It looks like we're buying a second house this summer which can only mean one thing - I get to decide our next big purchase (the house was my wife's idea). My first car was a 70 Barracuda and I've kinda decided I want another one. My favorite car of all time is the AAR Cuda so the plan is to find a 70 Cuda and build it into an AAR replica. I already have the Six Pack intake system and I'm saving my money for a nice rust free example.

The good news is my Barracuda is completely finished except for a line running from the throwout bearing to the master cylinder. I even got to hear the engine run (it sounds awesome). I dropped off the final part yesterday (getting it will be the subject of another story) and supposedly it will be installed today or early next week and I'll pick up my car on Wednesday... YIPEE!!!!! Except... I'm not happy with the work.

It's been a long slog but I finally got a call from my shop today, the Barracuda is finished except for the transmission line that runs from the throwout bearing to the master cylinder. I also finally got the correct part ordered from Keisler today and it's supposed to be here by next Tuesday (March 30) so I can drop it off Wed and my Barracuda should be done by the first week of April. Here's all that was done, hope to post details over the next few weeks as I have time to write:

I got a call from the shop yesterday, "we need to talk to you." I thought OMG!!! How much is this going to cost??? Turned out not much and not too big a deal. Actually it was good because I learned something new. The original engine in my Barracuda was a 273. Swapping in a 318 "shouldn't" be a problem. Well, I found out today that it might be, depending on how new or old you 318 is. Early 318's shared engine mount dimensions with the 273. I don't know what year that changed, but the passenger side motor mount pad on my 1986 318 is the exact opposite of the original 273.

I was kind of hoping to have my Barracuda back from the shop by now, but as of Tuesday (Oct 13) they still hadn't started working on it. In fact, they still hadn't even moved it to their new shop (they moved on Oct 1). Now I just hope I get it back to get the bugs worked out before my wife returns from her trip to China.

My engine is done and it looks great. I thought the long block looked kind of stupid painted Hemi orange and was wishing I'd told the shop to paint it Chrysler red, but with the valve covers and intake on it actually looks pretty good. I bought a new tire Saturday because the one that was flat won't hold air, period. I'm kind of PO'd at Les Scwab because I paid $10 extra for a tire with a white stripe on the side wall to match the other three, so they mount it with the stripe on the inside. Didn't have time to wait for them to remount it so I'll just live with it for now.

I've been doing a lot of thinking (and a little work) on the 360 for my Barracuda, so I've updated my Mopar 360 lens on Squidoo with some of my thoughts on the subject. I'm definitely going to go with a 4" stroke forged crankshaft and I-beam rods. I want the rotating assembly to be as light as possible; the I-beamers are lighter than H-beam rods and at my power level (450 HP estimate) I don't think I need the extra strength offered by the H-beamers.

It looks like I'm going to get to keep my job for at least another year, so I'm going to move forward with the engine for my Barracuda. I talked it over with my wife this week, and despite her previous reservations, she's not going to make me get a crappy crate engine.

At first, the choice of engine for my Barracuda seemed easy. These early A bodies have a narrow engine compartment, making the use of factory exhaust manifolds almost mandatory. I had found a set of headers for a D/Dart that would supposedly fit, but I balked at the price - over $1000 at the time. Since I figured that running the stock exhaust would choke off the engine enough to nullify any power benefits I would otherwise get from running a 360, a 318 seemed like an obvious choice.

This is really frustrating - a few weeks ago my wife agreed to let me spend about $15K on fixing up my Barracuda. The plan was to get an engine built first, then take car, engine, and transmission to a shop here in town and get everything installed (if it was just puting in the new engine I could handle it myself, but I'm also converting from an automatic to a 5 speed manual transmission). We would worry about paint and interior after getting all the mechanicals taken care of. I went and got a couple of estimates for rebuilding a 360, and everything seemed to be going smooth, until...