[GTSDave]

Ok folks here goes. I have a 68 Barracuda fast back that I am building into a bracket car. My target is high 10’s low 11’s. I know that one day I will probably go faster but that is where I want to start.

I want to install a cage, and possibly a 4 link. I had some good responses on one of the other boards showing the under carriage of a SS car. I always thought that they were full tube cars now days, but now I know that is not the case. Either way that is overkill for the car I want to build.

Has anyone bought a kit (mild steel) for their Barracuda? How was the fit? I know I want to extend it out to the front frame rails, and eliminate the fender-wells. I am not prepared to go with a strut front end yet. I like the way I have seen some folks take the forward bars right up to the shock mount and weld them together. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures. Feel free to send me some LOL.

Is there a kit out there that I can do this with? I am a very good welder, but don’t have tubing bending equipment. I want a kit that will fit close enough, that I can modify/ tweak without needing a bender.

For those that have their Barracuda caged did you leave in the headliner and interior sail panels? This one has the folding rear seat, and most of the interior panels are still in it. Since this will be a pure race car should I pull all of the panels? What about door panels, these are trashed and will be going away. Should I put something back in their place? I want to replace the dash with a fiberglass one. I seem to remember someone posting pictures on BBD a while back of a fiberglass dash that looked pretty good. Does anyone know the source for these? How much weight could I save going with Lexan for the side glass? Not sure if anyone builds Lexan windshield or rear glass, if there is someone where can I contact them>

Thanks in advance,

-Dave

 

[qkcuda]

Personally, I wouldn't go the full frame route unless you have rust problems, seems like a lot of work. The folding rear seat back is partially plywood and is quite heavy. Same for the trunk divider, but you will have to replace it with a metal firewall to isolate the trunk if you run a fuel cell. I would remove the door panels and replace them with thin aluminum. You can't leave the holes in the doors uncovered due to sharp edges.

 

[GTSDave]

Thanks QK,

I don't want to go full frame. Just caged with forward bars to eliminate the fender-wells. It has home made frame connectors that are very stiff. I jacked up one of the wheels a little too high the other day (fighting with headers) and even though I was jacking only one side, it lifted both tires.

I guess the interior sail panels will have to stay, and it will need a headliner (sharp edges). Where else is a good place to get rid of some weight?

Also, is anyone using a back half kit, that fits pretty well. Again I can fabricate very well, I just dont have a tubing bender to make exotic stuff. Off the shelf, that is close, I could modify myself.

-Dave

 

[Jim_Lusk]

Dave, Alan's car has no headliner or door panels (door panels would be nice, though). The back seat is gone as are lots of other pieces in the back of the car. He has started a custom cage (SCCA rules are such that a stock CE cage is not legal).



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[GLENNP]

The only bar that really matters is the main hoop. Some kits make the hoop to narrow in my opinion even if you were using the side interior panels. This make you door bars a pain to mount because now they are going to be set inward about 2" farther then they need to be. This may only matter is your a big guy.

 

[GTSDave]

Thanks guys,
I was lookng at 10 and 12 point kits, but wanted one specifically set up for a 68. I am also thinking about going with a 4 link, and looking at some of those kits as well.

This is going to be a fun build! I will keep everyone posted on the progress as things get going.

-Dave

 

[BARRACUDABILLY]

Dave,
I am also doing a 68 fastback prostreet/bracket car, I am using a 12 point kit from autoweld
and so far I love it, I am also installing their competition 4-link jig welded rear clip.
It went in like a dream also. The rollcage and clip are heavy duty 11ga about 1/8' thick
wall and the bars are all 1 5/8 also 11 ga. all mild steel, easy to work with easy to weld.
the web site is www.autoweldchassis.com

two more cents worth, I just sold my 71 dart bracket car that I installed a 8 point kit in
from competition engeneering, it was a ok kit but it was harder to install the the autoweld kit.
The autoweld kit has the "fish mouths" per cut for the sholder bar and at least one end of
each tube was pre fitted to make make the connections easier.

I left my old headliner in until the halo was tacked in then removed the headliner to make sure
I left enough room to install the new one.

I have removed the back seat and plan on trimming the side panels around the tubs.

I am doing to remove my front window regulators and do the hemi thing using a seat belt
to lower and raise the side windows and for what a stock door panel weighs I will be
ordering a new set of plain old door panels from legendary.

The wife has a digital camera I will get some pics this weekend and attempt to post them
I am not real good at computer stuff.

hope this helps
B.B.

 

[GTSDave]

BB,

That is exactly the way I want to do mine! Please send me pics when you can [email protected]

I was thinking about using Lexan side windows on mine. I have not checked prices yet though, so the old SS thing may be the way to go. I work for an HVAC Rep Firm and we have a sheet metal shop with all the associated tools. We have sheers, brakes, spot welders, and about anything else you can imagine. To include a brand new Miller Mig Welder!

If I go with the Lexan, I will be making sheet metal door panels, and painting them. If I keep the glass, then I will go with some plane jane door panels. That is still a ways off though.

-Dave

 

[BARRACUDABILLY]

SMALL WORLD
I work as a HVAC designer, I design custom HVAC systems and units.
for Lockwood Greene engineers, what HVAC company do you rep?

My car is at my best friends fab shop in Cowpens SC his shops name
is BOGANS PRO-formance, tip top custom fab work and Mopar man!
I have also kicked around the lexan idea but I have decided to spend
the money on reducing my rolling weight. something about static vs rolling?
I hope to get the k frame out this weekend and order a Alterkation kit
with in the next week or two. I will take up a bunch of pictures and
post or e-mail them to you.

are you building a race only ride or do you have any plans for street use?
My plans are building a race car with head lights and tail lights unless S.C.
brings back inspections, then it will be a race only car.

 

[GTSDave]

We are a 44 year old rep firm that has had many lines over the years. I specialize in Variable Frequency Drives (ABB.) I do everything from designing custom bypasses to plan and spec bids, to laying out custom stand-alone controls utilizing our drives dual PID loops. I have a background in electronic warfare (USAF) and communications (World Com) so I am also tapped to work the kinks out of serial communications systems interfaces with our drives. Our drives business has been growing at just over 20% per year. Most of that is because we work with the Consulting firms and Controls companies to lay out systems that work right the first time. We also have in-house techs to handle anything they can throw at us. I am one of two folks at our firm that handles Consultant presentations, owner training, and contractor training. We will train anyone that uses our drives in our area for free. It helps with nuisance warranty calls, as well as product sales. If they know how it works and know there is local tech support, they are more likely to use our product.

Monday we will be installing one of the new ABB ultra low harmonic drives at Baylor College of Medicine. They already have a couple of hundred units that have been running for several years, but the new construction we are working on will have harmonic issues. This new drive has an active front-end for harmonic mitigation. It is cleaner than an 18 pulse drive and is not susceptible to power imbalance problems. I am pretty happy because I get to pick up my new Amprobe Power analyzer tomorrow. We will be working with the Baylor engineers as well as a couple of other consultant firms here in Houston to really put one of these things to the test in real world working conditions. Baylor has been gracious enough to let us use one of their facilities.

We also rep lots of other products. I also handle Plate and Frame Heat Exchangers (Alfa Laval), and Gas Detection (Vulcain.) I prefer anything electrical, but I am very good with heat exchangers, and lots of folks use me as the go-to guy for them. We have other people that specialize in vibration isolation (Amber Booth), Cooling Towers (BAC), fan coil units, heat pumps, precision lab testing equipment, water treatment systems, water filtration systems, and many other products for the Commercial HVAC market. The only thing we don’t handle is pumps and boilers, but that may be changing soon.

Currently we have 14 employees, and sell between $5 and $8 million per year. Our new warehouse is coming out of the ground right now. We have a large stock of equipment, and parts.

Not a bad gig. I left the communications world about 5 years ago and have not regretted it for a minute!

-Dave

 

[SRT8Guy]

Hey Guys!

I found my way to this site about 9 months ago and ended up buying an AlterKtion kit from Bill Reilly for my 500" 6-pack Charger.  I found Bill to have a great product, be a great resource for information and very easy to work with.  Excellent net find!

Then, a couple of days ago I dropped back in and discovered GTSDave and BarracudaBilly talking about the very thing that I'm just now starting... a 68 Cuda bracket car.   Whoo-hoo!  Is this internet thing great or what?!!

Anyway, I'll be very interested to see what you guys can share as I'm going to be ALL ears. 

BarracudaBilly, I took your advice and clicked over to the AutoWeld site and found lots of good information.  (I wasn't aware of them before.) I think you purchased exactly what I thought I would need - the Ultimate II 4 link rear clip and the pre-cut and coped cage.  Their prices actually looked pretty reasonable, and will be much simpler than me having to take the time to get everything fabricated from scratch here in Colorado.

Anything you guys can continue to share with photos and / or critiques of products is just what I'm looking for!

Best regards to all of you from the newest newbie here on the site!

Gordon

 

[Dartsport]

Ron from Autoweld is a nice guy to deal with. His shop is about an hour from me. Good products........

 

[GTSDave]

Gordon,

Mine will be a long slow build, but I will post progress as I move along with it. I will probably add pictures to my web page as well. My page has been working (just barely) for a while now. I had software problems that crashed it, and I never got it back going the way it should be. I hope to fix it soon. Once I do I will put up pictures of progress on the GTS and the Barracuda.

-Dave

www.gtsdave.com

 

[SRT8Guy]

Dave, I think you must be a better man than me!

I've done a lot of ambitious things to a car, but never once have I sawed a car in half, then put it back together again and made it right! I congratulate your enthusiasm and skills!

Keep up the good work! What's the saying: "Restore 'em, don't crush em"?

So... what's the story on the Cuda?

Gordon

 

[chryco]

Hi . Low elevens , high tens can be done easily on Super Stock springs alone. This car has 3600 lb S/S springs a 52 " Dana with 5.38 gears , a Liberty Four speed and a W2 340 with 14"x32x14 slicks and hooked not bad !!!???? By the way this picture is well over 20 years old .
Chryco

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[GTSDave]

Wow Chryco,

Great picture. I guess for me the 4 link goes back to when I got started hot rodding. I had an old Ford truck with a big block. Folks told me about this guy who knew Fords better than anyone else. I went over to his house knocked on the door and told him that I wanted to hot rod my truck and wanted to learn how to do it. He cracked a big smile and brought me into his garage. He had a Super Gas Pinto running a 13.5-1 4V Cleveland. It was a total tube chassis car. The only thing Pinto was the roof and partial quarters. I turned wrenches on that one and others while he helped me find parts and build my old truck.

Ever since then I have wanted a caged pure race car. It has been 15 years since then and he is a much better fabricator than I will ever be. He looked over my 68 and convinced me that I can build it myself, and he will help when I have problems or get stuck. He raced many different cars over the years, and it wasn't until he went to 4 links that he was able to get them dialed in exactly the way he wanted. That is one of the things I was looking at as well. I dont care if I run 11:50's as long as I can be consistant. I was always good at the tree, but never had a car that was consistant enough to make it really pay off. If I would have taken the money I sunk into street cars for the track, I could have built one hell of a race car.

-Dave

 

[SRT8Guy]

and it wasn't until he went to 4 links that he was able to get them dialed in exactly the way he wanted.   That is one of the things I was looking at as well.  I dont care if I run 11:50's as long as I can be consistant.  I was always good at the tree, but never had a car that was consistant enough to make it really pay off. 

-Dave

Dave, I completely agree.  My RT's could be usually be pretty fair but I think the 4 links are a great way to gain that elusive consistency.  I don't necessarily want to set the world on fire ETwise (although i DO think it would be pretty cool to run high 10's with a big block stroker   ;D  . 

Gordon

 

[BARRACUDABILLY]

GTSDAVE
I have e-mailed you some pictures of my project.
everyone else I will add them to the gallery when
I can get the file size down to below the 100 meg max.
any ideas or suggestions? most of my pictures are in the
300-450 meg range. is the setting too high on the camera?
At least I took them and now know how to load them!

 

[BARRACUDABILLY]

PICTURES NOW POSTED IN GALLERY

 

[GTSDave]

BB,

I got the pics. THANKS! It looks great and, it looks exactly the way I pictured doing mine! Keep us posted of progress, and keep sending pictures. I have never welded in a cage, but I am sure I can. One of the jig welded rear setups looks like just the ticket. I like the way you are doing the inner panels. I might just do the same.

In keeping the weight down, there will be lots of places to cut pounds. Any idea what yours will weigh when it's done? Will you be keeping the stock firewall and floors in the front? Will you be using steel tubbs or aluminum?

-Dave