Norma 1966 Galaxie

Do you have 1 or two of the retainers? I have a buddy that is a cnc machinist that does small Nd odd jobs.

In reply to Dusterbd13: I will see if I do! I have them zip tied which you can't see but definitely looking for something more permanent!

New shoe day. I always say wheels can make or break a car. And these sure make it.

In reply to Norma66:

I make no promises, but he has made small batches of weird mopar E36 M3 before.

Norma got her new rocket racing wheels. And is looking fierce. Still have ride height adjustments to make but overall very happy

I like the new wheels. It does need some tasteful lowering.

In reply to stuart in mn: Its got big block springs in the front right now. We are going to fix it but it definitely has a gasser look right now.

stuart in mn wrote: I like the new wheels. It does need some tasteful lowering.

About 2 inches all the way around from where i sit.

At this point in the project I was at a cross roads. The car looks better than I ever imagined it would. At this point from the outside it looks like a stock galaxie minus the hood ornament. The car deserves to have a great drivetrain with the awesome paint that is on the car. The drivetrain is just a hodgepodge of parts. Original motor with a 68 transmission and a locking 9 inch from a truck. I drove the car up to my buddies shop and we started making a list of mechanical stuff that needed done. I was still having issue with the car leaking some coolant and overheating. After some inspection looks like its coming from the timing cover. I only did the head gaskets when I did the first rebuild and didn't notice coolant leaking from there.

After mulling the options I decided to change mid project what I wanted to do. Current plan is to throw a stroker 390 in the car and convert to a five speed on the floor. The 390 will give me the earth moving low end torque this car needs to move it and make the car scary. I have always wanted a car that people looked at and said "thats a bad B****" Current drivetrain setup really limits the car and it will only be a cruiser. I can keep pumping money into the wrong drivetrain setup or I can just change it and get what I want.

Problem was I didn't have a 390.

My girlfriend has a co-worker from the area that is a collector of car parts and vehicles. Within ten hours of me asking if he knew anyone with a 390 we had one bought. 250$ was a screaming deal.

Norma66 wrote: Current plan is to throw a stroker 390 in the car and convert to a five speed on the floor.

This keeps getting better. Plus, a 390 looks just like a 427 in case anyone asks what's under the hood.

In reply to stuart in mn: Its going to be a 446 so it will have more cubes anyway.

So that's just your run of the mill 390 FE? I have a very strong interest in where this is going.

In reply to mazdeuce: Yes it started of life in a Mercury maruadar. Previous owner had it in his f100 until he destroyed the crank bearings. It had been sitting in a shed since 1984. I will do Fergus proud! I always wanted a big wagon like fergus.

This motor is a little bit different than most push rod engines I have worked on. The pushrods go through the intake which I thought was kinda odd.

Looks like it was a luxury apartment for some rats.

Looks like the motors never been bored. Lots of carbon build up.

Pickup is trashed. But the motor is ready to go to machine work.

Yes yes yeeeees

In reply to Norma66:

Yes, the FE is a little different, a portion of the head is on the intake. In fact, the valve covers actually overlap onto the intake. I would recommend an aluminum intake, the factory cast iron weighs a bunch, at least it did on my 428 cj. I like where this is going. The wheels look good on there.

In reply to Chesterfield: I will be doing aluminum intake and heads! Ready to get this motor going ! Motor is still getting machining done

In reply to Norma66:

That should knock a good 100 pounds off the front end. I really miss the instant torque my big block FE.

bearing alignment is odd on FE's. All my research says this is normal. But sure surprised when I first saw it.

The progress with Norma has been going well. Thanks for sharing!

In reply to Chesterfield: what did you have your FE in?

Chesterfield wrote: In reply to Norma66: Yes, the FE is a little different, a portion of the head is on the intake. In fact, the valve covers actually overlap onto the intake. I would recommend an aluminum intake, the factory cast iron weighs a bunch, at least it did on my 428 cj. I like where this is going. The wheels look good on there.

One time I had to pull the heads and intake off the 352 FE in my old '65 F-100 pickup. Leaning over the radiator and yanking that intake out of the engine compartment required all the Wheaties I had for breakfast that day.