'66 Side Oiler, My Barn Find and Build

[elmariachi]

This is a continuation of my first thread, posted here.

Heeding everyone's advice in that thread I abandoned the idea of trying to find a vintage block worth rebuilding and as a result had been discussing a Pond 482 with Keith while waiting on my car kit to arrive. Then, I received a call from a guy in South Texas that said he had an original standard bore side oiler in a barn and if I wanted it he'd make me a deal. So I took a Saturday stroll over to San Antonio to have a look. I got there and sure enough, a red barn with Holstein milk cows roaming around. And there in the barn, neatly arranged on a table, was a fully disassembled, very unmolested, standard bore '66 side oiler (6B11 date code), a pair of pristine MR heads (with matching same day date codes), and the balance of a fully disassembled motor including an absolutely beautiful $ forged steel crank. Seems that the farmer also owned a machine shop in SA and some guy rolled in back in 1975 with this engine, supposedly taken from his Galaxie at less than 100k miles, along with a couple boxes full of new parts. He wanted the engine disassembled, fully checked over and then built up. In the boxes were two sets of NOS FoMoCo pistons (one set of domed and one set of 12.5:1 pop-ups), a new Crane cam, various bearings, rings etc. The machinist checked and measured everything and waited for the guy to return for further build instructions. He never came back. Ever. So for thirty years it sat on a pallet in the shop, oiled down and covered. Recently he got out of the business and so the engine and parts were moved to his barn. We measured the bore with a bore gauge, noting that it was very close to standard. We talked a while about what it might need, swapped side oiler stories and after a little haggling, he made me a deal I couldn't refuse. I tried to refuse, but I couldn't do it. The same guy that loves a vintage '52 Fender Telecaster through a tube amplifier, old Rifleman episodes and Betty Page just couldn't say no.

Thus having abandoned nearly everyone's advice I brought the whole load home and started going through it. After getting the block on the stand, we found another code stamped on it (6J19D), which I would assume is the assembly or production line date. We also found what appeared to be a VIN stamped on another boss and so I ran it on www.decodethis.com and amazingly, up popped a 1967 R-code Galaxie 500, 425HP, dual quad, produced in Wayne, IN. I have since had the VIN run by a buddy with access to 50-state DMVs but we didn't get any hits on living automobiles.

I took the block, heads and internals to a local guy who is known for his race engines and has some verifiable FE experience. The block, heads, crank and C6AE-E LeMans rods all passed the mag check and the block passed a pressure test. The block is just as we measured in the barn...standard bore with 7 cylinders coming in around .003-.005 over and one cylinder a bit further out at .008. He's going to start in on rebuilding and porting the heads and give me some measurements from which to order some pistons and rings.

My plan is to run this car in the Big Bend Open Road Race held annually in West Texas, maybe some days around the local track and otherwise just run it and have fun. Along with the modified heads I plan to run a Sidewinder intake with a suitable single carb. I'd like a little bit of cam with some good mid-range pull and top-end RPM. I have read that the profile of the original AA cam might be suitable, as well as the Comp 294. This will be mated to a TKO 600 with a .64 5th gear and probably a 3.50 rear end. That should let me run in the 130MPH road race class without tearing stuff up.

As much as I'd like to stroke it, I think this block deserves to be brought back to life as a simple 427 with a little cam and some increased breathing room. If I get real bold maybe I'll slap the R-code dual 4-barrels back on it. Keith has agreed to supply all my parts so I am sure he'll have some sound advice. Any input/advice on final boring, camshaft selection etc, or any general comments appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim