'66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
#558531
12/20/09 02:53 PM
12/20/09 02:53 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 82 Midwest
RSNAKE
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I am building this car to compete in the F.A.S.T. drag racing events. My website for this project is northernbel.com It is an original 426 Hemi car that was wrecked and parked in 1972. I bought it in 2007 on ebay out of North Carolina. As you can see, it was in rough shape but restorable. It is missing the engine, trans, and rear. It does still have a title, VIN tag, build sheet, fender tag, and certicard. I bought a clean nearly rust free donor car in 2008. Then after a false start with one restoration shop, I sent it to US Car Tool back in NC for their Body in White (BIW) program. They got both of the cars dipped in Oct. 2009 Then cut the dented and rusted parts off of the Hemi car in Dec. 2009. As you can see we are saving the core of the Hemi car including: all frame rails, full floor, roof, right front inner fender, firewall, and core support. The plan is to have the car painted by the end of March and then begin putting it back together again. It may take longer than that to get it painted if I decide to send it back out for dip and e-coat after all of the metal work is done. After that, it is back to Iowa for my Dad to begin reassembly. I expect the project to take another 3-5 years to complete, due to time and cash flow. I have put my vision of the completed car on this site before, but here it is again.
Last edited by RSNAKE; 12/20/09 03:34 PM.
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: RSNAKE]
#558533
12/20/09 05:31 PM
12/20/09 05:31 PM
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 90 Chandler, AZ
cirrusaero
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Glad to see that you're saving the car. My brother has an original Hemi, 4spd Belvie II and I have a 66 Satellite survivor. if you need any parts, pictures or info just ask.
Good luck!
68 Charger 605 Hemi, Keisler 5spd, Pro-touring 66 Coronet 2dr post 66 Satellite
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: RSNAKE]
#558536
12/24/09 04:14 PM
12/24/09 04:14 PM
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,447 So Cal
Sinitro
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Thats very close to my 66 Belvedere II Hemi in dark metallic blue I purchased new in 1965. Its long gone... But when I jumped back into Mopars a few years ago I looked around didn't find many 66s or 67s.. So I built my 70 RR B5, but I still like the look/lines of the 66/67. Here is shot of my 70 RR. Good luck on your project!! Just my $0.01...
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: RSNAKE]
#558537
01/28/10 01:33 AM
01/28/10 01:33 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 82 Midwest
RSNAKE
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The crew at US CAR TOOL has made a lot of progress. All of the necessary sheet metal is cut from the donor car and prepped for welding back on to the Hemi car. They are doing test fits now and making any necessary adjustments. They have really done a fine job of carefully cutting both cars apart. No more was cut from the Hemi car than absolutely necessary. No shortcuts were taken cutting the good parts from the donor car. Notice how they removed the entire trunk including the quarter panel drops from the donor car in one piece! They cut it off frame rails and all and drilled out all of the spot welds from the underside! I have updated my web page northernbel.com with all of the latest photos. You can also see them at uscartool.com .
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: Race&Resto]
#558540
04/18/10 02:03 PM
04/18/10 02:03 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 82 Midwest
RSNAKE
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: BEEQUIK]
#558544
11/14/10 12:40 PM
11/14/10 12:40 PM
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Anonymous
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Now thats what I call redoing a car properly. I say dipping the car is the only way to really clean the whole car and then dunk and prime.......that's 100% in my book. Awesome!
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: demon440]
#558546
11/14/10 01:43 PM
11/14/10 01:43 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 82 Midwest
RSNAKE
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Quote:
That is very cool, would love to do my Demon like that. Only thing I see wrong with that process is how do they get full coverage,when they don't rotate or flip the parts around while submerged. It seems like there would be air pockets that don't get covered.
Small holes are required to be drilled on any closed areas that you are not absolutely sure are air tight. Otherwise, the air could escape in a big bubble in the process and send chemical flying.
For example, inspection size holes were drilled on all of the roll cage tubes to allow the coating to flow into and out of the tubes in the process.
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: BEEQUIK]
#558547
11/14/10 01:53 PM
11/14/10 01:53 PM
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 82 Midwest
RSNAKE
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Quote:
WOW= that is very cool.I wonder how many gallons of primer must be in that tank? Did it then get baked dry?That is fun to watch I would love to go watch that happen sometime.Wher is that place? Did you decide on a color? It took me a while to settle on a color of blue for my dads car,now it is almost back together.Looks like a very cool project , I have a 69 RR to do I would love to hav that thing dipped like that.How much does that process cost?
I think that it did get baked dry. I will double check that and post back.
I haven't decided on a specific color. It will be '66 Dark Blue Metallic, or something close. I can appreciate the difficulty that you had in choosing a color. It is not an easy decision and it has a HUGE impact on the final project. The picture in your post is beautiful. I think that color looks great on that car!
The e-coat process itself is not that expensive. However, I had to get the cage that it is in custom built. Add that to the transportation and the total cost was close to $3,000. Now that I own the cage, doing another one would cost a lot less. I plan to keep the car for the rest of my life and I plan to use the car, not leave it parked in the garage. Because of this, I wanted the extra protection that e-coat offers and felt the cost was worth it to me.
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Re: '66 Belvedere II Hemi Car - Northern Bel Project
[Re: RSNAKE]
#558549
01/22/12 12:57 AM
01/22/12 12:57 AM
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Joined: Jun 2007
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It has been a long time since I last posted and update. The project got stalled for a while. I made a change in direction and it is now moving along well again. I decided to build it more along the lines of a pro-touring car rather than for the F.A.S.T. races. There are a number of reasons, but it basically boils down to the fact that I want to be able to use this car for a lot of different types of driving. Building it to be truly competitive in F.A.S.T. would have meant too many sacrifices for other uses that I wasn't willing to live with. The car is currently at Rad Rides by Troy. The plan is to go with an aluminum 572 Keith Black Hemi with remote (behind the rear axle) twin turbos. The transmission will be a GM 4L80E with a gear vendors OD behind that (there is an OD in the trans and the GV will be double OD). Suspension will use the full Hotchkis set up including their upper A arms, torsion bars, leaf springs, and sway bars front and rear. Brakes are Wilwood 14" six piston front and 11" four piston rear. Tires will be 255/40ZR18 front and 275/40ZR 18 rear for street use and 255/60/15 drag radials in the back for drag use. You can see all of the details at my updated web site NorthernBel.com
Last edited by RSNAKE; 01/22/12 01:02 AM.
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