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Background:
My 1966 Convertible has been in the family since 1975 when my father brought it home, much to the chagrin of my mother. I grew up riding around in that car - it was the first Corvette I can remember and it shaped me into the car guy I am today. It was my dad's pride and joy; its a treat for me to finally own it, share it with my kids and make our family history with it. My original intro thread is here: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...f-my-66-a.html
I drive it as often as I can and thankfully (?) the Marine Corps sent me to Tampa, so I have a decent driving season. I've been driving it quite a bit, to include daily when the weather here is mild. It's been a busy year; moving to FL, replacing the soft top and window felts (Mike Coletta), wiring harnesses, freshening up the M20 and trying to get the old motor in proper tune.
Issue:
That said, piling the miles on the tired old NOM 327/350 had taken its toll-the #7 cylinder was way down on compression, it leaked oil, and was way down on power. We got our money's worth after 42 years and over 100k miles. I wanted something to look forward to during stints at various and sundry shitty countries in the Middle East, so it was time for a power train change. Life is short and its a great project to tackle with my sons. My intent is to provide periodic updates with this thread, and of course, lots of pics...
Requirement:
Pretty simple really. I want to be able to turn the key and go on pump gas. The engine had to be reliable, made from known parts, look somewhat period-correct (more on that later), be lighter and faster. I wanted aluminum heads (weight and cool factor), and water pump, but I wanted to retain the stock exhaust manifolds. I didn't want to put headers in the car (I do have neighbors, after all) and the ram horns look old school so they stayed. In summary, some day the car will go to one of my sons, so I wanted quality for the long haul...And I was able to justify the expense with The Boss
Motor Specs:
I went with the GM SP350 (19333157) with 385 HP and 405 TQ. Can't beat a brand new 4 bolt main block, aluminum heads with LS "Beehive" springs, and a 24 month, 50k mile warranty. I ordered it online from Karl Chevrolet on a Tuesday and it showed up that Friday - Boom!
(I got ripped off because the box says, "375 HP" WTF?!)
Of course, I couldn't open it fast enough!
I don't care for the valve covers, water pump or big HEI distributor, but its a great start! My buddy, Vern at Chevy Service in Clearwater was gracious enough to allow us the use of a bay, a lift, tools and access to his shop on a couple Saturdays...Not to mention his fine mechanical abilities, positive attitude, and the fact that he stopped for donuts every day!
Time to get to work:
I took a week of leave, didn't answer my phone, and pulled my (younger) son out of school for a couple days. He gets good grades, and has the rest of his life to be responsible, so WTH.
Let's get it to it, shall we?
Hood off, ready to tear into it!
My son getting the lift plate on...
The lad giving the hood a douche. The old motor was a leaky mess and the underside of the hood was more oily than his zitty teenaged face! Yes, I put a towel between the hood and the table...
The transmission (gear box for you on the other side of the pond) came out first with a piece of 2x4 supporting the drive shaft so we could roll it around.
I know it look like there are cracks on the case but its fine, the casting got greasy and made it look all scary....Lots of tools in that cart!
Steady as she goes! The gentleman in the flannel shirt was "voluntold" to help me since he was standing around...
This was a little nerve wracking as I didn't want to narf up my paint.....
Cool picture/reflection of the remnants of the motor and the vehicle carcass...It was weird to see the car sans engine, but it was only the beginning (of course all fluids were contained and properly disposed of in a legal, environmentally responsible and social manner). We totally degreased the chassis of the aforementioned five decades of sludge and road ****.
The good news is that the sludge kept the frame/chassis in tip top, rust-free shape!
Once we got the transmission out, I realized the original transmission tunnel pad was 50% intact, so I sourced another. And of course, the boy cleaned up the body, straightened out the mounting tabs and got the new pad in place:
New transmission pad looking all spiffy in its new home.
I took a whole day to scrub the frame, suspension and engine bay, let it dry and painted it appropriately. MUUUCH easier to do sitting on the engine cradle than with a motor in the car!
While all this was happening, we also got some paint on the motor and got all the spiffy new carb, fuel pump, and lines on.
(Second of three coats of Chevy Orange)
As mentioned, I wanted to keep the old school look, so we modified the ignition shielding brackets and did the initial mock up:
Yes, I got some overspray on the intake and heads, but it's a car built for driving. Plus we've all seen those factory engine paint jobs that people replicate, so its authentic!
Manifolds on and the boy getting some detailing knocked out. Man, I love it when a plan comes together...What a difference some paint and accessories makes to tie it all up.
The moment we've all been waiting for...Getting ready to drop in the new power plant.
Once in place, we each put a motor mount bolt through to complete the task. Like a fairy tale-hahaha!
Sitting on it's own!
Dewitt's Radiator:
Wow, what an amazing unit! Like you've likely read/experienced, it is a piece of art. The stock system held about 3 gallons and this bad Larry holds 5 gallons. No way I'm ever going to overheat this engine now. One cant have too much radiator-especially in Florida. It wasn't cheap but I believe that it's best to, "buy once, cry once" and never worry about it.
It took a couple hours to get everything in place, the radiator bolted right on, fit perfectly, and we wired it all up. Vern sent my alternator out to local shop and they converted it to a one wire (internal regulator set up) and it puts out 95 Amps now. More than enough for my non-a/c, power nothing car and was $100 well spent! Glad I took the time this winter to replace the front wiring harnesses, to include the headlight buckets.
Here's a list of all the other parts used:
- Weiand aluminum water pump (9208)
- HEI distributor (Zip Corvette) No points....Oh the humanity!!!
- DeWitt's aluminum radiator (4249063M) with spal fan
- Custom cut plug wires
- New motor mounts
- Lightweight racing starter
- Holley 670 Street Avenger with electric choke and vacuum secondaries
- Red Horse aluminum fittings and braided lines
- AC Delco fuel pump
- 2.5" Corvette Central MagnaFlow exhaust system.
Once it was all in place and we got it primed with break in oil, my son fired it up for the first time. It started right away and we set the timing. Here's a cool feature; GM drilled the heads for both center bolt and traditional valve covers. I reused my LT1 valve covers, but will eventually get the fancy PML units with the Corvette script and side-mounted breather/oil filler.
Here's the young man firing it off.
We ran the engine for a few minutes after setting the timing and had a scare with the temperature...The brand new (made in Mexico) temp sending unit was bad and showed the temp rising super fast, so we shut it down. Figured out the thing was bad because the fan didn't come on (see for 195F) and the upper hose never got hot (motor came with 195F thermostat) and of course, in all the excitement, couldn't find the &*$#% IR temp gauge LOL. So I took the sending unit off the old motor (made in America) and it works perfectly on this engine...Shocking.
We ran it for about 20 miles or so and did the acceleration pulls per the GM booklet and changed the oil. We then dialed in the carb (changed the primary jets from 65s to 71s, since it needed more fuel and adjusted the electric choke down) and timing a bit. Needless to say, removing about 65lbs off the front end and adding about 100 HP made a big difference! I have 3.08 gears, so it's an awesome cruiser and I'm staying under 4000rpm for now, though I've tickled 4500rpm a few times-and laughed like hell...
I realized after the first drive that the exhaust had to be addressed. This motor, with plenty of compression made the car obnoxious and it sounded like concentrated dog ****.
Exhaust:
The MagnaFlow system from Corvette Central fit perfectly and sounds much better then the straight glass packs with 1 7/8 my old man put on back in the day. It has a mellow, deep tone and the 2.5" pipe really lets the motor breathe. Plus, my son got a free tee shirt with it - bonus!
Colin getting the mufflers and hangers sorted out.
All buttoned up. That's an original 1966 plate, so I keep the car registered there. MA taxes and gun laws suck, but the plate is cool! My pop traded two bottles of rum for it back in the 1970s. It stays.
Temperature:
I'm an unabashed Dewitt's fan boy now. This thing is awesome and keeps the motor nice and cool. Tampa traffic can really suck and on a recent 85F day, here's where it pretty much stays.
At first it freaked me out to see the gauge get to 205F and then the thermostat opens and BOOM the temp drops to 190F quicker than the fuel gauge drops...
Clearance:
A common problem with engine swaps is the limited hood clearance these cars have. I didn't want to put a different hood on the car; I got the measurements of the intake prior to ordering and it was about the same as the aluminum Edelbrock I had on the old motor. This engine fit fine with a drop-style at cleaner (LT-1 unit I got from Bair's Corvettes) but I can just barely see where the air cleaner lid is touching the hood at the 4 o'clock position. I'll keep an eye on it, but can't go to a lower air filter because the air cleaner lid would touch. No biggie.
I wanted to keep a little old school to it as the included center bolt valve covers looked a tarted up hookers hand bag, IMO....
Left side sexiness.
Right side looking tasty as well.
Where we are now:
I have a little over 400 miles on it now and will change the oil again soon. Oil is cheap, so I'll change it often and eventually go synthetic per the GM manual.
There are few people I'd like to thank:
- Vern for his generosity and patience. He is a great American and a dear friend who did some heavy lifting on the project and answered a lot of questions, from advising me on parts for the build, to mentoring my son on the finer points of wrenching.
- Rick "100ultra" for his time on the phone and via text. He was putting the same engine in his '64, so we exchanged a lot of ideas and did some trouble shooting along the way.
- Benton "ChattanoogaSJB" for his advice and friendship. Waiting to return the favor when he yanks the motor from his '64. Do it!
- My father for passing down the car to me. He loves his Grand Sport (he prefers an automatic these days), but his desire is this car stays in the family forever. Done!
- My son for all his help; young, limber joints, and unbridled enthusiasm for this car. He loves all things dealing with American muscle and at age 14, knows an impressive bit of Mid Year trivia, as well as some new words he picked up from me as I put new parking brake shoes in .
Both my sons will learn to drive a manual on this car (while listening to Johnny Cash, of course), as you can't spell "manual" without "man"!
- To my fellow Corvette Forum members - thanks for the motivation, fun posts, all the knowledge I've gleaned, and....
Thanks for reading this long assed thread!
Keep driving these wonderful old cars and having fun!
Last edited by USMC 0802; 03-18-2017 at 10:52 PM.
Reason: Spelling
I’m just over two weeks late to updating this thread…
Moved back from overseas this summer, and the car HAD been sitting at my mom’s place with the occasional drive, so it was time for a tune up. Timing was spot on, but more on timing in a minute…
Plugs actually looked pretty good but it’s cheap enough to change them:
I’m “Florida Man” now, so I wear flip flops all year ‘round. The cap was well worn so I put a new MSD unit on (and black so it looks stealthy!).
Air idle screws needed a slight tweak, but the floats were perfect…
I was wondering why it felt fluffy…The vacuum advance wasn’t working - dead.
The offending unit:
Sorted - look Ma, no points!
Oh my God, I’ll get stranded!!!
Proper sorted out and it pulls from down low again. About an hour and well worth it.
The weather in Florida is still awesome - not ‘***** stick to your leg hot’ like it will be shortly…
Oh no, dead bugs on the windshield!!
An hour and about $80 in parts. Car runs great and cruises right along at 80+ mph
Only a couple more months of driving to work until it gets hot (I need VA…).
Keep driving these awesome cars and thanks for looking!
Great write up and congratulations! The engine bay looks fantastic and icing on the cake will be some nice classic valve covers. Very cool that GM also drilled the block also to accept the perimeter bolts ðŸ‘.
Great thread !!! Thanks for sharing. Congrats to you both for your dedication and perseverance in preserving the car and keeping it in the family. Keep on keepin' on and enjoy the car.
Great write-up! Thanks for taking the time to put it together and share with us!! Definitely takes some extra work! I'm sure you and your son will have lots of fun with the new motor and extra power too!
You going to rebuild the original motor and store it now??
Thanks for taking us on the journey with you. There are a ton of folks from this forum that I'd love to meet one day, and you (and your sons) are on the list!
Maybe you can take one of those cushy Stuttgart slots some day!
You going to rebuild the original motor and store it now??
Sonny,
We cleaned / painted up the NOM 327, put some 1966 valve covers on it and put it on a display stand for now. Maybe we'll build it and pop it in something my son buys down the line...
Originally Posted by Revfan
Really great read, and awesome write up!
Thanks for taking us on the journey with you. There are a ton of folks from this forum that I'd love to meet one day, and you (and your sons) are on the list!
Maybe you can take one of those cushy Stuttgart slots some day!
Greg,
Thanks for the compliment, I spent a little time editing before posting, so it wasn't painful to read. In terms of Stuttgart, I'm not in a rush to take my family overseas again. 3 years in Okinawa was great, but I don't want to deal with European winters and have to leave my cars and guns!
Matt: Great so see you and Jason installed the new engine. I was going to challenge you to a race, but that's off the table now . Love to see it in person. Maybe a local car show. Keep in touch. Jerry
Matt: Great so see you and Jason installed the new engine. I was going to challenge you to a race, but that's off the table now . Love to see it in person. Maybe a local car show. Keep in touch. Jerry
Hey Jerry - I still owe you for helping me with the harness, so when you need another set of hands, you have my number...Ill be happy to send Colin over to rake all those leaves up - he's a wrestler and works for food!
Great story... It has been a real pleasure and honor getting to know you while sharing ideas and thoughts on our similar project. I am waiting for the Pa. weather to cooperate so that we can take our car out.
Matt, your write up of this engine swap has to be one of the best I have read on this forum. It's always nice to see a happy ending. On the hood clearance, you can get an 1/8" by using a 2 7/8" air filter. I am using a K & N. you probably saw the changes I made to my 66 and I plan to put it on a dyno within the next two weeks. I am going to compare pulls with the air cleaner on and off. I doubt the 1/8 " makes much of a difference. I'll post up the results. If you ever get up to the Virginia Beach area look me up. Btw, USMCR 1970-1976.
03-18-2017, 10:40 PM
Epic Father/Son Engine Swap Thread With Pics
