Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

[1967 'cuda]

To a lot of folks out there the tachometer choice for the Roadrunner might seem gimmicky. It has an option for changing the color of the display light to 7 different colors. That is not the reason that we chose this tach. We chose it based on size, cost, and the built in shift light.

I've been unable to reach my son by phone today. When I decided to order L.E.D. replacement dash bulbs it occurred to me that he might want to choose a color other than white. I'd hate to spend the money (and effort replacing them) only to find that he would like them swapped again.

I used to think that all L.E.D. replacement bulbs produced the same number of lumens. Past experience has shown me otherwise. A lot of them are no brighter than standard bulbs. Some may even be less. As much as people knock eBay as a source for parts, it's often the least expensive route to choose. When I'm trying to stretch each dollar as far as I can I'll check prices there first. But buying L.E.D.s off of eBay is a crap-shoot. Most vendors don't advertise the brightness. I've got unused L.E.D.s in my toolbox because they were crappy and I chose not to use them.

The best website that I've seen is:
Instrument Cluster & Gauge LED Lights | Car and Pick-Up Truck | Super Bright LEDs

They list the styles and brightness. They also are selling bulbs that are capable of being dimmed by your dimmer switch. Many of the cheaper bulbs for sale are not. The problem is that they're not cheap. For the Roadrunner I will need 3 of the 194 style bulbs at $5.95 each and 2 of the BA9 style at $6.95 each. That's $31.75 for 5 dash bulbs and doesn't include shipping.


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[1967 'cuda]

I was finally able to get in contact with my son. He had left his cell phone at work. He said he wants to run red dash lights so I bit the bullet and ordered some of those pricey ones from superbrightleds.com. I see that they're based out of Missouri so I should be getting them by the end of the week. Shipped via USPS the total came to $34.74.

It seems like an outrageous amount for 5 small dash bulbs but if the end results are what we're hoping for I guess it's not a fortune. One of the cool things about running the colored L.E.D.s with white face gauges is that during the daytime you've got those nice bright easy to read white faces and at night the personality changes with the color. I just hope that the new bulbs will be the brightness we want. They're rated at 100 lumens for the 194s and 112 for the BA9s. In the past when we'd tried colored L.E.D.s we noticed that they didn't seem as bright as the white ones. I figure that if they're too bright we can adjust with the dimmer switch. If they're not bright enough... then I don't know what our next options are.

 

[Abodybomber]

To a lot of folks out there the tachometer choice for the Roadrunner might seem gimmicky. It has an option for changing the color of the display light to 7 different colors. That is not the reason that we chose this tach. We chose it based on size, cost, and the built in shift light.

I've been unable to reach my son by phone today. When I decided to order L.E.D. replacement dash bulbs it occurred to me that he might want to choose a color other than white. I'd hate to spend the money (and effort replacing them) only to find that he would like them swapped again.

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I used to think that all L.E.D. replacement bulbs produced the same number of lumens. Past experience has shown me otherwise. A lot of them are no brighter than standard bulbs. Some may even be less. As much as people knock eBay as a source for parts, it's often the least expensive route to choose. When I'm trying to stretch each dollar as far as I can I'll check prices there first. But buying L.E.D.s off of eBay is a crap-shoot. Most vendors don't advertise the brightness. I've got unused L.E.D.s in my toolbox because they were crappy and I chose not to use them.

The best website that I've seen is:
https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/instrument-cluster-gauge/

They list the styles and brightness. They also are selling bulbs that are capable of being dimmed by your dimmer switch. Many of the cheaper bulbs for sale are not. The problem is that they're not cheap. For the Roadrunner I will need 3 of the 194 style bulbs at $5.95 each and 2 of the BA9 style at $6.95 each. That's $31.75 for 5 dash bulbs and doesn't include shipping.

Are you going to pull, the trigger on some of these bulbs ? Just curious.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Are you going to pull, the trigger on some of these bulbs ? Just curious.

I posted just before you did Abodybomber. I've already bought inexpensive L.E.D.s for our other vehicles. - And I've always seen an improvement in visibility. But I would have liked them to have been still brighter. None of the cheap ones that I've used in the past were capable of being dimmed. They were either on or off. If these turn out to look really good I may end up getting more and replacing the ones I'd gotten before.

 

[Abodybomber]

I appreciate the information that I find on the various threads on FABO and other sites. There are a lot of guys out there that could be writing 'HOW TO' books with the knowledge they have.

As I was reading through some of my own posts on this thread I realized I could write a 'HOW NOT TO' book on several topics. That having been said, I finally completed my dash troubleshooting. Success at last!

In my last post I wrote about having discovered that the wiper and dimmer switches were bad on the replacement cluster I'd installed. As much as a pain in the *ss as it was to dismantle the dash over and over, it got easier over time. The final problem that I ran into was a return of dash light problems. The 3 bulbs that connected to the circuit board wouldn't light. It turned out to be light corrosion beneath the attaching screws. After removing the screws and cleaning the areas beneath the screws I finally had light. It may not have been necessary but I ran a pair of auxiliary ground wires to those spots for insurance.

During the daytime all of the gauges are more visible. The only gauge that is easy to read at night is the tach. The lights on the rest are awfully dim. I had cleaned all of the bulbs and the housing so that dirt shouldn't be blocking the light. I'll probably install some L.E.D. bulbs before my son picks up the car. I'm already running them in all of my other vehicles and really like the increased brightness. I guess I'll hit eBay tonight before I go to bed.

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Oops... Out of time. Congratulations, on the wiring fiaco. My68 El Camino:every guage , needed a separate ground, into a common 12 guage. Not right, kept it ready for race night.

 

[famous bob]

Oops... Out of time. Congratulations, on the wiring fiaco. My68 El Camino:every guage , needed a separate ground, into a common 12 guage. Not right, kept it ready for race night.

hey bomber, what`s the tilt wheel out of, or is it stock? kinda thinkin about trying to find one that`ll fit the fish. thanks, bob

 

[1967 'cuda]

I figured that it was time for another test drive in the Roadrunner. Everything seemed to have been working fine the other day in the garage except for the window top stops that I haven't gotten yet. When I fired it up the temperature gauge wasn't showing anything but I figured that was because the engine was cold. The gas gauge didn't move either. The other day it was showing 1/4 tank.
:banghead:

I continued on with the test drive and the car ran perfect. The needle on the temperature gauge gradually moved to the right as the motor warmed up. That was a relief but I'm still going to have to find out what's going on with that fuel gauge. I noticed that the needle on the amp gauge now seems to have a consistent bounce.

I jinxed myself when I reported that I had everything fixed. Either:

1)God hates me
2)Gremlins do exist
3)I'm an idiot

I could swear I heard hands going up as I typed option 3.

I was really looking forward to moving a different project into the shop. I should have totally dismantled that instrument cluster. My guess is that the posts on the back of the fuel gauge have enough corrosion on them to interfere with the signal from the tank. That cluster we had for the Charger was nasty. When we got it I'd cleaned up the surfaces but hadn't touched any of the electrical connections. Damn!

Enough already! Teresa, you can put your hand down now!!

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[1967 'cuda]

If there are such things as karma and reincarnation I must have been one evil s.o.b. in a previous life. I probably pulled the wings off of flies and kicked puppy dogs. Maybe I was the kind of child that gave wedgies and nuggies to those kids that wore the coke bottled eyeglasses. Maybe I toilet papered the neighborhood houses. There must be a logical explanation for why these problems refuse to go away.

The day started out OK. I had managed to track down the second '67 Barracuda front blinker that I'd promised hotrodvince. I'd even found a pair of decent '69 Charger hoods for a guy out of Lincoln, Nebraska.

I decided to drive the Roadrunner on the 30 mile round trip to pick up the window top stop that I needed. I hadn't gone more than 5 miles out of town with the car since I'd managed to get the fuel injection system re-assembled. I figured this would be a good opportunity to test the car again. As on the previous tests, it fired up and ran great. I drove to pick up the part with no issues. - The trip home didn't go so well.

It didn't die on me but it ran like crap. It kept feeling as if I was running out of gas. Whenever I tried to accelerate normally the car would not respond. I watched the ECU display and could see that I was maintaining 73 psi fuel pressure, the temperature was steady at 190', battery was showing 13.3 volts, etc... If I increased gas pedal pressure super slowly the car would increase speed and run fine at steady speeds. - But it didn't want to accelerate otherwise.

I don't understand how or why the behavior changed so dramatically. I guess I'll install the top stop in the window, button up the door panels and try troubleshooting the fuel/ignition system again. I'll have to look for any indication that something has physically changed first.

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[SNKEBIT]

I watched the ECU display and could see that I was maintaining 73 psi fuel pressure, the temperature was steady at 190', battery was showing 13.3 volts, etc...

Holy crap!!!!! 73 psi!?!?!?!?!?! That's not right..............rotest::wack::wack:

 

[ariffle]

I think the R.R. needs high pressure Meds!

 

[1967 'cuda]

I watched the ECU display and could see that I was maintaining 73 psi fuel pressure, the temperature was steady at 190', battery was showing 13.3 volts, etc...

Holy crap!!!!! 73 psi!?!?!?!?!?! That's not right..............rotest::wack::wack:

OOPS! That was a typo. I meant to say 43 psi. That's the optimal pressure that FAST says is necessary.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I think the R.R. needs high pressure Meds!

If it was starving for fuel it shouldn't be the pump or regulator. It could be that the injectors aren't injecting during acceleration.

 

[needsaresto]

Hmmm. How old are the injectors? Can you get them flushed to be sure they are clean?

 

[1967 'cuda]

The injectors are housed inside the throttle body assembly. There are 8 of them in there.

I've never had it apart. I would think that if the injectors had gotten plugged that it wouldn't have been able to maintain road speed. The problem seemed to present itself as a total lack of response to increasing throttle. The readout from the O2 sensors read around a 13.5 ratio. Maybe I've got a bad O2 sensor and it's screwing with the computer.




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[1967 'cuda]

My son had taken the Roadrunner into an exhaust shop to have the bung welded into the exhaust before we installed the fuel injection. They (FAST) recommend putting it in the 2 (or 10) o'clock positions. The shop had welded it in at a 4 (or 8 ) o'clock. It may have been low enough to have sustained damage from condensation and soot.

I have another new O2 sensor here. I had purchased it for the Barracuda but never installed it after putting the Purple Hornies on. I always figured I'd upgrade to a quieter exhaust and install it then. I guess if I can't get the Roadrunner to settle down I can swap sensors. If it does turn out to be at fault I'll have to weld another bung in at a higher angle.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well I got the window top stop installed and it works like it should. I buttoned up the door panels and started tearing into the dash again. I should be able to do the cluster dis-assembly and clean up all of the connections that I'd neglected before.

I checked the online tracking for those L.E.D. bulbs I'd ordered and it looks like they'll be here tomorrow. I hope that I'm right about the corrosion being the problem. I'm getting so accustomed to removing the cluster that I've figured out where everything is that has to be disconnected and am able to do it blind without crawling under the dash for anything other than the speedometer cable.

If I can finish the dash quick I'll turn my attention back to the fuel/ignition issues tomorrow.

 

[1967 'cuda]

OK. Dash came back apart with no problem. I removed the gauges from the cluster.

You can see how much corrosion was on the posts on the back of them.

The copper contact area on the circuit board was tarnished also.

I tried using a pencil eraser to remove the tarnish from the circuit board but it didn't want to come off so I ended up using some fine sandpaper instead. While I was at it I scuffed the contact surfaces for the light sockets.

I had used a wire wheel to clean the posts on the gauges. With the corrosion removed I re-assembled the cluster and I'm ready to re-install it now.

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[1967 'cuda]

Whoo Hoo! The mailman delivered the L.E.D.s today. I decided to wait to re-install the cluster last night. No sense fighting to get those bulbs installed after the gauges are back in the car.

Well the gauges illuminate red now. I went with the brightest L.E.D.s that I could find. They do dim with the dimmer switch. At their brightest setting they look OK but they sure aren't overly bright. I'm glad I didn't opt for bulbs with less lumens. I'm not thrilled with the amount of light on the speedometer. I can't get the camera to accurately portray what the gauges look like. The glare on the tachometer that shows in the picture is not actually there.

I wonder whether or not I should have removed these blue domed light diffusers from the housing before putting it back together. (I circled them in the picture) They're glued in place and I didn't want to screw stuff up so I left them alone. If I take the cluster back out again I'll try to remove them.

The gauges all work now so I must have been right about the corrosion being at fault.




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[SNKEBIT]

I wonder whether or not I should have removed these blue domed light diffusers from the housing before putting it back together.

Yup, you have to take them out. They dim it down too much.rayer:

 

[1967 'cuda]

I wonder whether or not I should have removed these blue domed light diffusers from the housing before putting it back together.

Yup, you have to take them out. They dim it down too much.rayer:

DAMN!! If you had told me that they don't make much of a difference I wouldn't be grabbing my tools now.:banghead: I guess after all of the effort put into this thing there's no sense in stopping short of the goal line.

SNKEBIt, if I find out that you intentionally held back this piece of advice until AFTER I put it back together I'll have to slip down to your shop and stick potatoes into your tail pipes.

 

[SNKEBIT]

DAMN!! If you had told me that they don't make much of a difference I wouldn't be grabbing my tools now.:banghead: I guess after all of the effort put into this thing there's no sense in stopping short of the goal line.

SNKEBIt, if I find out that you intentionally held back this piece of advice until AFTER I put it back together I'll have to slip down to your shop and stick potatoes into your tail pipes.

LOL They give a blue tint to the dim white bulbs. I would have took them out, just sayin.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Deja Vu. I could swear I've done this before.

I once read that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect to have a different outcome. No wonder Teresa keeps suggesting the padded wallpaper.

Anybody out there that might be following what's been going on probably has blood coming from their eyes by now. I pulled the dash back apart (AGAIN) after SNKEBIT suggested I should remove those blue domed bulb coverings. (notice that he didn't volunteer to come down and do it for me) I was able to salvage the covers in case we need them some day on another project.

In this photo you can see one of the L.E.D.s that protrudes through the circuit board.

One of my concerns has become the plastic faceplate that the instrument cluster is screwed to. I've tried to be as cautious as possible when tightening those screws. I'm afraid that even so, I'll likely have to add some epoxy to the holes if I disassemble again.

It's back together and in the car once again. As you can see, it's much brighter now. This dash is now easy to read. I discovered that if I took a picture from a bit farther back that the image didn't give the impression of as much glare.

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[1967 'cuda]

My son tends to prefer the 'old school' look for his cars but wants them to perform better than they were when original. Anything that is high tech draws his interest. Aside from the red tinted gauges he has a fancy JVC stereo that is a single din unit and allows you to display your own custom 'wallpaper' on the touchscreen display. When you combine the radio with the FAST display that's mounted in the ashtray and the red gauge display it looks pretty nice.

The FAST display folds up when the ashtray closes so it doesn't detract from the 'factory' look of the car. The JVC stereo is pretty much a blank black when it's not on. So the only thing that is noticeable to most people most of the time is the set of white faces on the gauges.


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[SNKEBIT]

AHA!!!!!!!!!! Thought I was nuts, didn't you???:glasses7:


Looks good now.

 

[1967 'cuda]

AHA!!!!!!!!!! Thought I was nuts, didn't you???:glasses7:

some things go without saying...