rbwamsley

The Background:

My Dad bought the vette in the early '70s wrecked in the front without the engine. Everything about the car showed it to be a BB car. Within the year that my Dad bought the vette he rebuilt the front end and dropped in a 327. The engine lasted all the way up until about 6 months ago when my Dad was out for a weekend joy ride ans spun a rod bearing. Sometime in passed years my Dad checked for the gas tank build sheet and it was either not there or completely deteriorated (he can't remember).

The Current:

In our current financial situation we cannot afford the kind of rebuild that we want (full suspension, big block, 5-speed, a full re-paint, etc.) but we want to get the car back on the road, so we are working with what we have. My Dad found a used 350 for an awesome deal through one of his customers, so this is the engine that is going to be replacing the 327. We have not decided on everything that we are going to do yet, so it will probably be changing weekly.

We started off today and got pretty much as far as we could. Feel free to ask any questions, I will try to answer them as best I can. Here are the picks.

Blake







Removing the hood










My Dad


How we left it. The engine is pretty much ready to be pulled.

67's

Good luck with the swap, I hope you didn't get under the car with it on that stack of wood.

Tom M

stingrayl76

Tom,

Looks like the wood is just to support the side exhaust pipes while they're disconnected from the manifolds. In the 7th photo I see jack stands under the lower control arms.

Dave

1-2-b-67L89

What's neat about this project is a father and son relationship doing it together and having fun. Memories that will last a life time

joshtried

no pics of the new engine??

just joshin!
nice work. keep it up and itll be on the road in no time!

rbwamsley

I have been waiting for this day pretty much since the day I was born. I actually sold my 03 Mustang Cobra about 2 years ago, so I could devote all my time to this project, but my Dad just never wanted to start (If it ain't broke, don't fix it). Now that the engine is shot he had no choice .

New engine pics will be coming soon. My Dad's customer is graciously holding on to the the engine until we need it.

rbwamsley

I am trying to talk my Dad into cleaning up all the wiring with a new harness. I have done the research and know which harness to go with, but my question is, how hard of an install will it be if we are not doing a frame off? Would we need to pull the dash?

Thanks,
Blake

joshtried

sometimes you can get just the firewall forward part..
i know you wanna dig in, but this might be an alternative

rbwamsley

I just did some checking and Letric Limited sells the engine harness kit. Hopefully I can talk my Dad into this kit since we are switching to HEI ignition and current wiring is not in that good of shape. Thanks.

landshark 454

Just a thought; Check the numbers on that 327. Make sure it is not the original engine. If it is not, I suggest you sell it to pay for the work. I already see it has LT1 valve covers, which bring $100-200 on the Bay, and fuelly heads. That could be a valuable engine you have there, and could finance a lot of work, even with the spun bearing.

Which side is the battery on? Big block should be on the driver's side, shouldn't it?

Rich

rbwamsley

Is there another way to tell what engine the car came without the tank sheet?

Yes, the battery is on the driver's side. The speedo and red line on the tach also tell if it was a big block car, right? The speedo goes to 160 and I cannot remember the red line off hand.

Bluestripe67

Check the stamp pad for the alpha/numeric designation, it can be decoded to tell you what engine it is. It looks like your car had factory air. I see part of the system line in front of the heater box. If the number on the alternator is 1100750 it's the original one for A/C. The L-36 and L-68 engines, 390 HP and 400HP had 6K redline. Hope this helps. Dennis

rbwamsley

Yes, I am anxious to check the stamp number on the block to see what we have.

The car does have factory a/c and we have the original compressor and condenser. However, I think we are going to go with full vintage air setup, because it will be driven often and the TX heat in the summer can be crazy.

I will check the redline this weekend when get back over to my parents house and let you all know.

Blk63Vette

Hello

This reminds me of when my dad tried (and failed) to restore a 1967 Mercedes sedan. I had the job of holding the light over the engine. Hard to do at age 10.. I remenber holding the light and my arm getting tired.. Dropping the light into the engine bay blub shattering all over the place

Pete

Blk63Vette

[QUOTE=rbwamsley;1570286438]Is there another way to tell what engine the car came without the tank sheet?

Yes, the battery is on the driver's side. The speedo and red line on the tach also tell if it was a big block car, right? The speedo goes to 160 and I cannot remember the red line off hand.[/Q

I think the radiator is for a big block car..Im sure that there are others that know more about it than me!

rbwamsley

This one will be a try with success though.

Oh yes, that is correct. I know that because my dad specifically mentioned that the radiator is a BB radiator.

rbwamsley

We are going to pull the engine and transmission (all in one) this weekend. Pretty much all we have to do is disconnect the clutch linkage, the shifter and then unbolt it from the mounts and its ready. Are then any gotcha's or tips you could give me when pulling the engine that I should be a aware of?

Thanks,
Blake

wallemon

Good luck with the rebuild.

I wish my son had any interest in such things. Ah well, he is a great kid, just not a car nut like me.

Tampa Jerry

Before you remove the A/C system, call Classic Air in Florida and speak to Curtis. He can repair your system or intergrate parts to make it more efficient. They did a great job on my 70 SS Chevelle. They can work with your A6 compressor or retrofit a Sanden compressor to fit. My 68 coupe has a factory system with a Sanden compressor and an up graded receiver dryer. It is really cold. Good luck with your project and have cherish the time working on it with your dad. Jerry

427Hotrod

Not sure which side of town you're on....but there is an absolutely fantastic bunch of guys that are part of this group. Notice it's not a club...clubs have rules! Most are on the north side..spring cypress to 1488..but we have some out on Sugarland and Kema area too. They have tons of resources and all love to pitch in to help. Check them out!

http://www.nwhoustonvette-rods.com/