Ooh Barracuda - The End of 'Christine' R.I.P

[Cano]

nice Sunpro dude, you whouls paint it to match your interior. and 24? come on.

 

[Barracuda]

I was actually thinking about doing that. Gold bracket and base and maybe make the outside ring white. The main problem is I majorly suck at painting absolutely anything, I always end up messing it up.

While messing around with the wiring for the tach I also figured out where my brakes are leaking from. I looked and saw that where my master cylinder comes through the firewall was wet and when I pressed on the brake a little brake fluid seeped out. I could just replace the gasket and everything, but I think I might wanna take the opportunity to upgrade to a dual reservoir. I'm going to have to do some looking and probably saving but it would definitely be for the best.

 

[Legendary]

I just spent way over an hour reading this ENTIRE thread and I have to say I quite like your car. It looks awesome.

How much have you spent on it after the 3k purchase price?

 

[Barracuda]

I just spent way over an hour reading this ENTIRE thread and I have to say I quite like your car. It looks awesome.

How much have you spent on it after the 3k purchase price?

Thanks a lot man

That's a very good question, I'm not %100 sure but I could probably make a list of what I've done and bought off the top of my head:

New Windshield - $400
2 gas caps - $12
2 guage negative battery cable - $10
1966 Plymouth mechanics manual - $60
Air filter - $6
10 quarts of Royal purple, 2 WIX filters - $120
4 valve cover gaskets (comes in twos) - $30
Brake Shoes - $16
Tachometer - $24

Drained the transmission two or three times plus gaskets - ?
Indian head gasket compound - ?
5 quarts of Castrol and Fram filter - ?
Brake fluid - ?
Pressure hose - ?
Carburetor rebuild kit - ?
Coolant hose - ?
5ft rubber gas line - ?
Thermostat -?
3 gallons of 50/50 coolant - ?
Water pump gasket - ?
Silicone for my windshield - ?
Lots and lots of gasoline - ?

I think that's all, I can't believe I've spent so much on it already. Out of the things I know I've spent approximately $678, so it's definitely safe to say if you include gasoline that I, and my parents, have spent a combined 1k plus on my car so far.

 

[Legendary]

I am surprised by those prices actually, while i didnt add that up in my head, I am surprised that the price isnt even approaching purchase price. You havent really spent that much on it from our point of view and it already runs a whole lot better than purchace.

 

[Barracuda]

I am surprised by those prices actually, while i didnt add that up in my head, I am surprised that the price isnt even approaching purchase price. You havent really spent that much on it from our point of view and it already runs a whole lot better than purchace.

I wouldn't say she's running better then when I bought her actually. I've put about 4,000 miles on her so far and apparently I bought her just as everything decided to call it quits. The previous owner said he rebuilt the motor but It sure doesn't feel like he rebuilt it right.

My engine needs a major valve job with cylinder 1's lifters being replaced and everything adjusted to spec in accordance with my cam and timing. The driveshaft needs to be balanced and pinion angle (I think that's what it's called) adjusted because I raised my rear end. In my entire front end I don't think there is one joint that the rubber isn't broken on, and my leaf springs are starting to go. My diff is fine but It's leaking and I've never checked it so it's most likely very down on fluid. That on top of the rust all kinda adds up, I love my car to death but it's a huge money pit.

The next huge step in my cars life, and I really hate to say it, will be sitting in a garage. Once I'm done at the community college I'm going to be commuting to UCF which I'm not sure but I think it's a 40-50 minute drive so I'll need to buy another car. Hopefully by then my dad will have found a slightly better job and we'll be able to rent a house where I can park her in the garage, otherwise I'll have to find a very generous person with an empty garage. This wont be the end by any means though, I'll make sure to drive her every weekend and it will be the start of her major restoration. I have no idea whats in store for the future, but I'm hoping it will happen this way. I need to get off my lazy ass and find a job so I can get her running right and start saving up for another car, lol.

 

[mustangGT90210]

Got my hands on a tach the other day. Would have been $34 but my mom found me a $10 off coupon so I picked it up for $24. It was surprisingly easy to wire in and I had plenty of wire left, I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have a tach. As for its usefulness I have an automatic so it doesn't really do much, but it's nice to be able to see it anyway. Found out I idle at 500rpm.

That's awesome, and looks really good too. Where did you wire that in from? If I can't get my tach working right, 34 bucks sounds like a great deal for a new one

 

[Barracuda]

That's awesome, and looks really good too. Where did you wire that in from? If I can't get my tach working right, 34 bucks sounds like a great deal for a new one

It's a very simple process, especially if you don't have that many wires. There are four wires, ones a ground, one goes to a wire that is powered when the car is on, one goes to a wire that is controlled by your light switch, and the other goes to the negative on the distributor.

Luckily for me my radio only has two wires going to it and they are power and light control so those were easy to find. It also comes with these neat connectors where you put it over a wire, put the end of the tach wire in it, then crunch it so it semi cuts the wires so it can power whatever it's going to and the tach without all the hassle of wire nutting it. They give you plenty of wire too, especially the distributor wire. My distributor is on the passengers side and I had enough room to put it up and over my column, through the firewall, and all the way to the distributor with a good amount of wire still left. It also comes with a few different ends for putting it on the distributor and whatever else you might need an end for. All you'll need otherwise is a few zip ties, and with the two interior wires there was so much extra I just shoved it into the jumble of other wires and it stayed.

I'd definitely recommend it. My friends probably going to get one for his beetle sometime soon now that he sees how it works, will need to extend the wires a bit though, lol.

 

[mustangGT90210]

Awesome 👍 *bookmarks page*

 

[Cano]

The next huge step in my cars life, and I really hate to say it, will be sitting in a garage. Once I'm done at the community college I'm going to be commuting to UCF which I'm not sure but I think it's a 40-50 minute drive so I'll need to buy another car. Hopefully by then my dad will have found a slightly better job and we'll be able to rent a house where I can park her in the garage, otherwise I'll have to find a very generous person with an empty garage. This wont be the end by any means though, I'll make sure to drive her every weekend and it will be the start of her major restoration. I have no idea whats in store for the future, but I'm hoping it will happen this way. I need to get off my lazy ass and find a job so I can get her running right and start saving up for another car, lol.

take that back man, you really need to daily drive this thing. Be a man about it and make it hell for the car until you start restoring it

 

[Barracuda]

take that back man, you really need to daily drive this thing. Be a man about it and make it hell for the car until you start restoring it

It's not a question of if I should get another car, it's when. I get terrible gas mileage, my engine has a horrible tick, my rear right leaf creaks when I take a sharp left turn, my driveshaft shakes, my tires need to be balanced, and now I need to replace a wheel cylinder in my front right brake as well as my master cylinder. It's not that I don't want to drive her, I just don't feel it's fair to her to be driving her every day in this condition, It's like making a person with a broken leg walk three miles every day. I also absolutely couldn't afford to drive her to Orlando every day, plus all that highway driving and stop and go traffic would put a lot of stress on her already weak and or broken parts.

This isn't going to happen for a while though so who knows what could happen. Basically whenever my family is able to rent a house with a garage is when I'm going to start looking, but who knows when that will be. She wont become a forgotten lump of steel in my garage, don't worry. That's my life savings your talking about right there, plus she's my dream car, I just got my dream car a little too early is all.

 

[Sniffs]

some of us have the strange ability to make a vehicle wear out in a short time. and unlike where your at, Cano, some of us don't just have to put up with normal dirt/dust/mud. throw in the fact that Diablo's car is what most of us term a "collectors piece" up here, well...

what Diablo managed to find is an extra collectors piece because up here where I'm at, a poor 65 cuda would either be sitting in a museum somewhere or it's remnants are sitting somewhere in a feild becoming one with the ground it came from.

 

[Barracuda]

A few days ago I was bored so I took a few pictures.













I sold my G25 and had a bit of money left after paying back my friend, so I decided to do a bit of work to my car. I've never changed the fuel filter or belt, both of which looked old and ready to be replaced, so that's the first thing I did.



Second, I've known my diff has been leaking ever since I bought it but I never got around to it, so I decided to tackle that project with my friend. It had a lot of suction when we were taking it off so I think whatever vent is supposed to be there is clogged, but I can't find the vent so I figured I wouldn't worry about it.



It wasn't bad looking inside, no metal shavings, and some brake cleaner cleaned everything good as new.

We didn't take the drain plug out before we took it off so before we put it back on we decided to try and get the plug off, yeah... right. Plymouth decided to make the drain plug a very large and random star bit, but taking some advice from the Early A Body Forums I just tried whatever would fit. So I found something that fit, grabbed it with some locking pliers, then turned as hard as I could. It slipped and the pliers hit my pinky, but when I looked at my pinky it seems I hit it so hard that it took almost the whole left side of my pinky off (Look at your own discretion). Just a quick bandage and it managed to grow back together overnight, not bad. After that we put it back together, got the drain plug off with the square end of a large socket wrench, filled it up, and now it's working a bit better than it was. Both my dad and my friend couldn't believe that it only takes 2 pints (one quart for those who don't know), but that's what the book specifies and it was up to the correct level after filling it up.

 

[Barracuda]

Don't worry, I didn't mess with the Barracuda. I got a Pell grant for school and my car is not only tired but terrible on gas, so I bought another vehicle to be able to have a reliable and semi fuel efficient transport. It's not anything crazy, but at the same time I wanna see of you can guess what it is, like that other thread someone made recently. I will give you a few hints and a picture to help:

It was made in 1987
It's not American
It has a turbo four cylinder
Its make is known for reliability

Good luck. I won't keep you guessing for too long, I think some of you might be able to guess it pretty easily.

 

[buickgnx88]

Volvo 760 of some sort?

Edit: 80Y 2C2 probably has it. 240 Turbo

 

[Rykon Zero]

Mitsubishi Starion.

Oh, Toyota Celica!

 

[Boffin]

Has to be a Volvo...240?

 

[Barracuda]

Volvo 760 of some sort?

You are extremely close, it's a 740. That didn't take long at all.

Yup shes a 1987 Volvo 740 Wagon. Not in pristine condition, she needs a few things here and there, but it was a good deal. Picked her up for $1,000 and the previous owner apparently sunk $3,000 into, which I wish he would have used on the interior and some exterior parts. The bottom part of the dash is held on with self taping screws and the plastic on the inside of the doors is broken badly in a few places. The roof rack is barely holding on (don't know what I'm going to do about that), the taillights are pretty aged, it's missing the front blinker cover, and all of the front blinker bulbs are burnt out. Last of all as we got it home we found out that it has a terrible power steering leak coming from a bad hose, and the hose going into the turbo needs to be replaced.

All put together it sounds pretty terrible, but all the main things to get it on the road won't cost too much. I might even just take the roof rack off, sand down and kill the surface rust on one part of it, bondo, sand, then paint it. It might look pretty weird but it sounds like it might be the best idea, who knows. I'd put up some pictures but I'm tired and I'm on my parents computer so I don't feel like moving them over, but I'll make sure to post some tomorrow.

 

[buickgnx88]

Haha sounds like quite a piece you got!

 

[Joey D]

The best thing about an old Volvo? It will run forever. You seem to have picked the right vehicle for a daily.

 

[bergauk]

Make your Volvo awesome. Strip the paint off, fix all the rust and such and paint it matte black.

 

[Barracuda]

Yeah, a lot of choices went through my mind but when it came down to it the only thing I could afford that wouldn't break down constantly was a Volvo. I originally wanted a Subaru but you can't get a good one for under $3,000, at least around here you cant. Not that I just settled for the Volvo though, I do really like it, and it met all my criteria for what I wanted (rear wheel drive and not completely dull).

















[Click for 1600 x 1200]

 

[Tornado]

I thought for a second that you had put a turbo 4 cylinder in the 'Cuda. Which would have been awesome, BTW.

 

[Barracuda]

I thought for a second that you had put a turbo 4 cylinder in the 'Cuda. Which would have been awesome, BTW.

👎

The day anything less or more than an 8 cylinder gets put in the cuda is the day I kill myself, lol. Although I do know a guy who is making a custom supercharged slant six for his 65 Barracuda.

 

[Barracuda]

Sorry I haven't updated, been a bit lazy lately. As the title says the Volvo is now on the road and I really enjoy it. So many little things that I didn't have with the Barracuda that make a huge difference. The power steering surprisingly wasn't all that hard to get used to compared to all the other power steering cars I've driven, must be swede cars, my cousins Saab felt the same way.

On the downside apparently the DMV wants my plate back no exceptions or else they'll put a $150 fine on the plate next time it's registered and put a warrant out. I mean I don't care if I can't use that plate again, but it's my first plate, and an antique one at that, it means a hell of a lot to me and I want to put it on my wall. I'll have to go down to the DMV and plea to them to see if they'll let me keep it.

Like I said it needed a few things fixed before I got it on the road so here is what I fixed. The intercooler to turbo hose they put on was too thin and consequently blew out. I figured it would be an easy find and not too expensive, not so much. I bought some oil at autozone but they barely knew what the hose was, so I went over to ACDelco and they had the hose, for $40





I wasn't expecting it to be that much at all but in the end I need it so it doesn't matter. Next my blinkers needed to be fixed, but the plastic modules that hold the lights were completely rusted, no metal to be found. But a little redneck magic with some aluminum foil and tada, they work



This isn't a fix but I just thought it was pretty neat, there's so many weird things about this car, well wagon, I love it.



Now all I need to fix to get it running perfectly fine is a copper seal on a power steering line, but it's not too too bad, just gotta keep checking the levels until I can afford to fix it. My friend found two 740s in a junk yard in Orlando he goes to so I'll be able to get some big parts I want once I get some money, but for now If he got my text he should be picking me up two blinker modules (I don't trust my redneck engineering for long), a lock top thing (I dunno what it's called, the thing you push down and pull up), and an oil cap (Mine leaks). I'd go with him but they go Friday mornings and I have class at 9 and 11.

Now for a bit of a funny story, I went to the car show last night, despite not having my Cuda, to keep up appearances and give me something to do. Well I walk up to this guy I know and he tells me to put my Volvo in the show. I thought I couldn't possibly do that, it's just a Volvo, but he kept insisting and practically forced me to enter. So I do, the people I know come over and I tell them about it, but the people I don't I could tell were thinking "what the hell is this doing here". I felt like a dick the whole night, but people enter fox body mustangs all the time so i didn't feel too bad. Well it gets to the end of the show where they give out $25 gift cards to the restaurant that hosts the show, and I was the second person called. I absolutely couldn't believe it, I've only won once with the Barracuda all the times I've entered and I won first time with the Volvo. I think there might have been a little backstage switchery going on because the guy that forced me is a really well known guy who organizes some of the events, but hey, it's $25 and the food there is pretty damn good, so why complain, lol.

 

[mustangGT90210]

The volvo is already paying you back, how bout that haha

 

[Jetboy.]

Just read the entire thread, and welcome to the trials and tribulations of owning a classic car. Thankfully, while things will go wrong, it won't be computer related, you have room to work on it (or in it) and parts are (relatively) readily availiable. All in all, not so bad. 👍 Crap deal on the plate, though.


Cheers,
Jetboy

 

[Barracuda]

Just read the entire thread, and welcome to the trials and tribulations of owning a classic car. Thankfully, while things will go wrong, it won't be computer related, you have room to work on it (or in it) and parts are (relatively) readily availiable. All in all, not so bad. 👍 Crap deal on the plate, though.


Cheers,
Jetboy

Yeah she's pretty easy to work on, but being a smaller classic some things can be a pain, especially with the drivers side exhaust manifold in the way of everything below it.

Out of all the mopars I could have picked to love, mine is probably one of the worst for availability of restoration parts. Everything drivetrain related I can usually pick up at autozone, but when it comes to interior parts and replacement panels I'll be paying an arm and a leg if I can even find them. I have yet to find one website or catalog with replacement quarter panels, most likely I'll have to, by the grace of god, find a parts car with some good, or at least decent, quarter panels. The main issue is the early A body Barracudas aren't the most popular cars. You can find anything for a 67-74 Barracuda, but since there isn't as much demand for early A body parts they don't stock or even make most of the specialty stuff. I kinda like it that way though, not for parts obviously, but it makes most of the owners die hard enthusiasts.

Unfortunately for the Barracuda all of the money I get, unless it's some random large sum ($10,000 would be nice ), will be going towards the Volvo. I'm not going to do anything extreme, but I'd like to at least make it look nice and run better. From what I've been told I got a decent deal on the Volvo already, so anything I can do to raise the re-sale value will be a plus when I eventually sell it down the road. Not that I want to sell it, If I could I'd like to make it into an epic sleeper, but I don't think life is going to be that kind to me, at least right now.

 

[High-Test]

Always nice to see a fold-out third row seat facing backwards like it's supposed to. There are a grand total of three important seating places in a car such as yours.

1.) Your seat.
2.) The third row. Are your friends fighting over it?

Getting a K-cam for the volvo shouldn't be too much. That will improve the engine's liveliness by a noticeable amount. (If I remember from all the volvo research I did)

 

[Leonidae]

Ask from Greycap. his Volvoism has gone over the borderline of obsession long time ago, so he probably knows..