I'm in the very early stages of a restore/modification of a 1966 Barracuda. I say restore/mod but the only modifications I want to make is to hop up the /6 for some serious street rodding. I'm not looking to race just want my fish to have a nasty bite. I know there's lots of performance information out in the internet world but I'd sure like to hear the experiences, successes and failures of those who've been there, done that and are using the t-shirt for a grease rag. Specifically, I'm trying to determine what intake manifold to use; should I use Offy, Hurricane, Clifford (standard style or Dutra's creation)...4 barrel, 2 barrel? Should I use headers...do headers work with all intake options? What about changing the cam? Somebody help me! Oh, almost forgot, The transmission is 3 on the tree.

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins

These questions you ask are like asking what position you should sleep with your wife tonight, it just depends on what you want to do. If you read through some articals and read the forums all these questions will be answered. I have a offy 4bbl on mine with a holley 450 alot of people say its too big and they do not run rite but it works great for me I love it. Its one of those things you ask 10 people you get 10 opinions. The super six is a good option but do some research a /6 is not a V8 where you put a intake and header on it, and its good.

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All in a days work

Gulp... 3-speed, manual shift, non-syncrow 1st gear?
If so, the first thing I would do is change the trans.
The next thing would be a complete tune-up with a valve adjust and distributor recurve,
Next, front & rear anti-sway bars combined with good shocks.
After all that... intake and exhaust up-grades.
Just my 2 cents,
DD

I put a ported head upgraded with stainless 1.70" and 1.44" valves on my '67 Valiant's 225 along with a 390 CFM Holley with an Offy intake and 2 1/4" exhaust off the stock manifold. I dropped over 2 seconds off my 1/4 mile ET. The engine still has the stock cam and short block. The head was milled to achieve a true 8.5:1 compression ratio. My best ET with the car is 16.86 at 79 MPH. The car has late A-body disc brakes, 3.21 geared 8 1/4 rear axle and 3-speed manual trans.

Frankly the 3-speed manual stinks. I built an automatic that will go in along with a high stall torque converter, fresh short block decked to get the compression up to 9.7:1 and a fairly serious street cam. If I get tired of bracket racing I also have a 4-speed I can install.

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Joshua

bigtex, thanks for your reply. You are right on when you say it's all in what you want and what I want is not to spend a fortune building a motor that's only good for racing but one that turns some heads at the weekend cruise ins and such. Unfortunately, as far as reading the related posted forums, much of my confusion has come from reading the the forums. Many tell what they done, but few say whether or not they achieved their goal; did they get what they wanted? For instance, what else did you do to yours and is the performance/end result what you wanted? Of course, I realize when dealing with classics and cars in general the end result is a relative term.

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins

Doc, much of my early teen afternoons were spent racing a 65 4dr Coronet (received from my mom) through the woods and back roads of my neighborhood. Boy, am I familiar with the lack synchro! Ah memories. If I only knew what I hand then. Oh well.

Thanks for your suggestions, handling is a big concern and I have your suggestions in my plans. My struggle is with how much do I want to change the original...and well, of course, money.

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins

Joshua, your response was pretty much dead on in what I was searching for in this particular subject. I appreciate the specifics and anything else you have to pass on, I would greatly appreciate. Thanks for your response!


I appreciate all the words of wisdom that have been posted to my subject thus far. I know that as I go through this restore/mod I will be asking for you guys' help, experience and wisdom often. Many thanks!

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins

I suppose I didn't give a very good conclusion to what I was trying to convey. I wanted a faster car that was still fun to drive which meant a good idle and little to no loss of low speed torque. The 2 second ET improvement (which was better than I expected) and the increased mid-range power certainly made the car a lot more fun to drive. If all I wanted was back road and highway fun and wasn't trying to win bracket racing rounds I would use the 4-speed for sure. The gap between 2nd and 3rd in the A903 3-speed manual is bad even with a stock cam which hurts acceleration and makes 2nd useless on all but the slowest of corners.

For handling improvements I went with big 1.04" torsion bars, QA1 shocks, and a 17" wheel and tire package. The car doesn't even have a sway bar at this point, but the grip and handling are much, much better than stock. My stock suspension '66 Barracuda feels like a marshmallow compared to my '67 Valiant. It's all be bolt on stuff so far and I would not go back to stock. I will be putting in a later K-member and stock sway bar later this year and may drop down to .990" torsion bars so the roll rate doesn't get too high.

A friend has a little dirt track on his property. Here's me and my son taking a few laps in the Valiant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi8qVdXhLZY

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Joshua

Nice!!!

Joshua, thanks man! Enjoyed the video and it's a good looking ride you've got. My dad took my brother and me to watch dirt track racing shortly after we were able to walk; we couldn't get enough.

Thanks for the additional info, too. As I wrote to bigtex, when it comes to cars, end result is a relative term... cause there's always the pursuit of something better or more. Sounds like to me and from watching the vid, you are pleased with the results of the work you've done on your Valiant. Keep tossing suggestions my way.

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins

I have a 64 dart, I did not want anything over the top i live in southern cali so I just wanted something to cruise. I redid my whole inside (new seats, carpet, dash...etc), got my body straight with no rust or dents, lower'd it as low as I could get it (do not make fun of me all you grey hairs lol). then when it came to the motor I just did a nice refresh no cam, no head work all stock with a offy intake and a holley 450. I can let it sit for 5 weeks and go out pump the gas twice and vooom it starts everytime, I take the thing on 4 hour drives never had an issue, thats what I wanted. O I also get 20 mpg. I love my little car, I race profesionlly so I did not want a race car just a cruiser and thats how I built mine. All together with buying my car with wheels,tires everthing I have about 3000.00 into mine and could not be happier. Good luck with your build if it is half as fun as mine was you will love it.

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All in a days work

bigtex, that sounds great and a lot like what I want to do. I have "old school" ideas about how a car should look...low in the front , up a bit in the back, wide tires on the back and a standard size up front. I hate wheels that are big as the moon with rubber bands for tires! I'd rather have a set of old Cragers that can't be balanced than a set of what's being sold as performance wheels today.

Some of what I've been trying to find out is what can I do to the /6 that doesn't involve going int the motor (unless you have to). Do you still run the stock exhaust manifold and pipe with your set up? What's your thoughts on headers? Have you converted your distributor? Thanks for your thoughts.

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins

I do still have the stock exhaust manifold with a nice exhaust system they still sound good, I have a glass pack right now, but I'm in the middle of making my own mufflers for my race truck so I think I will be putting one of my own mufflers on it soon. I'm all about the old sayin "keep it simple stupid" so like I said mine is allllllllllll stock minus the carb and intake.

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All in a days work

bigtex, very cool! Thanks for the response.

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66 Barracuda /6
01 Ram 2500 Cummins