1970 Barracuda Reanimated.

[Marty]

I've posted a few pictures of my 1970 Barracuda in another thread with new paint. I thought maybe I should just start a thread about the complete build from the beginning.

As far as I know, the Barracuda has had two other owners before I happened upon it in Arkansas. The gentleman in Arkansas and the owner in Oklahoma. Ironically the first owner lives about an hour from me here in the Tulsa area. I came across him while nosing around on the Facebook market place. He was selling his 1969 Mach1. He has a name one could not forget.

Owner#1- Started the build with a rust-free six cylinder/3 speed body. Owner #1 gathered all the parts. 440/4-speed. 6 BBL. Shaker hood w/shaker equipment. Dana 60 Track-Pac. Go-wing. Interior. Four-wheel disc brakes along with other parts needed to complete the build. Bodywork and primer on B-5 original paint.

Owner #2- He ended up with the Barracuda and had it painted in Limelight green and had the bumpers re-chromed. It stopped there. The paint was an economy single-stage finish. Not a bad job for the most part. No issues.

Owner #3. I found it while my buddy and I went to pick up a 426 Hemi for a Coronet and to check on two 1971 Cuda's that owner #2 had for sale. $2500. I missed out on the Cudas but he showed me this Barracuda he had in his Garage. The build was going nowhere. After a week of getting the deal finalized, I brought the Barracuda back to Oklahoma to start the build. My 1971 Challenger was sold to open up some room. I started work last Spring. It's painted now as I have posted but there is much more to do.

Starting at the beginning.

[cuda hunter]

Looks great now!  Did you redo the single stage green the previous owner used?
B5 originally with a 3 speed manual and a /6.  Any other info on the original car?

[Marty]

 Yes, I did repaint it with a factory match Limelight green BC/CC. There is a Hue difference between the factory matched and this economy paint. I'll get to that soon.

No extra info on the car it's self. The fender tag is gone and no broadcast sheet. The only documentation was the VIN sticker on the door (shocker.) which did match the cowl and radiator support. Even the dash tag was missing but I had a new one made. Appears to be a nothing special Barracuda.

[cuda hunter]

Glad it's getting a new life!   It's Something special alright!  Looks great! 

Now I'm curious of the hue difference.  Is it that noticeable ?

[anlauto]

In the first picture engine compartment looks like FJ6 while it's now a beautiful FJ5 

[Marty]

Enough to make a difference in a repair.  Close to OEM but no banana It's ok for all-overs but very difficult to work with if you needed to blend a repair. Especially if the painter does not know it was a budget paint job beforehand. That's why you should buy extra for future needs. Big time toner difference between OEM and Economy base coats. The economic base is a mostly clear base with a few toners added to get a close match. You need more for coverage. The good base is all OEM type toners. Much less needed for coverage.

[Marty]

Good eye.

I noticed that while sanding the cowl. Owner #1 went with the Sassy Grass and owner #2 went with Limelight.

[Marty]

Overall the paint finish on the Barracuda looked good. No cracking, bubbles, or any other defects. It was actually a nice job. Anyway, I did a tape test using masking tape and it pulled off a chunk of paint. I checked another area on the lower left fender and it did the same thing. Meh, paint was the first thing I wanted to do anyway. New paint keeps you motivated.

The front end clip looked like it was kind of thrown together so I decided to do some further adjustments to the gaps. Doing so, I found the fenders were attached by Hardware Store type hardware and the header and lower valance panel were attached with Metric. I also found a header panel to fender captured nut was broken off and an oversized metric fastener was cranked in to hold them together. The holes were drilled out and I installed rivet nuts dipped in Panel Adhesive and reinstalled them. Found the proper hardware and re-assembled the front clip and adjusted the hood. The gapping issue is not over. 

Installing the hood pins.

Attached the brackets and hood pins. I put a blob of clay in the hood pin access hole under the hood. Closed the hood till the pin touched. Open the hood and drilled a pilot hole in the center of the clay indentation. From the top, using a step drill bit, I drilled the hole to the exact size of the hood pin. Using the scuff plate as a guide, I drilled the holes for the attachment screws. Being that the hood pins are snug in the holes, my hood alignment will be a cinch when I reinstall it after painting.

[Marty]

Go-Wing.

I drilled the holes for the Go-Wing pretty much the way I drilled for the Hood-Pins. Placed the clay on the back of the deck lid then installed the brackets. Pushed a large drill bit through that made an indentation in the clay. Removed the brackets then used a center punch. Drilled a pilot hole. I finished the drilling from the top side of the panel to stud size.


Bodywork.

Since the body only had one repaint, I decided to sand off the green single-stage with a 10-inch Dura-Block and 36 grit sandpaper. I blocked the quarter and the door until the green was removed, then sanded again with 80 and finished with 100. Cleaned off the panels and sprayed three coats of high build primer. As time allowed, I moved onto the other panels. Usually one to two panels at a time.

Evercoat Edge DMT. 2.0 primer gun. 15 PSI. 10% reduced with Acetone. Three wet coats applied.

[Marty]

Blocking continued.

Merry Christmas.

[Marty]

The door to the fender gap really bothered me, so I went to adjust the gap once more. I removed the fenders..and the doors this time. Just loosening the hinges were just not enough. Once the doors were off, I cleaned the area and the mounting plates so that everything would slide forward and aft properly with no rusty friction. I also had to shim the fender to get the body lines closer.

I used a 3/16" stacked fender shims to measure the gaps. Reinstalled everything and did some fine-tuning and finally got what I wanted. Not an easy job with the door windows installed.

Moved on to the strip sanding /blocking of the fenders.

Merry Christmas!

[YellowThumper]

That's looking good there.

[usraptor]

Nice work.  Those fender to door gaps definitely look better. 

[Marty]

Sanding on...

Sand stripped the hood. This was an aftermarket hood made by R-Dot (The manufacturer's label was left on the back of the hood.)I was surprised at how well it fit. Nice part. 36,80,150 grit grinding disc. Filled a couple of dings with Evercoat Rage filler then three coats of Evercoat DMT.

By now it's been weeks and that let the DMT cure, which is very important for the final finish. The next important step is to guide coat the surface. I use the 3M or Mirka Dry Powder. This product is superior to the spray bomb method. You will see every defect and you'll be sure to have a perfect surface once it's sanded off. Doesn't clog the sandpaper either.

3/4" masking tape placed on the body lines to keep them straight then blocked with 100 grit/dry.

[Spikedog08]

Great Thread!  Some good tips here!