66 Sport Fury-From The Beginning

[Clay Harrison]

OMG!!!
Just received pics from Leanna! Here's a preview of the powdercoating work she did on my 440. I'm awe struck and can't wait for her to get it boxed and shipped so we can put the finishing touches on the motor.....

To say this young lady is talented would be an extreme understatement!

 

[CudaChick1968]

Thank you so much Clay!!! It was a ton of work but knowing you're happy is all that truly matters to me! Here is the video I mentioned in my email (hope it works -- I've never tried this FCBO feature).



Thank you again for letting me have a hand in your Sport Fury! I really enjoy working with you and look forward to the next time.

 

[rkrochen]

Great looking work. It’s always nice to see people who still have a great work ethic and always do their best.

 

[Dsertdog]

Amazing work! I'll have to check with my powder coater on that!

 

[65sporty]

Looks great

 

[CudaChick1968]

Thank you all!!

Amazing work! I'll have to check with my powder coater on that!

Thanks for the kind compliment! Very few others do multicolor work though. And I'll give you a FCBO discount .

 

[Clay Harrison]

OK so now while we wait it's time to begin trying to figure out why my tail lights are all goofy?
Also it's time to install the torsion bars in my trunk!

 

[Clay Harrison]

So I loaded up some more tools and the big honkin compressor and headed up the street to the garage around noon to see if I could get myself started on some of this work. I've got lots to do to the Vert and I still have the donor VIP that I need to dismantle setting outside.
I jacked the VIP up and put the front end on blocks to begin the process of removing the stock steel wheels for powder coating and I need the outer wheel wells (I don't know what else to call them). The ones on the Vert are toast so I'm gonna salvage these and blast the 53 years of crud off and probably have them powder coated black.
There was so much crud (don't know if it was some sort of protective goop sprayed in there or just years of tar/grime build up) I had to heat the area around the bolts with a hand torch and scrape the gunk off to get the socket to fit on the bolts.
But I managed to get them off without doing any damage so step one complete.
While I had the air ratchets and impact gun out, I removed the hood since the hood on the Vert has a huge hole in it. Basically I bought this car just for the hood.
I also tried to salvage the large body plugs from the trunk area since mine are missing. Anyone know where to purchase these new?
A couple of updates:
Guess the Vert is out of gas cause it won't start now and the electronic pump isn't pushing anything to the carb. I gotta get my gauges working!
The Vert pump makes plenty of noise but the top doesn't do anything so it looks like I have some trouble shooting to do there also. Just add another project to the list!!!

 

[Clay Harrison]

Continuing on with the dismantling of the parts car.
A couple days ago I was removing more of the body plugs from the front seat area and came across part of the build sheet. Davea Lux helped me out in another thread and confirmed that the parts car came with a 3.23 sure grip. So I jacked it up and did the spin test. Yep, I'm not real sure what's in the Vert but at least I know the rear I want is in the parts car. Still has the tag but there's too much gunk on the housing to tell which housing it is. I shot everything with WD 40 and after it sets a couple days I'll pull the entire rear, leaf springs and all out and start going thru it. I do know the vert has longer after market shackles and 15's on the rear so they were gonna go regardless....

View attachment 297535

 

[Clay Harrison]

We get off early on Friday's in the summertime so I loaded up and went to the garage determined to finish off removal of the rear end from the parts car. Got there around 4:30.

I cant believe how high I had to block up the car to get the shackle brackets to clear but I got it up there and broke out the ole trusty Honda atv so I could put the winch to work.

I think the temp was hovering around 93-94 and the gravel where I'm stripping the parts car is not very friendly. I don't have a full blown shop so I have to Macguyver a lot of stuff to get it done!

After I pulled the entire rear out from under the car I realized my old A#$ didn't have the strength to flip it over to remove the spring perches, so I propped it up using an 8' 2x4 for leverage, propped up the springs with a couple of 1 foot 2x's and hooked the atv strap to the back side, drove a screwdriver into the ground in front of the closest shackle brackets, fired up the winch and flipped it over. At that point I was completely soaked and pretty much wore out...

That's when I realized the danged electricians working on the house done stole all my bottled water from the fridge in the garage

Hot, Tired and Thirsty, I figured it's about time to ramp this operation up and head for the house!

The next step was to break out the impact gun and remove the spring perches. I'd say the u bolts are pretty much toast since they've been under the car for the last 53 years. One nut wouldn't even come off with the impact gun. Looks like everything else is salvageable!

I broke out the come along I keep in the box on the atv and drug the complete rear into my tilting deer trailer and hauled it to the house.

Got the numbers on the 3rd member (I think that's what you folks call it) cleaned off and the tab on one of the bolts says 3.23-Perfect since I did the jack one side and spin test on the Vert last night and I'm pretty sure it's not a sure grip!

to be continued......

 

[65sporty]

Ingenuity, love it. I always try to work smart, not hard. Sometimes you don't have a choice though.
Nice score on the sure grip, are you going to swap out just the 3rd member or the whole diff assy?

 

[Clay Harrison]

Ingenuity, love it. I always try to work smart, not hard. Sometimes you don't have a choice though.
Nice score on the sure grip, are you going to swap out just the 3rd member or the whole diff assy?

Helping the newbie out here, what is the difference between 3rd member and diff assembly?
One of our fleet mechanics at work has an old restored Falcon and he is providing me with a source for rebuilding the leaf springs so I'm probably just going to go with whichever housing is in better condition. Won't know which one until I begin the disassembly of the vert and clean/inspect.
I'm wondering if I could powder coat the housing?
Like I've said before, I have absolutely no history on the vert. It looks as if someone hopped the car up a few years back and there's no way to tell exactly what they did until I get into a specific component.
The vin says it's a two door HT? but its' clearly a convertible!
Everything under the hood looks brand new (frame, fender wells, etc.
Heater has been blanked off.
Interior has those stupid red/black racecar themed seats?
Red 1978 440 with aftermarket intake/distributor/hooker headers/holly dual pumper and unknown internals?
Blue transmission with no kickdown linkage?
Aftermarket rear spring shackles to make the rear ride higher.
Electronic fuel pump.
I've been calling it the FrankinFury hahaha....

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Jaaaeeezas sounds like you got a whole mis-mash here.

3rd member if I recall is the 'Chuck', 'Pumpkin' or what ever regional dialect some would refer to as the part you unbolt and remove to get at the differential gears as opposed to removing a rear cover on the axle housing.
Chucks or 3rd members make changing the rear gearset a lot easier as you don't have to mess with setting the pinion and the crush sleeve every time.

Powder Coating? I have a opinion that'll I'll keep to myself at present.

Hopped Up? I'll bet it has over the many years of it's lifetime. (maybe a lot to undo) heh.

Hardtop vs. Convertible on the VIN? Maybe a major ooops here, I'm not a expert on numbers but I'd have a look at the fender tag, broadcast sheet, & wherever the other place the VIN would be hiding on this year to get to the bottom of this.

Heater delete? Could be, check your broadcast sheet or fender tag. Pictures could tell if it's a factory "blanked off" or a backyard job.

Stupid seats? Don't recall seeing stupid seats, pictures tell a story here.

Red (gasp) 1978 440? I kind of sped'red through the post and was try'in to figure out this one.
Kind of cringed at the picture of the sledge hammer over piston in the ring compressor picture and sped things up so to say. (more on that later if interested)
Between what, several parts cars and going back to a '66 block I take it the '78 440 is what came in the car as purchased?

Blue transmission? Sounds rebuilt as some shops will paint their rebuilds. The no kickdown is a no no unless it has a manual valve body. See hopped up as above.

Shackles? Yessir! What 60's car wouldn't be complete without'em!

Electric Fuel Pump?.... meh, just something else electrical to short out or go wrong.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Also I'm wondering if any of you folks have considered or actually installed an oversized oil pan. Just seems like the stock pan/5 qts isn't much or am I over thinking this? If needed, I'd like to do it now vs later. Any opinions?

I always wanted to do something like that with my 68, but drag pans would delete any ground clearance that is needed for road driving and then there is the center link issue. Laid under the car waiting of the oil to drain the bright gears in my brain would be a whir'in thinking if I could weld on some side bulges for extra oil capacity (not much) then gave up on any thoughts as it would be a clearance nightmare with the draglink and steering arm.

Just use a good quality oil, check the level at every fill up, and follow the factory manual of 3 months or 4,000 miles oil changes. (Synthetic guys.... I don't waaana hear about it)

(I use to do the cabs at 30 days/3,000 miles, but the were Ferds)

 

[Clay Harrison]

Jaaaeeezas sounds like you got a whole mis-mash here.

3rd member if I recall is the 'Chuck', 'Pumpkin' or what ever regional dialect some would refer to as the part you unbolt and remove to get at the differential gears as opposed to removing a rear cover on the axle housing.
Chucks or 3rd members make changing the rear gearset a lot easier as you don't have to mess with setting the pinion and the crush sleeve every time.

Powder Coating? I have a opinion that'll I'll keep to myself at present.

Hopped Up? I'll bet it has over the many years of it's lifetime. (maybe a lot to undo) heh.

Hardtop vs. Convertible on the VIN? Maybe a major ooops here, I'm not a expert on numbers but I'd have a look at the fender tag, broadcast sheet, & wherever the other place the VIN would be hiding on this year to get to the bottom of this.

Heater delete? Could be, check your broadcast sheet or fender tag. Pictures could tell if it's a factory "blanked off" or a backyard job.

Stupid seats? Don't recall seeing stupid seats, pictures tell a story here.

Red (gasp) 1978 440? I kind of sped'red through the post and was try'in to figure out this one.
Kind of cringed at the picture of the sledge hammer over piston in the ring compressor picture and sped things up so to say. (more on that later if interested)
Between what, several parts cars and going back to a '66 block I take it the '78 440 is what came in the car as purchased?

Blue transmission? Sounds rebuilt as some shops will paint their rebuilds. The no kickdown is a no no unless it has a manual valve body. See hopped up as above.

Shackles? Yessir! What 60's car wouldn't be complete without'em!

Electric Fuel Pump?.... meh, just something else electrical to short out or go wrong.

Clearly someone high schooled this car haha!
I'm looking for more of a stockish look and we're heading in that direction. The good here is the car isn't rusted out in the trunk/floors so we don't have to fool with any of that.
No build sheet or fender tag available so that's out. At this point it's a vert so it's a vert! I just think it's odd that the vin says 2 dr ht.
We were using the hammer to tap the ring compressor to keep in in place. Not that big of a deal.
We'll be going thru the tranny since the deal fell thru on the used TCI that I bought.

 

[Clay Harrison]

So I'm getting emails from Fedex telling me that all of my PC'd engine stuff is arriving Monday. With this in mind I finally got off my keester and hitched up the trailer, and loaded up the cheapo engine cradle I bought from Walmart to go to my brother's place and bring the rebuilt motor home.
I'm no where near ready to swap motors but I would like the ability to go out to the motorcycle shop and putz with it in my free time.
My brother made small work of this task with his big honkin backhoe!
Here's a shot of us lifting it into the trailer and another pic of it all strapped down for a ride in the country. SWMBO helped me drag it into the motorcycle shop and now I'm done for the day!!! Man it's hot out there!

 

[Dsertdog]

Sir, You've done some serious azz busting with the differential and that. I wish I still had the gumption!

 

[Clay Harrison]

Sir, You've done some serious azz busting with the differential and that. I wish I still had the gumption!

Thanks bud! I'm just trying to get the parts car dealt with while I still have the garage. My time is limited there.

So I got the rear end set up in what we call The Boatel. Three sided, open front metal shed. This will keep it out of the weather while I tear it apart. I've started hitting it with the purple cleaner to knock off the 50 years of crap caked on it.

Does anyone know if stuff like the rear end mounted hard brake lines and valves are still available. Those NOS guys on ebay scare the hell out of me and my wallet!!!!

 

[Jim 68cuda]

NOT mine, but just a reminder, this Craigslist advertizer in Connecticut, who has already sold a couple 66 Sport Fury convertibles, says he has a bunch of 66 Sport Fury parts for sale (in addition to the project convertible he is advertising now).
Just Reduced 1966 Sport Fury convertible solid project A/C - $3500

 

[Clay Harrison]

Can you guys tell I'm a little more than excited about discovering this sure grip in the parts car? I bought the car for the hood and some dash stuff. I figured I'd dismantle it and share stuff like fenders and such with anyone else who needed them. This is a big bonus for me! I've been looking at SG's all over the place and 1-they're a tad expensive. 2-they're so danged heavy no one wants to ship! Here's a couple more pics... The round tag had so much gunk on it I didn't even know what was on it!