Background

My Barracuda was originally my fathers. He in turn sold it to my grandfather. 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 bug got me. The car bug! 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. I am planning on adding  gold racing stripes to it.

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 - 08/28/00 - Click here Pics of the engine when I got the car and tear down pics. FYI, most of the pics are large and may take a while to down load. These pics will be used when the engine is install back into the Fish as a blue print on how everything is hooked back up.

10/7/00 - 5/12/01 - Click here The original clean up of the engine and bay.

10/13/01 - Click here for pics of us pulling the 273. Click here Misc. shots of the interior as it sits now.

6/14/02 - I received a great looking dash pad for the Fish from Neil of the EVBC list.

6/22/02 - Cleaned and disassembled 4 of the 8 pistons for the (soon to be) mighty 273.

6/23/02 - I spent the day with 2 cans of Easy-off oven cleaner and some steel wool and went to work on the K-frame and steering box. The Easy-off works wonders on 30 year old grease, grime, and paint. After cleaning off all the gunk and cleaner, I let it dry and painted it with high temp gloss black spray paint. It should hold up, but I kinda wished I had used POR-15. I may go back and redo it still. I will post some pics soon.

6/24/02 - Started this log. Enjoy!

6/17/03 – Wow, has it really been a year since I have updated the site? I guess so. The Barracuda has been on the back burner for some time. My wife bought a 69 Mustang that I have been fixing up and I spent many a day with the Swinger. The “Fish” will be getting some play time soon. I ordered a front end rebuilt kit from Espo.com and Torsion bars and other goodies from Mancini Racing. I plan on rebuilding the front end and installing the 8 ¼ rear end. Once I get it rolling, it goes to the shop to get the windows removed and rust repairs done. The rotating assembly still has to go to the machine shop, but all the parts are cleaned off and waiting.

9/27/03 - I started attacking the front suspension. Four hours later, I got off the drivers side UCA, LCA, spindle, torsion bar, and all the steering linkage. Not a bad day, since I had no idea what I was doing.

10/5/03 - Pulled off the passenger side front suspension in an hour flat. This week, I will be sandblasting all the parts and getting ready to reassemble the front end.

10/26/03 - Started pulling out the old worn 7 1/4 rearend and original 6 leaf springs. A set of old air bags is holding up progress. Once out, a new set of 6 leaf springs with poly bushing and 8 1/4 with Sure-Grip rearend will fill the void. Also, my good buddy Ed hooked me up with a set of LCAs with sway bar tabs.

10/27/03 - New torsion bars came in the mail from Stan of the EVBC. These are .890 bars meant for a big block. They should work great on the fish.

12/27/04 - Began polishing and balancing the rods for the 273. This is a long process and I have metal bits embedded in my hands, but the money I save and the fact that I did it myself is more than worth it. Good thing my buddy Rene is here to show me how to do it correctly.

1/03/04 - The old 7 1/4 rearend is out and the new 8 1/4 suregrip is mostly in its place. I sand blasted the old brakets and pressed in the new bushings, installed the shakles and attached them to the car. I have not installed to the fronts yet. I need to, because I'm planning on producing a set that I can use to lower the rear by an 1".

1/06/04 - Got the UCA's and LCA's back, from a member of the MMCA, Terry with all the old bushings out. Now to finish cleaning them up, powder coat them, and reinstall. We are getting closer.

4/29/04 - I riped out the headliner. I tried to pull it out in one piece, but quickly gave up. Every bow is placed on a peg board to remind me of the order they go in.

5/3/04 - Finally completed polishing and balancing the connecting rods. The 273 starts getting put back together.

6/7/04 - Begain powder coating the front suspension. The Eastwood kit works great.

6/15/04 - Started to install the main bearings in the 273 block only to find out that the I had the wrong bearing.

7/2/04 - Finished installing the 8.25 rearend in the HellFish.

7/27/04 - Installed the correct main bearing in the engine. Now I can start to move along. Also, started installing the bushing in the UCA's. Very thight fit.

8/9/04 - Pressed in the UCA bushings from ESPO and installed the upper ball joints. Man that was a workout. I feel like a rowed a mile getting those ball joints in all the way.

8/12/04 - Installed the crank and cam into the 273. Need to get an alignment pin for the cam.

9/15/04 - The cam now has the alignment pin. I added a cam thrust plate from a 2000 Magnum V6. This has the later oiling drip rail as well as a chain tensioner. Pretty trick little set up, all held on by 3 bolts. The timing chain is in place. I got the lock rings for the wrist pins from Egge and installed the first 3 pistons in the block. I stopped at 3 because I need to turn the crank and don't have the tool for the crank snout handy. I thought about other ways to do it, but I can wait and do it right.

2/04/05 - Still inching slowly towards the goal. Found out that the machine shop only polished the rod journals. So, once I put in the .10 over bearings, it wouldn’t move a bit. I’m super broke, so I have to wait to get the correct bearing. In the meantime, I got a second set of LCA’s and powder coated them as well as add a little bit of bracing to the bottoms. The original set I was going to use was from a late 60’s A-body and have factory sway bar tabs. To my delight, I found the tabs were way off for my use. A good friend has hooked me up with a set of used rotors so I can install all the front suspension and not worry about my spindles rusting up. The last thing I did was add a donation button on the main page. If you would like to donate a buck or so to the resurrection of this great fish, it would be appreciated.

4/23/05 - This past Thursday I picked up a set of rear chrome spears from a 64 Valiant. Today I got brave and drilled some holes to attach them. They look good on the fish. Plymouth should have offered them on the Barracuda from the factory. I will post a pic or 2 tomorrow.

5/7/05 - Got the LCA, spindle, and rotor on the driver’s side. Found out I have lost a few nuts and other small parts. Nothing a trip to the junk yard won’t fix.

5/13/05 - Finally got the correct rod bearings. The parts store even had them in stock. I was shocked. I put one set in, before calling it a night, and checked the clearance. Dead on at .002, should be a winner.

6/15/05 - Got the .089 torsion bars installed and the right side suspension on. Found two large wasp nests on the old girl. One was hanging from the hood and one inside the fender. Both times my head was about 1 1/2 ft away from the nests. At least they didn't spooked, at least before I hit them with some RAID. :) The 273 hit another road block. It seems I nicked a rod journal while replacing the bearings. It looks like we might be able to buff it out. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

8/20/05 - Well, I finally got off my butt this weekend and played with the "Fish" some. Didn't get a lot done, but did move forward. It was hot this weekend, man. I sanded down the cabin side of the drivers side door and put on fresh paint. It looks pretty good. I forgot to get pics, but I will when I do the other side.

9/2/05 - Well, I played with the 65 this weekend. I took a few days off to get ready for a upcoming swap meet. I quickly got bored with packing boxes and decided to work on the fish. I got out the old dash pad. I cut away the old foam and ground off the heads of the studs, them knocked them through with a center punch. I then started to remove pieces of the dash. I got the gauges out. I found out will need to be replaced because of a broken connections on the PCB. The rest of the dash molding will have to be removed, so I can sand and repaint the dash area. While I had my grinder out I attacked a rust spot near the rear window. Its worse than I thought, but Im sure I can fix it.

9/25/05 - The dash has every piece of chrome removed now. Just need to sand and prep for paint. I will be adding the tach cut out before painting. I broke the wiper switch while trying to unplug it. The plastic half of the housing pulled out of the metal half. Im going to try to silver leaf some of the trim. It should be a ton cheaper that chrome and, if done right, look as good. I also removed the original 2 spoke steering wheel and added a 3 spoke. It looks nice on there.

9/26/05 - Started playing with silver leaf as a cheap chrome idea. Check it out here

11/25/05 - Took the 273 back apart and had the crank polished. I have to find a set of 1 over rod bearings. I painted the interior of the driver’s door.

1/21/06 - I’m thinking of changing my plans on the finished look of the car. I may sell my Rally rims and just get a set of steelies and run the original V dog dish caps or a set of Cal-Customs spider caps. I also think, I won’t be adding racing stripes, but instead will add gold scallops.

2/22/06 - Put in the new 1 over bearings and installed the freshly polished crank.

2/27/06 - Torqued the main and rod caps, installed the timing chain and installed one of the heads. I have to get this engine finished ASAP. We are in the middle of moving to a new house and I want the engine in the fish when its moved.

7/6/06 - Well, the move has once again slowed down the pace of the 65. The engine is almost complete. I have to reinstall one head, since I got cleaver and didn't clean the mating surface. So I will pull it and clean it and reinstall. After that, I will need to drop the engine in the car.

10/24/06 - We are still moving. I got the fish to the new house last night. Loading a car with very little steering and no brakes is entertaining. We got it though. We lost a tie rod sleeve in the move, because I got cleaver and forgot the tie rod nuts. Oh well, live and learn. At least the tie rods were shot. It rolled amazingly well, which surprised me quite a bit. Next on the list is to clean the new shop up and make room for the car inside and get the engine installed finally.

1/07/07 - The moving is done, but still lots to do. The new shop needs power, lighting, a ramp and a ton of cleaning. I want to get the fish inside, so today I prepped it a little. I installed the tie rods and cranked up the torsion bars as far as I could. I swiped a tie rod sleeve from a 74 Valiant that Joe H. got for the drive train.

2/19/07 - Got started on a ramp to the shop. I mixed 30 bags of concrete by hand for one 3ft. wide ramp. I have to build 2 more before I can house the fish.

3/25/07 - I finally got around to playing with the fish. I took off the first head and cleaned it. Then torqued both heads down to 85 lbs. I got a new timing cover gasket set, but not can't figure out where my timing cover is. Of course, I have to find the bolts too. I did find another cop rim. I still have to get one for the junk yard to complete the set.

3/26/07 - I know, to many updates. Ha. I found the timing cover and finally got the front seal installed correctly. The other times I tried to install it was a disaster. This time I used a seal and race installer set. The largest disc was just the right size. I also found my stainless fastener kit, so I don't have to go digging for my old bolts, except to find my timing marker. The Lonestar Roundup is this weekend, so most likely no more updates this week.

4/2/07 - The Lonestar Round-up was this weekend. I took the 56 out there and looked at tons of old cars and talked with lots of people. Friday afternoon I installed the timing cover and water pump on the 273. Saturday was the show and Saturday night was a party at South Austin Speed Shop. We got the see a few famous people and drink free booze. Sunday I installed the lifters and push rods. Since I had the rocker assemblies off, I cleaned them. I also degreased the inside of the valve covers. Man, Easy-Off is mean stuff. One of the lifters was chipped, so I have to get one more. I cleaned of the valley cover and installed it too. I think that putting on the intake with that thing will be a pain.

4/15/07 - The last lifter is installed and so is the valley tray. I found out that the tray "springs" clip under the intake ports of the heads. I also, finally, got the passenger side door open. During the move, the door got jammed. Today I dug out a interior door handle and bolted it on. I sat in the drivers’ seat and used my left foot to turn the handle and my right to kick the door free. It took about 3 solid kicks to free it. An ignition wire, from a box of parts, got in the door jam near the hinge. I guess it was enough to wedge the door. Now that I can open the passenger side again, I started sanding. I have to repaint that door and the dash, plus all the related trim.

4/26/07 - Nothing really of interest. The rust on the interior of the passenger door is a real pain to sand down. There is a skim coat of bondo or something. It keeps loading up my sandpaper.

11/14/07 - I haven't done anything to the poor fish in a while. I have been fighting with my shop to make a space and as soon as I got it near ready, my mother-in-law moved in with us and filled my shop with her stuff. In the mean time I bought a 55 Plymouth Plaza 2 door post that was rusted out beyond what I was told. It was the first and last time I buy a car sight unseen. I bought a better 55 Belvedere 2 door hard top that I have been playing with a little. I swapped the bumpers, grill and trunk lid from the Plaza to the Belvedere. It should be a fun car once running. Hopefully tomorrow I will get something done on the Barracuda. I need to go buy a oil pump for the 273 and finish the engine rebuild. Man I feel lazy, but I’m always doing something.
I looked at the wheels on the fish and I don't like either the cop rims or the Mopar Rallys. I’m going to find a plain jane set of stockers. <\p>

12/16/07 - I added a pair of 55 Dodge fins and a 59 caddy taillight to the 55 Plymouth. Still have one more taillight to convert. The fins are not a bolt on like I had thought, so some metal fab will be needed to finish them up. I will either lead in the area or section the sheet metal to fill it in.

1/03/08 - Its a new year. 2007 once again was not a good year for the fish. She is not forgotten though. Yesterday I played with the 273 some. I still need a oil pump. I bolted on a bunch of small stuff from the factory intake and put on the headers. I will have to get a picture. I can up on once stopping point, what do you do for a throttle bracket when the fatory one doesn't fit the aftermarket intake?

1/4/08 - After looking though this yesterday I was shocked. I know I have taken my sweet time on this, but 7 years and its not moved under its own power is just lame. My wife with a pep talk. Well, get ready for this... No I'm not selling it.... It will be on the road in April. It better be. I plan on taking it to the Lonestar round-up in April. You heard it here first. I have most everything I need, minus a back seat cover and carpet, but I don't need either. I’m thinking I will do some updating to the website as well to help keep me going. Wish me luck or a hand if you life near Austin.

1/06/08 - Not too much got done. I found a bunch of parts for the fish in my shop. I have been trying to clean up, so I can find stuff for a change. I didn't realize I left out a strut rod when I out the front end together. The right side will have to be torn down. No way around it. I cleaned up the windage tray. What’s the trick with these. It doesn't seem like it wants to fit within the oil pan.

2/25/08 - The poor girl gets no love. I contacted the guys running the Lonestar Round-up. The 65 is just too new, so she won’t be allowed into the show. I’m not the least upset. Since money has been so tight I get to focus my attention back to my shop and my 56 pickup. I found two reasons the 56 ran like crap. One was a cracked vacuum cap the other was its a 750cfm carb and it was flooding the 351W. Now I need to find another carb. for the truck.

4/21/08 - The shop clean up has been going well. You can check it out here. Still need to pour another ramp. I bought a 625 cfm carb for the 56, but have not installed it yet. The 69 Mustang may get sold this week to a friend. That will help a ton. The Lonestar Round-up was a blast! I didn't take a vehicle since I needed to unload more parts from the shop and make more space. I sold a hand full of stuff and it was worth booth fees.

7/13/08 - I actually worked on the Hellfish. The 273 now has an oil pump installed with a new pickup, the oil pan bolted on, studs for the valve covers and the intake bolted on. I may have to redo the intake. The end seals for the gasket were too tall, so I pitched them and tried a thick bead of silicone. The silicone may not have been thick enough. I need to buy a fuel pump and install a distributer and it will be done. I installed the new carburetor on the 56. I need a few large vacuum caps and a flat fixed. The Mustang did sell and is getting lots of body prep and getting primed in flat black waiting for paint. The 70 Swinger is officially no longer mine. My brother-in-law made the last payment and is now holding the title. Also the shop is coming together. As much junk as I have its going well. Lots of cabinets to store stuff in and I’m throwing lots of stuff away. About every time I “clean” I pitch about 4 boxes of stuff I can’t use and can’t figure a easy way to make a few bucks of it. That’s a great change in my outlook.

7/20/08 - A week later and still plugging along. I sanded on the interior passanger door, but used a rotory sanded this time. There in bondo, but its ready for prime and paint. I decided to bolt more stuff to the 273. I attached the A/C compressor and altenator and all the brackets. To my surprise, the thermostat house wont work on the Performer intake with a compressor attached. I not have to find a LD4B intake. It a vintage Edlebrock piece. Yeah!

9/20/08 - Still searching for the intake. Today I hit a swapmeet in Roundtop today. No luck on the intake, but I scored a MSD 6a ignition box and got a free set of golf clubs with it.

9/23/08 - The Shop now has 2 ramps so a vehicle can go in or out as needed. The Hellfish will have a new home indoors in a couple weeks.

10/6/08 - The ramps work, just need better tires on the fish. If I have to push it, it has the be able to roll. I played with the 56 F-100 for a few. It no longer has a flat and all the beauty rings now match.

10/22/08 - I found a LD4B intake manifold! Big thanks to Franktiregod. I can't wait to try it out. I need to clean it up a little, but overall its in great shape. I already found a buyer for the Performer intake. This is working out well.

Just wondering, does anyone read this? If you do, drop me a line!

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