background
Background
My Barracuda was originally my fathers. While in the military, one of the guys in my dads company had a Formula S 4 speed Barracuda and they would run around in it. As soon as he completed his tour of duty, in 69 or 70, he bought this one and drove it for some time. He bought the 65 Commando over a 68 Galaxie CobraJet and paid around $1500 off a used car lot in North Austin. He later sold it to my grandfather when he decided to build himself a 40 Ford Deluxe. After my grandfather passed away I was given the car.
I had no true interest in working on cars. I liked to look at them and drive them, but I would leave the wrenching to someone else. The car sat for many many years before I did anything to it. Lucky for me the whole thing has stayed in one piece. After I started researching the Barracuda, the car bug got me. When I started this project I was in my mid-20's and just starting learning about the mechanics under the hood. This is my first project car. I don't think I could have asked for a better one.
The Hell Fish powered by a 273ci Hi-po engine and an automatic transmission. It is one of only 4,505 made with this combo. It has white exterior and gold interior.
Other options include factory A/C, tinted glass, heavy duty rear suspension, power brakes, remote side mirror, console, backup lights and windshield washer.
This will be a mild custom. Using parts from other early A-bodies and later barracuda's. 64 Valiant side spears, 66 Barracuda rear window fish emblem, 67-69 Barracuda rear seat insert and flip top gas cap, 76 Dart 15" rims.
Journal
I will try to keep an on going log of my progress with the Hell Fish. I don't know why I didn't start it sooner. Scroll to the bottom of the page for the latest updates.
4/7/00 -12/16/07 - Archived here
1/3/8 - 12/28/10 - Archived here
1/2/11 - 12/31/12 - Archived here
1/6/13 - Sanding and grinding and lots of dust. That was this weekend on the fish. This part is going to take a lot of time. More bondo than I care to see and found a couple rust pin holes.
1/11/13 - After rethinking my plans, I will still be using Rustoleum Marine Top Coat, but instead of bright white I will use 207001 - Oyster White. The off white will look better with the gold and closer to the factory color. Hope that I can roll out the car this weekend and wash it really well, then sand until my arms hurt. If I can get some more primer on, even better. The rear valance will need a skim coat of bondo, but much less than what I started with.
1/12/13 - Fish was rolled out of the shop and washed. Some sanding was done too. The trunk is block sanded. I started on the roof as well. Lots of hidden bubbles under the paint. Fisheyes or water that got by the trap when it was resprayed years ago.
1/13/13 - Worked on the wiper assembly drilled the housings and inserted the zert fittings. The zerts were a pain to get in, but I got it done. I wire wheeled the pivots and started to try to install the seals. After 15 minutes of fighting, I got one on. Once the first one was on, I thought I figured it all out and started on the other. Guess what, its on the bench. Its like a micro version of childbirth. The seal has a hole the size of a straw and the head of the wiper shaft is 1/2" across.
1/21/13 - A little more sanding complete. I hit a few stores looking for sandpaper in rolls for my block. No luck. Will be going to amazon and ordering what I need.
1/28/13 - Saturday I did more sanding, getting further on the passenger side fender and the top of the drivers side. Started to work on the core support and front valance. While sanding the core support I found a few small dents which I hammered out. I also started to remove the old sealant from the drip rails. I swear, Plymouth used bondo in there. That stuff is tough. It is very rusty in the rail, but no rot. I'm planning to use POR15 with a small brush and the sealer over that. Today I greased the wiper assembly. Man, what a difference. I also wheeled out the mig welder and filled in the hole on the cowl I found. The hole I found was small until I started to poke it with an awl, then more material broke out. I chipped out everything I could. After increasing the size of the hole I fished 2 nails into the hole and tacked in place. Yes, the nails are zinc coated and I should not weld to zinc, but the area is small and had good air flow in the shop. I then cut off the nail shaft sticking out and ground down my slop. I had to go back on fill a few spots I missed and repeat the clean-up. I still need a lot of practice welding, but the repair came out pretty good for a newb. Final project of the weekend was dying the dash pad. The gold shows the small cracks in the dash a lot worse that the dark bronze of the original vinyl. I may try a vinyl repair kit to spackle over the cracks.
1/31/13 - Received my new HEI distributor last night. I need to lube the engine and turn it over a few times. That and get the engine bay finished, so I can install the engine and break it in.
2/3/13 - Welded up 3 more holes that I found in the inner widsheild frame. One I have to grind down better so the dash fits flush. I started cleaning up one of my 3 spoke steering wheels. I have to repair a large crack with JB weld and add a thin layer of bondo to cover the micro cracks of age. I plan to sand with 60 grit to create a woodgrain effect and paint the wheel with a light brown followed by a dark brown. The dark brown will be wet sanded off with the hopes that the dark color will stay in the grooves from the 60 grit. I also picked up a few abrasives. Some 80 grit discs for the angle grinder and a course paint removal wheel. The paint removal wheel works well, but wears down quickly. Not really cost wise for the whole car. The discs work as well, but I have to keep them moving to not damage the metal. The drivers side drip rail is completly cleaned out and I will POR it after the other side is finished. Lastly, I worked on the straightening the door upper corner. It was rolled down and bondo was applied to level it with the fender. I already had removed the bondo and worked it up to make the steel flush, or at least closer.
2/8/13 - Decided to look for gold vinyl dye again. Found that there are 2 shades for classic Mustangs. 1967 Dark Gold and 1968 Dark Nugget Gold. I bought one of each to try out. Hope they are closer to the real deal. I also found a Pontiac parts site that offers their own brand of dyes and carries gold. I asked for a sample.
2/10/13 - Got brave enough to strip the passenger side quarter panel. What I found was a bunch of beat up metal. The bondo was super think and applied by a plastic filler artist. It looked great and smooth, so they put some time into it. I plan to fit it better. Not sure how at the moment. I can't get behind the panel to work on it. I worked with a slide hammer for a while, but the panel is starting to look like swiss cheese. I think I will try to build a few wood bucks/dies that will fit in the trunk pocket to work it out. If that doesn't work, I will cut off the section of panel and straighten it, then weld it back on. I also started to repair my 3 spoke steering wheel. Using a cone shaped grinding bit on my dremel, I opened up the cracks all the way around to the steel core. I mixed up some JB weld and filled in the cracks. JB weld is a liquid and wants to flow, so I covered the areas with masking tape. An hour later I removed the tape, cutting the filler free from the tape and filled any low spots I saw. After 40 minutes the JB weld becomes like a clay and you can shape it pretty easy. I did miss a spot. After sanding down the first pass, I added more and let it sit. I need to sand it down again. Once the cracks are filled, the whole wheel will get a coating of bondo to fill the micro cracks and sanded smooth. I will then sand the wheel in a V formation with 60 grit sandpaper to get a wood graining effect. The wheel will then be primed and the main brown color added. Once dry a darker brown will be used and then I will wet sand the top color of the leave the dark color in the 60 grit scratched.
2/12/13 - Little sanding done to the steering wheel. Need to add a skim coat, rough sand and prime and paint.
2/15/13 - Received my new gold dye. The dark gold nugget is dark. The Dark gold was green and wrong. Grrrr
2/25/13 - Still sanding. Got a few rolls of sandpaper and a 12" durablock. 80 grit takes the paint of quickly, but I should have bought 120 grit for smaller scratches. I'm still dealing with the Mustang site trying to get a refund or correct product. This weekend, members of the Mopar club, are coming over to finish sanding the rest of the car and get a coat of primer on it. I also ordered 3 can of gold dye for a 65 GTO. Ames Performance was kind enough to send color samples of their dyes. While not a dead ringer for the Cuda gold, its the best I found.
3/2/13 - Sanding day! What a day it was. Gary and Ed, from the MMCA, joined me in the fun. Before anyone showed up I started the compressor to fill the flat tire on the fish, and nothing happened. The compressor was dead. Spinning the belt by hand got it running. As the compressor was running all day, the bearing decided to go bad and oil slowly poured out of the weep hole and slung oil all over the shop. Since the car was rolled outside, it is not an issue, but I can't use the compressor if the car is in the shop until its fixed. I ended up finding a few more issues with the car. The lower section of the passenger side door was a bondo covered mess, as was part of the drivers side quarter panel. Some hammer and dolly work helped the drivers side a lot and a skim coat to finish it off. The door, we started to cover in a thin layer of filler as well, but I'm thinking I just need to replace the door. One it will give me a beat-up door to try to make the Buick handles work on and 2, it will be be a better starting point. Not only was the lower section a mess, but the top near the vent window has an odd raise and the gap and alignment was way off. When Ed got to my house, he reminded me that I had his sand blaster. I dug it out of my mess of a shop and hooked it up. Got air, but nothing else. The walnut shells that he got would not go through the lines. I had some media I bought years ago and tried it out. With lots os messing, we got it working, and work it did. I blasted through my media in a matter of minutes. The tip that was on the blaster was too big for the fine media that I had and lots was wasted. Since the bondo was out, I mixed up a little more and applied some to the car in a few spots, I also applied a skim coat to the steering wheel. Finished off the day with a coat of self etching primer on the exposed metal pieces. Once the wind dies down and temp raises, I can shot a coat of white primer and maybe some paint on the areas that are ready for it.
3/6/13 - Got the Pontiac gold in the mail last night. It looked good and covered the green Mustang "gold" completely. I also received the rear seat emblem and it will work perfectly. Only snag is that the emblem did not come with the retainer or screws. Hopefully those are not hard to find.
3/10/13 - The damaged quarter panel was driving me nuts. I can't, in good conscience, cover the damage in 2 inches of filler. So I cut it off and reshaped it. I was told not to do this because the metal will stretch and not fit. I think it will be fine. I beat the tar of the steel and also reshaped the inner panel. I also welded up the holes from the failed attempt with the dent puller. once welded back on, the panel will get a skim coat of filler since I was not able to make the panel perfect, but it is way better than before. Next will be the rear valance.
3/17/13 - Friday I headed out to Dr. Mopar to get a replacement door for the fish. I was able to find 2 doors and a few other small parts. Once everything was home, I made one complete door from the 2. Saturday I welded in the quarter panel and cleaned up the welds. I am very happy with the results. This is the first time I ever welded external sheet metal to a car. Sunday, I cut into the old warped door and tried out the custom door handle I have been thinking about for years. Its a 69 Grand Prix handle. Not sure if Im sold on it though.
3/23/13 - Did not have a lot of time to work on the 65, but did find an hour or so to weld up a few extra holes in the trunk area. One was a large hole about the size of a nickle. Was able to get a piece of steel under the cleaned hole and weld it up. The other was just a pin hole. I still have 2 holes left to repair. I also need to play with the Grand Prix handles. It is too low on the door and looks out of place. It needs to be moved up a couple of inches. Hopefully I can try it out Friday.
3/30/13 - Friday and Saturday I cleaned the A904 and installed a TransGo reprograming kit. I used the TF-1 kit and found that the kit is better suited for a 727. By that I mean that with a 60-65 A904, you use very few parts. In all I drilled 3 holes. 2 holes enlarged the passages for the 1-2 and 2-3 shift and one removed a barrier. Added 2 washer shims, 3 springs and the filter and filter gasket. The kit seems like a good kit, but only using 10% of the parts make the cost a little hard to justify. Hopefully I did it correctly. The kit is meant for a pro to install and not a shadetree guy like me, but I think I got it right. The only part I could not do was the modification to the valve body valve to allow downshifing at any speed. Maybe I will pick up another valve from the junk yard and have it machined. While talking to my uncle at Easter, he told me that at some point while my dad had the car, the transmission was replaced with a new one. That would explain why it looked so good. The fluid was not burned and was still bright red.
4/1/13 - Just recieved my new TCP G6600 HVLP paint gun. Not a high end gun, but better than what I had. My Harbor Freight gun is getting a upgrade with some TCP parts as well including a 1.5mm tip and regulator. The HF gun will be primer only and the G6600 for paint. Just need to fix my compressor to start laying out paint.
4/8/13 - The Lone Star Round up was this weekend and even with the amount of time checking out the hot rods and events I still got something done with the Cuda. Friday I headed out to Dr. Mopar and got a handful of needed parts. I got the inner splash sheild for the left fender, a set of 1/4 spears for a 64 valiant, trim I can't use from a 68 fastback and a few ignition switches, a light switch and wiper switch, plus a bunch of stuff for my uncle. I worked on the inner fender to get rid of some dents and installed the splash sheild. A while back I picked up a jug of Evapo-Rust and tried it on a couple parts. One was a frozen ratchet and the other was the chrome cover for the filler tube. The stuff works. I have since dunked the whole cover in the stuff. Some of the rust spots take longer. I also put in the filler tube to clean off the rust inside it.
4/14/13 - My daughters pinewood derby was this weekend. We had some wheel issues that kept us from placing. Next year we will have it. Did a bit of shop clean up. Not really putting things away, but trying to get rid of some stuff. Im having good luck so far. With what I have sold already, I purchased a windshield gasket for the Fish. I also wired up a stereo for the shop. Glad to have some tunes.
4/21/13 - Finished sewing up the second viser and spray dyed both visers, the dash pad and the defrost vents. I removed the passenger side door, primed and painted the jam and hung the new door. Last week I found a can of Rustoleum dark bronze metallic paint. I used it to paint the top of the dash. It came out pretty satin, which is what i needed. I did some sanding on the right side of the car and decided to see how the Harbor Freight spray gun worked. As you can tell in the pics, it ran a lot. I think I had the primer too thin with the 1.5 tip. The engine bay came out nice though. Since it is only primer, it will sand easy. I can see some spots that need more attention now that the color is more uniform.
4/26/13 - Sanded out most of the runs in the primer and worked on some spots and chips that needed to be feathered in.
4/28/13 - Started off unlooming 20 feet of wiring harness from a Lincoln towncar and rolling up each wire for storage. It will make fining wire easier once I start on the harness rebuild.
A few weeks ago i found that the front of the hood was swiss cheese. Just a rust mess. I have had a spare hood that I have begun to prep for paint. I wanted to sand blast the underside, but that didn't work out so well. The blaster kept clogging up. Instead, I drilled new holes for the Fairlane hood seal and started to sand the topside for primer. Also prepped and painted one of my door panels. Went from red and stained to clean and gold. Still have one panel and the drivers seat to finish.
On ebay last week I purchased a NOS intermediate exhaust pipe and received it just a few days later. It is in great shape and was cheap. It was listed for a 273 2 barrel car, but the commando exhaust and the 2bbl are the same except for the tip.
5/4/13 - Well, another birthday had come and passed and I missed my deadline for cruising. Not for lack of trying this year though. I am very happy with the progress I have made and will continue to do so. I was not able to get anything done to the fish this weekend as my wife was out of town and I took care of our kids. I did however buy 8 pieces of 5/6 x 6" x 8' tigerwood from Brazil. It should make a very nice bed for the 56.
9/21/13 - Over the past few months, the Fish has been asleep. I have either had no time or it was just to hot. I did do some bondo work in August, but beyond that nothing has happened until this weekend.Temps were in the 70's and great. Months ago i purchased a new set of covers for the rear seat. I tore down the seat and started working on a steel panel to hold the 67 Fish inset that will bolt to the seat back under the carpet panel.
1/12/14 - Still limping along. Have been working on a number of woodworking projects for the house. I did buy some oyster white rustoleum and worked on the steering wheel a little more. Warmer weather is right around the corner and paint will follow. I have to get the paint on so I can start to assemble the car. I need to free up a lot of space in the shop and no better way that reattaching it all.
1/18/14 - Not a bad afternoon. I tore down the back seat. The old padding was more than a little worn. I had a back seat from a 76 Valiant and the cover was torn, so I took it apart and reused the foam from it on the 65 seat. Recovered the Cuda seat and then started to dye it gold. It was light blue. Still need to do a little more to finish it, but it is looking good.
1/19/14 - Two coats of gold dye added and custom 67 fish insert added. I have to finish adding the carpet back and stainless trip. The steel panel has been painted black and more padding was added to fill the space between the emblem and the seat.
1/26/14 - Got the top rear seat finished. I planned on using a spare set of 65 seat trim to make the flat piece to go across the fish insert. The bracket I made was too wide for that to work. Instead, I used the 67 trim piece I had, which is much wider, and reshaped the ends to transition to the size of the original trim. It took a lot of time with a hammer to get it where I wanted it, but its done. The one item I messed up was that the trim had recessed holes and made the trim bow across the bracket. I tried to recess the holes in the bracket, but ended up enlarging the holes, so the screws don't work now. I will have to buy a pair of screws. Not a big deal. I pulled out the lower cushion to clean it up and redye it. It has a small tear and the cording is separating from the seat. The base will have to be recovered as well. At least I have that vinyl ready.
4/4/14 - In the past few months I have gotten very little done. I recovered the lower rear seat. I still need to dye it. I have been waiting for the vinyl to relax before spraying it. I did a little bondo work and realigned the passenger side door. When I installed the door it was way off. I closed it and it wouldn't reopen. It took hitting it with a deadblow hammer several times to get it to open. The 56 F-100 has gotten some attention. I purchased a Speedway 20 circuit harness. Removed all the original wiring and started installing the new harness. I also purchased a 10SI GM alternator. The fuse block is mounted and wires pulled for the lights and engine. Still lots of sorting to do with the new kit.
4/10/14 - Wiring is slowing moving forward. Its mainly due to time. There are a few things that I don't quite understand, but getting there. Found that Speedway has a updated set of instructions on their website. No idea why its not sent with the kit. It cleared up a few questions. A couple of the supplied connectors are either wrong or the plastic hood is out of tolerance. The new 10si alternator is reclocked, but not enough. It will work for running cables. The wiring for it is 90% finished. The headlights are rewired. Found that one of the original cables had a bare spot that could have been giving me some of my issues. I added a grommet to make sure that doesn't happen again. The issue with the passenger side front turn signal was related to a bad socket. The plastic keeper that holds the contacts in place was missing. Im sure the contacts were shorting in the socket.
4/14/14 - Dome light and window motors are run, minus power to the main harness. The cabling for the alt is complete. I've slowed down because I need the correct crimpers. I bought these to make the job easier. I have worked on the inner door panels. Cutting huge holes in the one my dad built was hard to do. I purchased a dremel cutting kit with a depth gauge. It made cutting the backing without cutting the vinyl possible. I have to finish gluing the vinyl (wrapping) over the new cut hole. Once finished I will mark and drill the holes for the armrest. The armrests are from a 58 Ford sedan. I will have to redye the armrest black and add the mounts to the door. Should have the panels finished by Tuesday.
4/20/14 - Door panels are mostly done. The hole is a tad small, so I will dye the exposed red vinyl. More wiring is getting done.
4/26/14 - Headlights turn signals, horn, alt, ignition, trailer light socket and taillights( minus 2 wires getting plugged together) are all done. Interior wiring is all that's left. I will need to wire the gauges, lighter, provide power to the window motors and dome light and can take a test drive. The headlight switch was the largest project so far. The GM switch has to be modified to fit the truck. I had to machine down the keeper to fit the wiper bezel. The keeper was hex shaped and not designed to work with a bezel. The thread was not the same pitch as the original. I sanded down the points on my belt sander then chucked the keeper in my drill press and used sandpaper and files to get it back in round. Once it fit into the bezel, I drilled 2 holes(one on each side of the shaft hole) to allow me to tighten the keeper down using needlenose pliers. I also made a gasket using a battery terminal cover to go between the dash and bezel.
5/19/14 - I managed to throw out my back a few weeks ago, so work on the 56 has been painful. The gauge cluster is back together and getting wired in. I was able to purchase 10g bullet connectors for the window motors. Wired in the wiper motor using adapers to convert the original bullet connectors to blade style connectors. Wired in the window, lighter, and interior lights to the main harness. Yesterday I set up the table saw to start to woodworking for the bed. Need an extra set of hand to control 8 feet of board. Wire loom and cloth tape is ordered and soon will be installed.
6/8/14 - Got the bed in this weekend. 5/4 x 6" x 8' boards of tigerwood milled to fit the bed. Took a day and a half to complete. The wiring is getting loomed. Alt is clocked and the transmission has a new gasket and fittings tightened up.
6/23/14 - The wife enrolled the kids into vacation bible school. This one runs from 6pm to 8pm which gives me 2 hours a night for the next few nights to work on the 56. I decided I needed to start testing some of the work I have completed. I install the battery and started testing. Nothing was working in the run position. After a minute I realize that some circuits were not complete. I had forgot to install the dimmer switch. With the dimmer installed, the headlights started working, but not much else. Second was that since I didn't have the gauge cluster it, it may be giving an issue and figured I can wait on that since Im still missing a few items to finish that. It was not time to try and start the engine. Turned the key and the starter spun and spun and spun, but the engine would not fire. I gave up for the night.
6/24/14 - I was trying to find the wires I needed to finish the turn signal indicators in the cluster. As I looked in the box I realized that I had forgotten to install any of the fuses for the system. No wonder nothing worked. Once installed and the battery connected, again, the interior lights came on, turn signals worked. Next I tried the engine. With very old gas, the engine came to life. Smokey and rough but running. The dome light is not working correctly, so I need to figure out where I messed that up.
6/25/14 - I stopped at AutoZone to get the turn signal repair kit to rebuild the turn signal indicators for the gauge cluster. I created a grounding point for the ground wires and finished and installed the gauge cluster. A few weeks ago I picked up a turn signal lever for a 55 Chevy to install on my column. Figured I would dress it up to look older. Pulling apart a late model column is not as easy as a 60's column. There is a lock ring that holds a lock plate. The lock plate does not allow the steering wheel to turn without the key. Well, this plate is spring loaded. I released the clip and it shot off. I was able to remove the old level and cabling for cruise control and install the new arm. Getting the plate back on with the ring clip was a fight. I found a piece of steel with a hole that fit over the steering shaft, put a couple socket under it and installed the steering wheel nut and got it to seat and the clip installed. It was an fight that sounds simple written, but there was a ton of trial and error getting back together.
11/3/14 - The Window motors are wired up. I found I had a issue with the turn signals. Come to find out the rear right light was wired backwards. 90% of the looming is on. Transmission oil replaced and its ready for a drive. The wipers still dont work and the right door window binds, but the glass is cracked and may be part of the problem. I also still need a radio, but Im ready to cruise. Car show is in 2 weeks and I will be there in the 56.
4/3/15 - Completely missed the car show last year. The 56 wouldn't start. After many hours of fighting and draining the battery, I called it and went to the show without it. After that, I have been busy with other projects. I took some time last weekend to get it going. I cleaned out the carb and found a bunch garbage in there. Got it cleaned up and put back together. Fired and ran for a few minutes and I called it a night. Well this weekend, I ran the 56 for about 20 minutes and everything seemed ok. Put the truck in gear and it stalled. Tried to start it again and it would fire, but not catch. If I kept my foot on the gas, it would run, but not smooth and at 2000rpm. Maybe more trash in the lines. I have a new fuel filter to install next week. After getting fed up with the engine, I got a few other items done. Door panels are installed as well as a new hood to cowl seal.
4/18/15 - I got it on the road and driving. The carb was crap. I had a 40 year old 750cfm Carter that I rebuilt and bolted it on with a spacer. The secondary linkage was removed and wired shut. 750cfm is way to much for this engine. It idles nice and low now. I replaced the spark plugs, oil and radiator fluid. I also bought a pair of rear tires. The truck still needs wipers and working gauges. The speedo inner cable is too short, so a replacement has been purchased. Also purchased is a new wiper motor.
5/17/15 - The Jeep wiper motor mod was not straight forward as I thought it would be. First issue was the switch I had was wrong. $25 for the correct one fixed the first issue. The next was the motor shaft was not long enough to reach through the firewall. I was able to build an adapter with a section of the original motor and a nut. My weld was crap, but it works and is hidden. Next is to route the wires and hook it up.
9/25/16 - Over the past couple of months I have been prepping the Cuda for paint. I used Rustoleum Topside Oyster White thinned with mineral spirits based paint thinner and Valspar enamel hardener. This is a first time paint a car for me. There were a couple runs and some lint stuck to the primer that I didn't notice at first. I will be wetsanding the finish and still have to paint the hood.
Just wondering, does anyone read this? If you do, drop me a line!.