AAR CUDA SVRA Project

[nsmall]

Pardon my ignorance but what exactly is going on? Tell us more about this engine.

[MOPAR MITCH]

I applaud your interest in making this a road racer... vintage racing is the best!

A good friend of mine runs this SVRA '67 B'Cuda (Brian Garcia) in the midwest area... a crowd favorite!

[SassyAAR]

I love seeing Barracuda road racers! Great looking car, I got interested in vintage racing after my first trip to Elkhart Lake about 20 years ago actually! 

Nsmall, the block is an R3 race block. That I know of there are 13 different part numbers for the various R3 castings but when I ordered this one it was also called the "restoration" block to replace the original TA block. It has a tall deck, 59 degree lifter angle, non-siamesed bore, and stock 2 bolt mains. Just like the original TA and the Hemis it is cast from high nickel iron and then heat treated for stress relief, it also has the extra material in the webs like the TA blocks to facilitate 4 bolt mains.

[FIAARMN]

Pretty freaking cool.......... carry on 

[SassyAAR]

Update: after welding in some patches on the front frame rails and replacing one of the 5/8 square nuts for the K member bolts I got it up on the body casters and in the drive way for the dustless media blaster to take it down to bare metal and reveal all of the previous sins.

[SassyAAR]

I knew from my paint meter there was a lot of bondo, never expected as much that came off though.

[larry4406]

Interesting location of the prior quarter patches.  I assume from back in the day when no repop metal was available.  What's the plan for the quarters?

[anlauto]

   Yup...I've found lots of crazy surprises like that before....time for new full quarters in my opinion...

[RUNCHARGER]

Was the whole back end clipped by chance? Probably not as they should have just kept the dooorjams intact with the quarters I guess. Crazy stuff back then. You could probably use that if you know someone good with a TIG, but I imagine the other attachment points aren't good either.

[SassyAAR]

Since I will be doing a considerable amount of cutting into the quarters anyways for wheel flares, relocated fuel filler etc. I intend to fix these rather than buy new ones. These are fairly new anyways as the previous owner installed them.

[SassyAAR]

From what I can gather from the history of the car I don't think it was ever hit in the back. It WAS neglected in a field for a very long time and stripped of parts though before someone decided to start rust repair on the body.

[SassyAAR]

The plan for the quarters is to fix the weld point. Looking inside there is plenty of material from when the previous owner lap welded over what was left of the original door pillar and quarter.

[SassyAAR]

When it was lap welded over it pinched the original quarter tab in under the new quarter. Obviously this is why they had so much filler in here to blend the panels together.

With a 45 cut through the overlap I can get enough flex in the original quarter to have my helper push the panel into alignment and close the gap for a butt weld.

Starting at the bottom and working slow I spot welded it into place to hold it as we move inch by inch. Pretty tedious, short cut, push, weld, repeat but it is aligning much better and will eliminate the overlap on the inside once done.

[RUNCHARGER]

Good job, It's ugly fixing other's poor work but at least you don't have to pay for the metal I suppose.