71 Barracuda EV2 H5XV

[Skdmark]

Been a few weeks so I though I would post up the latest updates.

I replaced
1. Front and rear shocks with QA1 single adjustable units, new bushings and mounting hardware
2. Rear leaf springs with HD springs (S13 grade) with +1 inch arch.
3. Rear shackles, bushings, hanger hardware and U-bolts

If the weather is good tomorrow I hope to get some new pics as the ride height and stance has much improved from the "butt drag" rake it had under the old springs.

[Skdmark]

Haven't been too many nice days left to grab a decent picture outside.
Here it is with the new springs and shocks. The back end is where I want it and the car is sitting level.
I'm probably going to drop the nose a about 1/2-3/4 of an inch for a slight rake.

[nsmall]

Looking good and I would agree a slight rake would look nice. 

[Purepony]

I have qa1s on my camaro
Best aftermarket coil over  shock I've ever had on a vintage car

[Skdmark]

It's been awhile since I made an update. Over the winter, I've acquired a few new and used items for the Barracuda. Most will have to wait until things warm up before I can start installing.

Ammeter bypass and headlight relay kit from Crackedback
Rallye Gauge cluster, light bar and a NOS clock off Ebay.
Repro light tubes, AC control bezel, cluster lens, oil pressure sender, Rallye harness conversion and knobs from Roseville
Sunpro volt meter from Walmart.com
Solid state IVR3 and tach board from RT-eng

[Skdmark]

After stripping the cluster down into it's individual parts..

I took the die cast housing, which was in great shape, and cleaned off what was left from the old gaskets. Hit it with some fresh flat black and installed new seals. DMT does not produce these seals. They come from premiumdashdecals. The quality was so-so compared to what DMT produces. Still better than the 50 year old ones turning to dust. The kit is not 100% complete. You still need to source or make the 2 felt seals that go around the trip and clock stems along with the seals that go etween the light tubes and the L/R/Brake lenses. Performance car graphics was doing the felt seals. I have given DMT the dimensions for them and they said they would look into making them.

[Skdmark]

Gauge wise I will be sending the speedometer, tach, oil, fuel, temp, ammeter out to be refinished. I have about 4 different colored needles and most have the white smeared from someone trying to clean them at one point (not me).

I did pick up a tach board from RT-eng to upgrade the tach. In addition, I got a Sunpro voltmeter to convert my ammeter over for about $11 from walmart.com. The package it came in looked like it was stuck on the shelf for the last 25 years too. I also picked up an NOS clock which just arrived today. I benched tested the clock and got the infamous twitchy tick tock.

[Skdmark]

I have another thread in the interior forum discussing the refinishing the AC bezel along with locating the rear speaker fader hole.
Nice piece, I toned down the black wrinkle as it was too heavy for my liking using some recommendations from Floyd.

Finish
https://forum.e-bodies.org/interior/6/finish-on-lower-dash-bezels/19161/

Fader location
https://forum.e-bodies.org/interior/6/rear-speaker-fader-switch-hole-location/19195/

[Skdmark]

I took the cluster frames and did some minor repairs to them.

The switch pod looks like it had several cigarette burns above the switches and below them. The main housing had some deep gouges from a screwdriver near the mounts. So I scuffed, wet sanded and filled the low spots. I followed that up with the SEM soap, cleaner, plastic prep and satin black. Just need to hit it with some low-luster clear to finish them off.

[Skdmark]

The ammeter to voltmeter conversion was really simple.
I spent most of my time peeling the cover off the voltmeter. No drilling, trimming required.
After grinding off the two rivets on the ammeter, the factory gauge face bolted right onto the voltmeter.
I did have to grind / file a little extra clearance for the voltmeter studs in the housing. That and a little black electrical on the bottom of the housing below the gauge for extra protection. I will change the needle over to factory one after I get it painted.

[71383bee]

Awesome thread!  I'll be checking as I'm getting geared up to update my 73 rallye gauges. You attention to detail is great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Skdmark]

I had Mike at B / E and A strip, powdercoat and replace the lenses on a Rally light bar I picked up from eBay.
Inside the reflectors are powder coated white. The exterior is powder coated black. The tubular rivets were powder coated prior to installing too.

The lenses are from Parts Hound.
http://www.partshound.net/product/new-rally-gauge-light-bar-replacement-lens-kit-70-71-72-73-74-cudachallenger/

They are slightly thicker than OEM and are green instead of blue/green. He also supplies you with pop rivets and incandescent bulbs. As mentioned above, Mike used correct tubular rivets instead.

I picked up a set of LED bulbs off Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085W99H2F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

The bulbs I picked up are soft white with a temperature rating of 2700K which is along the lines of the incandescent, and a lumen rating of 50. s
So the bulbs should be brighter and they are dimmable. These were not inexpensive, but they had the features I was looking for. They fit in the housing without issue. Some LED bulbs are slightly bigger in diameter and will not fit into the housings. I put a few dabs of dielectric grease them and plugged them right in.

Just finished boxing up the Rally gauges and will send them out for refinishing. Quoted lead time is 10 weeks. Thankfully, I haven't  removed anything from the standard cluster yet.

[Skdmark]

Here's the latest.
I installed a 100amp Tuff Stuff alternator and put the original alternator on the shelf.
Installed the ammeter bypass and headlight relay kit. I wrapped the wiring from  both in the factory style vinyl wrap to make them less conspicuous.
The relays from the headlight kit hid nicely under the battery tray.

The ammeter is still connected. Once I do my rallye gauge swap I will tie up that loose end.

[Skdmark]

Yesterday, I recieved my rallye gauges back from Autoinstruments.com It was about 9 weeks turnaround, which is what they quoted.
They did the following services
Reface the speedo, tach, fuel, oil and temp gauges along with the divider
Calibrate the speedo, fuel, oil and temp
Installed the RTeng tach board and calibrate
Painted a loose ammeter needle so I can install it on the sunpro voltmeter.

Overall, I'm happy that they hit the turnaround time. A bit disappointed in the speedo and tach needle painting.


Here's a couple pics of the gauges back in the housing.
The ammeter face and needle are mounted on the Sunpro voltmeter from a couple posts prior.

[Skdmark]

A few more on the cluster reassembly. The lens that came with the used cluster has some cracks in it so I popped for a repro.
The 4 gauge divider that mounts to the lens needs the plastic posts melted over to secure the divider. I used my soldering station with a wide blade tip and had it set to about 500 degrees. Made short work of it .