Lonestar

Congrats on the new addition Adam!

oldcutlass

Congrats on the new project I think... Whats this jibber jabber on selling the 66? As far as the zone show, it was great, and it was wet the evening before and the evening after. We did miss you and Lonestar. Maybe next year, gonna be in Mayberry again.

tru-blue 442

Thanks David.

Eric, I had a coupe that I traded a 57 Ford maybe 3 ton mail truck
that my Father moved us to TX from CA in 69, I was 6. In 80, I traded the chassis
for the 66 cpe. Fast forward to 90 and I sold the cpe. to move us to Marble.
Now, keep in mind I have been married to the same good woman for 32 yrs and she
has worked hard alongside me as well. The kids were out finally, I've got 2 payments
left on the house, so what the heck, I bought it, she loves it. Happy wife, happy life as
they say. This 66 is nice, but doesn't hold a candle to my old cpe. What happened was
20 yrs go by, I spot the vert, hello old girl, You've let your top down...mmmm...
I fell in Love all over again. I don't have to sell any of them. Maybe my 25 yr old CO
and retire? Selling that 66 cpe was the best investment I ever made. I just got back
out from the lake, haven't had boat out since last 4th of July. Man I missed boating.
Enough rambling. Heres what came in the mail today, when only the best will do, ha.

I hope everyone has a great weekend, we're going to watch the fireworks from the boat
and a friend is going to barbeque steaks. Happy birthday America. Go Freedom.

oldcutlass

Wow, Xmas in July... I know all about being married for 35+ years, I was reminiscing the other day and mentioned that convicts get out after 25. Then I complimented her and said that she was too young for me to get 2 40 year olds.

tru-blue 442

Ha ha, yes sir, life is good. We just celebrated 33.
Boy though, it's a hot sob today in Central TX.
I was on the lake for about 2 hrs and got sunburned pretty good.
Getting prepared for August...

tru-blue 442

Pulled the seats a vacuumed the floors. Some rust at the toe pans, none in the trunk.

tru-blue 442

More pics. It must have been an early Jan. build. All the seat belts are 69.

tru-blue 442

The wife ordered me out of the house today so she could clean, so I
got industrious myself. I needed to see what I have here, so I got to work.
I'm not crazy about what I found with the block #'s though.

tru-blue 442

Cleaned up the dist. I found in the trunk and will fire it this next week
regardless. Its not locked and the clys. are oiling now. Had FOMCO 86 plugs
in it that looked good and a nice brown residue in the exh. manifolds.
What's left of the windshield sticker is either Sept. '81 or '91. I'm thinking '81.

sammy

What does the block stamping read?

tru-blue 442

It's hard to tell Ted. I can see it has been stamped over other numbers.
The last 4 do match the vin however. I'm wondering that with the 69 code seat belts
and being such an early Jan. build if they were using up left over stock and restamped it?

marxjunk

42nd week of 69.. is...around oct of 69 is right for 70....you have 30 to 60...and sometimes as much as a 90 day window..they where building 70s in Sept of 69..around 2nd to 3rd week for 70

is the E in the weird place the question...each supplier had guide lines...not all make sense but you can decipher it...42nd week..5th work day of the week..for 69

supplier could have been across the country hence the span...

since theres no 42nd day of May(E) it has to be day instead of week or month

those are 70 seat belts just very early...

double stamped VINs are not unheard of..its rare...but happened more than you can imagine..theres dozens of rare cars with double stamps..ive even seen them X out the numbers and stamp above..ive seen the double stamped and one is upside down on top of the other...post a better pic of the vin on a macro setting lets look at it

ive even seen the serial number out of order...its all there..just 2 out of order..ive even seen them with 1 or 2 extra numbers....humans loaded the gang stamp and punched the number with a hammer by hand

when its sooo screwed up though its hard to tell the next buyer it came that way...

tru-blue 442

Mark, here's a few new pics. Thanks for your help guys.

tru-blue 442

More.

tru-blue 442

Pic of dist #'s and it looks as though the oil fill tube had been wrangled
out at one time and maybe a new intake manifold gasket.
Tube #'s are: 0292930.

marxjunk

hmmm..well that VIN on the block looks real to me..it looks like a mistake..see that 2 in there...but the font is dead on..that 9 is dead on and the one always fudged.

i'm no expert..but when i blow it way up..i see the correct broaching marks on the pad and those are impossible to replicate with the head on it...at first it looked like your VIN was a typical mis-strike and re attempt..but that 2 is kinda weird...looking at it again..theres maybe 3 strikes 2 fails and a correct..it could be a bounce..but i bet the guy stamping made the correction...all the other numbers seem to match but that 2 stands out in one of the lighter stamps..

id say its dead right..its just a typical "friday" afternoon mistake

all 3 strikes have identicle fonts..no one is going to replicate that but GM..if one was diff..way diff..then id say its a restamp..i dont believe that the case here...i still think its right

when someone alters the pad..they dont get the circular broach marks right..they sand long ways and its a dead give away...

tru-blue 442

Thanks Mark. I have never seen this before. I have seen the x outs before though.
It's good to know this was the engine it was born with. Now to check on the transmission
and rear end. It should have a 3.23 if it's a posi with air correct?

tru-blue 442

Well, looks like a one-wheel-peel unit. I wonder how hard it would be
to put a posi in from a 66-67, hmmm. I have one available.

marxjunk

i think the o type 12 bolt is the same all years internally..ive transferred posi units before an had good luck..you just put every thing from one into the other exactly how it comes out of the donor...ive had very good luck...torque everything to stock..and dont get crazy on the crush sleeve..ive had friends try it and they howl or burn up..but they are the kind of guys that dont need no stinkin' torque wrench

you should own a Yenko with a VIN prob like this..lol....those guys loose their minds..but the anomaly shows up a bunch..especially when they where building cars at full swing...mostly Chevy stuff..but i have seen it on a few Olds and Buicks....the Stage1 guys loose their minds too..lol

tru-blue 442

I was thinking drop the whole rear out of both and just do a swap.
The donor is a 66 442. Not from my red one, it's from another parts car.
I could see the Chevy guys losing it, and the Buick boys. Not to mention
your Poncho freaks, ha.

tru-blue 442

My search skill could use some work I guess. I'm' thinking I may have to use both upper and lower trailing arms from the 66. It's the coil perch stands, and the shock mount points that have me concerned. I don't have them side by side to measure.

Has any one done this swap? Sounds like a plan... but is it a sound plan?

marxjunk

66 cars have a diff coil spring set up...the upper spring is an open coil..on the 66 rear, the spring bolts to the perch

67-up have a closed coil on both ends and gravity keeps the spring on the rear perch it has a cup and the pig tail slips on it..with the shocks etc the spring cant go anywhere...

64-67 are more narrow too....not a big deal but rims with a big off set hit the inner wheel house..

i have put 66 rears in 70-72 cars IF you are lucky the clamp that holds the 66 spring fits the coiled pig tail on the 67 up spring....ive been lucky and its worked..ive also had issues, where the clamp is too small and it wont grab the 70 spring coil..it was manufacturer thing..some aftermarket spring are wound loose and the wire is thicker..

if the clamp fits..it bolts in

control arms and shock bolt right in just use the 70 stuff

billmerbach

Looks like it will make for a fun project

tru-blue 442

Thanks for the info Mark. I'm in no hurry on the swap, I was just trying to
find out if it was doable or not. Hey Bill, I always enjoy bring them back from the brink.
How's the Omega coming along?

tru-blue 442

Well the F block roared to life. I thought I made a video...
She sounds good. Low oil pressure, not oiling well. New chain-gears, seals,
paint, yada yada. Her other 1/2 was looking on and the headlights were glowing, $hit you not.

Magna86

Thats one way to test start an engine! Never seen it done on an engine stand like that. May have to try that myself on one of these projects.

tru-blue 442

Trying to upload a vid. Seems I'm missing a security token. Oh well.
Yeah, I have cranked 'em up just about everywhere. I had a guy call
me from Austin and asked me to crank up an old Toro engine a few years back
that was sitting in the back of his truck. No problem, they cough and fart a few times then vrooomm.

Troys Toy 70

Adam,

That's cool you are way ahead of me, I do not even have my 455 pulled yet. I am working on building an engine run stand to break mine in.

tru-blue 442

Troy, if you can find some of the 'rocket sleds' like the one in the background
of the gold 455 I built several years ago for my 69, those work very well too.
I would never have tried to crank it on one of those 3 wheeled stands, they
are to unstable.

sammy

Looks like a cool save Adam. Does this mean the 69 is shelved?

tru-blue 442

For the time being Ted, I'm no metal man and it will take a fair amount
of work to get it ready for re-assembly. The 70 will just be a fun one
to get going. Toe pan rust and a small spot on the r/r qrt is about all it has.
Finding some green front door panels for a 70 could be a challenge.

tru-blue 442

Meh...I've seen worse. Someone has obviously been in this engine before.
No ridges in the cyl. walls and the worst is the broken bolt in the intake.
I got the one out of the W manifold no problem. I did find a spring keeper
coming out of one lifter. I haven't pulled the oil pan yet, but I bet the screen
for the pump is full of nylon bits. The oil was really dirty. All the trouble to do work
on an engine, why can't people change the oil once in a while?

Lonestar

Cool custom beer holder in the first pic Adam!

tru-blue 442

Had to set it down somewhere to snap pics.

tru-blue 442

Uhhh...Yuck. just as I thought, screen was full of crap and the gears on the
pump are worn pretty good as well. Bottom of the pan is kinda slimey too.
The engine itself looks fairly clean though, not all sludged up.

sammy

get cleaning! Does not look too bad from the pics. At least you can see the screen. The last one I pulled apart was so full of crud you could not see it. Rebuild ? Refresh?...I like your safety boots...uhhh, sandals

tru-blue 442

I think just a refresh Ted. New seals and oil pump. Anyone have thoughts
on using new lifters on an old cam? The old ones are still flat on the bottoms,
not concaved.

marxjunk

if the lifters are flat so is the cam..no doubt

they go flat because the stop spinning..if they stop spinning it kills the lobes and lifters...ive pulled them out of engines and the lifters are cupped...

i bought a running driving engine....ran perfect..at tear down it had 4 cupped lifters...so pulled the cam and 4 lobes had the points rounded off..never heard anything wrong..no misses etc

cams are ground in a way that just the action of it turning it makes the lifters spin in the bore..they aint flat they have an arc in 2 demensions...when spring pressure gets weak..or it runs out of adjustment...or a bent pushrod..it will stop spinning and eat the lifter..and the cam...(rollers are flat)

youre that deep..id look at putting a cam and timing set in it..if it where mine

tru-blue 442

I haven't pulled the lifters out yet. I checked 3 and they looked good.
This weekend I will pull them all and check. I have done this once before and
had good luck, but this cam looks like it has a few more miles than the last one.
It will get a new timing chain and gear set for sure. Thanks for your input Mark,
it is very much appreciated.

sammy

Adam, Lonestar and you must have a field of those flowers planted specifically to take pics of your cars in.