My '67 Belvedere, been a family member now for over 25 years, been close to parting ways a couple times.....
About this Mopar:
Originally a 318/ 904 Silver Special, now running a warmed up 383/727. Bought the car back in '95, it ran, barely. The oil light would come on as soon as you put it in reverse, ran well enough to load and unload on the rollback for the ride home. Original paint showed what it was, not too bad, the usual trouble spots. Torsion bar crossmember, rusty lower quarters, a couple spots on the rockers, and some floorboard rot. Took a few years longer than planned, working on the mechanical conversion as time and money would allow. Seemed like every time I would get a few buck together, the son's baseball tournament or household bill would come along and bleed the funds down. Running my own small business and raising a Family took the lead, with the car coming in behind all else.
I got the car running with a mild 440, rebuilt 727, and 3.55 sure grip. A Disc-o-Tech front disc brake swap and PST poly suspension rebuild went in. Lots of wheelin' and dealin' went into the project, including trading off wiring a buddy's house in exchange for the body work and paint. His house got wired and my car was to be the first project in his garage. After he moved in, it became his garage was going to be a storage unit vs. a working shop. After a year or so wait, we decided to do the bodywork in my garage. It took the best part of a year, working on Sundays to get the car ready for paint.
We rented a local makeshift paint booth and shot the first paint job on it. The color didn't look right, and after the clear went on, it obviously wasn't the correct color, '67 Med. Metallic Blue. Didn't matter though as we shot the sealer on it with the fan running in the booth, a load of dust and dirt from the adjacent area snuck under the pull curtain and deposited itself across the flat surfaces. We saw it before we shot it, but being on a deadline to get the car out, and without more sealer we shot it anyways, hoping, with enough clear on it, we could sand it flat and be good. No such luck, as soon as we hit it with the paper the dirt smoothed out to show little white specs, the sealer showing up. We stopped there with the idea that we would paint it again in the fall.
As the next Fall came and went, it became apparent the re-paint wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. I started hanging parts back on the car and started driving it. Eight years later, after lots of seat time, a few trips to Carlisle, and some spirited highway driving, it was time for the re-paint, this time with the correct color. Between paint jobs additional rust started to show, patch panels were made, and 4 coats of color and 5 coats of clear went on. The car looked like I had dreamed of 13 years before when I brought it home.
The fun soon came to an end with a bit of noise coming from the bottom end, and funds depleted as life was stepping in again, I limped the hurt 440 around to local cruise-ins and shows for a couple seasons while funds were collected for the rebuild.
The 440 came out, pan removed to find a rod bearing squeezed out and rubbing on a journal of the crank. Before the crank came out a 383 showed up on E-Bay, with a local seller. The listing didn't meet reserve, a phone call was made and a deal struck for less than the rebuild was gonna run, and a newly rebuilt 727 was included.
The 383 went in, and after a set of the correct length pushrods and new rockers went on, rebuilt means different things to different people apparently, the motor has never missed a beat. The 3.55's were the next to go, as a victim of too many burnouts with the 440, the cross pin egged out the carrier. I was lucky to catch it when I finally got around to replacing a leaky gasket around the jackpot and discovered it a week before Carlisle. That is the only year the Belvedere hasn't been to Carlisle since the 383 went in in '09.
A 3.23 went in next, and the car became more of a highway car, able to pass up every other gas station it went by as the mileage was finally in the double digits for the first time since I put it together. I have rolled up around 22,000 miles on the new engine, lots of overnight trips including a 2200+ mile trip that took us into the Smokey Mountains, and a few trips through the Tail of the Dragon, then up to Carlisle with a group from a Mopar Club I spent time with.
During that trip the 3.23's decided to act up. Out they came and the original 2.93's that the car was born with went back in the rear. Now the car truly is a highway flyer, I don't think I will be going back to anything else in this car, my days of stoplight bullying are over, well maybe.
The rust demons have reared their heads again, this time in the other quarter we repair back in the late 90's. Now that new quarters are available I guess I'll pop for a pair, but won't be digging into this one again until the Satellite project is done.
If you bothered to read all this, thanks. Hope you understand the sentiment I have for this car, and hope it stays in the Family after I'm gone.
Specs- 383+.030,
10.5 -1 TRW slugs
.484 Purple shaft
HD replacement rockers
Steel crank
Double roller chain
MSD ignition with Mopar Perf electronic distributor.
QFT 750 carb
Summit headers, crosspipe and 2-1/2" Dynomax mufflers.
727 with 2500 stall
8-3/4 w/ 2.93 gears
Legendary seat covers
11.75" drilled and slotted rotors
1-1/8" front and 7/8" rear sway bars
1.08 Torsion bars.
Adjustable front strut rods
15x7 American Racing 200S Wheels
235/60/15 BFG's
I got the car running with a mild 440, rebuilt 727, and 3.55 sure grip. A Disc-o-Tech front disc brake swap and PST poly suspension rebuild went in. Lots of wheelin' and dealin' went into the project, including trading off wiring a buddy's house in exchange for the body work and paint. His house got wired and my car was to be the first project in his garage. After he moved in, it became his garage was going to be a storage unit vs. a working shop. After a year or so wait, we decided to do the bodywork in my garage. It took the best part of a year, working on Sundays to get the car ready for paint.
We rented a local makeshift paint booth and shot the first paint job on it. The color didn't look right, and after the clear went on, it obviously wasn't the correct color, '67 Med. Metallic Blue. Didn't matter though as we shot the sealer on it with the fan running in the booth, a load of dust and dirt from the adjacent area snuck under the pull curtain and deposited itself across the flat surfaces. We saw it before we shot it, but being on a deadline to get the car out, and without more sealer we shot it anyways, hoping, with enough clear on it, we could sand it flat and be good. No such luck, as soon as we hit it with the paper the dirt smoothed out to show little white specs, the sealer showing up. We stopped there with the idea that we would paint it again in the fall.
As the next Fall came and went, it became apparent the re-paint wasn't going to be happening anytime soon. I started hanging parts back on the car and started driving it. Eight years later, after lots of seat time, a few trips to Carlisle, and some spirited highway driving, it was time for the re-paint, this time with the correct color. Between paint jobs additional rust started to show, patch panels were made, and 4 coats of color and 5 coats of clear went on. The car looked like I had dreamed of 13 years before when I brought it home.
The fun soon came to an end with a bit of noise coming from the bottom end, and funds depleted as life was stepping in again, I limped the hurt 440 around to local cruise-ins and shows for a couple seasons while funds were collected for the rebuild.
The 440 came out, pan removed to find a rod bearing squeezed out and rubbing on a journal of the crank. Before the crank came out a 383 showed up on E-Bay, with a local seller. The listing didn't meet reserve, a phone call was made and a deal struck for less than the rebuild was gonna run, and a newly rebuilt 727 was included.
The 383 went in, and after a set of the correct length pushrods and new rockers went on, rebuilt means different things to different people apparently, the motor has never missed a beat. The 3.55's were the next to go, as a victim of too many burnouts with the 440, the cross pin egged out the carrier. I was lucky to catch it when I finally got around to replacing a leaky gasket around the jackpot and discovered it a week before Carlisle. That is the only year the Belvedere hasn't been to Carlisle since the 383 went in in '09.
A 3.23 went in next, and the car became more of a highway car, able to pass up every other gas station it went by as the mileage was finally in the double digits for the first time since I put it together. I have rolled up around 22,000 miles on the new engine, lots of overnight trips including a 2200+ mile trip that took us into the Smokey Mountains, and a few trips through the Tail of the Dragon, then up to Carlisle with a group from a Mopar Club I spent time with.
During that trip the 3.23's decided to act up. Out they came and the original 2.93's that the car was born with went back in the rear. Now the car truly is a highway flyer, I don't think I will be going back to anything else in this car, my days of stoplight bullying are over, well maybe.
The rust demons have reared their heads again, this time in the other quarter we repair back in the late 90's. Now that new quarters are available I guess I'll pop for a pair, but won't be digging into this one again until the Satellite project is done.
If you bothered to read all this, thanks. Hope you understand the sentiment I have for this car, and hope it stays in the Family after I'm gone.
Specs- 383+.030,
10.5 -1 TRW slugs
.484 Purple shaft
HD replacement rockers
Steel crank
Double roller chain
MSD ignition with Mopar Perf electronic distributor.
QFT 750 carb
Summit headers, crosspipe and 2-1/2" Dynomax mufflers.
727 with 2500 stall
8-3/4 w/ 2.93 gears
Legendary seat covers
11.75" drilled and slotted rotors
1-1/8" front and 7/8" rear sway bars
1.08 Torsion bars.
Adjustable front strut rods
15x7 American Racing 200S Wheels
235/60/15 BFG's
