I went to my buddy Chris’ the other day to take some pictures of his 67 Barracuda Fastback for the “Away for the Winter” series. I got some shots and asked him if he could send me some information on the car…… Chris wrote a novel. So instead of regurgitating his email, I’m just gonna paste it right in so you can read it straight from the owners fingertips:
The car:
1967 Barracuda Fastback (all ’67-’69 Barracudas were either a fastback or a notchback).
I bought it in I think 2007. Originally had a 273 V8 with 3-speed automatic (The drivetrain that’s currently in Joe’s Dart). The entire front unibody structure has been seam welded to increase rigidity (the center and rear sections will be done also), all steering and front suspension parts from the steering wheel to the lug nuts are brand new aftermarket parts. I used the Reilly Motorsports coil over/rack and pinion K-frame kit with 13″ disks brakes for all corners. The rear suspension isn’t designed yet, but the current plan is to run fiberglass mono-leafs with a 3-point axle mount. The brakes are all Willwood parts which is what the kit was designed for -unfortunately. I’ll run the car with the Willwood calipers, but don’t expect much from them. Eventually I’ll likely end up upgrading to Baer, StopTech, DBA, or the like. Rear axle is a 8 3/4″ that came out of my ’70 Challenger with a cone-type LSD that I rebuilt (though they say those can’t be rebuilt,,,, I found a way). Further chassis work to be done is to finish the seam welding and install sub-frame connectors. That car could get a cage one day, but I haven’t decided if I want to make it that “committed” or not. I’ll also be sourcing a fiberglass front end for the car to shed weight.
Engine:
All machine work was done by me except the line-boring of the main journals, and the decking of the head surfaces (didn’t have access to the necessary machining equipment). The only Chrysler-produced part of the engine is the block casting. It’s a mid-70′s 360 CID small block that’s been bored .030″ over. The forged Eagle crank uses a longer stoke (4″) giving a total displacement of 408 cubic inches. The forged pistons have a high temp ceramic coating on top and a lubricative molly coating on the sides to decrease friction. Piston rings are “gapless” and hand filed for each cylinder. Rods are forged Eagle H-beam, and the entire rotating assembly was balanced to within about 3 grams. All hardware is ARP and studs were used to replace bolts wherever possible. Heads are aluminum pieces from Edelbrock, roller lifters and roller rockers replace the conventional parts. Cam took a lot of consideration and was sourced from (I think) Comp Cams, don’t recall the cam specs off the top of my head. MLS head gaskets were used and compression of the engine is exactly 9.8 to 1. This is kind of low for a performance-oriented naturally aspirated engine, but the plan is to eventually turbocharge that SOB. I want a super torquey engine with lots of grunt, and the turbo contribution of maybe 6-8 PSI will help the higher RPM power output. We’ll see how she works in real life. I still need to order the road racing oil pan, custom length pushrods, and fuel system (motor break-in on carb, then convert to MegaSquirt).
Interior:
It’ll be sparse with Corbeau seats, aluminum dash and panel inserts (mostly), and brand new Stewart Warner gauges. It’s going to be loud and bumpy.
Now comes the part where I beg the readers to help me nudge Chris to get this beast on the road. We want this to be the last winter this things spends in multiple pieces!
Visit our Facebook page to check out more pics of this hibernating beast!