Welcome mark mcmackin to FCBO!

[mark mcmackin]

A 1966 Monaco convertible I am restoring which was built in Windsor Ontario and is a bit of a barn find. The body is finished and ready for interior unfortunately part of the benefit of the barn find was that raccoons got in and 8 a lot of the interior I have the frames but the panels and the interior foam excetera has been chewed up and pissed on badly. I have removed all of the crap from the car but it only has 88,000 original miles. All the panels on the outside were fine other than a little bit of condensation on the lower quarters which I've completely replaced with metal and I have also completely replaced for otherwise it's a solid vehicle. I think I have the interior sordid but my biggest question is should I put the original 318 wide body into the car to keep its value up. The Windsor built Monaco's had 318 as opposed to 383 engines. The car which I picked up from a custom motorcycle guy who was three-quarters of the way through the restoration is impeccable and he has purchased a lot of otm chrome parts and had Chrome redone. I'm also wondering if I should keep the fender skirts on and stick with 14 inch tires to keep the continuity of the originality of the car. Any comments would be helpful I have restored a lot of cars but never a Mopar.

Location: Ontario

 

[mark mcmackin]

What a great forum and this will help me immensely in trying to finish my car. My picture is what I'm working tonwards. I just need some good help with the interior I have the console and all the frame parts for the interior just need good upholstery foam and some guidance on what motor I should throw in it to keep it original. Everybody up here is telling me the 318 wide body is garbage but it's a Canadian car and that's what it was built with. The 383 is a great motor but am I better off to keep it original as the car is pretty solid and all the metal has been replaced

 

[Zymurgy]

Welcome, sounds like you have a great project. I hate raccoons they have destroyed 3 interiors on my boat. I would keep the original engine, but realize you will never get back the money you are putting into the car. Enjoy it. Honestly the best advice on the door panels is to try and find a good donor. We love pictures here no matter the condition of the car.

 

[detmatt]

Welcome to the site from the Motor City! If you're just going for a cruiser stick with the 318, to change to a big block would require lots of different parts.

 

[mark mcmackin]

OK

 

[65sporty]

Welcome from the Mitten

 

[66FURY_III]

Hi Mark,

I have struggled with that same problem of do I keep it original or do I do the 383 swap. I will say they are only original once. I have a slightly modified 66 fury III 4 door but with the original engine and trans (slant 6). I'm constantly going back an forth between hyper pack or 383.

It will be interesting to see what you come up with and welcome to the forum. There are tons of great guys here who have forgotten more than I will ever learn

 

[mr. fix it]

Welcome Mark! It's great to see another Polara from Ontario getting back on the road!
As Detroit Matt typed, I would keep the 318 since it is a cruiser and not some street machine that you want to lay rubber down the road with on a daily basis.

Check with Legendary Interiors just in New York. they are really well know in the classic car world and do restos'

If you upgrade to disc then 15" are in order for wheels but remember that you will not be able to have factory wheel covers if you stick with steelie's.

And unless you want the prestigious look, loose the fender skirts...but... here is one that pulled it off

 

[66sptfry]

Welcome

 

[polara71]

.............

 

[Turboomni]

Welcome Mark!

 

[1978 NYB]

Welcome.......

 

[mark mcmackin]

thanks guys I'm still ruminating over trying to figure out whether or not this 318 poly is the way to go the fellow I got the car off of who was three-quarters through the restoration got rid of the motor because it wouldn't even turn over it. The Pauly seems like an interesting motor and I'm not doing four hundred miles an hour in this thing. Problem is I would like to keep it original as possible but I don't want to be rooting around for parts I presume the 7/27 transmission works on a big block or a small block. I'm a bit of a Mopar virgin unfortunately lots of Fords and Chevys and the odd foreign

 

[mr. fix it]

The nice thing is that Mopar didn't record engine #'s for this year in Canada.
Poly's are cheap to find in running condition State side. not so cheap here in Canada...

 

[mark mcmackin]

But the VIN would recognize it was a 318 poly right or could I throw a 440 in it

 

[mr. fix it]

But the VIN would recognize it was a 318 poly right or could I throw a 440 in it

Correct, the VIN and Fender tag say it all.
It has a 318 V8 is all it would reference.

 

[mark mcmackin]

The Mopar virgin is growing up. I shouldn't say that I had a 66 Barracuda for about 3 minutes that I flipped out in Canada out of West Virginia when I was in my mid-twenties

 

[mr. fix it]

We all have had our cars that we gave up or missed out on.. Mine was a 73 R/T 340 Challenger Sassy Grass or slime Green 4spd, buckets..with a white vinyl top.

 

[GJS]

Welcome aboard, man! 66 is a great year for the Polara/Monaco and there's a lot you can do with a Poly 318. .. to my knowledge they used the poly until 67 in Canada then switched to the LA 318 as base motor so my guess would be that you'd have a slightly easier time finding a poly up there.
If you change to BB, a BB 727 will be in order as well. Honestly, having owned a 68 with a 318 LA and had a friend who had a 318 poly, with little work, they get you where you want to go fast enough.
While I enjoyed the experience of building my 440 and everything for my 68 Monaco, I'd never do it again. That 318 (though it was an LA) was a very strong motor.
Anyway, best of luck! Awesome car!

 

[live4theking]

Welcome to funny farm. You can very easily loose yourself in one of these old girls.