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Hi! For the longest time i've wanted an old muscle car to do hot rod poo poo with and cruise around in on nice days. Of course i fall in love with one of the harder ones to find, the 67-69 fastback barracuda. After looking for a solid 6 months, all i could find were either way too expensive or way too broken. I wanted a nice middle ground, a project but too far gone. A mostly driveable project with minimal rust and bodywork issues was the idea.. Then i found this:  [/url[url]https://sullivanauctioneers.proxibid.com/asp/LotDetail.asp?lid=72056602#topoflot Arent the pictures pretty? Can't you just feel how much i was convincing myself it would be fine to go over budget and that it isn't hiding more rust or other bad things? Look at the video! It slowly went forward, backward and stopped! It's clearly mint. Anyway, i bought it. Took me 4 weeks to find a shipper that would pick it up, it was in the middle of nowhere. I finally find a shipper for twice what I had planned, but they said it'd be here in 4 days. I live in california, the auction was in illinois. I had my doubts, but i also had no real other choice. 3 weeks later i get this:  It's been there for about a week while they 'wait for a part for the truck'. about a week later, back on the road!  Please note the planks of wood used to extend the reach of the trailer. I also enjoy the fact it's an ancient muscle car sharing trailer space with a pair of future space age EV vans that will likely be used to deliver me crap for the barracuda. Anyway, two days later, it's here! Still at the top of the trailer, bone dry carb, dead battery and a flat tire. The driver lets me know all that an hour before he gets here. We manage to inflate the tire and coast it off the trailer, and with that, I finally have it!  Ok, reality is setting in now. Ill follow up with more pictures but the rust is an issue. But i think maybe not too bad, and for sure im ignoring it for now and maybe forever. So yeah, the floorboards are holes but its been patched with what look like screw in panels of some kind. Passenger rear quarter and rockers are pretty crusty and certainly have bondo. I think the worst rust is parts of the frame have impact damage and obvious rust. But no big holes, i guess that's good. It's also been wrecked, you can see the weld mark where it was fixed..  Driver side is better, but not great. Front end.. is this bad?  I know you can replace that whole mounting bit, but i did the right thing and bolted new poo poo right back onto it. Welding isn't a thing i'm gonna be doing right now.. The interior is pretty nice and doesn't need much.. working gauges would be great though.  Anyway, now that i have it, i've discovered a few things. It hasn't been registered since 2008, and it shows. Initial obvious problems are dead battery, garbage tires and a seized front drum. I live at the top of a big hill, and i'm not brave enough to risk driving it. I also don't know how much gas it has. The radio is broken. And someone put 1967 tail lights on it  So, i back it into my driveway and that's where it stays.. On the plus side, it's got a 8 3/4 rear end someone swapped, plus a holley 600 carb on a performer intake. The interior is very complete, really just needs a cleaning and some work on the door panels. Almost all the lights and signals work! Initial plan was to get it able to drive around safely. End goal is to be able to reliably drive it in highway traffic to work, to the beach, and maybe do a sick burnout or two. I also want to camp in the back with the seat folded down.. The engine ran, oil looked ok, idled ok.. seems fine. Needs belts and hoses, but ok. I think. Note: i never ran it up to temp. This becomes important later. So since the engine is clearly fine, i focus on wheels, tires and brakes. More to come.. hedgegnome fucked around with this message at 06:11 on Mar 20, 2023 |
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Mar 20, 2023 05:47
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hell yes, ground floor it sounds like you may have gotten in a little over your head, but not to an unmanageable degree. scary, but a good way to learn! i really like these cars, more than the popular later ones even, so im looking forward to taking the journey vicariously through your posting those frame rails though 
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Mar 20, 2023 07:59
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Cool! At least the interior seems to be in good shape and you seem to have most of the trim etc (as that can become expensive as hell quickly). About the rust, I'd probably only poke around at the structual parts for safety and chill about the rest. Maybe use some rust converter and/or fluid film to arrest any more rusting. Otherwise you might end up like me with my A-body where I told myself I'd do the bare minimum to get it running and it's now very much in pieces and I keep finding more rust and bad repairs. Those frame rails look pretty bad though  .
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Mar 20, 2023 09:25
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yeah that rust is where the a-arms mount. the rest of the rail seems mostly ok, better than that at least. they sell a whole unit that replaces all of that, but it's more than i'm capable of doing or even willing to attempt. assuming i get it to a point where i can be driving it around, it will be driven with care to be sure. maybe i'll look into seeing what it'll cost to have it done, but likely i'll eventually just sell it and find the rust free, desert patina car of my dreams. and yeah i plan on doing whatever i can to minimize the rest of the rust in other spots. likely wont be more than just painting it with anti-rust whatever though. two of my neighbors have welders and build hot rods though. i might hit em up and see how much beer itll take to fix that 
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Mar 21, 2023 06:17
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seems like the upper control arms not ripping out and sending a tire through your bodywork would be a high priority, but that's just me lol definitely see if your friends wanna hang out, eat your pizza and drink your beer while working on cool old junk. maybe that has lost its novelty for them, though, if they build cars professionally
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Mar 22, 2023 05:21
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So ok, i need tires. I dont want the stock size, which is weird and expensive. Which means i need wheels. The bolt pattern is 5x4, which means my wheel options in the size i want are.. limited and expensive. So instead of doing that, I get some new axle shafts to swap to a 5x4.5 bolt pattern which gives me much better wheel choices. Which lets me buy the cheapest wheels summit sells  This works out cause i actually wanted this type of wheel. The new bolt pattern means i also had to replace the brakes, which was fine since the old ones were a rusty mess. no thanks: .  better!  Also, gross old axle shaft. This was easier to do than i thought it would be..  I almost went wider with the tires, but i think these look great..   Ok im pretty happy so far. That was easy! Just don't ask me about the parking brake cable. I've been putting off getting to the front, but it's time to hit it. I wanted front disks, so i bought the pirate jack front disk kit. Since i'm in there, i also buy shocks, a-arm and tie rods. Fire will be involved. Also, swearing. Also why does summit send me so many wrong parts..
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Mar 25, 2023 17:40
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Nice work! That rear end looks great as well, and the steelies look nice as well. I would probably have wanted the sidewall text white though. If you haven't found it yet, forabodiesonly.com has a ton of info and knowledge. VVV: Oh I see. Never had new tyres with white text! Nice. MrOnBicycle fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Mar 25, 2023 |
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Mar 25, 2023 18:07
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Picture with the door striker and weld bead and screws made me say yikes, but it looks like it's salvageable. Good luck!MrOnBicycle posted:Nice work! That rear end looks great as well, and the steelies look nice as well. I would probably have wanted the sidewall text white though. I think that's the coating the tires have when new. When you scrub the blue off, it'll be nice white letters.
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Mar 25, 2023 18:14
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meatpimp posted:Picture with the door striker and weld bead and screws made me say yikes, but it looks like it's salvageable. Good luck! yep, its just the coating. its white under that.
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Mar 25, 2023 21:17
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Ok, time for the front. This sucked. Most of it wasnt too bad, but i had to use a sawzall to cut the control arm bolts off in 4 places. The driver side came off, but the passenger side i needed a torch to get the bolt remnants out. Still, I managed to get it all together. That rust tho.. once i can get the thing running and driving, I'll see what I can get done. Welp.  Ok, lets go..  Better! Also: all that dirt came from the car. There was a lot.  Sigh. This one needed the torch.  So about those mounts.. they sell new ones. https://www.classicindustries.com/p...cB&gclsrc=aw.ds These seem like the way to go, but Im not doing it. Anyone have an idea of how much a shop would charge for that?  Well that was fun. But hey i got new wheels, tires and brakes on there! Even have a new master cylinder and booster. Now just need to figure out how to make brake lines and balance the new proportioning valve and i guess put brake fluid in it then bleed it and eventually replace the parking brake because its.. not working.  Easy! hedgegnome fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Mar 27, 2023 |
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Mar 27, 2023 07:56
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those suspension pickups still sketch me out, but im glad you're planning on addressing them is that a torsion beam front end? should make it easy to dump it a few inches, tuck in those new tires 
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Mar 28, 2023 10:07
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thread rules car rules
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Mar 28, 2023 14:21
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I too have nothing relevant to add, just that it's a cool car.  I like the look of these earlier Barracudas a lot more than the '70s ones, to be honest!
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Mar 28, 2023 15:36
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Raluek posted:those suspension pickups still sketch me out, but im glad you're planning on addressing them yeah, same. gotta get it moving first though and it sure is! so the front shocks are new now, i still have the old ones in back. the upper mounts for the rear shocks are mounted weird, so i haven't managed to replace them yet. once i get those in and it has a change to settle, ill have to see how it sits. then maybe dump it a few inches 
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Mar 30, 2023 06:09
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Brettbot posted:I too have nothing relevant to add, just that it's a cool car. thanks! i feel the same. those cars are cool of course, but i really like the look and feel of the fastback. it also feels like a smaller, sportier car. i read somewhere that they were going for a european sportscar vibe with this design..
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Mar 30, 2023 06:13
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so it took me a while to figure this out. i knew something was off with the way the taillights fit, but never noticed what it was.. so those are 67 taillights. 67 had reverse lights separate, two little round guys on the side of where the rear plate goes. in 68 they ditched the separate lights and integrated them into the brake lights. at some point, someone replaced the original lights with these, and just left the reverse lights dangling loose in the trunk. so, having my purchasing priorities in check, i find new taillights cause its bugging the hell out of me. the 67 lights are super cool, but they dont match the trim.  I feel better now. I also bought new wipers
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Mar 30, 2023 06:28
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Ok, now that i have the taillight situation sorted out its time for working gauges. Im not taking the dash apart yet, so i got a little 3-pack set to mount under the dash. Oil, volts and water. The water is easy, volts i think work, and oil is complicated. I get the water temp installed, and get it started to finally run it up to a temp i can see. Up till now, i've never run it for more than a few minutes at a time. Once its been on for a bit, i'm under the hood poking at things and i check the dipstick. It's a rather alarming shade of cream. I check it again, yeah still cream. I look through the vent in the valve cover and its pretty drat chocolate brown. So i swear a bunch and go shut it off. Pondering my next steps, before i go buy a new engine i decide i should maybe just change the oil first and see whats goin on in there..  Oh ok. Um. Sure. So.. that seems bad? But.. maybe not that much? Im hoping this is just the result of not really doing anything for 15ish years and i shouldn't worry bout it. Plus side is the oil is clean other than whatever that brown poo poo is. No little sparklies or anything. So I dump in fresh oil and a filter, let it run. Or i would if it would stay running. In an unrelated event, i had ordered a new alternator to replace the old crappy one. The battery was stone dead, and the new alternator isn't charging. Yay! And with that i quit for the day Later, i figure out the alternator needed to be grounded. I get that done and it starts and charges and stays running! So now it runs, i let it get up to about 170, it sounds fine, idles and everything. Oil looks clean as well! I've run it up to 170ish for about 15 minutes at a time 4 times now, oil is still clean. Time to finish the brakes, i guess. Oh hey whats up with my voltage gauge jumping all around? Check out my sweet fuse box..  That red wire used to power the radio i ripped out. I wired the voltage gauge to that same fuse.. i think i need to move it, the gauge stays on with the key off. I checked it with a probe, and it was off with the key off. The gauge jumps around a whole lot when running, too. i thought it would settle down once the battery was charged, but nope.. 
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Apr 2, 2023 04:37
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AAAAHHHHHHH AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH Any word on the oil after the change? That’s quite the milkshake you had.
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Apr 2, 2023 15:33
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Dr Rocksalt posted:AAAAHHHHHHH That's 15 year old oil with a lot of very short cycles on it. I wouldn't worry about that yet. hedgegnome posted:Oil looks clean as well! I've run it up to 170ish for about 15 minutes at a time 4 times now, oil is still clean.
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Apr 2, 2023 15:41
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Yeah that oil is exactly why people talk about driving cars up to temp for 20-30 minutes to get everything real hot. Also why you change your oil at least annually regardless of miles. It's just the result of repeated condensation cycles due to the PCV taking in moist air and the engine not getting hot enough to fully evaporate it out. It's a problem for people with short commutes or classic cars that get fired up more than they get driven.
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Apr 2, 2023 18:33
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Ah dang, guess I can’t read good pre-coffee, apologies.
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Apr 2, 2023 20:33
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Yeah im cautiously optimistic at the moment. I ran it more yesterday trying to get my brakes working, oil stayed clean. I also briefly had a working oil pressure gauge! it suddenly started working when i started it up. it hovered around the center for a bit, moved up to the H side of things, then died again. I found the sender and cleaned up the wire lead, which may have helped. i suspect the gauge cluster needs to come out for some cleaning and whatnot. im working up to that.. i was going to remove the sender and use the mechanical gauge i got, but to remove the sender i need to remove the distributor to get to it. If i remove the distributor, im just going to replace it with an electronic one, which means more new parts. The cycle continues.
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Apr 2, 2023 21:48
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Gonna recommend against the mechanical gauge anyway, it's a little tube that is connected to a pressurized oil supply. If it comes loose or vibrates and rubs through, you get a spray of hot oil all over whatever is near the leak, sometimes up under the dashboard, sometimes on to a hot exhaust. Highly recommend going without one and relying on the factory light, or spending what it takes for an electronic one.
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Apr 2, 2023 23:28
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This. I had a mechanical 3 pod in my F-150, and..... well there was an area for years where hair didn't grow on my right leg. The line cracked off the back of the gauge. The electric gauges cost not a lot more, and they're more reliable.
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Apr 2, 2023 23:50
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between the voltage gauge jumping around, and the oil pressure gauge working intermittently, it sounds like you don't hav a good ground between your engine (where your alt and sending unit are grounded) and the dash (where your gauges are grounded). do you have a good ground strap between the engine and body?
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Apr 3, 2023 03:26
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Raluek posted:between the voltage gauge jumping around, and the oil pressure gauge working intermittently, it sounds like you don't hav a good ground between your engine (where your alt and sending unit are grounded) and the dash (where your gauges are grounded). do you have a good ground strap between the engine and body? ...i honestly do not know, but i will be checking that for sure. Its not something i even thought to look for. If its there, its likely not in great shape. Thanks! And yeah i do think the mechanical oil pressure gauge was a mistake now. Im going to get the stock one working and maybe look for an electric one later on.
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Apr 3, 2023 08:29
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Hey guess what! I do have a ground strap! It was filthy so i pulled it off cleaned it up and stuck it back on. Don't know if that helped, as i wanted to get the back brakes working. Ive been trying to bleed the system and it just will not work. The fronts went fine, but the back doesn't really want to flow. It barely sends any fluid to the rear. So i've got a proportioning valve, so that means i had to add a new line out of that into the old line using a barrel. I hate that barrel but i've been trying to re-use the original line.. which was a mistake. After several hours of testing lines and seeing where the flow stops, i give up. I think there's a block in the main line somewhere, so i'm just going to replace it with the raw line i got to make the proportioning valve lines. But i need a new T and soft line for the back, so time to order more parts. Anyway, gently caress brakes, who needs em. Lets pull the dash apart! My ADD is triggered hard by this car..  So I figure i can get the dash out, replace the dead bulbs with leds, test the gauges, do some cleaning and paint. Easy!  Well kinda.. the dash wasn't too hard to get out. Kinda fussy, but i managed to not break anything. Bonus!  Except for that, but that was already broken. Ill epoxy it or something im sure itll be fine. With the dash out, i pull it all apart. Replaced the bulbs with leds, gleaned the gauges, polished the plastic, sanded, glued, taped and painted. Oh and i used a chrome paint pen too.. After more work than i expected it ended up looking pretty good!  Back in and i like it!  Not sure if im leaving it black our getting the wood trim insert.. i also have the old wood trim, which is just a thin sheet of aluminium with a wood sticker on it. I may get creative with that.. So anyway, Im pretty sure its all plugged back in. I toss the battery back in turn the key to power and.. its dead. No interior lights, no anything. Except the temp gauge on the dash moves across the range to H when i turn the key on. I hear a clicking, the blinker relay is on because the lever is down. No light though. Tried to bump the starter and nothing. So.. gently caress.. this might be related to something under the hood. It did this to me once before i pulled the dash, so before i rip it all back out i'm moving on. I have a new distributor and electronic ignition to install, and the brake parts got here! Cant wait to pull the old line out! i'm sure the lines won't be rusted solid and require violence to remove them..
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Apr 24, 2023 05:09
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Oh boy, this doesn't make me excited to pull the dash in my Dart. Currently everything except the speedo/odo works, I had considered that I might not be able to fix it but I hadn't considered that I might make it worse. Hope you figure it out!
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Apr 24, 2023 15:59
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I somehow managed to get everything out from the dash on my dart without breaking anything. Putting it back is going to be another thing though. Annoyingly the windscreen has to come out in order for the dash frame to come out (which it needs to as there are some rust spots I need to get to).
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Apr 24, 2023 16:14
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Did Chrysler gauges use pin connectors like this? This is GM, from my 68 Cutlass. If they are similar you might want to be careful unplugging them because I found them to be pretty fragile. I wound up with intermittent dash lights which I cured with a bit of soldering. There are better fixes people have done using small machine screws but I haven’t tried that myself.
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Apr 24, 2023 18:26
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Fornax Disaster posted:Did Chrysler gauges use pin connectors like this? yeah actually, it looks just like that. the main connector is this largish round multi pin connector that just presses on. theres a chance i might have damaged something when i was pulling on stuff, but i dont think so. even with the dash out, i should still have working dome lights and i assume it would still start. im still hoping its something under the hood.. but the moving temp gauge sure is weird
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Apr 25, 2023 06:09
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Brettbot posted:Oh boy, this doesn't make me excited to pull the dash in my Dart. Currently everything except the speedo/odo works, I had considered that I might not be able to fix it but I hadn't considered that I might make it worse. it really wasnt that bad. just be careful and take your time..
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Apr 25, 2023 06:11
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hey ok so lets talk brakes! as i said, my old lines were pretty crusty and im guessing blocked somewhere. anyway, heres my new booster, master cylinder and proportioning valve. I reused the old lines coming from the original distribution block with new ends. I did that because i got tired of trying to remove them to replace with new lines. Later someday ill just remove the old block and replace it, but for now this seems to work. I also promise im not going to leave the proportioning valve zip tied.. i swear. I also wanted the brake lines to be all nice and tidy but.. well. ok, lets rip some old garbage out!  I just used the saw, no way this was coming undone any other way..  i love contrasting new and old parts..  better! i kept the old line on the passenger side cause i didn't want to make a new line and it was still ok i assumed. Also i had no idea the bolt holding that T in place was also the filler hole for the axel. who knew?  So ok! That actually went pretty well! I bleed the brakes, and after some initial confusion and spilled brake fluid due to an open bleed valve someone forgot to close last time, its way better! now if only i could start the car and drive it to test out the brakes..
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Apr 25, 2023 06:39
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Good thread!hedgegnome posted:
yeah... "dirt"...
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Apr 25, 2023 20:41
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hedgegnome posted:better! i kept the old line on the passenger side cause i didn't want to make a new line and it was still ok i assumed. Also i had no idea the bolt holding that T in place was also the filler hole for the axel. who knew? often, there will be a nipple there and the vent will connect to it. guess it could also serve double action as a filler. one other thing, it kinda looks like you have teflon tape on your flare nuts? that is not generally a thing. the threads don't actually seal, they just put pressure on the flared pieces. so you don't need them to be fluid tight. if you get any strands from the tape into the actual inverted flare, though, it could keep it from establishing a good metal-on-metal seal. so the way i see it, it's not helping you at all, with a hazard of making things worse. maybe keeping the threads from sticking in the future? is that a thing? ive never seen that, and it doesn't seem like it's worth the risk, but maybe you're careful enough.
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Apr 26, 2023 08:09
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Raluek posted:often, there will be a nipple there and the vent will connect to it. guess it could also serve double action as a filler. ah maybe vent makes more sense. it has a little crush cap on top of it with rubber in it to seal, i guess. i could totally use it as a filler point too.. and yeah, its teflon tape. i read a lot of 'how to make brake lines for dummies' stuff and a common factor was the tape. i kinda thought the same thing, though. i figure its harmless enough and ive got it, so why not. and yeah i was careful to keep it away from the flare.
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Apr 26, 2023 18:38
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builds character posted:Good thread! ok dirt and rust
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Apr 26, 2023 18:44
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hey i got no power! so lets trace things back.. battery ground to engine was pretty lose, seems i forgot to do more than finger tighten it. fixed! that was easy, lets get weirder. whats all this garbage on my battery cable??  ...oh. okay. hmm. i guess thats ok, i can clean that up. maybe not the problem though.  how bout this starter relay? its pretty dusty, but i can clean that. again, maybe not the problem..  ok, enough screwing around. lets check the bulkhead connectors   oh dear.  well thats not right.  ugh  i think i can stop here. mayyyyyyyy be time to just replace the.. all of that. the internet tells me i could drill a hole where that red power cable is melting things and run it through the plug and into the car.. but the connector isn't too costly and my time clearly isnt worth much . i think im just going to get a new bulkhead connector, pins and plugs. likely ill bypass the ammeter gauge as well so maybe it wont melt stuff again
hedgegnome fucked around with this message at 21:43 on Jul 25, 2023 |
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Apr 27, 2023 00:37
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Does painless wiring make a kit? On a car with simple wiring just going all new might nip a lot of problems in the bud.
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Aug 19, 2023 00:54
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I just looked it up and they do ($575), and they bypass that connector and provide a blanking plate for the firewall hole. It says their harness does not support the factory amp meter, which is the device that overheats that firewall connection in the first place. I mean, that's the route I'd go as well.
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Aug 19, 2023 16:50
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