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‘66 Barracuda

29K views 368 replies 24 participants last post by  Stinman 
#1 ·
Been a while. Firebird’s 95% done, S10 is still running great. The LT4/T56 makes for a fun parts getter.

My first venture into Mopar is quite the undertaking. I picked up this 1966 Barracuda after finding it locally. Guy was asking $1,200 for it. I went and looked at it and after him seeing me noticing all the hidden rot, he said $500 takes it.

I got it home and found 70% of it was there. From what I can gather, it was last on the road in Florida in 1982. It was a 273 2 bbl V8 with a 904 auto. Original paint was light blue and dark blue interior with power steering, air, and 10” drum brakes. It’s interior was gutted, an aluminum dash cover was put in place with toggle switches and racing gauges.
The car came complete with its original 13” rims, sans poverty caps. A hole had been cut in the hood for the air cleaner to pop through. Hastily sprayed with red oxide primer (more of a doodoo brown), the bondo patches were good enough for a race car.

I sourced a ‘96 Ram Magnum 360 and rebuilt the bottom end and put on a 4 bbl air gap intake and threw on a small HEI style distributor and topped it with a 750 Holley I rebuilt. Found a small block 727 and bought a new 2800 stall neutral balanced converter with smaller bolt pattern to use with the balanced Magnum flexplate.

The 7 1/4 stock rear has got to go, thinking shortened 8.8 Explorer or 8 3/4 Mopar a-body rear if I can find one I won’t have to take out a mortgage for.

Everything is super expensive and I jumped right into a one year only model. (64 and 65 share body styles, 66 was a one off.)

Probably won’t be on here often but here’s what I’ve done so far in pictures:

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#311 ·
Figured I’d try to keep some of the rain water out. Needs another skim coat. Not looking forward to the rear inner quarter/trunk channels.
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#312 ·
Not much progress as of late. The ball joint mount bolts rub the rotor when installed “properly.” Reversed they clear everything lock to lock with the end links modified. I swapped the calipers to the rear and finally bled the brakes again.

I ordered a 21 circuit universal wiring harness and I’ll use the factory terminals off the old harness that came in the lump of parts with the car. I’ll be able to run the electric fan, fuel pump, dome lights, 12v lighter, radio, etc. off their own dedicated circuits without having to worry about shorts. (After rewiring my Firebird with a new harness it’s definitely money well spent for piece of mind, and way easier running it before you put the car together.)

If weather is cooperative I may tackle the rear inner quarters and patch the hole under the rear window using the old deck lid to match the curvature.

My goal is to crank it up by next month. Waiting on the 1/8 npt to 1/2-20 flange fittings to connect the trans lines to the radiator.

Work has been busy, hard to get motivated in this heat after working in it for 12 hour shifts.
 
#314 ·
Positive note, I have all the dash and engine wiring plugs in the old harness. Rear section is gone, but all I need are taillight sockets.

I dug into the rear of the car to find what I suspected, I bought a $500 Bondo sculpture.

Taking a lot longer than expected, but I removed the inner taillight housing and cut my patch out of the Valiant panels. The trunk area is completely different and is sunk down farther, but I’ll be able to patch in the channels and make it work. At least welding in the patches will create more rigidity than the fiberglass wizardry that was holding it together. Thunderstorms rolled in, will have to get back at it early tomorrow.

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#316 ·
Still have to cut a couple strips to tack the on the trunk gap. I’ll weld a bead on the corner and grind it down.

My old trunk lid is going to work perfectly as a patch panel under the rear window.

I keep telling myself this is all worth the effort… lol

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#319 ·
Plugging away. Passenger side should be water tight soon. Glad the trunk lid lined up with the Valiant patch I cut. Driver side rot is much less severe, but there nonetheless. I’ll smooth it all out with Rage filler, then 2K high build primer. I’ll be happy when it is all one color.

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#321 ·
Really not liking how long this is taking, but felt better looking at what I started with compared to where I’m at. I have nice solid metal edges to sand to now. Once the epoxy cures I’ll sand it down and lay down a skim coat of Rage filler to gussy it all up. Then to the driver side…

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#322 ·
Fitment is good, knocking down the epoxy. Hand sanding is cathartic for me, just wish it was a little cooler outside.

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#324 ·
I had a lot of catching up to do because for some reason I haven't been getting notified of new posts on threads I follow. I have always hated doing bodywork, even more now that I'm older but it will be worth it to have a cool ride that isn't another Camaro, Chevelle, or Mustang. Keep plugging away and it will be on the road soon.
 
#326 ·
Gray Marine-Tex

Works great on the boats/PWC’s at work in the salt environment. The marina a couple blocks down the street has it in stock so I figured I’d see how it holds up. Fairly easy to work with, sanded down nicely and the Rage filler grabbed onto it nicely. So far so good.
 
#328 ·
Got a couple spots to fill and a little shaping around the bottom right deck lid, I can live with my repair result. Thank goodness for a round foam sanding block.

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#331 · (Edited)
Lol, they look much better with the bumper on. I’m going to weld on some Super Bee tips and get it all lined up nicely with a new bumper.
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#338 ·
It's an S10, you just find another one in the shape you want and swap parts as necessary.
 
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#339 ·
Not just any S10, a low-mileage Xtreme that took over 6 months of searching to find. Plus I don't have the time or energy to swap all that to another truck.
 
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