1967 Barracuda Fastback

[1967Barracuda]

I like orange lol and it does look great. My barber school instructor said he would paint it orange too. about the colors im thinking either plum crazy, pearl white, or orange, maybe green metallic

[1967Barracuda]

that was a great job on the barracuda you did, PRRC, as far as stripping the steel goes I spread the paint stripper on then heat it up and then scrape most of the paint off, then i use a wire wheel and strip it to metal this is my technique if anyone knows a better way please let me know. thanks

[PRRC]

Thanks. The customer is putting the car back together himself. We hope the paint survives with out to much damage...LOL
The best way to use stripper is coat the panel and then lay plastic wrap over it to keep the fumes in and working on the paint. It works miracles

[autoxcuda]

Heres more pictures, as far as the suspension goes, I'm planning on Road Race leaf spring from Firm Feel, a 1973-1976 Abody V8 k-member, Front and rear sway bars, Dodge viper front disc brakes, and jeep grand cherokee rear disc brakes.

Sounds like a smart and effective plan.

What T-bars, sway bars, and shocks??

The 8 1/4 should be fine behind at 425hp or below 360. And it's lighter than the 8 3/4 !!

[autoxcuda]

A sage bit of advice from someone who has been around the block a few times in his life, especially as it relates to planning and building cars. Don't let your ideas become so vast that they don't work. Keep everything as simple (and as inexpensive) as is humanly possible.

From personal experience, I once had a project when I was your age. The problem was that my ideas were so vast that I ignored the simpler issues that had to be addressed. In the end, the floorpan was completely rusted out.

I really like the idea of swapping in the disc brake rear-end. If you are going to do some serious driving, I would do something with the c-clip retainers though.

I agree. Keep it simple.

The stuff you laid out is expensive. You can lots of fun with your car without all those trick parts.

My car handles pretty decent without all those trick expensive parts. I built my car while I was in college and drove it daily (still do). While in college I went to autocrosses on weekends when I wasn't loaded down with too much homework.

[FoxGranadaChuck]

Heres more pictures, as far as the suspension goes, I'm planning on Road Race leaf spring from Firm Feel, a 1973-1976 Abody V8 k-member, Front and rear sway bars, Dodge viper front disc brakes, and jeep grand cherokee rear disc brakes.

I would seriously re-think this. Why? Because Vipers (for the possible exception of the earliest models) have six-lug wheels. Also, while the Grand Cherokee has five-lug wheels, I am not sure that the wheel-circle diameter is the regular Mopar/Ford 5 X 4 1/2 pattern. Viper calipers are an excellent idea, though. Rick Ehrenburg at Mopar Action magazine used Viper calipers on his Green Brick Valiant with great success.

[FoxGranadaChuck]

I agree. Keep it simple.

The stuff you laid out is expensive. You can lots of fun with your car without all those trick parts.

My car handles pretty decent without all those trick expensive parts. I built my car while I was in college and drove it daily (still do). While in college I went to autocrosses on weekends when I wasn't loaded down with too much homework.

Also, he really doesn't need the '73-76 A-Body K-member. Unless the OE unit is really rusted out, it should hold up well. He would just need some Schumacher conversion mounts to mount a SB V-8 to a 6-cylinder K-member. If he is going to auto-cross it frequently, I would send it to Firm Feel to get them to reinforce it.

[autoxcuda]

I would seriously re-think this. Why? Because Vipers (for the possible exception of the earliest models) have six-lug wheels. Also, while the Grand Cherokee has five-lug wheels, I am not sure that the wheel-circle diameter is the regular Mopar/Ford 5 X 4 1/2 pattern. Viper calipers are an excellent idea, though. Rick Ehrenburg at Mopar Action magazine used Viper calipers on his Green Brick Valiant with great success.

I think he was talking about the www.arengineering.com Viper calipers conversion. They use a Viper/Brembo caliper on a stock spindle with stock 11.75 disk or custom hub and 13" disks. Not Viper hubs or spindles.

ARengineering is the ones you made the Viper conversion that Rick used on his Valiant.

[autoxcuda]

Also, he really doesn't need the '73-76 A-Body K-member. Unless the OE unit is really rusted out, it should hold up well. He would just need some Schumacher conversion mounts to mount a SB V-8 to a 6-cylinder K-member. If he is going to auto-cross it frequently, I would send it to Firm Feel to get them to reinforce it.

You are right, it is not 100% needed. But if you are going to go with the other expensive upgrades, I'd upgrade that core feature.

The are some advantages to the '73-76 A-Body K-member. One is the sway bar attachment. The sway bar goes through the K-member and it's narrower allowing for larger backspace rims. The 67-72 style sway bar attachment needs special brackets to hang on the front of the K-member and they sit low and out front. I used to run one and it would meet concrete parking stops before my tires would. Also the 73-76 comes with stock spool type motor mounts. And IMHO, the steering box is natually more reinforced that the 67-72 style K-member (which can be reinforced of course).

You can reinforce the 73-76 even more by welding up the seams and adding steel plates.

Hotchkis now sells lower control arm tabs for narrow sway bar A and E/B-bodies for $29.95/pr.

Here are some pics of my home brewed K-member and LCA reinforcment.

Don't put plates over top of the motor mount support like shown in this cardboard mockup. The motor mount needs that area to move around in. I learned that quickly.



Reforced on left, stock on right.



The LCA pin in the middle with the egg shaped shoulder can not be used with poly LCA bushings. Pins and bores are polished to minimize squeeking and suspension binding.



73-76 sway bar LCA on left and gusseted with 1" strap to be lightweight and effective. 67-72 sway bar style LCA on right.

[1967Barracuda]

Auto x cuda glad you chimed in, your k memeber looks great.

the jeep cherokee rear discs are 5 on 4.5 and they are a bolt on deal ( jeep cherokkes used 8 1/4 rear end) Im not planning on building this car in 4 months lol. might take me a couple of years but ill get it nice & slowly. I'll post some updated pictures. My local junkyard is full of dodge darts mostly late 1970's. And a lot of oter mopars too & prices are decent.

[1967Barracuda]

auto x cuda you seem to understand the barracuda lol. im planning on 17" wheels all around. I dont knwo what width to go id like to run 275 40 17 on the front, and a little wider in the rear maybe 295 40 17. my car has the leaf springs in stock location and im going to go with the 1973+ k member with sway bar and discs i dont mind if the tires stick out.

[1967Barracuda]

Engine plans changed lol... got a hold a 440 out of a police car will post pics asap!

[autoxcuda]

auto x cuda you seem to understand the barracuda lol. im planning on 17" wheels all around. I dont knwo what width to go id like to run 275 40 17 on the front, and a little wider in the rear maybe 295 40 17. my car has the leaf springs in stock location and im going to go with the 1973+ k member with sway bar and discs i dont mind if the tires stick out.

You can run 275/40/17 in front AND rear. That way you can rotate tires if you go to a track. That is a very nice feature. With a street or aggressive street alignment you will wear the outer edges of the front tires on a road course or with a lot of autocross runs. With stock hubs run 17x9 rims 5.5" backspacing. You will need to fold back 1" by 3" section of the front fender lip.

I just folded back my fender lips last weekend. I have pictures. I went a little too agressive with a 2" fold back.

You can't really have the tires sticking out or the tire will rub, chunk, and cut on the fender top.

You can run the 275/40/17 in the rear with 5.5" backspacing but you will need a rear end 2" wider than the stock A-body 8 3/4 rear. That is actually will save you some money, because that calculates out to a 65-67 B-Body or a 68-70 B-body. Check a width chart online.

A 65-67 B-Body 8 3/4 rear end is about $250-350 used WITH big bolt pattern and a 742 case center section open rear highway gears. A 66-72 A-Body 8 3/4 rear end is about 400-500 used WITHOUT big bolt pattern and a 742 or 489 case center section open rear highway gears. THEN you have to buy large bolt pattern axles for it for an additional $250+ or so with bearings. See where I'm going with this??

Now to use the 65-67 B-Body 8 3/4 rear end, you'll have to relocated the spring pads. I'd wild guess $100 at a rear end place.

Must read this about fitting 17" rims on an A-body by Clair Davis: http://www.moparfins.com/CLAIRDAVIS/Cobra_Wheel.htm

Just pointing out an alternative. I know you have a 8 1/4 in your hand now. Not a bad choice, IHMO. But you will have to run a 275/40/17 on a 17x9 with 4.5" backspacing

I don't think a 295 40 17 is going to fit even if you fold over the rear fender lip on topwith lowered suspension and stock frame rail location. Careful, some of the drag type guys will probably say they fit a 295/50/15 or something back there. BUT they have the rear end all jacked up drag style.

Are you on www.forabodiesonly.com ?? There are some good threads there on this subject.

[autoxcuda]

Engine plans changed lol... got a hold a 440 out of a police car will post pics asap!

I would not do that.

-Engine is heavy
-You will need schumacher conversion motor mounts
-You will be stuck with expensive TTI headers if you want any form of ground clearance


Trade that motor and some cash for a 360.

[FoxGranadaChuck]

You can run 275/40/17 in front AND rear. That way you can rotate tires if you go to a track. That is a very nice feature. With a street or aggressive street alignment you will wear the outer edges of the front tires on a road course or with a lot of autocross runs. With stock hubs run 17x9 rims 5.5" backspacing. You will need to fold back 1" by 3" section of the front fender lip.

I just folded back my fender lips last weekend. I have pictures. I went a little too agressive with a 2" fold back.

You can't really have the tires sticking out or the tire will rub, chunk, and cut on the fender top.

You can run the 275/40/17 in the rear with 5.5" backspacing but you will need a rear end 2" wider than the stock A-body 8 3/4 rear. That is actually will save you some money, because that calculates out to a 65-67 B-Body or a 68-70 B-body. Check a width chart online.

A 65-67 B-Body 8 3/4 rear end is about $250-350 used WITH big bolt pattern and a 742 case center section open rear highway gears. A 66-72 A-Body 8 3/4 rear end is about 400-500 used WITH big bolt pattern and a 742 or 489 case center section open rear highway gears. THEN you have to buy large bolt pattern axles for it for an additional $250+ or so with bearings. See where I'm going with this??

Now to use the 65-67 B-Body 8 3/4 rear end, you'll have to relocated the spring pads. I'd wild guess $100 at a rear end place.

Must read this about fitting 17" rims on an A-body by Clair Davis: http://www.moparfins.com/CLAIRDAVIS/Cobra_Wheel.htm

Just pointing out an alternative. I know you have a 8 1/4 in your hand now. Not a bad choice, IHMO. But you will have to run a 275/40/17 on a 17x9 with 4.5" backspacing

I don't think a 295 40 17 is going to fit even if you fold over the rear fender lip on topwith lowered suspension and stock frame rail location. Careful, some of the drag type guys will probably say they fit a 295/50/15 or something back there. BUT they have the rear end all jacked up drag style.

Are you on www.forabodiesonly.com ?? There are some good threads there on this subject.

Excellent advice. Keep things some resemblance of simple.

[FoxGranadaChuck]

I would not do that.

-Engine is heavy
-You will need schumacher conversion motor mounts
-You will be stuck with expensive TTI headers if you want any form of ground clearance


Trade that motor and some cash for a 360.

Neither would I. The 440 IS excessively heavy for the kind of driving that you intend to do with your 'Cuda. I would drop in a nice Magnum 360 motor.

[1967Barracuda]

im almost finished stripping the rear section of the underbody and im close to finishing the welding in the trunk. got some parts painted. project is rollin! close to getting the car back on all four, i will be looking forward to a clean garage also.

pics are old have some more will post other pics soon! Auto x cuda, how does 17 x 9.5" with 4.50 back space for the rear and front sound. american racing sells this rim with 5.5" backspace aswell but i love the deep dish look. http://www.summitracing.com/search/B...c&autoview=SKU

[autoxcuda]

im almost finished stripping the rear section of the underbody and im close to finishing the welding in the trunk. got some parts painted. project is rollin! close to getting the car back on all four, i will be looking forward to a clean garage also.

pics are old have some more will post other pics soon! Auto x cuda, how does 17 x 9.5" with 4.50 back space for the rear and front sound. american racing sells this rim with 5.5" backspace aswell but i love the deep dish look. http://www.summitracing.com/search/B...c&autoview=SKU

If you run 17 x 9.5" with 4.50 backspacing they will NOT fit in the front. You will have to add an 1" flare out around the fender.

Those 17 x 9.5" with 4.50 backspacing rims and tires will fit the rear of a Barracuda with stock A-body width rear end. If anything might need to roll the upper wheel lip.

You can run the 4.5 backspace in the rear and run the 5.5 backspacing in the front. That would give your a deep look in the rear.

You know even a 17 x 9.5" with 5.50 still has 4" on the frontside of the rim. That is more than the very common 15x7 with 4" backspace (3" frontside) or a 15x8 with 4.5" backspace (3.5" frontside).

There's lots of cars with 15x7 and 15x8 torque thrusts to compare to. There's not a good picture of a 17x9.5 with 5.5 backspacing on the Summit site.

[EL RAFA_D]

that spectacular car! very good project!

have plenty of work ahead

good luck with that!

[1967Barracuda]

I got the underside done for the most part, now im working on getting the car back together all that stripping work is over for now It was a pain! :bsjerk:

Firm feel road race leaf springs will be installed shortly so i can get the car back on 4 wheels then roll it out and tow it to my fathers garage. i used 3m undercoating then sprayed gloss black over top to seal it up. Some spots need touch up here and there, ill finish the rest of the under body restoration as the project moves along. The color is plum crazy!