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Well I thought I might toss this one on here …
bought the 66 last January that had been off the road since 95
long story short the guy restoring it past and sat in they’re garage since then until his wife needed to move into a condo
I’m sure I bored some of you guys with pictures and updates through Facebook posts
got it up and running and plates back in April of last year .
car was alright for city driving through the summer but it still had a lot of issues with the factory steering and suspension which honestly didn’t made it highway drivable
I was looking at purchasing a car for myself when this one came up . I decided to buy it and fix it with my son and give it to him for his graduation present in 2 years .
it has been a lot of fun working with him on it and glad we have the one on one time
posting a couple of quick pictures of where we started to where it is now
Harmonic balancer finally showed up this week
my son has been itching at the bit for the last couple of days to get everything back together … great motivation to be honest
got the engine buttoned up other than some wiring .
I have a question for some of you gurus though ….
there is something seriously wrong in my column shifter …
all components are there according the assembly manual but it seems the detent is moving inside the column and the outer housing is moving during shifting .. am I missing something 🤷🏻♂️
When time & budget permit, I suggest you swap in a dual master cylinder. As designed in '66, if you lose 1 hose, you lose all your brakes. Ask me how I know.
If you go on the hunt, your first stop would be a 67 or 68 cutlass/442 dual master for drum brakes.
The next step would be front disk/rear drum, but that requires a different master cylinder yet. Ultimate braking would be 4 wheel disk, but that's pricey & a little exotic to maintain.
Without sounding too old, when I drive my '66's, I remember that _everyone_ on the road has better brakes than me. So I leave lots of distance, especially (says the grumpy old guy) if I can see them texting & driving.
Get off my lawn.
Chris
PS: On a side note, my Dad did business with GM long ago, their reps said '66 was one of their best years for quality.
When time & budget permit, I suggest you swap in a dual master cylinder. As designed in '66, if you lose 1 hose, you lose all your brakes. Ask me how I know.
If you go on the hunt, your first stop would be a 67 or 68 cutlass/442 dual master for drum brakes.
The next step would be front disk/rear drum, but that requires a different master cylinder yet. Ultimate braking would be 4 wheel disk, but that's pricey & a little exotic to maintain.
Without sounding too old, when I drive my '66's, I remember that _everyone_ on the road has better brakes than me. So I leave lots of distance, especially (says the grumpy old guy) if I can see them texting & driving.
Get off my lawn.
Chris
PS: On a side note, my Dad did business with GM long ago, their reps said '66 was one of their best years for quality.
This car has all brand new master, lines and brakes keeping it factory drums .
I have done other cars with disc conversion
The disc dust doesn’t pit the aluminum rims 👍
Hope I didn’t offend with the brake suggestion, just something I did with my cars to give me more confidence in modern traffic.
I blew a brake hose in the 80’s and lost all stopping power. Scared the sh*t out of me - at the time an inexperienced driver. Memories like that stayed with me, so when I found a fix, I like to share.
Have been very happy with factory steel wheels (7”X15”) & various hubcaps on my big cars, so I’m unfamiliar with the pitting/corrosion issue with aluminum wheels.
Hope I didn’t offend with the brake suggestion, just something I did with my cars to give me more confidence in modern traffic.
I blew a brake hose in the 80’s and lost all stopping power. Scared the sh*t out of me - at the time an inexperienced driver. Memories like that stayed with me, so when I found a fix, I like to share.
Have been very happy with factory steel wheels (7”X15”) & various hubcaps on my big cars, so I’m unfamiliar with the pitting/corrosion issue with aluminum wheels.
Well hopefully the car is al most done…
I still need to rewrite a few things from a 67 to 66 wire ring harness 🤦♂️
electriak is not my strong suit so if you guys have some ideas let me know lol
That thing looks great Wes, nice to see work with the son 👍, my car is still tore apart in my shop, at least its dry. Hows life on the lone prairie?
Stan ! Long time no see bud
I’m doing ok had some curve ***** in the last bit but I’m doing ok
yeah it’s been great doing this with my son
he is now a car guy pretty funny seeing the change in him over the last year lol
Hey Stan forgot to mention ..
heading back to the coast with the kids for the Father’s Day show in Qb and bringing the car
will be there for a week or so
Well the car is back up and running hopefully ready for the 3600 km road trip .
gpt the alignment done a couple of weeks ago and steers straight ..
really need to get the Jeep box conversion done but might try and find something back on the coast
I only have one electrical gremlin left for the front turns signals not coming on but hopefully resolved over the weekend
bumper is tweaked in the last picture but had to ratchet strap back into place
Looks great, thats quite a journey ahead of you, I’ll keep an eye on my work schedule and hopefully meet up with you at some point, may have to come up to the show on Sunday
I had been pounding miles on the car to work any bugs out before the long trip …
good thing I did lol
had a nasty exhaust leak due to warp pass side exhaust manifold . Pulled it and put the one on from the 330
next was a bad new drivers side wheel cylinder that was leaking
lost my drivers side front turn signal went to pull the bulb and the guts of the wiring fell right out of it . It is soldered in temporally till I get back home . Found one in excellent shape thanks to the site 👍
had a sticking starter that I had bought new last spring so had to switch that out .
and last but not least last week I started getting a weak gen light on the car .. so I’ve been watching it and testing it had been charging still. Sure enough on Sunday had the car out and popped the hood to check it with my volt meter and heard a slight grinding coming from it so it was on its way out .
I put a new one in to make I didn’t get stranded in the middle of nowhere . Fired the car back up and still had a gen light on so removed the reg off the firewall and grabbed the spare out of the cupboard which fixed the issue ..
Yeah Joe no kidding …
just glad I had some test miles in before the trip . If I didn’t I would have trailed the car
It is a 2300 mile round trip so something will more than likely happen but it’s all part of the adventure
If I can survive the kids that is 😂
Stan the trip has been great !!!
the Father’s Day weekend was all I remembered to be and more
had and have some issues with car but it is all part of the adventure .
I have had an absolute blast with my kids and will always have great memories
so far we have 3000 miles on the car with a 10 hour drive to get back home
I will be needing to toss in a new cam and lifters in the car once home but to be honest it has been running good other than some lifter clatter
I thought I was down and out in Hope on the way home but some mcgyvering will get us home 😂
Well I finally started digging into the 330
valley pan in so clean I can’t believe it 😳
I was getting some cylinder wash before I pulled it
it has some work done to it by the looks of it
has a new timing chain and hoping cross my fingers I can get away with just a set of rings
Stan this is the factory motor I had pulled out of the car due to cylinder wash .
I put a 68 350 in the car to make my trip back to the cost
going to get it off to the machine shop and figure out what it needs for a rebuild
Just wondering what size wheels and tires you put on? I love the color, I had a 66 T-Bird a few years ago that was similar, Burnt Ember they called it.
thanks,
Steve
Just wondering what size wheels and tires you put on? I love the color, I had a 66 T-Bird a few years ago that was similar, Burnt Ember they called it.
thanks,
Steve
Steve the car has 17x8 riddler 675’s on it with Dunlop Sport maxx 235’s all around
So ……… I pulled the bottom end out of the motor … yep 😳
By the looks of the oil pan something let loose sometime in its life .
all the piston skirts were riding the walls
#7 wrist pin is tight on the rod
by the cross hatch it was dingle ball honed
the crank will need to turned at least 10
I can’t feel and damage by finger nail but visible damage
