Our ‘66 Convertible Project

[LithiumCobalt]

Sounds like you’re making steady progress. I replaced all of the PS lines on both of my 67s when I did the engine bay detail. Expensive but looks so nice to have clean new parts and more peace of mind on reliability and durability, although I guess the originals lasted 50+ years!

[blaroche]

Nick, our 67 still has most of its original PS lines and I think they will be due for replacement soon too. They look fine visually but after so many years of service I’m certain the car would benefit from a new set! Continued working on the brake lines, so far I have the lines from the master into the proportioning valve.

[blaroche]

Finally got the other inner fender painted! Once it’s cured a few days I’ll start putting what I can back together. Another interesting find that may have already been discovered, I found the cars VIN stamped on the center support for the grille. Never knew these were stamped but interesting to find.

[frasern]

Oops, double post!

[frasern]

The one on my '67 was badly bent, so I put the one off my '66 on it, I was hoping no one would ever check that number.
But I still have the bent "number matching" one in storage.

[LithiumCobalt]

Interesting. Don’t know that anyone has ever mentioned that location for VIN stamping. The well known one is just above the passenger upper control arm in the engine bay.

[blaroche]

Interesting. Don’t know that anyone has ever mentioned that location for VIN stamping. The well known one is just above the passenger upper control arm in the engine bay.

That’s the location I’ve always known to look in! This convertible also has it stamped on the drivers side, just above the upper control arm. And speaking of control arms, one of the projects I may work on a little today is the mesh inserts for those openings. The car still had all of the inserts but they have certainly seen better days. I have new mesh and will make some patterns out of those. Hope everyone has a nice Easter Sunday!

[Dan Szwarc]

The one on my '67 was badly bent, so I put the one off my '66 on it, I was hoping no one would ever check that number.
But I still have the bent "number matching" one in storage.

Hammer and a vise and I beat mine back into shape, then sandblasted and powdercoated.

[frasern]

The one on my '67 was badly bent, so I put the one off my '66 on it, I was hoping no one would ever check that number.
But I still have the bent "number matching" one in storage.

Hammer and a vise and I beat mine back into shape, then sandblasted and powdercoated.

A previous body shop already tried that, now I would have to fix that too, it was easier to just swap it. Back on track, it seems weird that they would serialize that one replaceable part, probably just used when building a sub assembly for assembly line purposes, so any replacement part would not be stamped. Clearly, the OPs car has not been in a frontal collision.

[blaroche]

Dual master and PV2 is all mounted with the lines ran. No leaks, so I’m happy about that! Made some new A/C lines this evening, and while not completely correct, they should function just fine. Lastly, the rebuilt damper was delivered back today.

[vert1966]

Amazing progress! Definitely will be following this thread. Thanks for sharing your rebuild.

[blaroche]

More progress! Rebuilt the fuel pump and power steering pump over the weekend (didn’t get a picture of the PS pump). Picked the heads up at the machine shop today. They replaced all exhaust valves and all springs. Spent the afternoon degreasing the block. Took the pickup screen apart and found all the missing nylon from the timing gear, which was a little terrifying. Can’t believe it didn’t lock up the oil pump.

[Lee]

Blaroche, now that you’ve gotten this far, have you considered re-ringing it? You’ll probably never find a better time. Was the cylinder taper very bad?

[CaptainDave]

Blaroche, thank you for posting all this. It's fun to read the saga of your bringing the car back to life. You do in a week what it takes me several years to accomplish! Where are you? In one of your posts you say you're close to Jack Rosen. The car has Texas plates. What part of the country do you work this automotive magic in? Wishing you continued good luck with this project!

[blaroche]

Lee, great question! The block itself was in surprisingly good shape, so for the time being we are leaving the bottom end alone. We plan on painting the car in the next year or two (it photographs OK but the paint has certainly seen better days) and if it ends up needing further engine work we will address that issue when it’s out of commission for paint.

Dave, thanks for the kind words! I am down in Southern California (Riverside). The friends we acquired the car from had it in Texas for quite some time. The car came out to California in the early 2000s and was never re-registered here in CA, hence the TX plates. We’ve since gotten it registered and plated here in CA!