Barracuda Weight Reduction - Lighten Up!

By using pins to keep the hood and trunk in place, we eliminated the hood and trunk hinges, as well as the latches, for another incremental reduction in weight.

The first step to replacing the windows with lightweight polycarbonate is to remove the original glass. Most original rubber gaskets are dry and brittle, so you'll need to cut them with a razor knife to get the windows out.

Using a gasket scraper, we cleaned any remaining sealer and pieces of the rubber window gasket from the frame. We can now prime the window frames in preparation for our new lightweight windows.

While premade polycarbonate windows are available for most popular Mopar race cars, we decided to save a few bucks by cutting ours out ourselves. Sheets of clear polycarbonate can be purchased from most home-improvement warehouses. Be sure to get a minimum of 11/48-inch-thick material as outlined by the NHRA rules.

To reproduce our Barracuda's side windows, we used the original glass units and traced around them on our polycarbonate sheet. A jigsaw is then used to cut them out.

For a nice border, cut approximately 1 to 2 inches of the backing material from the back side of the window. This area will be painted on the inside, providing a border around the window and a more finished appearance.

The polycarbonate material will need to be scuffed with 400-grit Scotch-Brite, then can be painted with black spray paint. Be sure to do the inside surface, not the outside.

To fasten the lower edge of our new windows to the doors, we riveted a piece of aluminum L-channel to the top, inner surface of the door frame. The window will ride in the forward track and be screwed to the L-channel with countersunk screws.