1970 Barracuda Reanimated.

[Marty]

You sure have a number of interesting cars to work on. Thanks for taking the time to post up pics and brief descriptions of methods.
Your own car must be starting hold up a fair amount of dust.....

Your very welcome.

I keep painters' plastic on the Barracuda...but the body filler/primer dust still gets through. It's a never-ending chore sweeping it up.

I tried to take a break to catch up on the list cars I've committed to, but no one listened.   It's hard to say no.

[mtull]

Unbelievable!!! This is the second time you've found me!

I read the updates to your forum threads for months before I realized it was you.  Glad to hear you still have the LS5 and happy to 'virtually' see you again. 

I think you painted the H/O 15 years prior to when I took those pics.  10 ~ 15 years after you painted the car, the Oldsmobile community determined the paint formula for the gold stripes (only offered by one source at the time) was way off so they adjusted the formula.  The stripes were repainted and the tires were changed over to reproduction Polyglass.  For full disclosure, the house in the background is not mine nor is it in my neighborhood.

Anyway, I've distracted way too much from your thread already.  Thank you for sharing your work for all of us to enjoy, looking forward to seeing more progress!

[Marty]

The gold paint I used was bought out of Florida. Supposedly that gentleman was the only one that had the OEM formula. I don't recall how I located him. Maybe he was in Hemmings Motor News. It came in enamel only. Jim at MATTO's had a Basemaker converter that made enamel into a basecoat. It was a DUPONT product.

 Sometimes in the paint world you're at the mercy of who mix's your paint. One gram off can make a big difference. Try not to have your paint mixed on a Monday morning. 

Keep in touch!

[mtull]

Yep, your correct, there was only one guy at the time.  He wouldn't share the formula if I recall correctly?  I 100% don't believe any fault could ever be placed on you or they guys mixing the paint.  The issue was with the formula.  Information on the Internet was not widely available like it is today.  Luckily the Oldsmobile community was eventually able to find a more accurate solution.

TTYL
M.   

[Marty]

You're correct. He owned the formula...at that time. It was only a matter of time before someone figured it out.

[MoparCarGuy]

For those interested, the BS23R1B253218 "Creamsicle" HemiCuda is discussed HERE.

[Marty]

Continuing the heater box assembly, I had Bill Meerholz put together a blower motor for me. Awesome personal service. He restored my faith in independent restoration parts services. Highly recommend. Someone in El Paso could learn a lot from him. I installed all the firewall insulation and installed the heater box, and the rest of the components. One step closer to the dash assembly installation

[dodj]

Ugh...that wheel well repair will take a day or two....

[Marty]

Thanks to a fellow forum member, I was reminded about the dashboard reverse light. There are so many details that can be missed when you put these cars together it's nice to have an unofficial QA department. 

The dash harness was wrapped in harness tape and placed into the dash frame. The American Auto Wire harness has relays, so I attached a fiberglass strip to the back of the glove box and attached the relays to the strip. I'm not much into the wiring part of this project, I just focused on the instructions and managed my way through.

Installed some small parts onto the inner firewall. Defroster ducting, brake switch, clutch switch (Fixed the broken wire.), and gas pedal. The brake booster was cleaned and prepped for epoxy primer then a couple coats of gloss black. Installed.

The vent cables were cleaned up and partly lubed with dry lube till they moved freely. One of the cables had its mounting base broken off the handle. I found a piece of scrap plastic and used the other cable to trace the shape onto the plastic. Cut out the new base and drilled the holes. The broken handle was prepped with 220 sandpaper along with the new base. Using Superglue I tacked the new base onto the vent handle to keep it in place. Once it had cured, I ran a bead of super glue along the edge then sprinkled some baking soda onto the wet glue. It instantly hardened. I did this all around the edges till the glue/baking soda had built up and filled all the cracks. The repair is super strong so I have no doubt it will hold up to the use of the cable. I cleaned up the repair a bit with sandpaper then sprayed the area with semi-gloss. The handle itself was cleaned then the lettering was filled in with white paint from a paint pen. Once dry, I wiped off the excess with a paper towel dampened with Acetone. The handle was then polished using compounds.

[RUNCHARGER]

Thanks for the dry powder tip. I find Autobody materials change so fast it's almost impossible to keep up. As a hobbiest that only does a car every year or two I'm always behind on what the current best practice is.

[Marty]

Glad I could help. I got caught up in the newest auto body sales pitches years ago and all it cost was more $$$. I never really notice any difference in the final product. I decided to keep things simple and stick with what I know and what worked. Your skill and knowing your product are where it all counts no matter what materials you use.

[Marty]

Back to the power brake booster.

When I ordered the brake booster reinforcement plate it came with the pedal linkage. How convenient. I find out now after ordering this part months ago that it wasn't a direct bolt on. It was too wide for the booster pedal rod, the hole in the booster pedal rod was too small and it didn't include the correct length bolt and spacer.

The power booster and master cylinder was ordered for 1970 E-Body, and it did bolt directly to the firewall, so...

What I did.

Discarded the supplied bushing. Found a 5/16" steel tubing and using a tubing cutter cut it to fit the inside of the linkage walls. 9/16" wide.

Ran a 5/16 drill bit through the tube so that the bolt would slip to fit.

Drilled the pedal push rod out with a 5/64" drill bit so that the bolt/sleeve would slip to fit.

Used four washers with a 5/16 opening to center the pedal push rod. Two per side.

The bracket attachment bolt was replaced with a 3/8-4" bolt,

Found two 1" spacers and cut one down to 1/4" (1 1/4'total)

Found a new shoulder bolt at Mancini Racing. $14.

[mtull]

I'm glad you have skills (and tools).

[Marty]

My Barracuda came with disc brakes on the rear axle, so I had to come up with a new brake line system for the master cylinder. I was able to use most of the pre-bent lines that came in the disc brake line kit.

First thing, I had to find a distribution valve for a disc-disc brake system. I did a lot of research and finally decided on the GM PV72. It is mentioned here. https://www.forebodiesonly.com/forum/threads/proportioning-valve-4-wheel-disc-brakes.24235/  Post #4. I got mine from Classic Industries.

I was able to use most of the fittings from the disc brake line kit. I found the rear brake adapter at Summit Racing.
3/8-24 to 9/16-18. AGS BLF-28B. $4.99. (I've seen this adapter going as high as $30 on the web.)

I also found the Distribution block bracket at Summit.

I used Ni-Copp brake line. Easy to form and easy to flare.

To add, I used a couple of union fittings, a T block and some brake line armor.

For the most part it was straight forward to connect the pre-bent lines to my custom-made lines. The tougher part was forming the lines from the distribution block to the master cylinder. Not too much room to fit the lines under the master cylinder but after some bending practice, I got it done. 

To aid in connecting the PV72 Disc-Disc block, I drew out diagram showing the fitting sizes and fluid flow.

[Marty]

A big step forward. 

Installed the dash assembly. That certainly was not an easy task. Once it was fastened in, I installed the trim clips and windshield.

The windshield was made by AMD. The glass was very thick, so I used 5/16 ribbon seal. The seal and glass were lubricated with Quick Detailer so that the glass could be adjusted. I left it to dry for 24 hours.

The stainless was cut and buffed and installed around the windshield.

Pillar molding, shoulder belts, visors, rear view mirror installed.