My 67' Belvedere 2 Rebuild

[Auggie56]

It's been two years this coming month since I started replacing the torsion bar anchor and redid the brake lines. She had a tired three eighteen, so I replaced it with 440. Dealing with a dishonest machine shop, whose ad claimed they knew MOPARs. I trusted them, big mistake, they carelessly misaligned the oil passage holes on the number four cam journal. Something I didn't see until months later when I was able to get back working on the car. I with information from a member here invested in a cam-bearing installation tool. The first attempt didn't go too well as one bearing cocked so much that the cam wouldn't go into that particular one. Bought a second set and the cam went in but turned hard. With some croakis coth and a short three-quarter wood dowel. I was able to gain better clearance by sanding each bearing while in the block with a circular motion. Rebuilt the trans before it's installed. One of the most time-consuming things was cleaning, sandblasting, and repainting parts I took off.
Currently, I have been reinstalling the interior, and refinished the glove box door and cluster surround in satin black.
I'm pretty much alone on the project, waiting for a friend who lives an hour away, to get the time to help install the engine and trans.
She's not perfect, but after all this, I have a car that I could afford, just not the B-body I really wanted but was out of reach.
Looking forward to the Woodward Dream Cruise this summer.

 

[mr. b]

looks good to me keep up the good work

 

[davek]

Great looking car and working on them is part of the jjourney.

 

[Cranky]

@Auggie56 Was your cam bearing tool one of those universal ones? The Belvedere looks good!!

 

[Big bill]

Loos like a lot of fun sweet car.

 

[Auggie56]

@Auggie56 Was your cam bearing tool one of those universal ones? The Belvedere looks good!!

Mopar Late Model Hemi Cam Bearing Installation Tool Made in USA for VVT | eBay

Mopar Late Model Hemi Cam Bearing Installation Tool for only (W/VVT) this kit is for the Variable Valve Timing the second photo is the longer mandrel needed for the first cam bearing This high precision tool that is made in the U.S.A. Tool is used to remove and install cam bearings.

www.ebay.com

 

[Auggie56]

Loos like a lot of fun sweet car.

It's one of those "Twenty footers". Looks good till you get up close. It's just a cruiser, happy to just have one.

 

[Cranky]

Mopar Late Model Hemi Cam Bearing Installation Tool Made in USA for VVT | eBay

Mopar Late Model Hemi Cam Bearing Installation Tool for only (W/VVT) this kit is for the Variable Valve Timing the second photo is the longer mandrel needed for the first cam bearing This high precision tool that is made in the U.S.A. Tool is used to remove and install cam bearings.

www.ebay.com

That looks very similar to the one I have....only mine was custom made 30+ years ago.

 

[Offender]

Looks good from here. Enjoy your car, not everyone wants a car they can't take some liberties with, without devaluing their "investment" in a numbers correct car. Build it your way and drive the wheels off it.......

 

[Cranky]

Looks good from here. Enjoy your car, not everyone wants a car they can't take some liberties with, without devaluing their "investment" in a numbers correct car. Build it your way and drive the wheels off it.......

I'm enjoying my new to me 64 Dart driving it off road like it was a dirt track car....well, I'm being easy on it anyways.

 

[66 Sat]

It's one of those "Twenty footers". Looks good till you get up close. It's just a cruiser, happy to just have one.

Nothing wrong with a "Twenty footer" at all. In fact I purposely chose to have a car like that, and everytime I'm out driving it, or in the garage working on it, I'm glad I made that choice.
Nothing wrong with a numbers-matching show car either, it takes all sorts to make this hobby what it is.
I love your car, the feeling you get when you're on that cruise this summer will be unbelievable.

 

[Auggie56]

That looks very similar to the one I have....only mine was custom made 30+ years ago.

The thing I found out at least to me the cam bearings are a bit larger than say on GM cars. I'll sell the tool after I put some miles on the rebuild.

 

[Auggie56]

The engine is fully assembled and I connected the trans on the floor, so I can install the starter to make sure it will turn the engine over. It was questionable as it rotated extremely hard even with a breaker bar. It turns beautifully. Now waiting for delivery of engine mounts.

Another issue popped up about the power brake booster size, being too big to clear the taller RB engine. That will have to be approached once I get the engine installed. Any comment on this would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[Auggie56]

Mouts came in today, the engine is in. Transmission tomorrow hopefully.

 

[Auggie56]

The transmission is in, I took today off. Tomorrow exhaust and start plumbing the trans and engine.

 

[Auggie56]

Well, this sucks. This RB is a motor home engine and I reused the pulleys and PS mounts. However, once the engine was in it was against the battery pan and I couldn't see any way to correct it without moving the battery to the trunk. The kit is on order.
I need the fitting on top of the power steering control valve, that the pressure hose connects to. Mine is seven sixteenth and my hose is a half inch.
I bought a later-year hose, 69' as the 67' hose was not available for this exact year. They are universal hoses but they are extra long.

 

[Auggie56]

Spent the afternoon fitting an early seventies fan shroud to an after-market aluminum radiator. It was narrower and shorter than the radiator,
so I used a cut-off tool to make it fit closer to the cooling fins. I had a piece of perforated metal strap, that I used to make up the
inch-and-a-half width so the shroud would fit between the radiator frame. I must say it fits beautifully.
Now gotta find larger brass trans cooler line fittings that go in the bottom of the radiator. The factory Mopar ones are smaller than
the threaded holes in the bottom radiator tank. I'm kind of limited right now and can't crawl under the car,
hopefully, I'll get over this vertigo soon.
I have a new Holly Demond carburetor, that I set on the engine to eyeball how linkages and fuel line will fit.
Already the premade fuel lines I bought are too small to fit the carburetor inlet. Hopefully, the hardware store has what I need.
One thing I learned about brass fittings at the hardware, is that while they have a good selection, there is one size that is used on cars only,
and they don't carry it.

 

[Auggie56]

I bought premade trans cooler lines, and an after-market aluminum radiator as luck would have it the span between the fittings on the radiator and the lines was way off. With the help of a couple of ferrel fittings and a tubing cutter they now fit.
On to the next thing the exhaust. The header pipe is quite close to the neutral safety switch, so I ordered some heat shield material to shield it from the heat.
Next the rear battery insulation. To shorten the story this 1978 440 was out of a motor home and I used the existing PS pump and brackets rather than experimenting with buying repo brackets and pulleys to save money. (????) I had to do some fabricating of the brackets, which looked good on the engine stand. Once the engine was installed the pump and hose were too close to the battery pan. I only could see to fix the problem was to move the battery into the trunk. Bought an American Autowire kit and three hundred breakers plus wire brackets and flexible heat shield tubing. ($$$$) Thinking about it it's going to be a bit of a challenge getting the wire past the after-market frame stiffeners I installed.