My 1965 Road Racing Belvedere II

About 15 years ago, I picked up a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere II with the Poly 318. Despite everyone saying "it's a boat anchor" and "ditch it for a big block", I liked the uniqueness of the Poly, and set about making my car unique.
This was when I first bought the car, and installed a set of cop car wheels because the stock wheels were too skinny for me:


I spent some time with building a new engine, using another '65 Poly and spent a couple years' worth of tax refunds on it:


Then it was time to drop in the new motor:


That's how the car sat, for a while, until one day I put some Hellwig sway bars on the the car and took it out to Willow Springs. I loved the fact that I could catch this Porsche in the fast corners:


And that was when this became my new project car: Project Track Attack

Nice. Looking forward to seeing it in motion.

From there, I knew that it was time to get serious about some other things. I installed a FAST EZ-EFI on my Weiand dual quad intake, and had to get a little creative since the bolt patterns didn't match from intake to throttle body. This two inch spacer was perfect:


So the EFI was test-fit, and it was close, but it was going to work:


I got the EFI installed, and surprisingly it improved not only the MPG, but I also gained about 20 RWHP:


The brakes needed to upgraded before I went out on the track, I had installed a Mopar front disc brake upgrade, but I needed something better, so I went to a four-wheel disc setup from Master Power Brakes:


The next step was to upgrade the suspension to get a little better corner carving at the track with QA1 control arms, adjustable shocks, and dynamic strut rods. I also upgraded to a Hemi torsion bar:


My first set of brakes fit inside my 15-inch cop car wheels, but since you can no longer buy 15-inch 50-series tires, I opted to step up to Weld Racinng Wheels and Mickey Thompson Street Comp tires... and bigger front brakes:



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After these upgrades, I was really starting to improve my lap times, and the car was getting a lot more fun at the track. I was starting to pass modern musclecars in the turns, like Mustangs and even some Corvettes, and keeping up with cars that should have been much faster in the turns than I am:


The steering was a little sloppy, so we upgraded to a Borgeson steering box, and removed 13 pounds, got a quicker ratio, and firmer steering:


The car was really starting to handle the turns and I was going a bit faster. My deficit was that I have about 340 HP and the gearing in the trans isn't that great... coming out of a turn, 2nd is revving too high, and 3rd is not revving high enough, but after about five trips to Willow Springs, I was able to knock about 8 seconds off my lap times. But one real issue I was dealing with was fuel slosh, so I got a custom tank made by Rick's Tanks:


I had previously installed a set of Moser axles and a Detroit Truetrac, but later installed a complete, brand new Moser Engineering 8-3/4 rearend:



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Wanting to keep better track of my engine's vitals, I opted to install a set of Dakota Digital gauges, and I'm absolutely in love with them... the functionality and the ability to program things like the speedometer, the fuel sender, etc., are awesome:


I started to notice that my track temps were rising, so I purchased a Be Cool radiator, and decided to perform a real-world test. I took my car to the track, raced a session, then came into the pits and installed the Be Cool radiator and put cooling in it for the first time, then headed back out on the track. I actually saw my on-track temperature drop from over 230º down to about 180º:


I also kept things like power steering cooled down with a Derale cooler, which dropped my in-pump fluid temperature 8º:


And with all of these electrical add-ons, I decided that rewiring the car was a good idea, and replaced the old harness with a new kit from Ron Francis Wiring:


For the past two years, I've been racing at Willow Springs with the factory bench seat and lap belt, so I decided it was time to install buckets and harnesses. Procar Lumbar Elite seats were a perfect choice for street/road racing, with Impact Racing five-point harnesses. To attach the shoulder belt, Chris Alston's Chassisworks created a new universal harness bar, inspired by my need for something removeable:


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Now the car is definitely track ready, and I just installed a 4L60E transmission that can handle my road racing, and also give me a little better MPG on the freeway: now getting about 16.5 MPG. But as projects go, I'm not finished yet and there is lots more to come.
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Nice thread, Nice Ride!

Very cool style & build, some cool/trick pieces/parts used

Budnicks Likey :headbang:

thanks for sharing some of your details, photos & videos too

looks awesome

I like the Street Legal TV site stuff too

Your car is so cool! Love the fact that you go out and use it. I'm putting on some Addco sway bars and hoping it helps. I never got around to scaling it last fall but will do it this spring when it comes out of storage. Your postings are awesome! Keep it up!

Homstead said:

Your car is so cool! Love the fact that you go out and use it. I'm putting on some Addco sway bars and hoping it helps. I never got around to scaling it last fall but will do it this spring when it comes out of storage. Your postings are awesome! Keep it up!

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Thanks! I tried the adco bars, they kept moving around and I wasn't happy with them. The Hellwig bars are much stronger and have a far better mounting system on the bar, very solid. I still have my adco bars, front was on for about a week, the rear was never installed.

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Budnicks said:

Very cool style & build, some cool/trick pieces/parts used

Budnicks Likey :headbang:

thanks for sharing some of your details, photos & videos too

looks awesome

I like the Street Legal TV site stuff too

Click to expand...

Thanks, Budnicks! Much appreciated. It's a lot of fun to go out there and surprise the guys with the $35k+ cars that find me filling their rear view mirror! hahaa

I've loved what you done with the Belvedere since I first seen it in postings. I'll definitely be thinking along the road race lines when I start making upgrades to my 65 Coronet. One of my big problems may end up being the 440 in it. May be to nose heavy, but we'll see. Thanks again for a great thread. Love the Street Legal TV site & email I get too. Can't wait to see more video as you keep making upgrades. Ken

Riverdawg said:

I've loved what you done with the Belvedere since I first seen it in postings. I'll definitely be thinking along the road race lines when I start making upgrades to my 65 Coronet. One of my big problems may end up being the 440 in it. May be to nose heavy, but we'll see. Thanks again for a great thread. Love the Street Legal TV site & email I get too. Can't wait to see more video as you keep making upgrades. Ken

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Thanks, Ken! Really appreciate the kind words and the subscription to our newsletter!
I have the Poly 318, and it's not much lighter than a big block, and the car had about a 51.8/48.2 weight bias front/rear. Pretty amazed at that, we weighed it at Ridetech's booth at Goodguys last year.

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The official build thread: Project Track Attack on SLTV

And a photo I put together

Thanks for making this thread. I've been a fan of your car since the first video I saw.

HYRDGOON said:

Thanks for making this thread. I've been a fan of your car since the first video I saw.

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Thanks! I can honestly say that when I bought this car I never imagined chasing other cars around the track. And it's been a great ride!

Hey man, thanks for posting! that video of you harassing that Porsche is one of my fav's. I originally ran across that video geez probably 2 years ago - I showed my wife back then and she STILL remembers it. Great job, very inspiring.

Very cool - great to see what you've done and how much fun you're having!

PURE AWESOME...love the car and love seeing old American muscle tearing it up on a road course. Very nice build and very nice job. Love the stance also.....
MOPAR PERFORMANCE THE COMPETITOR SWEARS BY IT...BUT THE COMPETITION SWEARS AT IT.

Hey roadracer, I was looking back through the posts and at the article on streetlegaltv. I was curious what are the rims and what tires sizes your running, I could find a mention of it but I probably missed it. also, do you mind my asking how much the fuel tank was that Rick's made for you? Thanks, Ken

We ran an article on the wheels and tires, but unfortunately Weld Racing doesn't make that wheel anymore (it's the S74). I'm running an 18x8.5 front and 18x9.5 rear with 245/40R18 and 275/40R18 Mickey Thompson Street Comp tires. My plan (for now) is to run the 275 in the front and a 295/35R18 in the rear. I know they'll clear everything now, and they'll fit the current wheels.

The tank from Rick's runs about $1200, and that includes a new ss strap and gauge sending unit. They'll provide a pump, or flange it to fit whatever pump you're using. I had bought a tank locally from a hot rod place in San Bernardino, CA, and it was crap. It was supposed to be baffled for road racing, but even at a half-tank the pump would starve. I had to fill the tank to run, and then it would slosh out of the filler next!
Believe it or not, the clown that sold it to me yelled at me because I called to complain.

After that, I went to Rick's and even at very low fuel, my pump doesn't starve during cornering. It's about an 18 gallon tank, too, so it's a step up from the factory and is a little narrower to allow for exhaust. I'm very happy with it.

Sooooo looking forward to seeing you and the car at MATS Vegas show next month.

Darter6 said:

Sooooo looking forward to seeing you and the car at MATS Vegas show next month.

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Same here my friend. It's never been a show car, but people do like it - patina and all. The outside is rough and weathered, but all new underneath and inside it's a driver's car with some cool stuff. I'll be running it through the autocross a couple times to see how it does. I hope it doesn't disappoint! Thanks!

Love what you have done with the car, and use ideas from what you did with my build. Why did you go with the MP brakes as opposed to Wilwoods?? Just curious..

Geez I'm still trying to figure out how to mount my Harness Bar like you! I can't keep up! I give! Uncle!