So those of you who know me know my passion and know my dislike for that big wide brake pedal that takes up the whole space where there's actually room for two smaller pedals.
I'm not done putting the rear window back in my car but I'm on hold until I get some pinchweld primer for that job. Rather than sit on the couch or at the computer I figured I'd get started on the project that is next after the window job.
Didn't get far today but I only made the decision to start on it after waking up from my afternoon nap.
It's a shame to waste this custom made drive shaft (previous owner Ken put a 700 overdrive in the car) but from what I know it will be the wrong length for the Muncie that's going in.
I am thankful that whoever did the exhaust for the 396 did a good enough job on it that the 700 dropped down between the pipes without me even having to loosen them.
Somehow it seems I always hold my breath a bit until that trans is down at floor level. I've seen a few times where an "oops" happened and that can get very expensive with transmissions involved. And once again my little medical lift was just the ticket to lower it down. I love this tool...
I got a bit of a surprise when I went back to the car to remove the flywheel after dropping the trans. I'm sure you guys will see what I see, and it makes no sense to me.
pilot bearing, did Ken replace the crank when rebuilt?
Yes, I would be surprised if he changed cranks but maybe? Seems to me that engine ran ok, just needed an overhaul.
Funny thing is, I just was reading a guys 4 speed conversion thread the other day. He was in the US, doing a 66 Impala. When he pulled the automatic his crank had a pilot bushing in it too and I thought "that's weird". Now I have the same thing.
I'm going to ask Ken.
Can't ask him right now though, I'm listening to him on the radio!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
So while I wait for the urethane to cure real good on the back window, I wanted to do some other stuff for this conversion. One thing I remembered was when I did the Strato Chief 4 speed conversion I had a brutal time installing the speedometer cable firewall grommet on the new cable. This is because the grommet hole is about 1/4" for the cable housing and the smaller nut of the two on the new cable is about 5/8". That rubber grommet did not want to flex. I remember working and working for likely 20 minutes or so to get the nut through that opening. This time I came up with an idea but had no idea if it would work.
I cut the end off one of the window urethane tubes I used on the back window. Trimmed it down to the right size so the speedometer cable nut would just fit inside it. Greased up the tube end and slid the grommet on. I had to push pretty hard the last inch or so as it expanded to go over the nut but the whole thing once I started took about a minute.
I wanted to post this in case anyone has had grief with this and wasn't sure how to do it without cutting the grommet.
No it should have 3 little spring tabs on the back that clip into the hole. The one you pictured may work but it's not the original style. I could check the books but I think they used the grommet you need on pretty much all the Chevs and Pontiacs for a long time.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I drilled the hole in my firewall last night to move the cable over to the 4 speed location. What an ugly job with the engine in the car. I removed the throttle rod, distributor cap and wires for the left side and that helped.
Maybe tomorrow I'll get the hole drilled in the firewall for the backup light harness for the Muncie. That's the other ugly hole to drill on the 4 speed conversions.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I drilled the hole in my firewall last night to move the cable over to the 4 speed location. What an ugly job with the engine in the car. I removed the throttle rod, distributor cap and wires for the left side and that helped.
Maybe tomorrow I'll get the hole drilled in the firewall for the backup light harness for the Muncie. That's the other ugly hole to drill on the 4 speed conversions.
with the tranny out would it have been easyer just to lift the motor out? clean and orange it up while its out
I drilled the hole in my firewall last night to move the cable over to the 4 speed location. What an ugly job with the engine in the car. I removed the throttle rod, distributor cap and wires for the left side and that helped.
Maybe tomorrow I'll get the hole drilled in the firewall for the backup light harness for the Muncie. That's the other ugly hole to drill on the 4 speed conversions.
with the tranny out would it have been easyer just to lift the motor out? clean and orange it up while its out
Not so easy on an A/C car though...
And I want a driver, not a show car! If I make it nice then I won't want to mess it up. This way I won't worry about it, I will just enjoy it!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
The clips are all that hold it in place. It's not grooved to fit into the full circle of the sheet metal like a typical grommet. This is the backside of a repro grommet that I found. This is how the 3 clips look.
Hi... Okay, that makes sense that the clips hold it in place. I was thinking that they somehow attached to the cable...DUH.
Can you post a picture of your drilling venture, just for clarity, on where the hole is precisely....
Because it's kind of down in behind the booster and the back of the engine, the best is to go through the great detail Mark did in his 4 speed conversion thread. There's at least one, maybe two good pictures of the location on the firewall, taken on cars with the engine removed.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Not much done today. I got the hole drilled in the firewall for the backup lamp harness. Also made up an original style jumper harness that goes from the inside of the firewall to the back up light connector that comes out of the cluster-area harness.
Removed the driver's bucket seat, auto console and shifter.
One of these days I'm going to have to tackle that nasty job of welding the tab of the frame for the Z bar pivot. Nasty because I don't want to have to drop the inner fender to do it.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
