Yellowfin: 1970 Barracuda Gran Coupe

[Hiredhelp]

I have had this car for almost three years, and have been slowly pecking away at it.

Here are the basic build specifics.

1970 Plymouth Barracuda Gran Coupe
5.7L GENIII Hemi/ A-833 4 speed
CANbus integrated instrument cluster
Reinforced K member
PST LCA braces, PST tie rod ends, Moog ball joints all around, Energy suspension bushings, hotchkis lca pivot pins
US car tool inner apron gussets
US car tool laser cut subframe connectors
350z coupe bucket seats
factory A/C and power windows
Overhead console car
AAR hood
Ridler 695 wheels 18x8 and 18x9.5


Here is a rendition that I modified in photoshop to reflect the general outcome of the build. The original artwork was not mine, but I changed colors around and added the logo I came up with for the car.


Here is a picture from when I first saw the car in person. It sat in a barn since 1988, mismatched wheels, primered and rear quarter damage from an old fender bender. The car was a rare one, gold exterior, black vinyl top and two tone leather interior... Black and Gold leather... Also an original A/C and Power Windows car. At some point in the 80's a previous owner installed leopard skin fabric over the headliner and overhead console




So I loaded her up and headed home on a 10 hour drive.


Once I arrived home, I couldn't sleep due to excitement. Regardless of driving for 20 straight hours, as soon as I arrived home, I tried to breathe life into her after decades of sitting. A battery, starter, distributor and oil change... and this is the outcome.

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I drove the car around the block, with the suspension popping and creaking all around. The ball joints were toast, mismatched tires with ancient sidewalls flexing like a body builder on ESPN 13. So I decided to tear down and start the build
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Upon tearing down the 318, I found it had been equipped with 340X heads by a previous owner! I rebuilt the 318 and 727 trans in hopes of getting back on the road quicker




Then came the suspension rebuild with PST components

[Hiredhelp]

Wheels!



Chassis reinforcement and floor pan patches






headliner and interior rework:






Then I took a break to sample some pearl yellow colors. The two you see here are HOK Sunrise Yellow Pearl (Transformers Camaro yellow) and Summit Mango Madness Pearl. HOK was too gold for my taste and Summit MMP was too orange.


Valance in HOK Right quarter in Summit MMP


I finally decided upon Y130P Hot Rod Yellow Pearl. The color on 2002 Honda Goldwing motorcycles. I did a sample area on the front drivers fender.



With some horse trading, I tossed the 318/727 auto and now have a 5.7 hemi and a-833 4 speed I also had to weld in the new transmission tunnel to match.

[analyte]

Wow, great start and love the yellow. It pops!!

[72BBSwinger]

Nice fish!

[benno505]

what is that canbus integration cluster, mind sharing some more info on it

[bmbrzmn101]

Nice job so far! I really think you should have left the "custom interior" in it! Lol, sorry couldn't resist. Looks like it will be fun when yo are done.

Chris

[keepat]

Nice project! Cool AAR to hockey stripe graphics!
good luck with your build
Pat

[WallaceMFG]

Nice use of engine crane! hahaha Should bee a cool car!

[Hiredhelp]

Thanks for the positive comments, fellas! Much appreciated.

what is that canbus integration cluster, mind sharing some more info on it

CANbus is the technology in late model cars that is used to communicate information throughout the vehicle. It was started in Germany some years ago and was federally mandated in the US for al 2008 and newer vehicles. Chrysler (German owned at the time) started using it in 2005.

Basically, instead of sensor wires running all over, sensors communicated with small modules located remotely around the car. Those modules connect together over a pair of wires that transmit all the data. Two wires wrapped in a helix, for example, can transmit rpm, coolant temp , vehicle speed, tps sensor data, battery voltage, fuel gauge, radio station, directional compass, door ajar, headlights, turn signal, AC commands all at once. All that info on just two wires.

Well who cares? The answer is simple, it's great if used to it's fullest extent.
Think about the new SRT hellcat, 2015 Mustang or 2015 Camaro and their instrument clusters. Overflowing with data from accelerometers and 1/4 mile estimators to what the weather will be like. Now think about being able to put that into a pro-touring car. Real time auto cross feedback, power tour long hauling with accurate fuel consumption monitoring and integrated navigation features... The sky is the limit.

Imagine getting into your classic car and looking down at this...





Granted I'm starting small and using the gauges that came out of the same car my engine was in. While it's still canbus, it had less features than the newest gauges out there.

[Hiredhelp]

I will be bringing this thread back from the dead in the upcoming months. With work extending out to other vehicles, the Barracuda has taken a back seat for quite some time. Now the pressure is on to get the project moving again, as I have registered her for the September 2016 USCA event at NOLA Motorsports park. My backup vehicle will be the 1986 LSX C10 I finished in October of last year, but I would much rather bring the fish.

In the past few months, I have really been thinking about the color combination I originally chose. While the pearl yellow is stunning, I am not sure if it is the absolute best choice. The ruling is still out on that one...

Instead of dwelling on that dilemma, I have redirected my efforts to focus on the mechanics and electronics of the car. I have recently purchased a set of QA1 adjustable strut rods and beefier torsion bars to wrap up my first stage of suspension upgrades.

As far as the engine management system, I have been working with HP Tuners on programming/tuning the factory Chrysler NGC3 ECM for use in conjunction with a modified factory harness. Here is a picture of initial testing of my bench tuning interface that has been adapted for the addition of Chrysler ECM's.


Here is the current micro fuse/relay box that I am evaluating in my testing. I may go with a Ron Francis unit eventually, but the jury is still out on that one. I love the compact size of these units and use them exclusively on my GM harnesses.