Ooooo Barracuda!

Reading about Scott Palmer's Mustang kill during the dream cruise on Woodward prompts me to post about the very clean 1970 'Cuda I met up with on the Wednesday before the cruise. I was heading home on northbound woodward, (this GS is a daily driver from April to October as long as it ain't raining), and he was in front of me at the square lake road light when he guns it and i of course keep up behind him. I get next to him at the light at orchard lake road, right there next to the phoenix center, he has his wife/friend with him, and he jumps on the throttle hard when the light turns green and gets in front of me. So i certainly respond with a good lock up, catch him at the top of first, the front end jumps up when i clutch into 2nd gear and pass him with his gal's mouth open, this GS just walked away, didn't even have to take 2nd all the way to 5200. We met again at the next light and i told him his cuda runs pretty good and asked him what was in it. He said a 383. He asks what I have and when I told him a 350 Buick (some folks out there confuse the term 350 with the sbc so I always says 350 Buick) it was his turn to drop his jaw. Just to finish things off, at the next light he was behind me and i couldn't resist......i tached up to 2500 and let go of the clutch, left him a blue fog to drive through. I have another story about a very late October evening last year, when i was testing some new jets, rods and settings on the Qjet, on a secluded road through the state land of the Pontiac Lake Rec area where I met up with a county mounty.......for another time, maybe, still not sure I want that one on the internet, hahaha.

 

You've all heard the expression "Mopar or no car"; I think it should be changed to "Mopar, the slow car" :laugh:

Oh, and you can't tempt us with another story and not deliver . . . what a tease! :bla:

 

Nice kill!:beer What is done to the motor?

 

Hahaha, I like that "Mopar, slow car".....he should really have kicked my butt, the 'Cuda is a much lighter sub-frame car, by at least 500 lbs, more cubes and higher compression..........but it is what it is......

The GS' 350 is a fairly mild build:

1. rebuilt about 20k ago, so with the block decking and head milling, the compression is higher than 8.5, maybe closer to 9.0. I always run 93 octane, provides a smoother pulse than anything lower.
2. Comp cam 260H, still pulls 17-18 inches of vacumm at 650 rpm.
3. 1 and 5/8 inch headers into 2 and 1/4 pipes, then thru staight tube glasspacks.
4. 4spd Muncie (love the way they whine) into a 3.9 gear.
5. MSD 6AL feeding into Petronix breakerless, Accel plugs gapped at .050
6. 750 QJet, 73 jets with 43B rods, CL secondaries on B hanger. 4 hole wood spacer on top of the TA intake.
7. 180 degree thermostat, manual steering, manual brakes, no a/c, the only things on the fan belt are a water pump and an alternator.
8. 12 degrees initial timing, 34 degrees all in at 2400 rpm, no vacumm advance.

By far, the BIGGEST power enhancement on this motor is the timing. That Larry dude, he should be collecting royalties on his post about how to time your motor. If you're reading this Larry, THANKS!!!!

My son Jake put most of the BS&T into this motor, and I helped him fine tune it before he went into the Corps. He still comes home to drive it when on leave, and keeps threatening to take it back to North Carolina with him.

Gotta go, the county mountie story will have wait for now.

 

Nice kill!

Although I think you'd find that those unibody Mopars are a little heavier than you'd think. The Cudas tipped the scales at a little over 3,600lbs. I have a '73 Charger, and even with a small block it weighs in at around 3,850lbs (a unibody car as well). Pigs I tell ya! :Smarty:

Of course, having been a proud Buick 350 owner at one time as well, I can say that those Buick small blocks are highly under-rated, and can definitely get the job done!

 

Great Kill Steve!! Love to see your car sometime.

 

'Slopar', I call 'em.

 

I always loved the Mopars, all my trucks have been mopars (74, 76, 79, 86, 90, 2002, 2007) but I've never had a mopar car.

Mopar did kick lots of ass though back in the day. I mean come on, six pack 340s, dual quad 426s, 413 and 426 wedge with cross rams, 383, 440 six pack.

350 killing a 383 is pretty bad ass. I'm sure he was stunned! Good kill

 

Guess I'm a little surprized that those 'Cuda's weighed heavier than I thought.

Yeah, I think those boxy late '60s roadrunners, coronets, super bees, chargers, were awesome as well. The way they were put together....welded sheet metal, no insulation and carpet, and bolt in a big nasty, high compression, multi-carb V8 with a pistol grip 4 speed. A very no-frills, in your face kind of ride.

I'll try to upload a pic of the GS.

 

Exactly, That's why the 1968 Road Runner is my favorite muscle car. Of course the GTOs and the GS and cars like that were cool, but I'm all about the stripped down plain jane built for speed machines...like the 68 Road Runner. No bs, no options that didn't make it go faster and cheap