1966 Hemi Belvedere II Project

[gtx6970]

post it here ,
there are people who can decipher it

or if your prefer to not post it publicly
email it to me, i know someone who can

 

[Al T]

Was down in St. Louis for a few days and popped on the caps I had purchased a while back. I like the look of the dog dish caps much better than the full caps.

 

[Al T]

post it here ,
there are people who can decipher it

or if your prefer to not post it publicly
email it to me, i know someone who can

I had meant to post this when I received the decode.

 

[gtx6970]

I need to sit down and get the IBM card for mine

 

[Al T]

Thanks for connecting me with Dan.

 

[Al T]

Wow, it’s been a while. Things are actually going to start to happen! I spent nearly a year looking for a solid original block to build the stroker engine we have planned. I finally bit the bullet and fortunately found a Mopar recast block as the foundation. I had picked up new heads last fall as well as the stroker kit. The block will be shipped tomorrow and once received the fun can start.
Good luck AMT! Build me a beast.

 

[gtx6970]

I was just thinking about this car the other day.

Good luck with progress

 

[Al T]

Thanks!

 

[Al T]

The engine arrived at the shop today. Very happy with the foundation for the build!

 

[Al T]

I’m down in St. Louis for Thanksgiving so went and visited the shop building the engine today. Things are moving along!

 

[Nxcoupe]

Nice, all chucked up in the align hone machine. Is it already bored and torqueplate honed or is this the first step?

 

[Al T]

This was the final step. Pistons are now being ordered. Engine will be 471 cubic inch.

 

[6PKRTSE]

Cool find. Going to be a fun project and a very cool car when done.

 

[Al T]

Finally a bit of an update… life has kind of thrown a few boomerangs in the last year.

I’m back in St. Louis and focused on getting the engine build completed. I was at the shop yesterday and was able to check out the stroker crank and rods, and the custom pistons.

The car came with an advertised as “rebuilt” Hemi 727 transmission. The transmission had been sitting in storage with the car. I dropped it off at a recommended shop in South St. Louis (actually Arnold) to make sure everything was OK with the transmission and reseal it if required. They did a quick disassembly and confirmed it was a hemi transmission and had been rebuilt. The transmission had the stock Hemi torque converter on it that will be going up for sale. The engine shop is recommending a 2600-2800 stall in the transmission, so the stock torque converter won’t suffice. I think it’s around a 1700-1800 stall? Edit: It appears the stock convertor will be fine for my application.

Just need to find a bunch of miscellaneous parts to get this finished.
Oil pan
Windage tray
Accessory brackets
Water pump assembly and pump
Distributor
Pulleys (alternator only) No PS.
Fan
Gas pedal linkage
Exhaust manifolds

Allan

 

[not so famous bob]

I recently purchased a '66 Belvedere II 2 door hardtop Hemi project. The car is black with red interior, has a rebuilt Hemi 727 and engine needing a rebuild.
The car was last registered in ‘71 and the original owner was a Chrysler Proving Grounds engineer. The previous owner I bought the car from had the title from the original owner so was able to pass along to me the original owners name.
It is truly amazing what you can find on the internet! I googled the original owners name and came up with his obituary (he unfortunately passed in 2016). The obituary mentioned the name of his children. I was able to track down his son and I had a great conversation with him. Pretty interesting story about the car….. and his Dad!
His first comment when I talked to him (after explaining why I was reaching out) was "You may not want to hear this". It turns out his Dad bought it new in ‘66 and immediately pulled the Hemi out (I'm assuming they weren't available over the counter yet), installed a 318 in it and put the Hemi in a ‘33 Plymouth coupe he had.
He said his dad sold the car around 1971. I’m guessing whoever bought it had it in storage the whole time with an open title. That would explain why the guy I bought it from had the original owners name on the title... and the car is in the shape it is. His son was shocked the car was still around. He said he was around 15 when his Dad sold the car.
His Dad's original job with Chrysler was as a test driver at the Chrysler proving grounds, then became a developmental engineer, worked in the Hemi transmission program, ran the taxi division…… and so on. Definitely an interesting life, and from everything I've read about him, was a pretty amazing human being.
He said his Dad sold the Hemi from the Belvedere about a year before he died in 2016. He was going to see if he could track it down for me but I'm still waiting to hear about it. I've told him he's more than welcome to come take the Belvedere for a drive when it's completed.
Here's some photos of the car (I'll be moving it to St. Louis in early September) and a photo the son sent me of the 33 Plymouth the Hemi went into. The car is on the left.

I'm sure I'll have a ton of questions through the build. Thanks in advance.

Allan
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interesting , I`ve got a friend / near cousin , that says he used to test hemi cars for 8 hrs a day for Chrysler , he said they frowned on him wearing a set of rear tires out on every shift !!

 

[not so famous bob]

Finally a bit of an update… life has kind of thrown a few boomerangs in the last year.

I’m back in St. Louis and focused on getting the engine build completed. I was at the shop yesterday and was able to check out the stroker crank and rods, and the custom pistons.
View attachment 1739644View attachment 1739647View attachment 1739648View attachment 1739649
The car came with an advertised as “rebuilt” Hemi 727 transmission. The transmission had been sitting in storage with the car. I dropped it off at a recommended shop in South St. Louis (actually Arnold) to make sure everything was OK with the transmission and reseal it if required. They did a quick disassembly and confirmed it was a hemi transmission and had been rebuilt. The transmission had the stock Hemi torque converter on it that will be going up for sale. The engine shop is recommending a 2600-2800 stall in the transmission, so the stock torque converter won’t suffice. I think it’s around a 1700-1800 stall?
View attachment 1739651
View attachment 1739652View attachment 1739653
View attachment 1739654View attachment 1739655
Just need to find a bunch of miscellaneous parts to get this finished.
Oil pan
Windage tray
Accessory brackets
Water pump assembly and pump
Distributor
Pulleys (alternator only) No PS.
Fan
Gas pedal linkage
Exhaust manifolds

Allan

Both my hemis had looser convertors than that they were 25-2800 from the factory...

 

[Al T]

From Chapter 8 in the highlighted book:

Interestingly, the 1969 340 and 383 converters were the same part number and they had factory-rated stall speeds of 2250 to 2450 RPM and 2350 to 2650 RPM respectively; the HEMI® with the same basic converter had a rated stall speed of 2650 to 2850 RPM. This again shows how the same converter (same K-factor) acts very differently depending upon input torque.

That makes more sense.......

 

[Al T]

Getting closer. I had a company here in St. Louis restore the carbs. They did a beautiful job and also ran them on a test engine.