Looking fantastic Carl!

I think its time for a coffee in your garage!

Wow, sweet ride, nice job!

macsleuth wrote:

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Wow, sweet ride, nice job!

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 Thank you. I'm looking forward to putting some miles on this car after the winter that never ends finally leaves...

Just solder and torch according to the guy I got them from. I've never done them yet so this will be a bit of a trial run.

Man she looks good Carl! Love seeing the pics, thanks for posting.

Fake68 wrote:

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There is a special crimper available for those cable ends. I borrowed one from a buddy when I did mine.

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 I asked about that and he said you can crimp them if you like but they don't bother. I guess we'll see if he was right!

Good idea George, maybe I'll do up all the details when I get a second.

long stroke wrote:

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Carl, what are all the spec's on that sweet 427. Stuff like year, extent of rebuild, any internal mods........ you know stuff like that. Cheers.

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 You may be sorry you asked, you know how long my posts can get!

About 10 years ago I was lucky enough to buy a pretty close to virgin 1968 427. It had seen new main/rod bearings in the 80's along with a fairly mild Speed Pro cam. I stuck it in the corner of the garage and refused many offers for it over the years because I knew one day it would end up in my favourite car, a 66 B body with a 4 speed behind it. When I acquired my Strato Chief it was pretty much a given that would be it's new home. 

Last summer, before I started tearing it down I received a phone call from a friend who lives close by. He often calls me asking me to identify engines, parts, etc. He's not crazy about doing computer stuff and I love doing that kind of thing. He told me he was going to look at a 427, and of course I was all ears even though my experience has been that most "427's I've checked ended up being 396 or 454. I told him to get me the numbers off it, everything he could find. When he called me back with numbers and gave them to me, I almost fell off my chair. The block was a 1966 Pontiac or Impala 427 390 horse manual trans block and from a Canadian car to boot! (I say this because I'm told the US 427's had partial VIN's on them from the car they were installed in, and this one only has the block code, no VIN.)

I said let me know if you buy it. A week later he calls that he has it at home. I go and look, sure enough, freshly rebuilt 427 short block with the right numbers that match my car! The block was rebuilt 30 years ago and sat in a basement apparently until it was sold by an estate.

I didn't want to give up my virgin block I knew the history on for an unknown but the lure of matching numbers was too much. We made a deal where I received his short block and I traded mine. However, I kept the virgin crankshaft out of mine which was still standard, never been cut and didn't need to be. His had been cut. His block was bored .030 but mine needed boring also, so it all worked out. I kept my 1968 heads and used them. His heads were a later 454 head as I recall and I didn't want those. 

I tore down the fresh 427. Sent the block to the machine shop to be checked over and pressure tested. It had brand new pistons, rings and bearings. However, because I kept my standard crank, I had to install new standard main and rod bearings as well as cam bearings. I used the fresh 427 pistons that were in the 66 block but put new rings on them to be safe. New frost plugs,  oil pump and suction tube, new cam, lifters, pushrods, rocker arms, valve springs and retainers, new timing chain and gears, valve guides and valves. The cam is a Melling, as was all of the valvetrain. It's a 22213. It's too tame but I did NOT want this thing sounding like some overcammed hot rod. I would like if it was a little more noticeable at idle but I'll undercam vs overcam every time!

All the engine parts I used were brand name stuff. Yes, there's cheaper stuff but not in my garage!

The 427 Quadrajet I bought from a CP site member and had rebuilt by Autoline in Winnipeg. They also rebuilt the distributor and water pump. The intake is the original cast iron. The air cleaner is my own home grown version but quite accurate in appearance to an original 427 air cleaner. (They seem to bring about $600 and I wasn't ready to pay that for my "FAKE 66"!)

The exhaust manifolds are for an L72 427 in a 66. I got them from a friend in Alberta. I didn't even realize the L72 manifold was different until my friend told me! They are in really nice non pitted shape, so I did a very light sandblast (from distance) to take most of the surface rust off them but leave them with a little bit of an aged look. 

Plug wires and plugs are AC Delco of course. The engine mounts are NOS pieces I picked up likely close to 10 years ago.

I scared up an obsolete GM fan belt from a dealer in western Manitoba and used pulleys and brackets I'd been saving for years! 

The fuel pump I bought is an Airtex. Apparently they made the original pumps in 1966. 

I left the original cannister oil filter on it for appearance sake, and I really don't mind them. When it's one oil change a year, it's really not a lot of extra time out of my life vs. a spin on!

I assembled the engine and installed it over a period of a couple of months I guess, taking my time. Hopefully it works like it should. So far the only glitch I see after about 50 miles is possibly a small oil leak but not quite sure what, maybe pan gasket. 

It was fun finally assembling a lot of pieces I'd saved for years in anticipation of having a 66 B body 427 4 speed. Still some detailing to do, lots of little things but at least I can drive it on nice days and enjoy it now!

Long Stroke, do I hear you snoring???!!! Sorry, was that too much detail???

 

The biggest reason this project was so much fun was it was the culmination of me accumulating parts for over a decade with the dream of building a 66 B body Canadian Pontiac 427 4 speed. Of all the cars I've ever owned, the one I have missed by far the most was my 66 Grande Parisienne with the 427 4 speed. This car is designed to fill that void and it's doing a wonderful job. It really is a pleasure to drive.

And I know I cut a hole in the floor for the 4 speed, but that one hole is basically the one and only change to the car that I've made that would require a bit of work to return the car to original. The rest of what I've done is pretty much bolt in. It could be put back to a 283 with 3 on the tree quite easily.

I've made as much an effort as possible to make this car look like it was built this way in 1966, and there's still more to do that will hide the fact that I've swapped in the 427 4 speed. When I'm all done I'm hoping that not much more than the cowl tag will give it away.

Great story on a beautiful car Carl. Who can argue with building the power train the way the factory might have built it? Very tastefully done. 

I'm currently doing the same with my 427 engine as you did. It was said to have been rebuilt, and that appears to be so as it has great compression, with 30 over forged pistons and very robust internal parts. But I tore it down to the block and went through it all again anyway just to be sure. I don't want to have to take it out  later because I missed something when I had it on the stand. 

The nice thing is that I finally have the time to do this kind of project, having recently left the world of daily work behind for retirement. 

gparis7 wrote:

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Great story on a beautiful car Carl. Who can argue with building the power train the way the factory might have built it? Very tastefully done. 

I'm currently doing the same with my 427 engine as you did. It was said to have been rebuilt, and that appears to be so as it has great compression, with 30 over forged pistons and very robust internal parts. But I tore it down to the block and went through it all again anyway just to be sure. I don't want to have to take it out  later because I missed something when I had it on the stand. 

The nice thing is that I finally have the time to do this kind of project, having recently left the world of daily work behind for retirement. 

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 What's the 427 going in John?