Another Mopar Off My Bucket List - Barracuda Fastback

[Cuda68Scott]

LOL, know exactly what you are saying on the 22 shells!! Every now and then I may be lucky enough to hit Walmart at the right time to purchase 3 boxes (150 shells) under their ration program. That is good for about 5 minutes with my Ruger 10/22! Somehow it just seems that that ammo manufacturers could have caught up with demand by now.

 

[1967 'cuda]

LOL, know exactly what you are saying on the 22 shells!! Every now and then I may be lucky enough to hit Walmart at the right time to purchase 3 boxes (150 shells) under their ration program. That is good for about 5 minutes with my Ruger 10/22! Somehow it just seems that that ammo manufacturers could have caught up with demand by now.

It's been over 2 years since I was able to find them at Wally World. I broke down the other day and bought 500 rounds online. - Of course, - they were a lot pricier. I hear the government is still buying up incredible amounts. I guess if they can't legislate guns out of our hands they can try to make it hard as hell to load them.

 

[Abodybomber]

It's been over 2 years since I was able to find them at Wally World. I broke down the other day and bought 500 rounds online. - Of course, - they were a lot pricier. I hear the government is still buying up incredible amounts. I guess if they can't legislate guns out of our hands they can try to make it hard as hell to load them.

Been happening at our Wal Mart,2 years running.... Might try asking the gun/sports sales clerk,when the stock order comes in. And be there when they ,stock the shelves. JMO....

 

[1967 'cuda]

I packaged up my old stock steel hood from the Barracuda. If everything goes right it should be on it's way to New York via Greyhound tomorrow. The hood is near perfect and I decided to sell it cheap just to help another member out. I suppose I better wait until I get paid though. They're a new member and I don't want to give the hood away and get stuck with shipping charges to boot.

Hood, inserts, emblem, and latches - $40 plus shipping. I hope he turns out to be legit.

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[1967 'cuda]

Been happening at our Wal Mart,2 years running.... Might try asking the gun/sports sales clerk,when the stock order comes in. And be there when they ,stock the shelves. JMO....

I've asked at the store we usually go to (25 miles away) and only been told that it's "whenever".

 

[Abodybomber]

I've asked at the store we usually go to (25 miles away) and only been told that it's "whenever".

Damn....

 

[1967 'cuda]

The hood is on it's way. I had gotten the estimate of shipping costs online and felt that I had everything ready so that all I had to do was drop it off at Greyhound in Lincoln, Nebraska. When I got to the address I didn't see any Greyhound buses and the sign simply read LINCOLN BUS DEPOT. I thought it seemed a bit odd but I knew I was at the correct address.

There were some ARROW STAGE LINE buses parked behind a fenced enclosure. A sign on the locked doors indicated that the person inside would be back in 10 minutes.

When we were let in I spoke with the gentleman at the counter. I gave him the dimensions (59" X 49") and he told me they couldn't ship it. Their limitations were 82" X 48". Even though we were well under the 82", we were 1" too wide.

I told him that the website had only asked for the longest of the dimensions but that I might have mis-measured. He went out to my truck with a tape measure to check. The box WAS too wide.

After explaining that the person waiting for the hood already had his car at a body shop and was in need to get it asap, he called a dispatcher on the phone. They did agree to accept the box but said that they would not allow me to EVER ship over-sized again and that they refused to put insurance on it. Any damage incurred would be our responsibility.

I knew that there was no way that the buyer was going to want to pay the $400-500 quoted by UPS so I agreed. He told me that if it had been going by Greyhound that Greyhound would have insured it but Greyhound no longer provides service in Nebraska (or Iowa).

The shipping came to $113 which was cheaper than the online quote. But now I'm really nervous about whether or not it will arrive safely. I guess it will have to be swapped between 4 different buses on it's route to New York.

 

[1967 'cuda]

While I was in Lincoln I picked up 12 gallons of that Evans waterless coolant. I'm still a firm believer in it even though the 12 gallons cost almost $600. I'm hoping it will be enough to switch over on 4 more cars. When I got back home I saw that FedEx had dropped me off a package from JEGS. My new battery box, chute cable, and chute flag had arrived.

I put the flag on immediately because it only took a few seconds to do. My biggest priority was getting switched to the Evans coolant. I backed the Duster out of the garage and started draining the rest of the water that was in the engine and radiator. After it stopped flowing I put an air hose into the radiator and let it blow until I no longer saw anything coming out.

I snapped a few new photos of the car after getting it outside. I really like the look of the gold headers in the car's profile.

After getting the new coolant in I ran to the weld shop to see about finishing the bracket for the chute bridle attachment.

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[1967 'cuda]

I finished fitting the bottom brackets for the bridle line and painted the parts.

The straight bar is made of cold rolled steel to resist bending. It extends through shackle holes that were in the frame rails and is pinned on either side.

The bracket is formed to angle down to clear the fuel pump, filter, and lines. - Then it kicks back up to clear the bumper. The two small plates bolt to the frame's rear cross member.

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[1967 'cuda]

I started working on the new battery box. It's larger than the last box and I'll be able to run a larger battery if I choose to. There's an adjustable divider inside of it to prevent the battery from sliding around.


There were several reasons why I wanted to change out the old one. First of all it didn't have a lid. Secondly, it wasn't mounted level. The aluminum flooring around it was not reinforced and distorted. It didn't have a drain hole in the bottom and would fill with water when the car was washed. It was really difficult to remove the small battery from the box because it fit pretty tight inside. Plus I just thought that it looked crappy. The new one isn't a work of art, but it's an improvement.

I had to enlarge the hole in the floor to accept the larger box. I used 1&1/2" aluminum angle to reinforce the floor. I may have to buy new battery cables so that I can route them nicer.

I think it should look fairly decent after I get the new fuel cell in and clean the trunk. I may make an aluminum panel to cover the tail light assemblies. I haven't decided whether or not I want to repaint the floor black or if I want to strip the paint off and tint it like the engine compartment.

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[1967 'cuda]

As the trunk is coming together I am now on hold as I wait for the new fuel cell. I haven't installed the rest of the parachute mounts because I am planning on cleaning up some of the undercarriage first.

I have no plans to completely disassemble this car. I may be taking certain sections apart for improvements as I'm working on it. The dimensions of the new cell will be different than the old one so I know that I'll have to do some cutting and fabrication. But before it shows up I will spend some time trying to 'beautify' what's already there.

The back of the car has rubber plastered everywhere from the slicks. This will be a quickie job so I've been using steel wool to knock off any dirt, rubber, and loose paint. Many of the extra brackets beneath the Duster were old exhaust hangers. It would look better if I cut them all off but there's always a chance that I may hang exhaust some day in the future. Without a lift I'm laying on my back underneath with all the crap falling in my face. It'll look better when I'm done but will be far from show quality.

I picked up a gallon of gloss black to cover the bottom side of the floors and I think I'll use some of the orange paint left over from when I painted the cage.

 

[1967 'cuda]

After scrubbing the underside of the car I used the cutting wheel on a 3" air grinder to remove some (not all) of the crusty frame remnants. This is the start of the change in appearance. I will spend some time on the fuel filter. I'll probably paint it gold. I'm still planning on orange frame rails. The fuel lines are pretty crude. I'm thinking of replacing the fittings with A N fittings and new braided line.

I like the contrast that the red battery box gives the undercarriage. The polished aluminum cell should help out more.

I decided to brush the paint on so that I can avoid over spray. Doing it overhead means that I've got tons of paint running down my hands and dripping in my face.


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[1967 'cuda]

The old fuel cell is out.

Using the electric fuel pump I transferred the gas into a plastic gas can. I thought it would be a lot simpler than what it was. After unbolting the mounting straps I had expected it to drop out. - No such luck. I don't know how they ever managed to install the old tank. It was wedged so tight in the opening that it wouldn't budge. I put an aluminum floor jack between the top of it and the car's sheet metal structure behind the back window to push it down. As I applied pressure I beat the back edge of the cell down with some wood 2X4's. It took almost an hour to get it out.

The new cell is not the same dimension as the old one so I had to cut the length of the opening an inch and a half longer.

I'm trying hard not to scratch up the new tank. I put the floor jack underneath the car and used Styrofoam blocks beneath the cell.

My opening is intentionally large. I'm planning on closing the gap between the floor and the tank with aluminum angle. I'll polish the angle before I'm finished.

So far things were going OK until I noticed that the sides of the tank are each slightly bowed inward. It might not be a big deal but with the aluminum angle against the tank you'd see a gap where it bows in.

I decided I could fix this by gutting the tank and welding the angle directly to it. If I pull the foam out and take off the cap assembly I should be able to access the inside well enough to force the sides out. I shouldn't need the mounting tabs that are already welded on so I'll cut them off. When I'm done I should be able to drop the tank in from the top and the welded on angle framework will be mounted to the floor.

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[1967 'cuda]

Crappy day in the garage. After getting everything set up to weld the aluminum angles together my welder took a crap on me. I fought it for a long time before I gave up. Instead I focused on polishing the pieces I have and I'm hoping the local weld shop will weld it up for me on Saturday.

I took off the filler lid assembly and removed the fuel sending unit and foam.

It's a good thing I disassembled it. There were remnants of buffing wheel inside of it from the manufacturer. I'm sure there was enough crap in there to either plug my filter or ruin my pump.

I needed to devise a way to get the sides of the tank to expand out so I could remove the bow in them. The cell was sturdy enough that hand pressure wasn't enough. I cut some wood 2X4's and placed them on either side (inside the tank) and then cut a piece of pipe to wedge between them. It probably won't make the sides perfect but it'll remove some of the bowing.

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[1967 'cuda]

I just heard back from hotrodvince. He's the guy in New York that bought my old Barracuda hood. The hood arrived safe and sound but the box had one of the corners torn open and it may be missing the latch assembly that was inside. He said that he was going to recheck the box to see if it was still in there. Luckily he does have one already so it won't be a disaster if it's missing.

He told me that after he left the depot with the hood loaded in the back of his truck he was rear ended by some woman in a car. The hood escaped injury but his pickup bumper did not. After looking at the damage he told the woman that he needed to grab his insurance information out of his truck. Before he could return with it she took off. He didn't get her plate number.

He sounded very happy with the condition of the hood but the accident managed to put a crimp in his day.

I'm looking forward to seeing how his car looks after paint. He's going with a candy red with pearl white stripes. I'm glad my hood found a good home.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Nice!!!:burnout::coffee2:

 

[1967 'cuda]

After staying up all of last night I finally was able to get the tank mounts done. Despite my attempt to get rid of the inward bowing of the sides it still exists. It is much less than what it was, but it's still there. I'll probably run some black silicone on those seams.

I decided to flip the aluminum angles upside down around the battery box. It will help to prevent chaffing that way.

When we attempted to weld the angles to the tank we discovered that I had miscalculated the length of the pieces. They were too long. After a quick (as quick as you can be with a hack saw) re-cut I ended up too short. I guess I should have gotten more sleep.

We went ahead and welded them on to the tank but the gaps were too large to fill. It was getting close to noon and I thought it best to get some rest and figure out how to finish off the corners later.

When I got up I fit the parts in the trunk to make sure they'd work. The corners of the cell mounts still looked bad. Then it occurred to me that I'd bought some door edge guards at a closeout sale for 50 cents. By cutting one of them up I was able to but 2 pieces in each corner. The chrome finish blends well with the polished aluminum.

Overall I think it's coming along pretty good.

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[1967 'cuda]

I haven't decided yet if I want to re-paint the inside of the trunk. I'd considered stripping all the paint off but that would be a lot of work. It'd be puurrdy to have the entire inside polished but I'm sick of buffing aluminum. - And I'd have to use hand held wheels to do it unless I dismantled the floors. I could strip the paint and leave it with a raw aluminum finish or maybe apply some of that copper tint afterwards. Most likely I'll do the re-paint.

It may seem like a lot of work for very little gain but I did need to get a lid on the battery box, I did have a chance to re-route the tail light and battery cable wiring, I now have a provision for a fuel gauge, and the overall look is cleaner.

Re-painting the floor black seems boring for a race car that I want to have a more detailed appearance. Maybe if I do re-paint it - I'll go gold.


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[1967 'cuda]

RODENT UPDATE!!
THE FOLLOWING MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE VIEWING FOR THOSE THAT ARE SQUEAMISH OR UNDER 10 YEARS OF AGE


It's been relatively quiet in the shop lately. I'm not certain but the mobile rocket launcher suggestion by Cuda68Scott may have made Gophzilla think twice about where to set up camp.

One odd thing that I have been noticing lately though is that there's a huge increase in the squirrel population around here. A couple of blocks West of our house I saw over 20 squirrels in one yard alone. There must be over a hundred of them within a 3 block radius. - Believe me, - I'm not exaggerating.

The way I figure it squirrels and moles are both rodents, so they're sort of like cousins. I think they may be joining forces.

I watched the news to see if there was anything on there about this. It was hard to find anyone reporting on it. I figure they don't want to start a panic.
(I came across this on the internet so it must be true!)

OMG!!! What's next???

I really need to get more sleep.


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[Cuda68Scott]

I think we should rename squirrels "tree rats" so we can expose the truth about these furry vermin that have been given way too many free rides in our culture! I think this population explosion you are seeing may be directly related to our .22 ammo shortage....

Speaking of tree rats, we actually have real tree rats here in Phoenix. They are called roof rats and they infest our citrus trees, they particularly like oranges and grapefruits. They are BFRs with long tails. They started out in one part of the Valley several years ago and now are common throughout. They are not native to the US. I trap several per year in my grapefruit tree.

 

[1967 'cuda]

we actually have real tree rats here in Phoenix. They are called roof rats and they infest our citrus trees, they particularly like oranges and grapefruits. They are BFRs with long tails. They started out in one part of the Valley several years ago and now are common throughout. They are not native to the US. I trap several per year in my grapefruit tree.

Man, you're really creepin' me out! I can about imagine how Teresa will react when I tell her what you guys have lurking in your trees in Arizona. I guess that's a state she'll never set foot in when she finds out. She's been squeamish about the garage after the gopher showed up.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Before I decided to call it quits for the day I thought I'd play around with the gold trunk idea.

It's much brighter and won't show all of the dust that collects. I will still want to re-paint the insides of the quarters black again. Once everything is mounted secure I think I can live with it. I am thinking about drilling out all of the old pop rivets and replacing them with large head ones.


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[Cuda68Scott]

Looking great John! You work fast.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Looking great John! You work fast.

He's cheating!!!! He has an army of trained gophers doing all the work. He just stands in the corner like Gen. Patton barking orders!

The gopher poison is just a ruse to throw us of the trail...............

 

[Cuda68Scott]

He's cheating!!!! He has an army of trained gophers doing all the work. He just stands in the corner like Gen. Patton barking orders!

That would explain some things LOL