1969  "500" Crown Conversion

Jim purchased the body of this car in 1976 for $200, intending to build a V8 mid-engine car. He originally built the car in the Kelmark configuration in 1982/83 and it ran like crazy until the inevitable differential failure. He parked the car, went to college, started a career, etc. and the car sat rusting away.  Jim purchased a genuine 1969 302 (DZ) motor in 1978. The old motor was a bit run down so a rebuild was in order. He had the crank polished and replaced the inserts, installed a new Cloyes True Roller timing set. He installed a fresh set of Edelbrock Performer RPM heads running an 11:1 compression ratio, along with Comp Cams Cromolly roller rockers. Induction is via Holley 800 "Puddle Dumper" on a Weiand team G manifold.

Cooling will be the Crown style radiator up front. More information to come on this.

This time around, Jim used a Chris Wills big Chevy Saginaw kit, which mates a "big car" Saginaw transmission to the Corvair differential.   The diff has 3:54 gear with posi and a four spider modification. This gear is an Otto piece, not the stock Corvair. The power train is bolted up with an early Vette pressure plate and Hayes disc shown here ready to drop in.

Jim is doing a little work on the engine cross member which looks like the early style Crown and Kelmark units.

As we can see here, the forlorn, neglected look has been washed away with a fresh coat of primer and as we all know, primer is fast!

For specific comments or questions contact Jim at  jimgid@aracnet.com