Putting a 426 Hemi in a Junkyard 1969 Plymouth Belvedere! | Roadkill

We're back at Performance Auto in Burlington Wyoming and we're going to build a badier Hemi in Boneyard. I've never been here. I have never seen this car. It's almost like new. Yes, it really is. they got another belor there since I was last here, this

junkyard

or actually Personal Collection is basically a Mopar specialist, they have a ton of project vehicles here, that's what this one was, it's a Plymouth Valadier 69 with no engine or transmission and I Brought parts that I will tell you about to make this great and I'm going to need the help of both guys because we have five days and fortunately we are going to replace every nut and bolt on the entire drivetrain.

They cleaned the shop for us, so you want to help me push it. Ah, it's what I like to do the most. This thing works very well and I think Fri Burger must be the one pushing most of it. Basically, the car needs the engine driveshaft, the rear end. the suspension cools everything, everything that makes it go right, yeah, so do you want to go to the engine and transmission first or do you want to go to the rear axle first? Well, it currently has a rear axle, so maybe that's the last of it, so let's put the Hemi together. okay, that's step one, assemble Hemi Mike, you want to help me get the hood off, oh yeah, right when you are, sir, okay, just lift the front a little bit oh wow, we drive it like it's nothing, It's also pretty light, yeah Steve, can you? let's press this there let's stop that's yeah, perfect oh, that's a good old fashioned main cap, where does it go?

There's a main cap right here there's an angled bracket oh, but we're not using it. I'm changing the oil pan because I've learned my lesson many times about how to hit the dirt and corners without a road racing chainring, okay, okay, I think it's okay, okay, I'm going to need some pipe plugs , okay, oil pump, next we go to one of the What I want to do is modify the steering column. This is a column shift car, so it's got these arms here that come out of the bottom of the column and they engage the transmission shifter and they're in the way when we go. to put that big hammy in there, so I'm going to cut them off, it actually turned out pretty well, the 426 Hemi uses a different engine mount than the other big block V8s in the Chrysler line.

The good news is that the K member on the car is the same whether it's a 318 or a big block, the thing is that the Hemi doesn't bolt to the big block K member unless you get this kit here from Schumacher Creative Services. It is an adapter bracket that allows the Hemi three. bolt pattern to go to that K member, a normal 440 or 3d3 would have liked to put breakaway ears here, this has this now, the other thing you need to know about the Heming is that these three bolts here are not blind , they all go all the way to the crankcase, so they will leak oil, so you need to seal them a little.

I hear good things happening, it's the sound of a beer opening or what are we talking about here, good things and I know we're going to break this thing in properly for two or 300 miles before the first wear or, you know, drag race, like that that I'm going to go the extra mile and erase my hand prints from this 80 to 120 grit surface finish, uh- Hey, uh, hey, driving 750 miles on the highway, we don't need that kind of negativity here at

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. , so we're just going to send it higher, uh, you know, we don't have any pegs in the bag on this block, oh, really, yeah.

That's a good catch, well I found a couple of big block Chryslers here that have the parts we need including the distributor clip and pins on the bell housing surface. I have my feet in Terraferma when it comes to removing pins. I do not do it. I'm not living an illusion, you know, I'm not trying to send a rocket to Mars. I know they're going to get stuck. These are all big blocks and are firm. If you had a small block, they would go all the way through. and you can hammer them oh, this is working Steve, oh yeah, you're a genius, boy, there you are, there you go, next one, ah, I got it, come on, now we can put the engine in the car like butter, right there I want just a reminder, we've got our new pegs on the block, we're going to bolt the bellhousing on with a couple of bolts and we're actually going to test the transmission fitment here just to make sure everything's cold and the splines line up with the pilot bearing. there and that way, hopefully, we won't have to fight as much once we get under the car, this little ear here, you know, he used to say we're not very good at this and that used to bother us frying hamburgers and now.

My opinion has changed, this is season 13, we're really good at this, you know how I know, because last year we would have gotten excited and just thrown the Hemi in the car and then spent the next four hours on our backs figuring it out. oh hey, the hood won't turn on and when you try to put the heads on, they hit the hood, but not today, no, we're testing that things fit perfectly, oh yeah, we're all clear, yeah, let's try the other side, yeah clear Let's just slide the transmission in and see if it goes well.

I think we just have to turn it right. It's not in the spline yet. I think it's trying, but it's stuck on the disk, so what's happening here is it's trying. imitate the fight we're going to have under the car later by solving it now, the four speed Hemi is distinguished by an 18 spline intake and this one has 23, it's just the transmission that was available, so it's a little smaller, It's not technically correct, but we don't care, you know, we're trying to test things to fit and make sure that once it's in the car we don't have any problems getting the transmission in and mating it to the back of the engine and sure enough. , It is not like this.

If we want to get in there, it could be that our clutch disc isn't perfectly aligned with the back of the crank and the transmission is out of alignment, the tool won't even go in now, so we need to loosen the clutch. I did this at Finegan Daytona and we know with this oil pan it won't go in with the clutch and flywheel because it will hit the firewall so we need to remove it after all the trouble we just went through and put so much effort into getting it done. the clutch is perfectly aligned and now it has to come off oh that disc is slippery this car right now is getting a Hemi for the first time it's in a shop that has never had a Hemi before yeah that's what they said looking Well let's get into it headings, let's go to the middle first.

Wow, that wants to go down real quick. I think I'm going to have to kick the leg, why don't you get this header right now? It's 426 inches and has been developed quite a bit. It started out as a Mopar crate engine, it's got 10:1 compression, it's got a little hydraulic roller cam, I think it's like 242 to 50, and in our master engine program, this thing made 560 horsepower, so It's not deadly, but it will be. funny, we are very close to my engine mount, yes you are square on the engine mount that the head goes on, you have it, you have it too far back if you go down, so that helps my situation, good here, go down very carefully so this isn't perfectly aligned because the screwdriver will go through it but this bolt won't come out is the engine leaning yeah or am I crushing the oil pan it's leaning it's leaning let's go slow this is when we find out . how rusty, this is underneath, okay, this will go ahead, screw it in, okay, come on, before we put this header on, let's put the flywheel on the clutch and this is disturbingly easy.

I feel like something is about to go wrong, don't talk about what. you say now we are going to install the clutch again after testing it outside the car. This is an extreme McLoud Street setup. I like it because it has ceramic discs on both sides of the discs and Steve and I. I have found that these hold up to our abuse out of the box better than typical friction material, okay I guess there we go, we are actually about to try

putting

the transmission on. We've been making incredible progress on the bodywork. uses a different crossbar for a four speed than for a three speed or an automatic, so I had to order it on eBay, they didn't have one here in the yard, a little on the nose, as you can tell, oh yeah, this thing actually really rust free, it has an undercoat, which is a shame for me, but not bad, okay, go ahead, yes, tail up, it should go in.

I don't know how we're looking from left to right, but this thing should go on the back of the transmission. it has to go up a little bit there we go good, yes, nailed, it's completely closed, it's very close, we just need to put bolts on it, the transmission is installed, but not tight, we still have a lot to do, but I'm worried about the piece of wood that we put between the Hemi and a firewall. I hope it's not crashing into my firewall right now. Look at a Hemi and a beler. I know it's very good, and I'm going to remove the chain right now.

Because I don't think we're going to need it, no, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this was the most successful first day in the history of any

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shootout, it was pretty incredible, wow, yeah, nice. awesome it's on the car yeah we're finally ready to put the radiator in here let me give you a couple of tips on Mopar Muscle car radiators there are two sizes basically a 22 inch core and a 26 inch core this one thing had a 318 engine originally and If it had the 22 inch core, we're going to put a 26 inch core that's actually out of a C body that would be like a full size Town and Country or a Polara.

What you want to do when you install the larger radiator is to trim this section right here. so you have more airflow but honestly we're running out of time we have to get this going so we're going to drop the radiator. Mike just drilled a hole, we're going to screw it in and it goes. to run even with the 22 inch opening, this is yet another comeback and get it right later, at a time this car is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Cool, those guys gave me this cover for this radiator, man this is going to get cold, well wow. look at that real coolant or should I say antifreeze because it freezes here in Wyoming and this is going to stay here for a while.

Right now we're at the point of hastily cutting the wiring, it's a mess, but it's functional. I just want to hear how it works tonight, so I think we need to do the antifreeze, uh, it needs fluid in the transmission so we don't spin that dry gas in the tank, turn the key, that's it, yeah, that'll be it. Out loud, you might think this is full of sweet honey barbecue sauce, but it's actually high-octane premium gas. It is the perfect size to inject gasoline directly into the container without spilling a drop. You have the extinguisher just when this backfires because the ignition is too advanced.

Advanced, uh. there will be a big fire, here we go, that's a lot of gas, now it's a moderate amount. I'm ready to start. How about you? I'm quite flammable. I have it myself. I just checked it. Okay, ready, yeah, yeah, oh, first try, yeah. And that's all we needed to know, pretty good, if this fits, I know I don't have high hopes, but I hope we give it a good try, let's try to drive it, who can drive? Who do you think? I'm totally happy to see it on Zoom. I have to be honest, I'm Hemi Dave now.

I'm ready, let's go first, well, we did it like a worker. I wonder when the last time this thing worked and went down the road, it was a grandma. I bought this thing and put it with a 3 inch and three speed on the tree and now it's a hot rod.