My 67 Chevelle 300

[milner351]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

I'm sure you'll make it up to the neighbor - and I think in the long run with what you've done in upgrades to that engine - you'll be happy to have the extra clutch capacity of the larger flywheel....

I can't wait to hear this thing run.

Yea - have the neighbor and his expecting wife over for a BBQ or something and apologize profusely to his wife --- surely after seeing that pretty engine in that pretty car and enjoying a home cooked meal - she'll forgive him! ;D

[67pete300]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

Arrrgh! The combination of truck and car parts and new and 43 year old parts is killing me!

The machine shop put the truck two groove balancer on. Which turned out to be ok because the new water pump has a short neck and the Chevelle single groove pulley was for a long neck pump and didn't work anyway.

But the truck two groove pulley has the "other" bolt hole combination. Which is ok because the new water pump is drilled for both. But the Chevelle fan blade doesn't match the truck pulley. The truck fan blade turns out to be too big. Will try to drill a second bolt pattern in the truck pulley to match the Chevelle fan.

I only know that because the brand new radiator I got from Rockauto doesn't fit. The radiator listed on Rockauto for the 250 for the Chevelle is a three core apparently. The same part number as the small V8. The tanks hit the core support and the fan hits the radiator. They don't carry a radiator for the 230. My original radiator is a two row and is falling apart. OPG and NPD carry the two-row but for twice the coin as Rockauto.

The clutch fork push rod is too short because the geometry of the truck bellhousing is slightly different. Had the choice to use either the truck fork or the Chevelle fork and picked the Chevelle. But picked wrong. Don't feel like dropping the trans to swap them or add an adjustable pivot ball. Ordered some long stainless threaded rod because nobody makes a longer pushrod that isn't some high-end custom job with heim joints and large pricetag.

The threaded inserts for the new trans mount have metric threads! WTF! That one was easy.

Neither bolts from the truck or the Chevelle starter matched the length I needed for the new (reman) starter. Advance sells a combo pack of starter bolts so I had to buy two packs of six total bolts to get the two I needed.

I'm pretty sure when I get the alternator on it won't line up right with the other pulleys...

This is supposed to be the easy stuff! I haven't even gotten to the hard parts yet like carb linkages and fuel lines....

>

[Junk Whisperer]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

Trial & error I'm afriad Pete . But you'll get it. ~J/W.

[DanStokes]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

That stuff IS frustrating. This is how we learn about what REALLT interchanges and what doesn't. So far I've used all the front dress stuff for the Camaro and it all fits - think I'll stick with that plan!

Dan

[67pete300]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

Got the fan put together after drilling a bunch of holes...

Learned that Chevy switched spark plug sizes (significantly) sometime around 1973...

Installed a bunch of old nasty looking parts just to get the thing running...

Put in all the fluids and got ready to fire...

The brand new radiator neck separated from the tank when installing the upper hose so I am flat out again > > >

And some electrical gremlins in the alternator/voltage regulator (see post in tech section)

The fun continues...

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

r45 to r45 ts ?

[67pete300]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

r45 to r45 ts ?

r45ts. The old plugs that came out of the '74 C10 donor engine were r46ts which is no longer available. The r45ts have the same threads and tapered seat but the body is a bit longer which still fits fine.

The '67 Chevelle plugs had a much larger diameter body and a flat (not tapered) seat. The new exact replacements for those would thread in but wouldn't seat. And you (thankfully) could not get a spark plug socket on them because the large diameter body filled up the hole in the head.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

By the late sixties, the longer reach plugs with the gasket and 13/16 hex made way for what some people call the peanut plugs. Those have a 5/8 hex, short reach with tapered seat. You can actually thread those into the older style heads. I did by accident on my car. Took a bit longer to get it to idle.

Now, the gasket type plugs have two different reaches.


BTW, the AC R45TS plugs are the hottest in that range. If you want a hotter plug you'll have to go the Autolite 26's.

[DanStokes]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

I, too, have run into that in my pile of cylinder heads, Pete. I should have mentioned it but it didn't come to mind. I didn't know when they made the change but I finally figured out that if my 13/16 socket won't go in the hole I need the small plugs.

You're getting there!

Dan

[67pete300]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

It runs again!

Not terribly well, and with all the old distributor, intake carb and exhaust, and alternator, but it runs! The engine sounds great, but we need an older timing light to time it right, and the old leaky one barrel is a serious POS. I wanted to get it running to break in the cam with the old carb because setting up the Edelbrock 4 barrel and linkage will be challenging.

The brand new alternator is bad, good thing I still had the old one.

Now I am motivated to the the 4bbl setup going and the HEI conversion done.

[Junk Whisperer]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

You've got the Recipt from that 'new' Alternator,Pete? ~J/W.

[milner351]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

Nice work!

I will be interested to see how you work out the linkage and set up for the edelbrock - as I'll be faced with similar challenges on the clifford intake on my 292.... which reminds me - I still have to send that economaster carb down to speedjunkie.

[DanStokes]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

I'm using the bellcrank set up that Offy sends with the intake. It looks weird but seems to work well. I don't recall which way the Clifford intake sets the carb but Offy likes 'em sideways, which sort of makes sense. It puts the primaries in line with the ports. And how can you argue with 131 HP!!!?

John - you may want to switch to a late model GM cable throttle as they're pretty adaptable. That solid linkage is a PITA from my experience. If you get the whole deal from a TH-equipped car you should get parts to hook up the kick down and all. Well, it's a thought.........

Dan

[67pete300]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

Been a while. Haven't had nearly enough time to work on it with work and looking for a new place to live and getting ready to move. I have exactly one month to get this thing roadworthy for a 450 mile road trip to Boston. Or it will be a U-haul hauler in my future.

Here's the home made pre-oiler I made.







All dressed up with the god-awful original intake/exhaust setup still installed.



This is the throttle set up I need to turn 90 degrees



To work with this (note the printed inspiration pictures):



Tried at first to work with some of the existing parts:



But ended up fabbing up this with Home Depot materials and mostly woodworking tools. And my neighbors creme brulee carmelizer as a heat source.





I have some fancy heim joint rod ends with studs on order from ebay to hook things together. We'll see if it all comes together.

[67pete300]

Re: My 67 Chevelle 300

Gratuitous shots: