'69 Barracuda Phantom Trans Am racer

[dustymojave]

I don't think Plymouth homologated the '67 to '69 Barracuda for SCCA or FIA racing. I've never run across any reference to anybody racing one in the day. I HAVE seen one at a "Vintage" event. In the late 60s/early 70s SCCA had a list in the GCR (their Rule book) of the cars eligible for small displacement sedan classes. They never did that for the big bore class though.

The plan for the model is to use an MPC '69 Barracuda body shell and dash, and the chassis, 340 engine and suspension from an AMT '71 Duster. Of course, the 340 will have to be de-stroked to 305 .





The chassis is a little long on wheelbase. So I adjusted it a little. About 4mm.



The cut is not a single straight line across the chassis so that when glued it's strong.

[dustymojave]

Material removed + kerfs = about 4mm.



Glued together with Testors liquid cement.

[afx]

Like this project too.

[robhart]

Me too. I liked the looks of the 67-69 Barracudas better than the later ones, but I don't recall seeing many of them on the road even when they were new, so I must have a minority opinion. How is the MPC kit?

[dustymojave]

I also found the '67-69 Barracuda the prettiest of all. The body styling changed dramatically through the years of production, but just like the bigger B body cars, the chassis underneath remained very constant, pretty much from the beginning of the Valiant through the end of the Mopar compact cars about 1980. Volare...YUCK! I still think a smaller lighter Barracuda/Challenger with a 318-360 V8 in 104" wheelbase body on the same basic chassis would have kept Chrysler Corp away from the wolves through the 80s and 90s.

That reminds me of another phantom A/Sedan Mopar I have in mind. An early Valiant. Then a 2nd Gen 64-66 Valiant and a Dart. I will probably build a Ron Grable 66 Dart to cover that last. I'll need more AMT Dusters to go under resin bodies.

[dustymojave]

On the subject of Barracuda sedan racers, in the 1970s, a close pal of mine (he and his then girlfriend and later wife set me up on a blind date with the woman I've been married to for the last 35 years) had a '64 Barracuda for a daily driver. His was stock, painted light yellow and had a 273 V8.

I have a '65 Barracuda body shell from an AMT mid-engine funny car kit. AMT issued it in 2 versions, 1 with the Hurst Hemi-Under-Glass decals, and the other with the Fred Goeske Plymouth Dealers Association decals like mine. At any rate, that model was destroyed in my favorite earthquake. The body is fine, but the chassis didn't survive. I've planned since 1971 to re-build that model as a road racer. Then I planned to build a fictional club racer A/Sedan. Now I would probably build it as a Team Fish Trans Am car. The same chassis source would be good with the same modifications, except where the '69 will get a roll cage and fuel cell, the '65 will probably get a roll bar with rear braces and retain the stock gas tank. I've actually had thoughts of doing a temporary build of the '65 on the crude MPC '69 Barracuda chassis discarded from this build. That gets back to Rob's question about the MPC '69 kit. I'll touch on that a little later.

That '65 will be another thread, but it's well down my priority list. OTOH...when building 2 Mopar sedan racers it might be relatively easy to build another.

On this build, I've made some progress. But at this time, I need to download and upload pictures to share them.

So back to Rob's question about the MPC '69 Barracuda kit:

This 1st photo repeated from above and another view show 2 model kit chassis side by side.





The near chassis in both shots is the 1990s AMT '71 Duster. It's pretty nice and is what I'm using for this build as the MPC kit chassis bothers me.

The far chassis is from a 1990s re-issue of the original 1960s annual MPC 1969 Barracuda kit. It's a promo chassis essentially, typical of AMT, Johan and MPC of the period. Like the Mustang kits of the era, it has round front wheel tubs as one would find in a GM body-on-frame or semi-uni-body car of the time, rather than accurate angled inner fender structures with formed shock towers as found in most ALL true uni-body cars. The wheels mount to the chassis via 1/16" steel rods that pass through the chassis from left to right, no matter what gets in the way, such as the engine that the front axle passes through. The small plates that get glued to the sides of the chassis allow a selection of 2 ride heights at front and rear. But the wheelbase is a bit short. I measure 107mm, which scales out in 1/25 to 105.3", where it SHOULD BE 108" like the Duster kit chassis. That's why I had to remove 3-4mm from the Duster chassis to fit the body. They SHOULD have fit just right.

The interior tub is just that, as compared to the multi-piece assembly of the Duster kit. That tub is a bit shallow. I'll again be using primarily the Duster pieces for that, with slight adjustment to the side panels and using teh back of the interior tub out of the '69 Cuda.

The body shell LOOKS pretty good. Proportions look right. But it has a few parting lines on top of the rear fenders and sink marks from the huge locating post for the window and the interior. The body mounting screw posts for the promo version have been mostly removed fortunately.

With the engine bay sides cut out of the Duster body to be used in the Barracuda, that will take care of the MPC inaccuracies. Chrysler built the Duster on the same 'A' Body platform as used for the Barracuda from 1964 through 1969, the Valiant from '64 through '76, the Plymouth Duster and Dodge Demon from '71 through '76, and Dodge Dart from '64 through '76. So the Duster chassis is right for this Barracuda. For the 1970+ 'Cuda and Challenger like JC is building, Mopar used a new 'E' Body platform. They're really rather similar chassis to the A Body, but not quite the same. No parts interchangeable on the full scale models except POSSIBLY the rear axles and with a little creativity the spindles and brakes.

[dustymojave]

Progress update. I've been mostly ignoring the Dart lately and working on the 'Cuda.

A little side note. For the 1970 year model, Plymouth marketing started using the abbreviation that many of the public used for "Barracuda". Prior to that, it's not technically correct to use "'Cuda". But the majority of the public did, which is why the marketing people came around to it.

I've shortened the chassis about 3-4mm as I indicated before.





Then glued the pieces together. The non-linear cut provides good strength.

[dustymojave]

Then I turned to the interior.



Using the sides for the Duster interior with slight trim at the rear wheel wells, and the back of the 'Cuda interior with some modification, and the 'Cuda dash. The back of the 'Cuda interior got trimmed more and then pieces glued in to make it fit well. Those pieces were from the material cut away.



This is pieces just mocked up. No glue at this time to hold the interior pieces in place. I'm thinking of cutting away the 'Cuda inner fender cover panels and extending the sides to intersect with the rear firewall. The fuel cell will be under the back shelf of the interior, just like the stock gas tank is. But SCCA required a firewall between the fuel tank and the interior. So this requires either leaving the existing stock rear firewall, or using some creativity and making a shelf above the cell and moving the firewall forward. The '66 'Cudas used in Trans Am retained the stock gas tank and rear panel, so I think I'm going to keep the rear firewall as it is.

So next the floor needs some filling of mold reliefs for the "frame rails" and some other filling of various spots. I also filled the cutout for the drag race hood scoop on the underside of the hood.



I started with some Squadron white putty, but ran out, so I continued with green putty. I prefer working with the green putty. I like the consistency better. And I don't worry about what folks like Mark Gustavson have to say in magazines about such putty shrinking. I know how to apply it so it won't. Patience is a virtue, they tell me. I don't glob on by the shovel full, let dry, then carve back to the desired end result. I build up slowly. In doing work like this here, I use an X-Acto knife to scrape away excess putty after it dries to a semi-solid state, then more scraping after it's dried. Then apply more if it's not completely filled.

[dustymojave]

Next item is the front firewall. It took about zero time to decide it had to be the Duster firewall. One of the 1st alterations to this was to remove the heater blower motor. That left a hole, so it got more putty.



This firewall fits the body like it was made for it, sits right in between the strips inside the front fenders...except for across the top. The back edge of the hood on the 'Cuda is more curved than on the Duster. This leaves gaps.



The MPC firewall deals with the issue, The Duster firewall will need to be fixed.

[dustymojave]

The fix is simple. Some small triangles of thin sheet plastic fill the gaps.



Yeah...I know it's PINK! That's from some sheets I got when I worked at Mattel. The guys in the prototype model shop gave me quite a few sheets leftover from making some deal for Barbie. So the sheets are Barbie pink. Still have a few sheets 30 years later. You'll see more of it later.

In mockups, I found that with the firewall up against the underside of the cowl, and the inner fender assembly against the fenders, and with the bottom of the chassis flush with the bottom of the body, and the interior panels in place on the chassis and the window sills of the body, there were gaps at the bottom of the firewall. I added material to the foot boards and the bottom of the firewall. It seems to fit well now, but I'm concerned that when I get to actually gluing it all together, there may then be too much material there. It should be EZ to remove any excess if that IS the case though, so I'm not too worried about it. The crescent on the center of the firewall shows above. The material added to the foot boards shows here.

[dustymojave]

The bottom of the chassis plate needs a little putty to fill gaps from shortening it. Really came out to VERY LITTLE putty for that.



The tops of the front "frame rails" also need filling of mold reliefs. They show dramatically when the pieces are assembled. The same is true of the Revell Dodge Dart I'm building into Ron Grable's Trans Am car in another thread here.

For a 1969 Trans Am race car, the gas tank will need to be replaced with a fuel cell. The stock gas tank for the Duster is well represented and it will be great for using this chassis for a 1966 'Cuda.



But I need a box shape. The 1969 Rule book calls out standard fuel cell sizes approved by SCCA and max dimensions for them. For Over 2 liter cars, a 22 gallon fuel cell is called for with external dimensions of:
W - 17 1/4"
L - 33 1/4"
H - 9 1/4"

This winds up being just a little larger than the stock tank. So by building a sheet plastic box around the stock tank, much as JC did for his '70 AAR 'Cuda, I get those dimensions.



Told ya you'd see more of that pink stuff.

I used a piece of 1mm (.040") square evergreen rod to reinforce the front edge of the box. A strip of .015" x .125" made the back wall of the box.

[dustymojave]

While some may be tempted to add ribs or other shapes to the bottom panel of the fuel cell, in my experience, all standard steel fuel cell cans have a flat bottom floor. So a simple flat piece of sheet will close it up.





Again, not much putty needed to finish it up clean. The fuel cell will get straps under it later after it gets painted bright red. .010" x .080" (.25mm x 2mm) Evergreen strip should do that well. Small bits of wire or aftermarket molded studs for the bolts to finish it.

[dustymojave]

Now for the last progress to date:

The oil pan for the engine should be a "deep sump" For road racers, the sump does not get "deeper" it gets wider. Similar to what was used for the Shelby GT350s.

Milodon still makes one for road race small block 273 to 340 Mopars which is the engine this car would have raced with.



So to make one of these, I start with the stock pan for the Duster 340. Looks just like the one under my Dodge Durango out front...





Just some 2mm x 3mm strip stock cut to length and glued to the sides of the pan and then shaped a little. Then a little putty to fill and I plan to add a few lengths of .010 x .020" strip for roll formed ribs on the bottom of the sump.

I'll need to fab some headers or find a discarded set from a Chrysler Kit Car circle track stock car kit.

That's it for now.

[afx]

I picked up one of the '69 Baracuda kits the other day so I am taking notes.

[Patrick]

This is great Dusty. I think the phantom cars are so much fun to build.

\Patrick