Barracuda Gran Coupe Convertible

[Moparinho]

The paint shop has found the correct PPG paint formula for the B5 (or, he supposed to..).  I couldn't wait to try it so I decided to make a test shoot on the front valance panel.

The color is very nice but I'm not sure is it 100% correct.  It seems a little bit lighter than color seen on other B5 cars

what do you think about ?

[dutch]

hard to tell from a picture, but if someone would ask me what color is that?  I`d say it`s b5 for sure. 

[Moparinho]

last week I received all sheetmetal parts that I needed to finish the bodywork.  I decided to complete redo the rear side of the car (I will save only the tail panel).  It seemed like Chrismas day      I couldn't wait to open the cardboard boxes and see what they contained.....

[Moparinho]

the AMD panels looks very nice and  have a more quality finish than I expected.

[Moparinho]

I started to work on the driver front pan.  I order a new pan to replace the rusty one found on the car.   The pan is from Sherman.  It's fair to say that I've heared a lot of stories on that panels but honestly I found it very solid and with a good fit

[Moparinho]

a first shot of epoxy starts looking the floor fresh and clean...

[Moparinho]

I got some progress on the quarter panels as well.   First of all I placed the new AMD skin on the existing panel and marked the cut area with few shots of paint can.   It was then easy to cut along the marked line and have a perfect fit with the new panel.

I found the  wheelhouses worse than expected.  I haven't ordered a replace for them.  So now will be a challenge to work on them.

[Moparinho]

found this ticket inside the left 3/4.  It looks like a time receipt.  I never been to the strip so I cannot understand how to read it. 

[Belgium Cuda]

Hi Paulo,
How is the project running? Wintersleep like mine or? I'm waiting for AMD and
motivation.

Per

[Moparinho]

Hi Per,
the project has been in hold just for a while. Motivation is always hight.  During last months I was very busy to move all my stuff and projects on a new workshop.  I will start working on the Barracuda again in a couple of weeks.  Stay tuned.

[Moparinho]

Hi guys.  It's a while since my last update.  I have had many projects to finish during last 6 months. 

But things have been moved on the Barracuda as well.    I'm getting close to finish all body work.  Here some updates:

 first of all I decided to strenghten the front end with a couple of tubolar inner fender braces.  Too expensive for me to have it shipped from XV Motorsport.  So I decided to fabricate it  by myself  (FYI:  less than 30$ spent for the 2'' mild steel tubes  ).

The istallation of the brace requires to weld reinforcement plates on the cowl  as well as on the top of the suspension mounting.

[Moparinho]

the rear wheel housing was a complete mess       The convertible NOS replacement doesn't exist.   You need to use an hardtop one and modify to fit the vert layout.
At the end of the day I decided it worth to fix my existing part but I had to completely rebuild it.





with a little of bondo and epoxy primed, it seems not so bad.  I will get it better later on:

[Moparinho]

I removed the old trunk pan and I disovered that the rear frame rails was not so "solid" like the seller told me.  Looking from the inside, they seems very weak.  I coudl easly twist them by hands,  so I decided to rebuild them and also reinforce them welding an inner rectangular steel tube.   A modification that add just 2Kg but a lot of strenght to the body and to the leaf springs mounting points.

[usraptr]

It's looking good!     Keep us posted on your progress.   

[Moparinho]

new trunk floor (AMD one piece) and trunk extensions in place