COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

I drove out to Dallas/Ft. Worth area last August (2018) to pick this '66 up. Id been wanting a big window for several years and i found this on on a CL search. It was running (barely) and it rode home to Denver on a flatbed we rented for the weekend for $100.

Its Feb 2019 now and progress has been made, so I'll try to make posts in the sequence of the build.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

We started cleaning the junk out and underneath the drivers floor mats we found a cpl envelopes in a plastic bag containing just over $100 in $2 bills - all from 1976. I checked... they are worth exactly $2 each. Who knows how long they've been hidden under there. There was a red star $10 bill in there as well, also worth exactly $10 :) Nice to find treasure

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

The old 283 came out pretty quick and cleaning of the engine bay got underway

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

A lot of this occurred in an afternoon... most all of the holes were welded up. I left some for wires and a Vintage Air unit that'll come down the road. After this was done it got a good scrubbing, sanding and then Napa satin engine compartment paint was sprayed.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

i went back and forth on what to stick in there... finally settling on a BluePrint Engines carburated 355 Roller cam. It came with a dyno sheet showing a 411hp peak. I now have motor mount concerns...

Here it is in the box.

For the trans - I revisited BowtieOverdrives and bought another 700R4 from them. I went with their stage 2 setup like I did for the 46 coop.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

That's a nice box to open right there

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Bed wood was pretty rotten and most came with a quick tug. I removed the bed to expose the frame and rear suspension... Frame is in decent shape front to back.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

All this… has to go into the suspension. I spent 2 days after work terrorizing my neighbors with a 4" grinder and an air chisel removing frame rivets.

Its Ridetech's full kit less the air management pieces: New trailing arms, cross members, shockwave rear shocks, traditional bags for the front, new upper/lower A-arms, front swaybar, disc brakes, rear axle kit... UPS and Fedex guys were visiting a lot

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

nice progress, keep those update(s) coming ....

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Looking forward to following this build! Gotta be a great day when the UPS man brings boxes of Ride Tech goodies!

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

I was out of state when they were scheduled to be dropped and had them diverted to a local Walgreen so my daughter could pick them up. Needless to say, they weren't expecting so many boxes and it filled up their counter for a bit. I came home to a garage full of boxes which is always fun:)

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

I lost count on how many rivets needed to come out... where i could get to the heads with a grinder I cut an X in the head to make it easier and quicker with the air chisel.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Pics.. sry would upload in previous post

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

If you're doing this same kit, this is something you need to address when you order everything. If you have a wood bed, the rear crossmember will sit too high and interfere with the wood once you install the bed. Ridetech initial response was to notch the wood to allow clearance. I didn't think notching the wood was the smart way and pushed a little. Ridetech will supply you with free spacer plates if you ask but you'll need to get longer bolts yourself. So make sure you ask when you order or it just causes delays and rework. Once the spacer plates were in, the top of the crossmember sat flush with the frame as it should. This also resulted in a loss of about 3/4" of drop... no wood notching.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

a few more

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

rear end came back out after the suspension was in. Got it rebuilt keeping the same gearing but added a Yukon LSD and new 5 lug axles that came with new drums. Once I got it home and back in, I replaced both rear wheel cylinders.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Brake line day... grabbed some straight ones from NAPA and bent them up while indulging in mimosa's

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Wheels are Riddlers:
Rear: RID-695-2173G (15x10)
Front: RID-695-8873G (18x8)

Backspacing info available if ya lookup the part number.

Tires are BF Goodrich g-Force Comp-2. All season
Rear 275-40ZR20
Front: 255-45ZR18

This isnt full drop or ride height... it's just kind setting there waiting to be pushed into the garage

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

engine day... used original mounts in the rear holes pushed fully forward. New polyurethane motor mounts are hidden below. That's a long water pump with a summit pulley.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

More engine stuff. Brackets are ICT, pretty darn affordable :)
140A powermaster alternator
Chrome Sanden 508 will go on the left.
Headers are ceramic coated for a chevelle.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Got a small JOBOX from the farm store and sectioned it to shrink it down. Feet got cut off as well and it'll mounts on pucks in the bed floor, appearing to hover above the bed. Hiding the air management system in here.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

seat was trashed and smelly but we found some custom speaker work hidden under the vinyl. the guy in the pic (Manny Soto) fixes that kinda stuff though and rebuilt everything and covered it with some diamond stitch. Once the floors are done, he'll come back and finish the upholstery piece. Guy has mad skills (and he left the speakers in there).

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Sad state of the body mounts... replaced with poly. Everything came out pretty easy with PB Blaster and an impact wrench and the new stuff went in fine with a few kicks forward to get the drivers front holes lined up.

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

Those headers look awesome. How far do they hang down frame wise?

Re: COHI's 1966 Longbed
 

They tuck in high and tight. Drivers side is perfect, passenger side is tucked in so high I have to clearance the toe board pinch seam a little for flange clearance. These will not cause a ground clearance prob.