Stroker's 68 Barracuda

[stroker416]

After 11 years of not having a Mopar and a short run on the dark side (imports), I bought another 68 Barracuda. At first I thought it was my old car. Back in 2012 I sold one in about the same shape I bought this one in.

Originally a 318 car. I don't think the 2 previous owners knew too much about Mopars. It's got the original small block k-frame in it, but it came with a loose 225 and 904. Has a narrowed 8 3/4 with disc brakes out back.

For now Im keeping it simple. Swapping k-frames to run the 6 for now while I find and build an LA for it. Going to be a driver so I'm not even prettying it up. Just going to make the steering and suspension safe and roll with it. Ill dump money into the interior to make it livable and that's about it.

More pics to follow after this weekend.

 

[abdywgn]

Congratulations!

 

[stroker416]

Congratulations!

Thanks!

 

[Plymouth 65]

Nice looking 68 you have there! 65'

 

[4spdragtop]

Congrats! Notchback too!

 

[stroker416]

Congrats! Notchback too!

Thanks. I like a notch a little better

 

[stroker416]

Took apart the right front side of the suspension apart. The primer/undercoat/primer theme from some previous owner continued there, as well as in the engine compartment.

Tossed the LCA into the parts washer after removing the pin, bushing, and shell. Surprisingly enough most of the undercoat just scrapped off after that.

Next it's off for an electrolisis bath at 2 amps for 24 hours. That should take care of the rust.

I'm trying to work as much as possible with what I have from the car. So my main fight right now is whether to keep the original 318 torsion bars or get some upgraded aftermarker ones. This is mostly going to see street use. I've built a few road race/time trials cars and chassis' in the past and I dont want that to happen to this car. I see some drag strip trips in the future though.

I laid on some aircraft stripper and plastic to soften up most of that primer/undercoat/primer concoction in the engine compartment. It worked ok and I managed to scrape off a lot of the crap.

Still going to hit it with the random orbital. Just going to polyester it, seal it, and do Eastwood's underhood black.

Pulled the 6 k-frame out of electrolisis, primed it, and just hit it with satin VHT chassis paint. Came out good. No pics yet.

Also gutted the steering column. Stripped that. Ill post up some pics. The big end bushing area was pretty mangled. Im going to band saw about 1.5" from the end, tig in and polish a few small holes, and install one of those ball bearings in the end.

That's it for now.

 

[stroker416]

I decided I'm not trying to keep up with appearances on this build. It's obvious that at some point in time this car had some surgery done on the front. Both inner fenders were definitely replaced, the welds are not pretty, but neither is the rest of the car. There's also been work done forward of the k-frame to the frame rails. The last 5 inches or so, where the bumper brackets bolt, has also been replaced. Im assuming at this point that maybe the rad support has also been replaced.

I took measurements according to the 68 service manual and the chassis is per Chrysler dimensions. Thank god. I was not looking forward to designing and building a tube frame front end for this rig.

All that being said, in the spirit of the overall look of this car, I cleaned all that undercoating **** and bad primer out of the engine compartment. I decided to leave a little of the shmutz behind and primered and painted over what was left there.

That's just Eastwood underhood black. Today before work I hung the k-frame, the new PST 20:1 box and the steering linkage.

 

[stroker416]

Did a little bit of work on the steering column. Used a bearing from Bergman in place of the OE style bushing. This column was a little rough when I pulled it, and you aren't imagining things, I had to take a little bit off the bottom of the housing. It was rusty beyond repair. It also doesn't make a difference to the column and shaft doing their job.

I don't really have anything exciting to say about that. I took it apart, cleaned everything, and put it back together. Still have to rebuild the coupler.

The front upper control arms are on, with energy suspension poly bushings. The lowers are on too, with Mancini poly bushings and shafts and firm feel strut rods. It had been a while, but it's far from the first time I installed Mopar LCAs. Even with the poly bushings the nuts tightened right up with no extra effort. A little shot of lube on the threads goes a long way. I'm not going to open up a can of worms about the strut rod debate, just know not to overthink it and it will work fine.

How about that patch on the frame rail in front of the control arm. Cant wait to pop that off and see whats inside.

I ordered the Wilwood stage 2 brake deal from Doctor Diff over the weekend. Once that shows up I'll do some install stuff.

 

[stroker416]

Im still looking for a driver side tail light lens that's fitting for this build. So while that adventure continues so does the rest of the build. It's crazy how tough some of the parts are to find compared to 15 years ago. That's the joy of motoring in a 55 year old car.

One of the big question marks on this project since the day i picked it up, to me at least, has been the narrowed purple 8 3/4 out back of this thing.

I'm not arrogant, usually, but Im always questionable of other people's work. Especially since a lot of the work done on this car has been funky. Ive had to strip most of the paint and metal work down to redo and Ill get to the floor in another post.

To my surprise the unit was smooth turning and true. It's narrowed 5.5", has a right stuff detailing rear disc swap, green bearings (with stop clips), and dutchman 30 spline shafts. It's not going to be a drag car. More or less mullets and burn outs.

Downside is the 489 chunk is a 2.73 open. Already gutted that and ordered 3.55s and a Powr-Lok from Doctor Diff.

And the purple. Should I rock the purple housing or paint it chassis black?

 

[abdywgn]

One vote for purple.

 

[clementine]

Not a fan of purple, but likin the build!

 

[stroker416]

Not a fan of purple, but likin the build!

Thanks. Looks like 1 and 1.

 

[clementine]

Thanks. Looks like 1 and 1.

At least its a DEEP PURPLE!!

 

[stroker416]

At least its a DEEP PURPLE!!

View attachment 1716104813

Space truckin'

 

[stroker416]

I've got the 489 case in a fixture on the workbench. Waiting to finish off backlash and the pattern. The adjusters I have are little wonky, so about 20 minutes ago I ordered a new set from Mark Williams. It completely escapes me as to why I have no pics of the build process of the chunk. I stuffed it with a Sure Trac II, 3.55 gears, and a crush sleeve eliminator all from Doctor Diff. I'll post up some pics on that next time.

Last week I was starring at the car and itbwas just sitting too high. I dropped the front hanger to the lowest position, it's got and inboard kit on it, and the wheel lip was still 31" from the ground. Now, at this point there is absolutely no weight in the car. No engine, no trans, no interior. It's all sheet metal and mouse ****. But the no name springs that were on there were just super stiff. I imagine they are some sort of super stock springs, but maybe just for a heavier car.

Out they came and in went a set of mopar 2800 lb car Super Stock springs. Still a high rider out back, but again, no weight at all in car.

I know Im gonna have to cut off the spring perches and reset pinion angle, no big deal. What are you all running for shocks out back with super stock springs?

Lot's of mouse **** when I pulled down the headliner. Must've been a field car in a former life.

That's the after shot and that tire is a 275/60R15, 27.99" x 10.5"


When I get this down to the garage Im gonna CAD up a guage cluster and have the guys at Laser Bros cut it out for me.

Also finally got my left tail light lens and headlight bezels at Carlisle. KS Auto Supply had everything I needed.

 

[stroker416]

Have not been as busy as I'd like to be on the car, but its moving along. After a few test pieces and some measuring I did a CAD model of the the way I want to set up the gauges.

SendCutSend is cutting the insert out of .125" thick 5052 alley and I'll be 3d Printing the gauge pod out of nylon with carbon embedded in it.

Thats a really low resolution pic from the Fusion 360 app on my phone. It's going to attach to the dash frame in most of the stock location using brackets I've yet to draw up.

I'm also glad I took the 225 apart. It was far from being a good engine. I'm currently in the process of rebuilding it.

I know slants never came in that color. So be it.

Ive got the driver's side tub welded in and I'm making up the filler piece where I had to cut some metal from the top of the rear rail. Still trying to figure out what whoever started this mini tub was thinking.

It was bad enough that I had to make a new flange on the outer wheel house rear part just to weld the new tub to.

I dont have a pic, but Im also sketching up a DXF file for a patch panel in the sail panel area. Either water or mouse piss completelt corroded away the area the chroms upper window trim attaches to and it ate away and the inside lower flange on the c pillar area. I'll shoot a finished product on that when its laser cut.

Over and out for now.

 

[DionR]

Have not been as busy as I'd like to be on the car, but its moving along. After a few test pieces and some measuring I did a CAD model of the the way I want to set up the gauges.

SendCutSend is cutting the insert out of .125" thick 5052 alley and I'll be 3d Printing the gauge pod out of nylon with carbon embedded in it.

View attachment 1716214002

Thats a really low resolution pic from the Fusion 360 app on my phone. It's going to attach to the dash frame in most of the stock location using brackets I've yet to draw up.

I'm also glad I took the 225 apart. It was far from being a good engine. I'm currently in the process of rebuilding it.

View attachment 1716214007

I know slants never came in that color. So be it.

Ive got the driver's side tub welded in and I'm making up the filler piece where I had to cut some metal from the top of the rear rail. Still trying to figure out what whoever started this mini tub was thinking.

View attachment 1716214010

View attachment 1716214011

It was bad enough that I had to make a new flange on the outer wheel house rear part just to weld the new tub to.

I dont have a pic, but Im also sketching up a DXF file for a patch panel in the sail panel area. Either water or mouse piss completelt corroded away the area the chroms upper window trim attaches to and it ate away and the inside lower flange on the c pillar area. I'll shoot a finished product on that when its laser cut.

Over and out for now.

I’ve got several projects I’ve done with SendCutSend, and another in the works. Really pleased with them so far. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Now I have to go back and read the rest of the thread.

 

[stroker416]

Ha. Its a short thread.

I've also used Laser Bros on occasion.

Also in the process of making a 3 relay solid board to control 3 fuel pumps on my cousins road race car. Using SendCutSend to burn the copper bus bars. Ive always had good results and service with them.

 

[DionR]

Ha. Its a short thread.

I've also used Laser Bros on occasion.

Also in the process of making a 3 relay solid board to control 3 fuel pumps on my cousins road race car. Using SendCutSend to burn the copper bus bars. Ive always had good results and service with them.

View attachment 1716214060

Very cool! Where did you get the plug for the harness? I assume you fill it with epoxy after you have it all setup? 3D printing the base yourself?

I've got a 3D printer and used it for some prototyping before sending stuff off to be cut and done some stuff for a friend. But I haven't done a bunch with it. Funny thing is though, I am just now sitting down to print some stuff for my fabricated spindle idea.

 

[stroker416]

Very cool! Where did you get the plug for the harness? I assume you fill it with epoxy after you have it all setup? 3D printing the base yourself?

Thats a dt-15 variation from TE Connectivity. Ill be getting that from Mouser. The relays are Panasonic 70amp PCB mount automotive relays. Im gonna be using potting compound to fill it all in, and that's also going to be a nylon/carbon 3D print.

My cousin runs the 3D printers and i do all the design and testing. I think he has an Ender something or other for small quick prints and some big one that does up to 3' x 3' x 3' prints.

I'll have to post up some pics. Ive got a horn button adapter and a firewall plate made so my wires are all in a nice round hdp connector.

3D printers really open up what you can do. I've designed road race uprights on them and did a really cool transmission adapter to mate a Coyote to a Subaru transaxle.

 

[DionR]

Thats a dt-15 variation from TE Connectivity. Ill be getting that from Mouser. The relays are Panasonic 70amp PCB mount automotive relays. Im gonna be using potting compound to fill it all in, and that's also going to be a nylon/carbon 3D print.

My cousin runs the 3D printers and i do all the design and testing. I think he has an Ender something or other for small quick prints and some big one that does up to 3' x 3' x 3' prints.

I'll have to post up some pics. Ive got a horn button adapter and a firewall plate made so my wires are all in a nice round hdp connector.

3D printers really open up what you can do. I've designed road race uprights on them and did a really cool transmission adapter to mate a Coyote to a Subaru transaxle.

Cool! I agree, the 3D printer opens up some really neat options. Love to see some pictures.

I have an Ender 3-S1. Ironically one of my plates is just that much too big for it.

More info on the road race uprights? Sounds similar to what I am doing right now.

I've prototype a latch for a bucket seat to convert it to a 2 door seat (Mopar put buckets in 4 doors but locked the seat back). And I did up conversion mounts to bolt late model Mopar 4 piston Brembo's to disk brake spindles. Plus messed around with some custom emblems for my Duster. Still pretty green and a long ways from adapting a Coyote to a Subaru transaxle. Impressive!

 

[stroker416]

More info on the road race uprights? Sounds similar to what I am doing right now.

I was building a mid engine tube chassis for a 240sx road race car. I used a software package from Performance Trends to design the front and rear suspension in a double wishbone style as opposed to Macpherson strut. I did a very basic design of a modular type upright that used 370z wheel bearings and had a removable upper ball joint pickup point that could be swapped to change SAI. The tie rod end points were also swappable. The whole chassis was then desinged in Bendtech SE and Fusion 360.

The anodize came out terrible on the uprights.

Heres the trans adapter:

 

[stroker416]

Heres a few more:

 

[DionR]

Dude! I am speechless, work of art and stuff I can only aspire to. Very impressive.

All I am doing is a flat plate duplicate of the F-Body spindle with a 2015+ rear wheel bearing hub. Nothing like the upright you have there. I should send you mu AutoCAD layout so you can steering me away from failure ( ).

I absolutely love this stuff. If I could make a living at designing and building this kind of stuff, it would be my dream job.

Now I am even more excited to see what you do with your Barracuda. Keep it up!

One more question. Where did you come up with Fusion360 files for a Coyote? Is there a G3 Hemi one? At least it looks like Fusion360, maybe it is SolidWorks or something. I lofted my flat plates just a bit ago in Fusion so it looks similar to me.

Sorry, I keep scrolling back up and looking at the pictures again. Need to walk away...