1966 Belvedere - 440 swap & resto build

[ChallengerGary]

Okay - I did it.  I finally decided that in order to earn extra $$ I would start to work on other people's cars.  The first customer I have ,Dan, has a 1966 Plymouth Belvedere II that had a tried old poly 318 in it and he wanted someone to swap it out for a 440.  Then, when he saw a couple of my cars, he started to push for me to paint it as well.  This week I decided to go ahead and accept the full job from him.  One of the main things that pushed me in that direction was the fact that the '72 RR clone I painted a few months ago finally arrived in Switzerland and th ebuyer was absolutely thrilled.

At any rate, the plans for the '66 were pull the 318, paint the engine compartment, and drop in the 440/727.  Get her running and give it back to the owner.  Well, then, he asked me to also paint the trunk.  Next how about the interior?  Then, what do you think about painting the whole car?  As you will be able to se, I decided to go ahead and do it for him.  I sure hope I can live up to his expecations...
Here are the first few pics.

[ChallengerGary]

After pulling the engine, I had to seriously de-gunk the engine compartment

[ChallengerGary]

After even more de-gunking, the engine compartment was finally clean.  FYI - I had to literally knock off 2 INCHES if grime just to access the engine mount bolts. That's how nasty it was under there.  I did not take those pics until I was more than half way through the clean up

[ChallengerGary]

Next step, set the 440 & 727 in place.  Awaiting arrival of the headers today

[ChallengerGary]

Forgot to mention - I am doing this only part-time, so the progress may be a little slow...

[Cdnchallenger]

Another awesome job.... Looking good.

Steve

[NoMope Greg]

Nice work Gary. 

[femtnmax]

Looks like a great project.  I rebuilt the 440 in an older 2 door Imperial, ran so good (fast) the guys wife made him sell it....myself I might have got rid of her instead.

[ChallengerGary]

Okay, I've been held up on major progress due to little things like tranny cooler lines, kick down linkage, coil bracket etc.  So in the meantime, I've started on the body work.  Driver side is almost done.  Had to patch the rear wheel well due to some butcher hacking up the.  Also had to do some hammer & dolly work on the rear qtr from a previously very poorly done repair.  Pulled the body side moldings &  filled the holes.  Hopefully, I will get it running this week and really start to move along on it.

[ChallengerGary]

Hopefully, I will be firing this beast up tomorrow.  I've got  several little things to do first, but I think I can get'r firing by late tomorrow. 

[HP2]

Try to convince him to ditch the post '74 fender top turn signals. They really look out of place on a '66 which should have the bullet style ones right up on the leading edge.

[ChallengerGary]

Did not know that.  I will talk to him about it next week when he comes by to see the progress...

[ChallengerGary]

Time for  a quick pdate - fired it up and broke in the cam July 3rd.  It went pretty well except it leaked like a seive - tranny pan leaked, oil pan leaked, water neck leaked, one of the water pump bolts leaked.  Well, you get the picture, I got a nice messy floor...

[Challenger6pak]

Try to convince him to ditch the post '74 fender top turn signals. They really look out of place on a '66 which should have the bullet style ones right up on the leading edge.

:iagree:I would ditch them and weld the holes closed.  It would clean up the fender tops.

[ChallengerGary]

Owner cam e by yesterday and is extremely please with the progress    I talked to him about the fender top indicators and he said delete them - so I did.  Also, we decided that the gas cap looked out of place and I had the idea to modify a Challenger cap to fit the filler neck - it'll keep the side smooth when I am done.  Also, removed the vinyl top and pulled both the windshield and rear glass (without cracking either - Thank God) to fix small holes in the channels.