64 rearend in a 67 barracuda?

[psychosouz]

i bought a 8 3/4 rearend that was in a 64 valiant big block car. i'm wondering if it is the same width as the stocker for my 67 barracuda? i'm not sure if it was original to the valiant, but i was told it is an a-body rear. anyone know how to find out!

[DartGT66]

The early A-bodies didn't have 8 3/4" rear axles (except the rare '66 D-Dart). Otherwise the stock axle widths are the same for the pre '67 and later A-bodies. Measure it and you'll know, should be about 56" from wheel flange to the other. and if it has got the 4" wheel bolt pattern it must be an A-body axle.

[psychosouz]

is there a web site, or anything that will help decode serial numbers or stampings to find out more about it?

[Dart]

Actually some of the early A-bodies ('65 up) did have 8 3/4 in them. I just parted out a '65 Valiant that was a 273 4-speed car that did actually have an 8 3/4 in it.

[psychosouz]

i'm not sure if it was even the original rear out of that car. i do know it's an a body 8 3/4,where do i find out what the stampings mean? and how can i find out the gear ratio?

[Doug Wilson]

If there are bolts around the center section on the engine side of it, it's an 8 3/4. If the bolts are around the back side, it's something else. As for the ratio, there may be a stamped metal tag attached to the rear end bolts with the ratio on it. If not, you can jack the rear end off the ground - both rear wheels off, mark the driveshaft and rotate one of the wheels - use jackstands. Then count how many turns the driveshaft makes for each turn of the wheel, and that's your approximate ratio. Also, that will tell you whether you have a limited slip rear end - when you are turning one wheel, if the other turns the same direction, you have a limited slip. Another method - quite a bit messier - is to pull the third member(on an 8 3/4), or pull the housing cover (on everything else) and divide the number of teeth on the pinion gear into the number of teeth on the ring gear, and that will give you the ratio. There is another method which is quick and clean - get a tach and determine engine RPM at a specific speed, measure the height of your tire from the bottom to the center of the axle - then go to Randy's Ring 'n Pinion web sight - www.ring-pinion.com - and plug the numbers you have into the formulas he has, and there you go.

As far as the casting numbers, I don't know about the others, but if it's an 8 3/4, the last 3 digits of the number - I think it's a ten digit number - will tell you the type center section you have - they should be 741 or 742 or 489. Opinions vary on whether the 742 or the 489 is the better of the differentials.

I'm sure I haven't covered everything, but the guys on the forum take great joy in correcting me, so you will end up with ALL the right information.

[psychosouz]

right on doug! thats all i needed to know! thanks for the insight!!

[DartGT66]

The 8 3/4" was not an option in pre '67 cars period. They only cam with 7 1/4"'s from the factory except the forementioned D-Dart which I believe had a B-body 8 3/4" with 4.5" bolt pattern and "nice" 4.86 gears. However, since the 7 1/4" actually isn't one of the strongest rear axles, especially many 273/ 4 speed cars have recieved the 8 3/4" later. Just for reference only; the 8 3/4" rear axle is also classified for racing in early A-bodies.

[Doug Wilson]

Dart - I'm very curious about the homologated early Barracuda GTs in Europe. Do you know anything about them, or any websites I could go to to find out about them??

[DartGT66]

I don't, but JariV propably has and can get the info. He has had his hands on one 273 "Monte Carlo" ralley Barracuda.

[Doug Wilson]

Do you know how I can reach him?

[DartGT66]

He is a member of this board, usually on the drag racing forum though. Here is a picture of the car: http://www.opel6070club.com/acs2002/Cuda1I.jpg

[Doug Wilson]

What a choice Barracuda. Did he add the vinyl top?

Can you give me his email address... or ask him to write me at ThunderboltRanch@msn.com ??

Thank you!

[DartGT66]

These cars had very tight relations with the factory. Our Plymouth importer was pretty active in racing, Dodge importer didn't have a similar racing program. At first they raced with Valiants, but the factory insisted them changing in to Barracudas, assopose for advertising reasons. The racers were kind of pissed of because of this , since the Barracuda was way heavier and not as stiff as a valiant 2 D sedan. Anyway, they raced theses cars when they were new and were pretty competitive. They had power, but had problems with the brakes. Our importer tried to get the factory to homogeliate bigger brakes for the cars, but factory told that htere couldn't be any problems with them since there weren't any in the factory testing. This paticular Barracuda led its class in some '60's Ralley of Monte Carlo, but had to retire because of no brakes.