My 1965 Road Racing Belvedere II

[mmissile]

Killer car.

 

[Glenwood]

Awesome thread!

 

[65RoadRacer]

I finished off the steering lines this week, and finished up a little bit of the wiring. I used an Earl's Power Steering hose and fittings for the pressure, and ran just regular hose for now for the return/cooler. I'll get another couple of fittings and use the blue hose for the low pressure out of the rack, it'll look far better. I'm happy with the setup, and had done the steering link myself last week as well. It was given back to me with a straight shaft that brushed on the headers, so I added a joint in between and pulled the steering shaft off the header.

The car spent a lot of time in the shop, and they didn't finish it, so I have a few things I have to do myself. I'm going to re-plumb the fuel lines with hard lines and tie them to the inside of the frame connector, and have to figure out what to do about the exhaust. I have a new driveshaft on the way from QA1... I needed to go longer, so I decided to go with a carbon fiber shaft because it's smaller in diameter (3.2 vs 3.5 inches) and will be much lighter overall. This is the third driveshaft since I started modifying.

 

[Budnicks]

Cool stuff, thanks for the updates...

Keep up the great work...

 

[65RoadRacer]

Well, I have made some progress since I last posted. The new QA1 carbon fiber driveshaft arrived and fits perfectly, and I have all the fuel lines plumbed with hard lines from the rear (by the tank) up to the regulator. Was not thrilled about some other problems that I found, bolts that were stripped or loose, particularly all ten of my front wheel studs. Granted, the lug nuts were tight, but all ten (threaded) studs could be turned out by hand, none were torqued.

After fixing these couple of things, I was able to take the car on a short, maiden voyage around the 'hood. Man... with no interior and holes in the floor where they didn't weld things up after mini-tubbing, it's really noisy. First thing that absolutely needs to be done is the alignment... backing out it was really dragging the tires, but we knew that was the case. I'm not sure if I want to drive it to the alignment shop (about 15 miles away). At any rate, here's the car out in the 'hood!

 

[cryplydog]

65RR, your car and the buildup story is FANTASTIC, I like your approach and have been following it all along. thank you.

 

[65RoadRacer]

65RR, your car and the buildup story is FANTASTIC, I like your approach and have been following it all along. thank you.

Thanks! It's a fun car, and we're now putting together a doable engine plan. One of our guys was asking me why I didn't want to plan out some ridiculous 1100 horsepower monster, and I simply don't want what many can't achieve because of budgets. This car is not about going to the extreme, it's about keeping it driveable, fun, and good for a couple of open track days each year.

Our engine build will start out NA with a modest 450-500 hp stroked 360. Then we have a surprise in store that we're putting together with a very well known name in the performance industry. Stay tuned for that... there will be some hints along the way!
Thanks!

 

[Budnicks]

Nice as normal 65RR love the car & the updates

sounds like a great plan, keep us posted

Good Luck & Happy Moparing

 

[Dennis H]

Planning on track day Willow Springs April 6 or Vegas this year?

 

[65RoadRacer]

Planning on track day Willow Springs April 6 or Vegas this year?

I'm still ironing out some things with the car, I was hoping to have it ready for a track day in March, but I don't think I'll have it ready by then. If I drive to Vegas with it, I'll likely have my street tires and won't be autocrossing. But I will keep people updated when the car is road ready.

Thanks!

 

[J-440]

Sweet ride. Didn't see what rear suspension you're running. Your front/rear weight ratio is giving me hope with my setup. Keep at it brother.

 

[65RoadRacer]

Sweet ride. Didn't see what rear suspension you're running. Your front/rear weight ratio is giving me hope with my setup. Keep at it brother.

Thanks! I was running the stock rear leaf springs and QA1 tubular front control arms, so basically OE style.... I was rather shocked myself at our front/rear.

Now we have the Control Freak coilover setup (articles forthcoming) and I'll be hitting the track soon to test it out.

 

[glassman]

Thanks! I was running the stock rear leaf springs and QA1 tubular front control arms, so basically OE style.... I was rather shocked myself at our front/rear.

Now we have the Control Freak coilover setup (articles forthcoming) and I'll be hitting the track soon to test it out.

If you ever need fiberglass parts, we make all of them including a dash board also.

 

[65RoadRacer]

If you ever need fiberglass parts, we make all of them including a dash board also.

Good to know... I had found a source a while ago that had 65 B body parts, but they no longer have them on their site. Thanks!

 

[Budnicks]

I just read your article in SteetMuscle e-Newsletter
about the front steer flaming river rack & pinion,
nice well written article, great parts, should be great handling package

 

[65RoadRacer]

I just read your article in SteetMuscle e-Newsletter
about the front steer flaming river rack & pinion,
nice well written article, great parts, should be great handling package

Thanks, Brad is one of my freelance writers and does very well with our tech articles. I'm really happy with how well this Flaming River system works, very lightweight and the column is perfect. Although the column is for the later B bodies, technically, it works for the early cars too. We used their pivot floorboard mount and just drilled two holes in the existing mounting plate, perfect fit. The original column was rebuilt and worked well, but we really wanted to get a Flaming River Mopar column install done, and they're great people to work with.

Very happy with the fit and finish, as well as the function. For those who want to check it out: Flaming River Mopar Column/Rack & Pinion

 

[J-440]

Yup, I bought their column, collapsable shaft, and a D steering wheel. Great fit and finish.

 

[Bladecutter]

Thanks, Brad is one of my freelance writers and does very well with our tech articles. I'm really happy with how well this Flaming River system works, very lightweight and the column is perfect. Although the column is for the later B bodies, technically, it works for the early cars too. We used their pivot floorboard mount and just drilled two holes in the existing mounting plate, perfect fit. The original column was rebuilt and worked well, but we really wanted to get a Flaming River Mopar column install done, and they're great people to work with.

Very happy with the fit and finish, as well as the function. For those who want to check it out: Flaming River Mopar Column/Rack & Pinion

Your car is ******* Great!! So cool to see someone do a B bod finesse oriented.....something other than the brawn drag racing locker room mentality. I've said since my first 318 charger in 75 that the B platform is like one big homologation run....a little nosedive & decent footprint, the small block cars are very agile & capable corner carver's.....it's a hoot to see someone seriously set one up for gymnastics. Rock On M8!!!

 

[65RoadRacer]

As promised, I just published the rearend/rear suspension article and wanted to show you what we've done to get a coilover rear suspension. There was a little cutting, a LOT of welding, and definitely a bit of fabrication.

Moser Engineering was great working with on this project, they sent us a bare M9 housing sans bracing and flanges so that we could tack weld all the suspension brackets in place. From there, it went back to Moser for the finish welding, adding braces and flanges, and to get powdercoated. I simply told them: It needs to be two inches narrower than a stock 1965 B body rearend, but I wanted the Big Ford (Set 20) Torino bearings/Flanges. They nailed it, of course, and it all fit exactly as expected.

Here's the article, let me know what you think: Custom Four-Link Control Freak Suspensions setup with Moser Engineering
Thanks!

 

[65hemi]

Did Moser powder coat the diff for you? When I talked to a Moser rep at an NHRA event, they said they don't do powder coating anymore. I ended up going with a Strange S60.

Cool car.