blinded by the light of a cool car) to see if these heads have lower the compression and also check static timing since the dist. likes being pushed up against the coil bracket to run better.
Like I said the car is nice, when I fixed the drives mirror and the pass side window the doors for the most part were virgins, I don't think anyone has ever had the the door panels off of them the way it was still factory sealed. I have a few other items to upgrade and do down the road, installing power brakes, K.H disc brakes and a bigger radiator, fix the oil pressure gauge, fix the dash lights..............
Any suggestions would be welcomed...
