GoldFish Set-Up Notes by Season My Barracuda was originally purchased with the idea that it would be my daily driver. However, various old car problems and the dawning realization that parts were MUCH harder to come by for the fish than for the Mustang soon moved it to back-up car status. When the rear axle wore out the summer after I became a father and a graduate student (Yea, I committed the tactical blunder of doing both at the same time in Spring of '95), it went up on jack stands (were it remained until 06/03/2001), awaiting my attention and a portion of my COPIOUS spare time. While my Barracuda has only about 68,000 miles on the clock, the previous owners were none too kind to it. The original owner purchased the Citrine Gold Metallic Formula S with a black interior, console, disk brakes, and a 904 automatic transmission in New York. The Following year he retired to Arizona (and, apparently, quit changing the GoldFish's oil). When he passed away the GoldFish emigrated to Michigan where its 2nd owner had it repo'd (more than likely more poor maintenance here). Its third owner purchased it off of the impound lot (and the GoldFish finally got lucky). Pete McNicholl, the GoldFish's third owner, is a retired Chrysler Engineer who enjoys restoring, showing, and occasionally racing early A bodies and '50s Hemi cars. While he did not restore the GoldFish, he did treat it kindly, showing it in unrestored/driven condition around Michigan and driving it on a regular basis. I purchased the GoldFish in 1990 with 58,000 miles on it for the sum of $4500.00 and my trusty 318 powered '74 Dart (a converted, rusty, \6 car). That's when things started to get interesting... When the GoldFish first arrived in the driveway at my mom's house, its greeting to me was to spit a core plug out of the back of the driver's side cylinder head right there in the driveway (I bet you can see where this is going). I ended up pulling both heads off, getting a valve job, a mild port clean up, converting to a hydraulic cam (remember this was to be a daily driver), replaced one cam bearing, and the oil pump and pickup. Once I had it running again and through Maryland's title transfer/licensing inspection (very picky) I started to drive the GoldFish on a daily basis and found that it tended to run hot; after replacing the water pump, thermostat, and radiator the GoldFish's temp stabilized. How did it run and drive? Once I replaced the ball joints, tie rod ends, and shocks, very nicely, thank you. The Formula S package makes for a well balanced car that compares well with modern sport coups in every category except emissions and gas mileage. Other minor upgrades include a K&N air filter (I use these on all my vehicles), urethane bushings for the sway bar (this swap was a bit of a pain but worth the effort), and a set of P 205 60HR 14 Yokohama A509s (a nice inexpensive H rated tire that works well on dry or wet pavement). At the strip the tired 273 Commando (it uses a quart of oil every 100 miles) has pushed the GoldFish to a best run of 17.20 @ 84 MPH despite the undersized replacement exhaust system. On the street the GoldFish could defend its honor against the more common Cameros and Mustangs. As mentioned above the GoldFish became a backup car due to the difficulty in getting parts. I still drove to work once or twice a week in good weather, although I will drive it in the rain on occasion by choice (unlike the Rust-er-Mustang which leaks and gets down right scary on wet pavement (all that torque =8^D)). Unfortunately for the GoldFish (as I mentioned above) it decided to use up the rear wheel bearings during the summer of 1995. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, but I'd just started Grad' School AND become a father during the spring. I managed to get the axle out of the car, got it rebuilt, and back to the garage floor under the car but there it sat from August 1995 to about late May of 2001. And then... Great news! The GoldFish swims again. Got it down off of jackstands for the first time in almost six (6!) years on Sunday June 3rd, took it to its first Autocross on June 24th! In the time since I parked the GoldFish, I got my Mustang (Ol'Beastly) back on the road (I grenaded its 289 in 1991), started autocrossing it in C Prepared. This has changed the plan for the GoldFish (I've got the racing bug BAD). So... I'm developing the GoldFish as a test mule for my '66 Dodge Dart to go Vintage Road Racing. I'm using the local autocrosses to develop the handling on the car and don't expect to actually be running the Dart in Fender-to-Fender events for another two or three years. The eventual focus of the GoldFish's Development will be as a competent grand touring car with track day potential. While mosifications so far have stuck mostly to the letter and/or spirit of vintage racing rules (specifically SVRA/HSR), (distant) future plans include the installation of Edlebrock heads and DFI, which should net close to 400 WRHP, the re-installation of the heater, and steel front bumper. Below are links to pages covering the set-up notes and results by event for each of the seasons I've run the GoldFish in: NOTES: Links to Official Results Pages Oil Control One issue that's come up at every event, except the rainy fourth one, has been oil starvation. After every run I've come back to the pits with the lifters ticking like I'd run out of oil. I've worked out a solution with a guy named Armando Z. Rodriguez of: Armando's RACING OIL PANS, ARMANDO'S WORK (ROUND ONE) AFTER TRIMMING AND INSTALLATION (ROUND TWO) This also shows the new swaybar This oil pan was installed before the GoldFish's eighth autocross and made noticeable difference in the oil supply to the engine, as I no longer heard the click-i-ty-clack of deflated hydraulic lifters after every run. Was it a complete cure? No (see commentary following autocross 17, above). It does help though, Its just that there isn't room for really big kickouts on the sides of the oil pan and that limits reserve capacity for sustained high G cornering. The new motor gets a 3 Quart AccuSump. Commentary on Stock Formula S Suspension Development After autocross five (09/03/2001) the GoldFish is nicely balanced in steady state cornering, puts the power down REALLY well coming out of corners (I can floorboard the loud peddle just past the apex and really come out Howling! Well as much as the tired 273 CAN howl anyway), and still needs a little help with turn in. I'll be trying a more radical alignment soon. While the actual time difference between me and 1st in CP at this event was greater than autocross four, this one was dry (I find that rain can be a great equalizer), so I'm very happy with the result. I did knock over a full second off of the deficit I had in autocross 3. After autocross eight (10/21/2001) the GoldFish is even MORE nicely balanced in steady state cornering, puts the power down REALLY well coming out of corners (I can floorboard the loud peddle just past the apex and really come out Howeling! Well as much as the tired 273 CAN howl anyway), and (thanks to the new alignment) needs little or no additional help with turn in. In turns that would have had the GolfFish pushing like a wheelbarrow with the previous alignment, the front tires just bite down on the surface and turn-in. A technique that worked very well on the decreasing radius sweepers on this course was to carry speed into the turn, ease off of the throttle just before the apex, trail brake through the apex using trailing throttle oversteer to point the car at the corner exit gate, then catch the car by easing back into the gas (YEE HAA!), with it floor-boarded by the corner exit. This was the final MWCSCC autocross of the year. Over the course of the season the GoldFish has made tremendous progress. This winter I plan to add: a thicker front swaybar: install a rear sway bar; get thicker torsion bars; add an aluminum intake and mechanical cam for more power and reduced front end weight; and get an aluminum water pump. I would also LIKE to freshen the engine and get subframe connectors installed but I'll have to see how the budget works out. Beyond Stock Formula S Suspension Development The new 1.125" adjustable front swaybar (see autocross nine above) has the GoldFish cornering much flatter with very mild understeer. Currently its set up full soft and that appears to be plenty stiff for now. Next (after newyears) is to install the 0.6875" rear bar I have leftover from Ol'Beastly and see I can get the car more perfectly balanced and flat in the turns (although It aint bad now). To get the new bar I sent Saner Performance Fabrication (SPF) a carefully traced (as accurate as I could (not bad if I DO say so)) drawing on cardboard of the stock bar with dimensions and detail on how I wanted the new bar to differ. The adjustment is by the selection of one of three holes on each end for end link attachment. SPF's website (http://www.sanerperffab.com/) talks about getting tubular production equipment, but they've been too busy making parts to get into that yet. They did turn my bar around in about eight working days for only $160.00 including shipping. One thing, the price I quoted was for the bar only, frame bushings (which I had on hand) and end links (which I got a good deal on from my engine builder (Maryland Performance Center) would (I suspect) be extra. Also I had to fabricate new frame mounts as the factory parts would not accept the 1.125" bar and bushing. I used a combination of 5/16" angle iron and 1/8" extruded channel. The end links consist of one 7/16" male rod end, 2.25" piece of 0.5" OD tubing with 7/16" nuts welded to it, and a 7/16" bolt with urethane bushings in the lower control arm mount on each side (total hardware and fabrication cost on the end links $60.00). Detail of new frame mounts End link detail Weight Reduction The contact information for the fiberglass 1966 Barracuda bumpers is: Larry Augenstein I recently received this link from the MOPAX Mailing List (A YAHOO Group) for VFN Fiberglass http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/site.htm. They list front and rear bumpers, lift off hood and rear deck lids for the 1966 Barracuda! I can't speak to their quality, but I were building the GoldFish JUST for C Prepared/Drag Racing/Part Time Street driving, I'd be ordering the hood & rear deck lid... But the vintage rule books mostly require all mettle panels so I'm looking for a front clip, doors, and rear deck lid to get acid dipped instead. VFN Fiberglass SPAX Shocks Here's the contact info for the Spax shocks: Eric Weller at COMMENTARY ON THE SPAX SHOCKS: The adjustment (with a small screwdriver to a slotted head on the side of the shock body) affects both rebound and compression for the softer 10 settings then only stiffens the rebound for the stiffest 4 settings (total of 14 clicks). It did take 10 weeks to get the shocks once I ordered them but shipping cost was minimal (they ARE a special order item for SPAX). Fitment of the Spax shocks on an American Valiant has one issue, their mounting hardware is a close Metric equivalent for the SAE sizes on the U.S. car. In the rear this merely requires a little muscle and lube to force the tight urethane bushings over the mounting studs. In the front, the upper mounts are no problem, but the lowers are small, closer to 3/8" rather than the 7/16" of the U.S. car, these have to be drilled out to the correct 7/16" size. This is difficult if you've only got a 3/8" drill. I chucked up a 7/16" Tap and used that to "strip" the lower bushings to 7/16" (8^P)! How do the Spax work? I'm VERY happy with them Even with the current settings (11 clicks in from full soft front/11 clicks in from full soft rear) the ride is comfortable, but very tightly controlled. The car is nicely balanced and works well on both the Autocross course and the street. They control the rebound of the stiffer torsion bars (went from 0.870" to 0.990") I've installed. With the stock springs I'd set them on the stiff side to keep the car from "falling over" at turn in (and it worked quite well). That isn't a problem with the bigger torsion bars but I find I'm still using the same settings. The ride is taught and controlled but not harsh or uncomfortable, handling is crisp, responsive, and predictable.
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