Andy's 73 Barracuda

Ivor · Post by **Ivor** » Mon Jun 30, 14 5:05 pm

Andy, that sir, is one lovely piece of kit, congratulations! It's even the right colour combo!

Charger · Post by **Charger** » Tue Jul 01, 14 10:57 am

SOMtastic wrote:it’s the old dodgy Chrysler firewall connectors and/or the antiquated alt gauge

check the ammeter has been bypassed, the original system is the work of Beelzebub …

http://www.madelectrical.com/electrical ... uges.shtml

SOMtastic · Post by **SOMtastic** » Thu Jul 03, 14 2:54 pm

Charger wrote: ...the original system is the work of Beelzebub …

Isn’t it just

My by-pass cable should have eliminated the ammeter from the equation.

Dave81 · Post by **Dave81** » Thu Jul 03, 14 8:50 pm

SOMtastic wrote:
Charger wrote: ...the original system is the work of Beelzebub …
Isn’t it just
My by-pass cable should have eliminated the ammeter from the equation.

Only if you or the PO has had the dash out. If you've just added the front cable (alt to starter solenoid). Then you effectively have two charging circuits........Not a problem, as the addition will charge the battery, but the potential old wiring issues in the dash may be retained!

SOMtastic · Post by **SOMtastic** » Fri Jul 04, 14 10:58 am

Dave wrote:Jack a front wheel up. Press the brake. Then see if the wheel will spin easily by hand. If it feels like the brakes are still grabbing after you have let off the brake pedal then you need to remove that valve I mentioned.

Finally got round to wiping the wheels off to check for brake binding.
Both front wheels rotate freely with little effort. You can hear a faint rubbing noise as they go round but that sounds like any other car I’ve owned.
I’ve not checked the back wheels (for braking function) – bit it only passed it’s MOT a couple of weeks ago – so if there was excessive forward bias it would have failed.. so I don’t think it’s a case of the front brakes doing all the work. How odd.. perhaps I’m just a big girl with the brakes ?
I’ll stop on the way to Tatton tomorrow to see if they’re hot during normal use (ie no daft hill descents)

SOMtastic · Post by **SOMtastic** » Fri Jul 04, 14 11:00 am

Dave81 wrote: Only if you or the PO has had the dash out. If you've just added the front cable (alt to starter solenoid). Then you effectively have two charging circuits........Not a problem, as the addition will charge the battery, but the potential old wiring issues in the dash may be retained!

Understood. Ammeter is still there so all I’ve done is create a lower resistance to the battery to cure the charging issue … which may – thinking about it - have been down to a dodgy battery – as the old one is resolutely refusing to charge out side the car !
Aside from charging – what other dash wiring issue should I be aware of ??

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Fri Jul 04, 14 12:15 pm

SOMtastic wrote:
Dave wrote:Jack a front wheel up. Press the brake. Then see if the wheel will spin easily by hand. If it feels like the brakes are still grabbing after you have let off the brake pedal then you need to remove that valve I mentioned.
Finally got round to wiping the wheels off to check for brake binding.
Both front wheels rotate freely with little effort. You can hear a faint rubbing noise as they go round but that sounds like any other car I’ve owned.

You did press the brake pedal first though yes?

SOMtastic · Post by **SOMtastic** » Fri Jul 04, 14 12:28 pm

Aye – gave it a good thorough pumping before checking

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Fri Jul 04, 14 2:16 pm

SOMtastic wrote:Aye – gave it a good thorough pumping before checking

What you do before you get up in the mornings is not my business.

68Roadrunner · Post by **68Roadrunner** » Sun Jul 13, 14 9:33 pm

wow , that is one top quality looking mopar , andy, it ticks all my boxes as well,and your just over the hill from me in Halifax.

Jerry Smith · Post by **Jerry Smith** » Sun Aug 03, 14 7:59 pm

Saw your car at Hebden Bridge today, lovely car, looked great parked with Sam's demon

SOMtastic · Post by **SOMtastic** » Tue Aug 05, 14 4:08 pm

Cheers. Was a good show … mainly vintage / post war, but a good showing of Yanks… 20 maybe…
Including 68Roadrunner with his Dart - looking cool as ever – good to meet you again.
A few older Plymouths, and a fella I met at Tatton with his GL Charger.
Had a chat to Sam – she’s had pretty much every Mopar going by the sound of things !
Got a few decent contacts as well – local mechanics and so-on .. all very useful.

The brakes are still a bit of a worry – but I’ve got the hang of the auto – forcing it into low gear on descents which is helping.

Now for steering

It’s very sloppy indeed… a good 12 degrees of play.. so to stay in a straight line involves sawing away like billyo. The main reason I didn’t RWYB at the nats !!
Well – there’s plenty of play in the box itself (power), but also some play in the coupler – where it connects with the main column to the steering wheel. Neither look ideal.
After having a chat with a couple of blokes at the nats – it was unanimously agreed that “it shouldn’t do that” … the consensus being that the box was “goosed” … but you might be able to adjust it a bit.
The contentious point was “replace it with what ?” … the most convincing bloke I spoke to (Andy – with the police car and a red GTX) suggested that while a new power box will help – it will still feel generally nasty. (a cock ache were his words I think) . He’d replace it with a manual box and put some more air in the front wheels.
This having the added bonus of releasing a smidgen of extra horse power not having to spin a pump.
I’ve no particular problem with heavy steering at low speed – so this doesn’t bother me too much.

On the other hand - Another bloke I spoke to was horrified that I’d even consider such an idea … tantamount to blasphemy. Then again he was also unnaturally interested in the VIN - and if the strobe stripes were ever offered on the 73 model … and so on.
That said – he was not alone in his views.
So – what to do ?? .. power or manual ??

Rebel · Post by **Rebel** » Tue Aug 05, 14 5:03 pm

There is some adjustment in the power box which might improve things a bit, but this may well just be a temporary fix, if you adjust it too far, the steering will be notchy.

I've just finished a power to manual conversion, also used a flaming river power column to manual box adaptor. If you have problems with the steering coupler, you could just try changing it for a flaming river power coupler, this will fix the coupler issues permanently.

Also worth putting a wanted ad up for a power box to see if yours is just too far gone. Check the three bolts that hold the steering box to the chassis / K frame as well, they can work loose.

If you want to go to manual steering, do it, it's your car and you have to be comfortable and feel safe driving it

SOMtastic · Post by **SOMtastic** » Thu Aug 07, 14 3:28 pm

Good points Rebel.
I’ll have a go at adjusting a bit and see what happens.

How are you finding manual vs power .. not too heavy ??
What made you decide to change ?

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Aug 07, 14 4:31 pm

Manual steering is nice. But you end up with more turns lock to lock on the steering wheel.

I had a 20:1 ratio box on my Challenger (from Firm Feel) with a slightly smaller than stock diameter steering wheel. It drove lovely. But you still need a good front end alignment. I did mine myself.