The Family Hauler – 1966 Chevelle
 

Hey Guys!

I’m reemerging from lurker status to post some exciting news! We brought our second son into the world back in May. Between a new baby at home and a busy year for our business we’ve not had much time left over for our Camaro. We’ve only had it out on a couple 10-15 mile cruises this year. We would like to use it more but it’s just not a baby friendly car at this time. Our three year old loves the Camaro but we have him wear ear protection and mount his car seat in the center for more leg room. The exhaust is way too loud and the back seat is a bit cramped for 2 car seats…

We’ve often talked about our next car being a 66 Chevelle. So a couple weeks ago I’m perusing the net just seeing what was out there on Chevelles for sale. There were a few black, blue, and silver cars that caught my eye so I asked Beth “If we were to buy a 66 Chevelle, what color would you like it to be?”. She hits me with gunmetal gray…. I was like “come on, at least pick something I have a chance finding!”…. Well, this past week I stumbled across pretty much exactly what she described within driving distance. It took a bit of logistical gymnastics and one loooong day trip but we picked up a gunmetal gray 1966 Chevelle.

It has nice paint/body and a redone factory interior. There’s a few blemishes but they don’t bother us too much since we will be driving it. The engine is a 496 mated to a Muncie 4 speed with a 12 bolt out back and Wilwoods all around. The car has some get up and go but seems to be very streetable and the exhaust is 50% quieter than the Camaro. Between that and a larger back seat I think it will work well for our family hauler.

We plan to add a Vintage Air system and possibly a Dakota Digital gauge cluster. A winter project will be updating to a coilover suspension setup. We may also do a 5 or 6 speed swap but we’ll enjoy the car the rest of this season and see what it needs before tearing into it much.

We had hoped to get it outside yesterday afternoon to snap a few pics but the weather is not cooperating. For now some crappy cell phone pics will have to do.

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._163150147.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._163140204.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._200246925.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._163222156.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._163414222.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._163515444.jpg

Thanks for looking :lateral:

Wow!
 

That's a nice find right there! The paint looks to be in good shape, gunmetal grey is cool.

Nice driver fer sure!

Nice car! I'd LOVE to build a 66'!
Perfect color too!

Very nice! Sounds perfect for your family! Are you keeping the Camaro?

Thanks guys! We are really excited to get out and start driving this car.

We are definitely keeping the Camaro. No way Beth will let that one go!

This weekend I need to reorganize our detached garage to make room for the Chevelle. Currently it's parked in our attached and my truck is outside. For now it's kind of fun to see it every time we come and go from the house.

Great looking car, but then again...I'm a little biased.
CONGRATS!

Right on
 

Killer looking Chevelle...needs 2 Recaro kid seats in it

Gorgeous looking '66! I love the color.

I love the 66's nice looking car Ed.

That is one sweet ride! Congrats :cheers:

Nice look'n ride!!! This body style is my favorite!

Thanks Guys! :thumbsup:

It's been raining here since Sunday (not complaining) and we have yet to take our maiden voyage with the boys. But tonight I sat in it with our 3 year old and made vroom vroooom noises! :headspin:


We almost bought the Recaros! A couple reviews said they were a physically larger than alternatives in the price range and had a lower safety rating so we went another route.

Ed, I wish I was a 'rain away' from taking my kids out on a drive - haha. It will be sweet! Enjoy:thumbsup:

Heck with building it I want to find one like this.


Marty-MJ
www.garagescene.net

The weekend is almost here! :dance:

Let us know how the family cruise went this weekend...:relax:

We had absolutely beautiful weather yesterday for our maiden voyage. The sun was shining and it was 70 degrees. We got the car seats swapped over, loaded up the boys, and headed for the gas station. After filling up we spun around town for a few minutes and then hit the road to the next town where Beth’s mom lives. It’s about a 15 minute drive and both boys were out cold by the time we arrived at her house. (Who knew the 2500rpm drone of Flowmasters was the perfect nap time melody?) We visited for a while and she offered to watch our youngest while we took our 3 year old for a cruise. We drove around town for a while and got a lot of thumbs ups and smiles. One guy rolled his window down at a stop light to compliment us on the car. I figure if he liked the way it looked then we should let him hear it as well. So I got on it a bit and passed him on the way out of town. Now our 3 year old thinks the Chevelle is faster than mommy's Camaro! We then stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream treat. After that Beth took the wheel to get a feel for the car. We both had a blast driving it. We put 63 miles on it in total. There are things that we will work on to improve the car but we are extremely happy that we found it.

First impressions of the car:
It’s got a lot of torque which is a lot of fun for blasting around town.
We need overdrive. I kind of figured we’d eventually want to do a 5 or 6 speed swap from our previous experience with the Camrao. The hi-way miles yesterday confirmed it.
The suspension is pretty much stock so it floats down the road nice but there is a bit too much body roll for going around corners. I’m researching coilover setups. Feel free to post opinions if anyone has experience with the various brands.


http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._125653095.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...659761_HDR.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...907517%202.jpg

(Who knew the 2500rpm drone of Flowmasters was the perfect nap time melody?)

As long as it doesn't work on the driver too!
At least you can enjoy it while you decide what to do to it later.

Well yes, that'd be a bad day!!

That was definitely our hopes when searching for this one. We'll try to drive it a bunch before winter then start the updates.

Thanks for sharing Ed. The Velle looks fantastic out in the sun bud...
Can't think of a better family outing than that! As for suspension - like I mentioned in my last reply, Speed Tech ….
http://www.speedtechperformance.com/...rod/prd322.htm

http://www.speedtechperformance.com/...rod/prd347.htm

Running ride tech coil overs and very happy with them so far. Car is looking killer, cant wait to see what mods you do to it.

Thanks Joe, it was a great day. And thanks for the links. That elco has a nice stance and looks good going thru the cones.

Thank you, I'm trying to keep the list of potential mods reasonable but everytime I think thru changing one item I start to see the "while we're at it" snowball effect happening.

I appreciate the suspension feedback. Ridetech and Speed Tech are the main companies I'm leaning towards.

Your 67 is looking pretty insane. I glanced thru your thread and now need to go back and read it from the beginning.

Hmmm.....

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...34875e7f24.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a...3208f4a2b3.jpg

Let's see... Quick time, Tremec... and the third box looks like a clutch. Quality parts. :)
How many gears, five or six? I prefer six myself, but it's your baby.... :burnout:

Presents...how exciting:drool:

So cool you got a Tremec.........But what was on the other 8 pallets in the back round??.......That's what I want to know..:confused59: :mock:

In your opening you said the 66 has 4 wheel disc? I noticed you have manual brakes with wildwood master. How do they feel? how stiff is the pedal? does it take a lot of leg to stop it? ive recently installed new 4 wheel wilwoods on mine and am preparing to buy a master but am hung up on power or manual.

In your opening you said the 66 has 4 wheel disc? I noticed you have manual brakes with wilwood master. How do they feel? how stiff is the pedal? does it take a lot of leg to stop it? ive recently installed new 4 wheel wilwoods on mine and am preparing to buy a master but am hung up on power or manual.

Yes! Definitely an exciting delivery! We went with a T56 Magnum. We have the TKO 600 in our Camaro. It's fine but we really wanted to try a six speed this time.


Ha! I had the pallet dropped at my business since we have a loading dock. You could say those other pallets had stuff on them that helped pay for these goodies.


We do have some more fun stuff on the way. Just got shipping confirmation on our Ridetech level 2 coilover setup. There's a Vintage Air system and a serpentine drive ordered as well. I think the flood gates have opened up on this one! :headspin:

I like the manual brakes. We haven't put many miles on the Chevelle but have basically the same setup on my wife's Camaro. She gets along with it just fine. We haven't done any autocross or track events. It's mostly been highway cruising and some occasional spirited moments. I just talked with Beth about it and we both decided there's not much noteworthy about the brakes. I think that's a good thing and means they just work. The pedal is firm if you stomp on it but doesn't feel like a work-out. It's not touchy so you can ease into a stop. YMMV

Great thanks!

We're curious to see what clutch you decided to go with!

I think you'll like the T56 Magnum. I have a T56 and a TR6060 (OEM Magnum) and love the way the revised synchros work in the 6060 / Magnum.

No problem :lateral:

A McLeod unit. :mock:

Sounds good. Can't wait to row the gears!

:ups:

Literally brought a truckload of parts home today!

Only waiting on the serpentine drive now but I won't be able to tear into anything for a while. I've got a work trip this week and a family trip this weekend.

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._133712434.jpg

http://i923.photobucket.com/albums/a..._133723751.jpg

It looks like you'll have a bunch of goodies to install when you get back.

All very good reasons Ed, but MAN will time move sloooooowly til then...:D

I think you'll be busy for a while. :)

Man time is going to crawl knowing all those parts are at home waiting for you!