1966 Bright Red 361 Survivor

[Snowtrooper1966]

DAMMIT
The 383 heads neede more work that I thought, so scrapped that idea.
Pulled my 361's off today, not pretty:




One head has obvious cracks as well. Think they are toast....

Really hoping someone here may have a set of:

64-67 361/383 closed chamber heads / casting # 2406516
or
67 440 closed chamber heads / casting # 2406158
or
67 440 HP closed chamber heads / casting # 2780915 (i know, one can dream...)


Let me know if anyone has something or PM if needed.

 

[theman440]

Looks like one side had been off before (blue Felpro gasket) You might consider Edelbrocks, probably be cheaper than going thru yours IMO. You can get 'em with small chambers I believe.

 

[A383Wing]

find a set of 906's or 342's....they are open chamber, but you will not notice the difference in power with yer "butt-o-meter"

The 342's already have hard seats in them

Bryan

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

Guess I got lucky. Original heads were not a total loss:

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Original Carter rebuilt:

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Heads installed:

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Valve train, carb install and should be hearing it fire on all 8 today!

 

[A383Wing]

make sure you get the rocker shafts on correctly and pointing the correct direction..otherwise you will be pulling these heads off again.

oil holes point down & towards the exhaust

 

[Meep-Meep]

Just an observation, but that looks like a 69 intake with the original carb drilled to fit. No judgment; just an observation.

Nice job and looks like you will have a nice runner when done. Did you put hard seats in?

 

[Ron 73]

Great looking survivor! I had a 67 a life time ago and always did like the looks of them, Good luck with getting it back on road duty fun!

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

No offense taken.
Have done zero research on the intake/carb setup.
Seller thought it was same year('66?) intake/carb. I admit I don't like the way the carb mounts "float" at three points, but I suppose if it was good enough for the factory, it good enough for me....

Yes, hardened seats installed during head work.

Also not sold on the hemi orange paint job for the heads and intake. I'm not in a position to be doing this work myself right now, so am relying on help from a local shop.
I thought the 361's were painted turquoise, but when I questioned him about the orange paint, he pointed to evidence the engine was red.....if that's true not sure how red=orange :-(
Anyhow just really trying to get on the road right now, but don't want to be doing thing I will have to be undoing later.

If I understand your comment, the motor originally had a 2bbl. That carb and intake reportedly came from another vehicle.

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EDIT:
Just looked up the casting number on intake. It's from a 70-71 383 B block.

 

[67Satty]

I'm right next to you in Oceanside. Give a holler if you ever need help or want to cruise to Cruisin' Grand together sometime.

What shop did you have do the heads?

 

[A383Wing]

361's were originally turquoise
no 361 in 66 ever came with a 4bbl from factory
if engine is-was red, it may not be a 361, check the numbers on pad under distributor

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

I'm right next to you in Oceanside. Give a holler if you ever need help or want to cruise to Cruisin' Grand together sometime.


What shop did you have do the heads?

Awesome, would love to hook up. PM your digits, ill drive the Charger over once she's running.....
The work is being done @ Mucscle Car Alley in San Marcos. I'll find out where he took the heads.

 

[daredevil]

I have been watching for one of these on and off. Nice buy.

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

361's were originally turquoise

if engine is-was red, it may not be a 361, check the numbers on pad under distributor

Unless it is a 1960 Golden Commando my resesearch indicates no other B block was painted red.
Only small block 6/8's.

Mine's certainly a B block since the dist is in front.

So looks like a few folks working on this car in the past have been wrong about engine color choice....

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

It's alive!
First ride today, and already had an offer to buy it.....

 

[Gpuller]

CONGRATS! First ride is always the best.

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

Nice to have her parked at work with me, for sure.
2 year old Tiberius was first in family to ride with me. He gave a little squeal and a big 'ol smile when I stomped on the gas....

I will say for being stored for over a decade, she drives and handles better than the Belvedere II she replaced. The 'dere just squeaked and floated. The Charger feels nice and solid.

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yea..if ya need help with the rotating headlights, the dash lighting, or anything else, drop me a line...I got new relays, another member here does the dash repair, and another does the headlight motors. If you plan on tackling any of the electrical yourself, I would invest in purchasing a service manual for this car. It will have all the diagrams & info you will need


Bryan

You were correct!
None of the dash lights work. Headlights buckets are not rotating.

I know that the EL system is linked, so if one part of the system fails, it kills the entire chain. Guess I start by checking voltage at the EL power pack behind the glove box.....

 

[Snowtrooper1966]

Crazy/spooky/cool stuff going on the end of my first day behind the wheel of the Charger.

Actually ran out of gas on the way to work, since the odo and fuel gage were not working.
Filled up at the gas station and the fuel level topped out. The charge indicator for the alternator was working too:



Throughout the course of work, while showing the Charger, I obviously had deactivated the headlamp "hold" lever at some point, because as I was leaving, I noticed one of the buckets had rotated closed:




Panicked for a minute, but recalled the sequence of normal operation:

Pull headlight switch out>headlamps rotate open
Push headlight switch off>headlamps rotate closed
UNLESS headlight "hold" toggle is active, then they stay open

Gave the grill near the lamp bucket motor a mechanic's handshake while ensuring the "hold" lever was inactive and presto, it rotated back open!





Then, as I was driving home, noticed one of the aforementioned coworkers was driving beside me. He was giving the thumbs up and buzzing around the Charger like Sputnik, checking it out from all sides while driving.
As our paths were about to diverge, and he was in front, I flashed my headlights via the on/off switch (not the highbeam floor switch) and all the sudden the EL dash lights came to life:



I was pleasantly surprised, but it only lasted long enough to snap the pic.

So it seems the long slumbering beast really is trying hard to come back to life, and perhaps some of the issues may not be so hard to remedy after all.....

 

[SwedCharger67]

Very nice car you have found, and funny reading about the lights!

Yes, looks like your car is trying really hard to get back to life! Be sure not to burn the head light motors before you have got control of the electrical system.

Had a similar experience, did a hard acceleration over some bumps and suddenly the "head lights not locked" red warning light came on, I had never seen it light up before!

 

[kb67mopar]

Very nice car you have found, and funny reading about the lights!

Yes, looks like your car is trying really hard to get back to life! Be sure not to burn the head light motors before you have got control of the electrical system.

Had a similar experience, did a hard acceleration over some bumps and suddenly the "head lights not locked" red warning light came on, I had never seen it light up before!

The first time I tooled around in my 67 Coronet at night all the dash lights all worked...2 days later none of them worked and only 1 headlight came on. Needless to say I am re-wiring the whole car.

 

[ODZKing]

Well, hopefully both issues are easy to resolve. The headlamp (one open, one closed) sounds very much like a stuck micro switch. Your "tap" or handshke as you called it jarred it loose and viola. WD40 on all the switches and excersize of the bucket may resolve that.
As far as the EL, sounds like the power pack is working and that the on/off is the headlamp switch itself. They will develop a dead spot. Take it and rotate back and forth to see if the EL comes to life once again. If they do work in a "dimmer" position on the switch, that is your issue.
Otherwise, it could be as simple as a ground on the dash or power pack.
Let us know.
Bob