Left for Dead 68 Barracuda Buildup

[ssba]

We have a kind of side rant here today as the blasting progress is moving along at a snails pace. The reason for this crawl is due largely to the blasting set up I am attempting to use.
If any of you have considered getting one of these 100.00 pressure pot units I can't give them a good review. This is the human torture device I speak of. Run away, runaway far from these.

 

[ssba]

I am not generally one to purchase offshore tools often. This one came to me
slightly used by a guy that owed me. I figured OK better than nothing which Is what
I had planed on getting from him anyway.
Within the first few minutes of use you begin to see some of the shortcomings of this
contraption. The fill port to the pot is about the size of a half dollar.
To remedy this I cut the top off the tank and welded a cut down 4" pipe nipple to the tank.
Got a cap and welded a bar across it to get a grip on it without tools. I then modified a steel funnel with some PVC fittings to adapt it onto the new threads. Put a screen inside funnel to
keep the larger junk out of the pot so it won't plug it up. I now can fill the thing easily enough.
The next problem that is noticed is when you have the pot full of grit the wheels and legs cannot
support the weight. Especially when you have to give it a good shake now and again to keep
the grit flowing through it. So I rebuilt this and it is now good and stable.

 

[ssba]

The hood or face shield that comes with this is not any better than the rest of it. So I got something better at an attempt to
make this not so unpleasant.
The new hood does help tremendously but the blaster itself is still full of problems that I haven't completely solved yet.
This thing uses brass ball valves throughout. The abrasive will cut the side out of a ball valve in less than 15 minutes.
I have replaced the ones it chews up regular with stainless steel ball valves. It has helped some.
The deadman valve didn't hold up and I changed it to just fittings and have to change them often. I am still working on a good solution for replaceing the deadman valve.

 

[Joe Mc]

Pretty awesome build. For sure will keep an eye on this one.

 

[ssba]

Thank you for the kind words. Giving it my best shot here. The cleaning it up part has
been challenging lately. Here's how it looks today.
Not much has changed really as I have been trying to get the blaster to cooperate.
I don't think these were meant to be used for such a large job. I am kind of forcing
It to do the work as that is what I have. Struggle along with it till its clean type deal.

 

[dwire67]

Real nice!! Glad to see some pictures of it! You could race it pretty easy without getting away from what you want to build. If you keep it over 9.99 you don't have to get crazy with roll cages , engine diapers and laundry list of SFI parts.

As you know I am big Fan of old Modified Production Cars!

 

[ssba]

Thanks for adding the great photos of Kens barracuda dwire67. I have very few and none had shown the engine
as well as the ones you put up. They will be a big help along the way.
I especially liked the many small details shown that can be hard to come up with as it goes together.
Fuel lines, hose clamps, distributor clamp, polished
radiator top, rev limiter & tach cables to name a few. Most I
remembered well.
I have been mostly working off of memory from when I was
about 10 on the engine compartment. I didn't recall the elephant ears from memory. I was sure engine was still on
factory mounts when I saw it run. It was along time ago though.
I am not trying to get as much out of this engine as they had
to back then to stay competitive. I do wish for it to stay in one piece once done with a preventive tear down once in awhile to make sure all is well.
I will have to do some checking on how far the car will be
from legal to run at that 9.99 speed. I know the old parts such as the scatter shield and flywheel had sfi ratings when they were new. I am not afraid of them failing myself but the powers in charge of the tracks may be.
Anyway feel free to post as many photos like that that you want. It will help keep things going here as I am cleaning this
old barracuda up.

 

[dwire67]

I thought I had your email, from when I sent you the Shifter plate and Hurst Instructions I can't find it. PM your email to me and I will send you the pictures of Ken's car so you look at them closer.

 

[ssba]

PM sent Jason, Thanks again for the pictures.

 

[joeboy]

Great work. Really enjoying the mods and theme.

Joe

 

[WRB426]

I love this build. Can't wait til you get to drive it.
The second picture of Ken's Cuda is at Englishtown. I remember seeing it running down the strip there. Very cool cars!

 

[mosleyme]

Sox and Martin... I'm sure you can find pictures of this elsewhere. I took these pictures in Ohio in 2011.

 

[moparker]

I bought one of those blasters a month ago at a sale brand nea in the box for 45.00. Now I wish I had passed on it. China junk!

 

[ssba]

It will test your sanity. LOL.
Slow progress is better than no progress.
Happy with how clean the car is getting. Another week
at this pace and I should have the front half of the car
completely blasted.
Our local mom and pop auto parts store sells the Omni
line of paint and primers. They described it to me as a lower cost PPG paint line that he sells to local body shops that don't have a in house mixing set up.
He is suggesting I use MP 170 epoxy and MP 182 polyester fill primers to cover the blasted metal.
He had also mentioned a window of time you have to get the fill primer shot to insure its adhere to the first epoxy coat.
This statement gives me visions of the cars you see where the paint has come off in large sections leaving a primer only hood.
I don't particularly care for the fact of having to get two different primers.
I am considering skipping the polyester fill primer for chassis and under hood but am afraid to stray from recommendations.
I really want the protection of the epoxy primer on the bare metal. But honestly from the epoxy up I would prefer the car to be done in lacquer.
Not sure this is possible yet, but plan on checking into it.
I think the lacquer paint will do alot to keep the look of 1973.
Urethane clears would seem out of place to me on this car.
At this point I am really only trying to get some primer on it
while it is in its cleanest state to protect it. Today's photo.

 

[48james]

I love these stories and builds! With all the work put in it'll be fun to drive

 

[skypower]

Ok I know your moving along with this project so lets get a little update here with some new pics. We are waiting on the edge of our seats!!!

 

[ssba]

Yeah I've been slacking on giving you guys some updates. I will have to get
organized and post up some pictures for you all.
For a progress report I'll start by saying my sandblasting efforts were for the most
part a bust and I will be farming the work out when the mock up is thru. Trying to save a few
bucks and doing it myself would have required better equipment than I was working with.
I got impatient with the process and started fitting parts together. So you get to see it go together in its uncleaned state. I have to hand it to the guys on the site that keep their builds so sanitary as they progress.
I began by bolting the mocked up engine and trans on a homebuilt K-frame I built several years ago on a quickly fabbed cart.
This was the first time I have lowered a body over an engine to install.
It went very easy and slipped right in between the rails.

 

[66340SEDAN]

Sweet!!!

 

[skypower]

I likey likey that thing is going to be a monster. Very nice setup.

 

[ssba]

Next to go in is the front suspension. Here's where the clearance and parts fit issues started
to show up. Being this is a low budget build using all second hand parts the headers I have
to work with were a ugly 100. eBay find. They have plenty of dents and weld repairs from
whatever they were in before I got them. When I went to slide the torsion bars thru the headers no fit.
They required a small dent on both the left and right header. I'll put some pictures up of the many tight spots encountered as I move forward.
I am blaming the headers for most all the interference.
First picture shows how the steering coupler is on the header tube. This only allowed a quarter turn on the steering wheel. This particular K-frame still has the steering box mounted in its original position. The box can be moved over to the left 1/2" before it hits the lower control arm
on the bottom side.
If you remember me moving the steering box mount on the K-frame earlier that is on a second frame I am building to solve this coupler contact.View attachment IMG_20150630_231100_889.jpg
Next picture shows where the torsion bar needed a dent.

 

[skypower]

I went with the smaller flaming river box I know its money but it will give you the clearances you need plus it will make driving a lot better and safer.

 

[ssba]

Torsion bar installed. Both sides needed 1/4" to slip into the lower control arm socket.
The crazy part was they both needed to be moved outboard so the engine was
centered correctly. A couple light dings here and all was good.

 

[BIG-B-Barracuda]

Very nice. !

 

[skypower]

What T bars are you using.

 

[66340SEDAN]

This car is gonna kick ***!!! Love the old skool parts rayer: