Plymouth Barracuda Bracket Racer - The B3 Bomber

Project B3 has come a long way since we began our build several months ago. If you've been following our project, you'll remember our goal was to build a bracket race car that would run consistent 10-second elapsed times in the quarter on a budget of about $10,000. In previous issues, we've shown how to stiffen the car up with frame connectors and torque boxes, installed a legal rollcage, built the engine, and lightened the car by adding fiberglass body components and polycarbonate windows. We've also finished the front and rear suspension of the project, getting the car ready to hook hard and run consistently.

In this issue, we'll finish the car by plumbing the fuel system, wiring the electrical system, finishing the interior, and installing the engine and transmission before heading to the track for some test passes.

When building a race car, or a street car for that matter, expenses can easily get out of hand. We've stuck pretty close to our budget so far during this build, but the finishing items, such as wiring, braided fuel lines, a fuel cell, and the rest of the components needed to complete our car, were going to quickly add up and blow our budget. While we were hunting for used parts to finish our project, we ran across a deal we couldn't pass up. While we don't take any pleasure in benefiting from someone else's misfortune, when friend and fellow racer Rebecca Mendito suffered an unfortunate accident and totaled her Duster, we purchased the remains of the bracket car to salvage the fuel lines, fuel cell, wiring, switches, and other components needed to complete our Barracuda. Luckily, the transmission was unhurt in the accident, so we pulled it from the wrecked Duster to freshen up and use in our project vehicle. we purchased the wrecked Duster for just over $1,000, then sold the rollcage to another local racer for $250, and the rear ladder bar suspension and 831/44 differential to another racer for $850, leaving us the rest of the car to salvage, along with a little spare cash to help our budget.

Though the wrecked Duster will provide lots of used parts for our Barracuda, there are some areas where we feel only new parts will suffice. In the fuel system, we'll be using a new Holley high-volume electric fuel pump and regulator along with the fuel lines, filter, and fuel cell we salvaged from the Duster. Though the transmission from the wrecked car looked ok and already had a manual valvebody, we'll have Tod at Inline Performance Specialist freshen it up and check it before installing it with a new Dynamic 8-inch converter with a 5,000-rpm stall speed. This converter, along with our 4.30-geared Dana 60 rear differential and the suspension components we installed in previous issues, should provide hard launches and the sub-1.50-second 60-foot times we'll need to get our car into the 10s.we had our hands full in the interior of our Barracuda. The door panels and dash were shot, and the carpet was nonexistent. Additionally, we stripped the car of its heater box, seats, factory gauges, and other unnecessary equipment to save weight. Since we want this car to have a finished look, we'll be installing new carpet, door panels, and door sill plates from the Paddock. To make the dash presentable, we decided to have Emo at Emo's upholstery recover the dashpad, and we painted the dash black to match the rest of the interior. The fiberglass race seat was salvaged from the Duster and used as well.