MA MOPAR BIT ME AGAIN or SO MANY MOPARS, SO LITTLE TIME

[1967 'cuda]

It's day 2 of garage cleaning. I discovered concrete beneath the oil dry.

I checked the website for the Good Guys show coming up next weekend in Des Moines. It says they're expecting over 4000 pre-72 cars to be there. I should have gone to their site earlier. Apparently you have be a member of Good Guys to enter a vehicle. - That's a minimum of $20. It's another $55 to enter your car for 3 days. I don't know if that includes entry for the owner. In order to get a discount with pre-registration you had to sign up by June 20th. I'm still not sure the car will be ready in time.

I took the car over to the lift to finish the welding on it. On the way back I could still hear a ticking exhaust leak. I had yet to re-tighten the header bolts since the motor was fired so I'm guessing it's time to do that. I had purchased aluminum gaskets that should seal well and not blow out.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I'm not sure whether or not the Duster has spoiled me. That 440 with the 4.56s and the 3800 stall seems so much more powerful. - Even though the dyno results are pretty close to the same.

I did make a filler piece out of aluminum that does seal the radiator off from the header panel to the radiator support. I'm considering making a modification to the hood similar to the way Abodybomber did his. That way I should be able to force a bit more air down the carb and prevent that scoop from pulling in so much air that it could interfere with the air being pulled through the radiator.

Traction doesn't seem to be a big concern yet. The M/Ts seem to be able to hook up fairly well on the street so I expect they'll work even better on the strip. My frontrunners are wearing very unevenly so the alignment that I paid for needs to be re-done. I'll take it to a different shop this next time.

I may have a problem with the rear seal. When I had the car up on the hoist I saw more than a trace of oil coming from the rear of the engine. I did check the oil pressure sending unit to make sure it wasn't coming from there.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I still need to recheck everything on this engine. For all I know, it's possible I'm not getting the full HP out of it. Or maybe I am and something else in the driveline is dragging me down. On the way back from having the car on the lift I noticed some brake related noise coming from the rear. I'll pull the wheels off and inspect everything back there again.

Right now I get a slight bit of tire spin (on the street) before it hooks up. If this is as much power as the car will produce the M/Ts should do OK at the track. I changed so much all at the same time. - The engine, transmission, torque converter,rear end, gear ratio, brakes, etc... that it's difficult to judge the amount of power difference between the 318 and the 408.

I have no doubt that the car is quicker now, but I thought the increase would have been much more dramatic. It's too bad I hadn't gotten a 1/4 time with the 318. Speed can be deceptive. I know my son's 6.1 Challenger is quick but it runs so quiet that you don't realize how fast you're going.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I installed the MP 2400 that came with the transmission. Mike was fairly confident that it would flash closer to 3000.

The 318 that I replaced wasn't stock. (headers, 670 Holley, Edelbrock Performer intake, - not sure on the cam profile, MSD distributor & control box) It ran pretty strong. I would have liked to have seen it perform with the 4.10s behind it.

The setup in the car now is definitely quicker but I'd hoped on needing an underwear change after the first test run. It's so hard to quantify speed or power without hard numbers to look at. If my timing light isn't giving me an accurate reading or anything else is off I might not be matching the power that the dyno read. - I still suspect that 'something' isn't quite dialed in yet.

Track time is definitely part of the plan, but that will probably take a back seat to keeping up with the other projects.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I swapped out the temperature sending unit with the new one that was meant for the Charger. Upon startup the gauge shows cold. But within a few minutes it maxes out. I'm glad I have that Mr. Gasket radiator cap with the built in thermometer. I've been checking it and the temperature shown is usually around 180'. I also have used an infrared thermometer to read the temperature of the block, heads, intake, exhaust, etc... It tends to agree with the radiator cap. It's really unnerving to see that gauge maxing out. I don't want to get in the habit of ignoring it so I will check out the pins on the backside to make sure they're all kosher. Somewhere there's a wiring flaw.

With the car in the air on creeper jacks I put the car in gear and let the rear wheels spin. Everything is quiet when running this way. But I swear I'm hearing noise from the rear when I'm going down the street. The discs felt pretty warm after a 1 mile drive and I was not riding the brake. I inspected for signs of clearance problems and haven't found any yet. I really had hoped I'd be able to hear noise when it was running up in the air. The next time I take it out for a spin I'll take that infrared thermometer with me and see if I can find any hot spots.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I ordered a pair of Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R radials for the front of the car. They should be here on Wednesday. I realize that I'll be mixing radials with the cheater slicks for a while but I felt that my Frontrunners didn't have much reliable life left in them. I didn't want to risk being put in the position of not having a spare. - Plus I wanted to get the front re-aligned.

I currently have 24.0 X 5.0 X 15s on the front. I ordered 26 X 15s. They'll be 2" taller and 1" wider but I think they should still work out. I've decided to order Mickey Thompson S/R radials (28 X 10s) for the rear. Unless the car handles really squirrely with mixed tires, I'll wait to order them until the cheater slicks are used up.

I was surprised to see how much weight difference there is between my current tires and these radials. The front tires are each 9 pounds heavier and the rear are 5 pounds heavier a piece. That seems like a lot of difference to me.

FedEx is supposed to be dropping off the new front fender for the truck later today.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well the fender showed up. The box looked like 2 gorillas had been fighting over it. When I opened it up it didn't look too bad but there was a ding in the top of the fender.





I'm still trying to get things ready to go to the car show in Des Moines. I decided it was time to work on my zombie driver for the display. I need to design a better stand so that he doesn't want to fall over so easy. I've been told by (former) friends that it's a good likeness of me.









If I'm going to make it to the show I'll have to start prepping the Ford for the trip. It may not have a lot of power but it's been a relatively reliable tow vehicle so far. With those 4.10s I don't want to drive the Barracuda that far.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I picked up a new chute the other day. The price was right and I'm still holding out hope that I'll get back to the funnycar one of these days.

 

[1967 'cuda]

My plan to quiet down the car with screen pushed inside the exhaust didn't work so well. It tends to blow the screen out when I start the car.

The rear end noise is pissing me off. I can't seem to find what's causing it. I pulled the tires and wheels again. I cannot see any signs that anything is rubbing. I put some axle grease on the caliper slides thinking that I might have been getting a bind there and that the brakes weren't fully releasing. After test driving it again I've noticed that the noise goes away when the brakes are partially applied. I don't know what is going on.

I had a slight bit of gear oil seepage from the cover so I drained it and used some Form-A-Gasket aviation sealant on it. The fill plug never seated tightly in it's hole so I wrapped it with a bunch of thread sealant to prevent it from leaking.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I cleaned out the truck and started making my list of things to load up. It was supposed to be a nice day today but it's been chilly, windy, and looks like it may rain.

I'm intimidated by the prospect of there being over 4000 cars there. I don't know how things will be organized. Originally I had planned on hauling the Barracuda to my son's apartment and unloading it there. But I had thought about taking the christmas tree (with generator for power) to display next to the car. I don't know if that's feasible.

Because it's a 3 day event I'm wondering if everybody leaves their cars parked in the same spot for all 3 days. It's hard to imagine the time it would take to get over 4000 situated each day. I had planned on staying across town with my sons. Maybe I'll need the truck close by to use as transportation?

This is by far the largest show I'll ever have seen. Normally I like to photograph every car at the shows I go to. But I figured it would have to average me around 30 seconds to get a shot of each one (by the time you walk from car to car and wait for people to move out of the way). That would add up to 33&1/3 hours of time just taking pictures. So I'll try to take pics of quite a few but there's no way I'm shooting them all.

FedEx just dropped off my new front tires. I'm not sure if I'll get them mounted or just take them with me as is.

 

[1967 'cuda]

My son videoed the first time we tried to fire the 408.

<strong>[video=youtube_share;RwYoRodWvdM]http://youtu.be/RwYoRodWvdM[/video]

 

[1967 'cuda]

Well I made it to Des Moines. I hope it's not a bad omen but I saw 4 patrol cars pulling people over within the first 8 miles into Iowa.







I unloaded the car after I got here and drove around a bit. I had some errands I needed to accomplish. One of my amber lights went out on the christmas tree so I ran to Home Depot to buy another. Then I went to Target to pick up some cleaning supplies. I haven't had a chance yet to go to the fairgrounds but I have noticed a bunch of pre-WWII vehicles driving around town.

That rear end noise is still present. My guess is that one of the brake pads is cocking between the disc and caliper. - The noise still goes away when the brakes are half applied. I cannot get the sound to replicate when I have it running on stands though, so I'm not sure.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Before leaving for Des Moines I finished sanding the pickup cab. My painter buddy stopped over and told me the box is in primer and ready for paint. We pulled the hood off the truck so he could take it with him. He wanted an example to use for comparison with the new paint and the underside of the hood seemed like the best sample I could give him. After I get back home I will have to work on swapping out the bent fender and straightening the inner. I still need to install the carb, battery, and fuel pump. With any luck I'll be able to drive it onto the trailer instead of having to use a come-along.

 

[1967 'cuda]

What a day. I towed the Barracuda to the fairgrounds with my son leading the way with his Roadrunner. He had to work overnight so we got a late start. That was fine with me because I was pretty pooped from the day before.

Maybe I'm too small town to appreciate shows as large as this one. It seemed disorganized to me. When we got into the show area we were in a long line of cars moving (stop & go) at about 2 miles per hour. There was a route that snaked through the fairground with no discernible pattern showing where to park. After almost an hour of playing follow the leader we found ourselves back at the entrance we had started at.

Neither one of our cars seemed to be enjoying the heat. So when we finally spotted a corner area that was concrete we thought we'd try to shoehorn our cars there. It took us about 10 minutes to unload our stuff and assemble the christmas tree. As soon as we finished we were told we couldn't park there. 10 minutes later we were packed up again. That's when the Roadrunner decided it didn't want to start. He probably shouldn't have messed with it but my son thought he could do a quick reprogram of the EFI controller to get it to start. We most likely would have been better off waiting for it to cool down instead. After fighting with timing adjustments for 45 minutes we gave up and decided to check out some of the other cars there.

The number of cars here was impressive. Most of the owners abandon their vehicles while they check out the other rides, so we didn't have much of a chance to chat with anyone. After we'd walked around for a half hour or so we returned to our cars. The Roadrunner fired off and we found another route to check out. - This one had parking openings.

Once again we unloaded and set things up. With that done we did a second trek through the sea of cars. All day long there was a slow procession of cars driving around. I'm sure it's fine for the milder builds but we saw a few of the more radical pissing coolant onto the pavement. A sustained 2 MPH is awfully slow when you want to get some air through that radiator.

Well tomorrow is another day and at least now we have a better feel for how things are laid out. I may take a pillow along so I can take a nap.

 

[1967 'cuda]

It rained until around noon. - Even though the sky never really cleared at least the rain had stopped. Once again I followed my son to the fairgrounds. The weather had left the trailer area pretty muddy so I unloaded on one of the access roads.

I was surprised to see so many different cars on this second day. I never heard what the total number of entrants there were but it was a bunch. After we set things up again we went walking through the show. I grabbed a bacon wrapped rib (on a stick) that the vendors were serving. - Anything that sounds that unhealthy had to be pretty tasty. It lived up to it's name.

Things were going pretty good. Most of the folks we met were eager to talk cars. When we decided to go watch the autocross things didn't go as well. There was about a half dozen people wearing DICK'S HOT ROD SHOP (of Minnesota) that were real jerks. Amongst the people they decided to single out to harass were my 2 sons. Although we had done nothing to provoke them they said that we had to go elsewhere to watch the racing. The douche bags were claiming that area as theirs and they weren't about to share. They tried pushing the boys around a bit and continued to try intimidating us while we were there. I made the comment to my son that it's a shame to have gone through a couple of tours of Iraq and then to come home and be treated like this. The creeps (and their girlfriends) thought that comment deserved mocking. Throughout it my sons kept their cool and tried to ignore them.

It put a damper on things and we decided to leave. - Hard to enjoy yourself after putting up with stuff like that. I tried to file a complaint with a couple different GOOD GUYS representatives and was blown off. I told them we weren't coming back. I had still wanted to check out the swap meet and had intended on buying a rear bumper for the 'Lil Red that one of the vendors was selling but said to hell with it and left.

I did run into one FABO member on the way out. - Nice guy with a red '69 Barracuda convertible. Turned out he was a fellow Nebraskan. I wish I'd gotten his name. He asked me if I was going to a car show in St. Paul, Nebraska next weekend. They're doing street drags there I guess. It'd be a blast to have both the Duster and the Barracuda there.

Before we left the show my sons and I were able to get a lot of good pics and videos. I'll post them when I get a chance.

 

[1967 'cuda]

I didn't blame the GOOD GUYS officials for the actions of those guys but I was upset with them for blowing off the complaint. It wasn't as though just a few words were exchanged between 2 parties having an argument. This went on for well over 10 minutes while I was there and I don't know how many others got the same treatment.

 

[1967 'cuda]

Day 3 of the GOOD GUYS show in Des Moines.

After the experiences of day 2 we did not go back. Instead we stayed up late Saturday night doing a marathon viewing of FARGO.

I left for Nebraska in the early afternoon. I don't get a chance to see my boys that often so I wasn't in a big rush to leave. - But it was a good feeling to be headed home.

I really don't like offending people but my sarcastic sense of humor is insisting that I comment on the way Iowans drive. I'm not sure but there may be an IQ limit you have to stay below in order to get a license.

I told one of the locals that Iowa roads would be safer if it wasn't for all the Iowans. He looked at me funny so I told him not to take it personally, I say the same thing back in Nebraska. He said "So the people in Nebraska drive just as bad, huh?" And I replied, "No. Nebraska roads would be safer without Iowa drivers too." - Just kidding.. Actually most of the drivers in Iowa were pretty decent.

On the way back home I saw some pretty serious accidents on I-80. One semi truck off the road on the eastbound lanes and one big Greyhound style bus in the same shape. At the point half way home I stopped at a gas station to take a break and stretch my legs. I wasn't tired but the Ford truck has no radio and my GPS only talks to me if I need to turn.

I continued West after checking the trailer straps and tires. Iowa must have their law enforcement doubled up over the holiday weekend. I haven't seen this many cops since the last time I fired up my Duster.



I got to within 25 miles of the Iowa/Nebraska border when the truck began to shake violently. I was doing about 65 at the time with both hands on the wheel. Even so it was hard to keep from swerving back and forth across the traffic lanes. After about 10 seconds of fighting the wheel as I eased off the gas the shaking stopped. I was trying to maneuver over to the right hand shoulder to see what was wrong, but cars kept zipping around me as I slowed. The trailer was whipping slightly and I had cars passing me on the right shoulder as I tried to move over. (this is why I had to make comments about Iowa drivers earlier)

As I pulled to a stop I saw a red SUV pulling in behind me. I assumed he was stopping to give me assistance. The truck and trailer tires looked good on the driver's side but as I walked around the front of the truck I could see that the right front truck tire had come apart. As the folks behind me exited their vehicle they asked if I was alright. And then they said that the only damage seemed to be on the car. I looked at the Barracuda, cringing of the prospect of needing to replace fiberglass panels. That's when they pointed at their vehicle. Apparently the tire remnant skidded across their hood. - Probably scared the SH&%t out of them too. They were nice about it all and we exchanged insurance info as I apologized. They offered to help me get the truck roadworthy but I was sure I was well enough prepared to change the tire. The folks from the SUV told me that I just missed a really bad accident (most likely when I pulled over to take that break) Apparently some woman had rear ended a semi truck and they could see her arm dangling out of the drivers door window as they went by. Emergency vehicles were just then arriving.




















No Nebraskan that's ever driven through Omaha would ever seriously criticize Iowa drivers. (Great! Now I've managed to offend the folks from Omaha too!)

The rest of the trip home was without incident. I hope you all had a safe holiday weekend.

 

[1967 'cuda]

[video=youtube_share;w5MeVYCoUaY]http://youtu.be/w5MeVYCoUaY[/video]

 

[1967 'cuda]

[video=youtube_share;x0RVC2-O9uk]http://youtu.be/x0RVC2-O9uk[/video]

 

[1967 'cuda]

Before returning home I had stopped off at Home Depot to pick up some replacement bulbs for the christmas tree. It had fallen over when we were setting it up and 2 of them would no longer light. While I was there I saw they were having a sale on tool boxes. 40" 10 drawer for $288 with ball bearing drawers. Hopefully it will help me organize the garage a little better.




Today the delivery guy dropped off a new receiver hitch for the 'Lil Red.