So I inherited an A body Barracuda

So in talking with my dad today, He really wants me to have his 66 Barracuda. It's been really parked for 16 years so I will have to go completely through the car. The good thing is it doesn't leak really and the body is still in really good shape. It just needs some small touch ups and a really good back to front polishing. He is going to bring it over in September.

Is there any good parts and information resources for the early A body stuff?

I want to keep it stock appearing but make some drive-ability upgrades. Stuff like Disc brakes and electronic ignition.

Any good information or comments are appreciated.

If you're jealous and you know it, clap your hands!

clap clap

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/
www.moparts.com

Enjoy!

One day I will own one.

Thanks guys.

It's a really nice car. My dad has been in bad health for a while so the car has just sat for years. Every time I go to Alabama to see him, I feel bad for the car and he wants me to have it.

It's black and silver with the red interior. Black on the top and bottom with silver in the middle. It's an original 273 2 barrel car but he has a 340, 273, and all of the 4 barrel equipment too . I'll end up putting one of those motors in it eventually. He has also been gathering the AC equipment so I will probably add AC to make it a little better for Texas summers. It's a 904 Tranny that someone put in a shift kit on that makes it shift horribly. I'll have my buddy at the tranny shop look at that.

Strongly resist the urge to install headers. Headers for that chassis look like they were designed by H.R. Giger and are about as nightmarish.

Mopar folk are a funny bunch. Enthusiastic, though.

Needs moar MS 5.7 Hemi.....

I'll be happy to answer any and all of your questions.

My '68 is the second generation Barracuda. First is the '64-66. The chassis is narrower on the first gen.

I have a customer with a '66. It's coming in the shop next week to have a few things gone over, including the brakes. I'll take some pics and see about posting them.

FYI, the '66 still had the single master cylinder for the brakes. If going to disks, you'll need to re-plumb the lines and use a later dual master.

All of the A-bodies (until '73) had what's referred to as the small bolt pattern (SBP)wheels. They use a 5 x 4.0" bolt pattern. The aftermarket used to refer to it as the BVD pattern. Not some weird underwear reference, but for Barracuda Valiant Dart.

If you want to keep the car with the small bolt pattern, the disk brake choices are more difficult. The first is to round up the factory Kelsey Hayes disk brakes. You would need the spindles and everything out from there. Not the easiest to come by, and out of production by the end of '72. Would need to find a donor BVD car with all the pieces, or hit the swap meets.

There are some aftermarket options. An outfit called Scarebird makes some adapters to use a FWD GM caliper on the stock drum spindles. I can't remember what they are using for the hub, possibly the one from the drum. I have a buddy running this combo on a '64 Dart. I can get the scoop from him.

Wilwood has rotor hats with both bolt patterns, but no off the shelf kit for the drum spindles. I'm looking into a combo using their parts for a customer for his Duster. He wants to keep the reproduction 15" SBP Rallye wheels that are on the car now, but go with disks behind them.

If you aren't married to the small bolt pattern wheels, there are options to swap the later A-body ('73-76) spindles into the earlier cars. The '73-76 disk brake A's used the same 4.5" bolt pattern wheel as the mid and full sixe Mopars of the era, along with Ford and AMC.

The most common BBP swap is to grab the upper control arms and spindles from a donor '73-76 A. The upper ball joint is larger on the BBP disk cars. There is a guy offering a sleeve to swap the later spindle into the small ball joint. I haven't use it yet, but he has an excellent reputation for his products.

On the electronic ignition there are a couple options. If the current distributor is good, I like using the Pertronix modules to replace the points. I prefer the Ignitor II for the circuit protection built in. I've installed a few, and converted my '68 over to their billet aluminum distributor.

The old junkyard swap was to grab a distributor out of a '73-up car or truck that was using the Mopar ignition module. The module will be on the firewall and the distributor has vacuum advance. If the module is on the air cleaner and no vac advance on the dizzy, walk away. It's a lean burn car.

You'll need the distributor, harness, ballast resistor, and module for the swap. Mopar Performance used to have it as a kit, but it isn't currently available like that. The components are available, and the current distributor is made by Mallory.

I have had mixed luck with the MP "Orange" ignition modules in the last several years. The quality isn't the same as it was 15 years ago. I've had very good luck with the Standard LX101 module.

OK, I rambled on enough for now. I'll be glad to crank out any info you might need.

Knurled wrote: Strongly resist the urge to install headers. Headers for that chassis look like they were designed by H.R. Giger and are about as nightmarish. Mopar folk are a funny bunch. Enthusiastic, though.

Yea we are.

On the headers, TTI makes some very nice under chassis headers for the early A's, but they are expensive. Do not go with fenderwell headers.

The 340 manifolds flow well, but are a tight fit in the earlier car. I think the driver's side needs some grinding to clear the steering column. The passenger side might need the flapper valve removed.

On the trans, does it have a full manual valve body in it? If not, is the kick-down linkage connected and adjusted properly?

OK, I really need to call it a night. I'll check back on the thread on the morning.

Knurled wrote: If you're jealous and you know it, clap your hands! *clap clap*

clap clap

Inspiration.

Roadkill-Barracuda

Wow Rob. Thanks for the info. Lot of good stuff there.

I've got to really run through everything that he has with the car. He kept collecting parts for the car.

So one question, On the large bolt pattern rear ends are they a straight fit to the earlier cars? I'm 95% certain it's a 7 1/4 rear end that is in the car now. I will want to upgrade to a 8 1/4 or 8 3/4 especially if I build the 340.

Actually one of the first major projects I'll have is to properly fix the damage that was caused by the installation of fenderwell headers so I've not going back there. I'm not worried about removing the flapper valve as we already did that on the current manifolds. I also was seeing some people using the 360 magnum manifolds and those run really cheap.

Knurled wrote: If you're jealous and you know it, clap your hands! *clap clap*

Me too! Clap, clap...

" Mopar Performance used to have it as a kit, but it isn't currently available like that. "

I was going to suggest this if it was still available... That kit from what used to be Direct Connection used to be the stuff...

Wow, you're lucky. My father's first car was a '65 Barracuda with the 273. Not much to add to what Rob said, other than that I'd recommend upgrading to a dual circuit master cylinder whether you want disc brakes or not. Had the stock single circuit one fail on my Dart while backing down a steep driveway - YIKES!

bmw88rider wrote: So one question, On the large bolt pattern rear ends are they a straight fit to the earlier cars? I'm 95% certain it's a 7 1/4 rear end that is in the car now. I will want to upgrade to a 8 1/4 or 8 3/4 especially if I build the 340.

The stock rear end would have been a 7 1/4". 8 3/4" rears didn't come with the 4.5" x 5" bolt pattern in an A-body width stock, but there's aftermarket axles for that, or you can narrow a C-body axle. The 8 3/4" axle needs a shorter driveshaft IIRC, but other than that, all A-body axles interchange. I've seen some early B-body rear axles that are just about 1" wider stuffed in there too.

Actually one of the first major projects I'll have is to properly fix the damage that was caused by the installation of fenderwell headers so I've not going back there. I'm not worried about removing the flapper valve as we already did that on the current manifolds. I also was seeing some people using the 360 magnum manifolds and those run really cheap.

Ew, that's going to be a pain. The inner fenderwells on that car are actually the frame rails, and a lot of people make the cutouts with sharp corners that can create fatigue cracks. IIRC, the 360 Magnum truck manifolds bolt right on.

First chance i had to check in today.

As Matt said, the 8 3/4 or BBP 8 1/4 from an A-body will bolt in with a shorter driveshaft. If you aren't going to go nuts with the power, and want to go BBP, the 8 1/4 will be perfect. Lots of ratios available for them. They were used in Dakotas and XJ's with the same axle spline count through '96. They can be good sources for junkyard limited slips and 3.21-3.55-3.91 gears. Some Jeeps got 4.10's, but they aren't terribly common around here. And the wheel tubs are small on them so you'll probably be running a short tire.

If you want a Texas Mile car, 2.76's are common, 2.94's a little less common but were used in some police package Diplomats & Gran Furies as well as some 1/2 2WD Rams. 2.45's came into production in the mid '70's and a 2.29 came out in the early 80's. The 2.45 & 2.29 need a different carrier than the others. It's a C-clip style rear, so some forms of motorsports won't like that. They are not known for failure, but check any rule books for events you might want to run. Would suck to get there and be sent home.

The inner fenders are shared with the other '63-66 A's. Since you're in TX, you might be able to find a rust free donor in a yard there. Get a spot weld cutter and take your time.

On the Maggie manifolds, I've read that they fit with a little grinding on the driver's manifold to clear the steering column. Of all the Magnum manifolds the '92-93 are the most desirable with a larger outlet than the later ones. Gran Cherokees use different manifolds than the Dodge trucks. The guys doing the swaps have been using the truck manifolds.

Thanks again for all of the great info everyone.

It'll give me some things to look out for at the swap meets in the summer and fall. It's time for a road trip to Sequin as well. Once I get the car in September, I'll take some pictures and post them up.