I have another one. My dad bought a 65 Impala Wagon awhile back. Pretty decent ride so we opted to go through it all. Took the factory 327 and I went through it all. Upgraded to a hydraulic roller cam, mild head porting, used LS valves and beehive springs, has a killer bottom end with Crower Maxi-Lite 6.125 rods, steel crank, and .035 over flat top forged pistons. Used all the factory tin and had it stripped to repaint. Also found a mid 60's era Weiand Dual Plane intake to fit the era with a few repop stickers for the valve covers. Turned out pretty nice.
Nick The trip to the grocery store just got more exciting for your dad huh! I learned to drive in my brothers' two cars, one that still surprises me ( in my memory) was his 66 BelAire wagon bone stock 275 hp327, powerglide, it was that Q-Jet that made that thing surprisingly fun to drive.
He does alot of upholstery work so he wanted a work rig and it is a great fit for our local Drive-In Theater if we can find the 3rd row seats at some point. I lowered it some, hope its not too low LOL. Really clean ride for the most part that sat in a barn in central Nebraska owned by one family that p***ed it around to each other. Only issue in it was the rear window area which I guess is common on these to rot out from condensation getting trapped. He had someone fix all that up and luckily found better trim pieces to replace his rusted ones in the back windows. All redone minus a paint job. We have an Impala addiction around here.....
1 of 2 family cars that I learned to drive in was a 66 Chevy wagon; lot's of fun memories cruisin' in that wagon!
Old mangy is apart, and it seems I still haven't gotten it to the engine shop. So I bought an interim engine: It's a little mangy, and it's not a 327, but it was a runner just a few weeks ago, pulled from a 58 Chevy. Bone stock 283... Now I have displacement envy!
hey I missed this thread...now I have a 327....a few pictures of it's progress and there's a thread about the car
Looky the tri-Ys! That's old school... Take more pictures of the headers. I might have to make a set like that for the Whatever project... Less stuff to fit down low.
Needed to make them for space concerns/clearances. The crossover of the 3 and 5 tubes keeps a 3-5 split between firing impulses. Not doing that makes the 5-7 firing a 1-7 split. Flanges from an old set of headers. Bends from Speedway, (A little thin on the outside of the bend.) Buy an extra because shipping will kill if you need just one more. Last 2" of collector from a Speedway 2 1/2" reducer that had a step down instead of a taper. Cut the header tubes off leaving about a 1/2' stub. That allows you to weld the 3/5 and 2/4 tubes from the inside where they are close. I used 2 or 3 wraps of 2" green tape to hold the bends together and cut 3 strips out to tack them together. As you can see none of the reducers from the primary tubes to the secondary tubes are alike. They are made from 2 sections of primary tube. The measuring instrument was a strip of manila envelope. Mark 1/2 the diameter of the secondary tube around the bottom of the section of tube . Mark the top of the section of tube the distance around one primary tube from weld to weld. How square or offset the top and bottom marks are is a judgment call. I found one end was usually close to 90* corners. Make your cuts. Then spread the top and bottom. The top to just slide over its half of the primary tube. The bottom to match the diameter of the secondary tube. Use the piece you just made as measuring points for the other half. Then it's welding time. Same process from secondary tubes to collector.
Sweet! Thanks for the pictures AND the details. I'm going to use Marmon flanges for the collector to the tailpipe connections, but otherwise you'll be seeing something similar once I get the 283 hung in the frame.
Got the 1st set of 2 header kits today. Should see the 2nd tomorrow. With luck there's enough to make a set just like you have. Pictures later...
I'm still a slacker! My 327 is apart, covered up, and still waiting me to get off my @$$ and get it to Boyd's. But I've got a little brother between the frame rails, just a bone stock 1958 283 2 barrel. I really have to make an effort to get it to the shop...
Bringing this back up as tomorrow, yes tomorrow, old mangy is finally going to the engine shop, barring another Snowmageddon! Wish me luck...
Yes, and throw in an earthquake, and the apocalypse is upon us, I tell you! But I'm lazy, so for an update on the 327 and other phascinating phacts, go over to the Whatever project thread and see what today wrought...
I love 327's. My first hot rod engine in the 70's was a '68 327 in a '52 Chevy pickup. My '35 Chevy coupe has had a few over the past 40 years. A few years ago I pulled a 350 out of it and built another 327 for it. I built this '64 327 recently and had it on the dyno a week ago. It's going into a '53 Chevy pickup. I think things are coming full circle.
The 327 was so far ahead of its time, it's no surprise how popular they are here. AFAIK, it was the first fuel injected engine to be built. Certainly for a production car. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Mercedes Benz gull wing coupes had mechanical direct injection in either 54, so technically it was on the market before the Rochester FI system, model year 57. It was a production sports car, if spendy even then. There may have been others, I don't know...
The one in my 59 El Camino is a November 1961 casting , has 461s, a Summit 1104 cam, but soon to go to a crower solid out of Boredom. The one in the shed is my last one, a standard bore 66 Chevelle engine I've had for 20 plus years. Im undecided on where it will go
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