Rebeldryver's '65 Impala SS Black Betty

[RustyRodder]

Will it get to know..............salt ?

Maybe it will join Scotts 69 impala!

[Scott Liggett]

Scraping Ice !?! ouch. How's the new coat collection coming along? Ice... man, that's gotta hurt. Did your car know what Ice is before now?

Car was built in LA. Sold in Stockton. It's possible a previous owner went up into the Sierras with it.

[Scott Liggett]

Will it get to know..............salt ?

If you mean, am I going to drive it on the salted winter roads? HELL NO!! This car has zero rust proofing on it. None. Zip. Nada. The Caprice was originally sold in Missouri. It still has the full Ziebart rust proofing under it. But, I am saving for a winter sacrificial pickup.

It wasn't that smart driving it out at Bonneville. I see corrosion on parts that were bare metal already. Shows me what needs to get sanded and painted under the car.

[68scott385]

Will it get to know..............salt ?

About 4 winters ago my wife went to Tennessee and followed a salt truck home, to Kentucky. Thank god she was in a Mazda. I asked WTF were you thinking? She said she was just trying to stay on the "good" part of the road.

[Scott Liggett]

Took the Impala to run to get batteries today. Beautiful 70's temps got me rowdy. Hammered it on my dirt road, got sideways, shifted to second, hammered it again, got sideways again.........then lost it. Ass end fish tailed a couple times, correcting one way, caused over steer. Just missed a mail box and finally just hit the brakes and slid into the ditch. Dumbass.

At least no one witnessed my stupid driving and I was able to back out of the ditch without a tow. No damage to the car except some weeds stuck in the grille. A total sign I haven't had practice driving like a goof on dirt roads. The Impala's Nitto's weren't helping either. I just kept remembering how all of my buddies in HS did this at least once. My first time eating ditch since then.

[Beagle]

awesome... If you never lose one, you're not trying hard enough.

[74NovaMan]

Took the Impala to run to get batteries today. Beautiful 70's temps got me rowdy. Hammered it on my dirt road, got sideways, shifted to second, hammered it again, got sideways again.........then lost it. Ass end fish tailed a couple times, correcting one way, caused over steer. Just missed a mail box and finally just hit the brakes and slid into the ditch. Dumbass.

At least no one witnessed my stupid driving and I was able to back out of the ditch without a tow. No damage to the car except some weeds stuck in the grille. A total sign I haven't had practice driving like a goof on dirt roads. The Impala's Nitto's weren't helping either. I just kept remembering how all of my buddies in HS did this at least once. My first time eating ditch since then.

Sounds like fun!

[Scott Liggett]

This was me on Saturday. Diesel Geek was there helping as well as snapping pics of me in the engine bay of this nice '76 Monte Carlo. I pulled the trigger and yanked the 400 out of it as a plan to replace the 383. It has been a good engine that I originally bought in 1994 newly refreshened from a friend of a friend. In that time, the 383 has had 4 cams, two sets of heads, 3 intakes, 3 sets of headers, and 675 carbs. No, that isn't a typo. I used the car as a test stand when I was rebuilding carbs for the now defunct Performance Auto Swap speed shop. The 383's block is a '69 4 bolt main with main studs and a windage tray, but the rotating assembly is all cast. That made putting any real power to it iffy at best. It's time to move up.



Scott Clark, Diesel Geek, did do a lot more than play with his camera's panorama feature.


We barely got it out of the car when we heard the yard employees saying they were closing. So, we thrashed in the parking lot taking apart the short block in order to lighten enough to lift it into the trunk. Then we just tossed everything else in there. I still can't find a socket. It took us twenty minutes to totally disassemble the short block. Scott was a huge help.



Here's the 400 block. Before you go and tell me I should buy a Dart block or some such. Unless you are donating the $2000 for the purchase of the block before machine work, keep it to yourself. I got this for $120. I can buy the crank, rods and pistons for that $2000. I lucked out that it's a standard bore still. I think I was the first to take anything off this engine. I had to use a punch to get those lifters out.


'817' isn't as well known as the '509' casting 400's, but it's essentially the same. The CSX says it's a '76 400 4 bbl, 175 hp, auto trans. I confirmed this in the junkyard on my smarty phone.



The crank's bearing journals are all in great shape. I bet this baby only needs a polishing to be ready to get used again. Sadly, I need a forged one. I will sell it or trade it for something. Not sure what these are worth these days. I haven't measured the journals yet to see if it's standard. The bearings didn't say they were .010 or .020 and they were made in 12/75 or 1/76, so I assuming they are standard. I will measure them later.



400's have 5.565" rods, useless to me. Maybe throw them in a package deal with the crank.


Unlike my 454's original cam, this one still has all of it's lobes.


Yes, kiddies, this is the original GM cam gear for the timing gear set. Most of these didn't last ten years. I have never seen one that still has all of it's nylon teeth intact. I usually find them in the oil pan and clogging the oil pan pickup.


I decided to keep a few other things. New oil pans and timing covers suck, so I will clean and paint these factory items. I used gasoline in a pan to clean the 2 inches of grease off this stuff. I also kept a few other things. Oil pan bolts, cam bolts, oil pump bolt, fuel pump push rod and plate, lower dipstick tube, and the balancer. Though, I don't think I have the balancer rebuilt.


Bearings all look good. Very good. One set of mains have different stamps than the rest. I wouldn't have any qualms to tossing them back in and reusing them if this was a stock rebuild.




I am planning on machining the block for splayed 4 bolt caps and short hard filling it. Most experts I have talked to say that with a good forged rotating assembly; I can safely push 700 hp. With 4.155 bore. .030 over, and the stock 3.75" stroke; it would be a 406. With a 3.85" stroke, it would be a 420". But, with 6" rods, the pistons get real expensive. Especially forged 8:5 to 9:1 pistons. I plan to reuse my Comp roller cam and Vic Jr. heads at this point.

With my job, I may be able to get most of the machine work done there. Also, BluePrint buys truck loads of SCAT cranks and rods, so I may be able to get a deal there through work. I have only casually asked about it, so no promises were made to me. BluePrint has some really nice 220 cc heads that our testing have shown really move some air. Maybe I could finagle a set of those. These are all just wishful thinking until the boss signs off on it. Any one of these would help my costs.

[squirrel]

looks good! it's hard to fine engines close to 40 years old that are still original inside. nice score

The 16K...... stamped on the block means Chevrolet car, 1976, built in Kansas City

[Scott Liggett]

The whole car was near granny fresh. Someone rewired in the trunk. Only problem was right fender rusted bad and a grapefruit sized rust hole on the C pillar under the vinyl top. Probably what sent it to the yard. It still had the original pellet catalytic converter.

[Huskinhano]

I'll bet the bores were in good shape as well. That engine would probably run great with new rings and bearings if you were just looking for a stock motor. how many miles on it? Great score.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Are you still planning to turbo this motor?

[Scott Liggett]

I'll bet the bores were in good shape as well. That engine would probably run great with new rings and bearings if you were just looking for a stock motor. how many miles on it? Great score.

Don't know. Gauge cluster was gone.

Are you still planning to turbo this motor?

Yes. About 10 lbs of boost. nothing crazy.

[Huskinhano]

So what kind of efi and cop does dieselgeek have planned or at least trying to talk you into? That would make for an interesting build!

[Huskinhano]

I would think the stock crank would be more then sufficient with 10 psi. My brother ran that or a little more on his 89 5.0 with no issues. Especially with no torsional load of a SC belt.