1965 Sport Fury Restoration

[Darby]

I purchased this car in June of '79 and at this time I want to enjoy it - A LOT!!! I want it to corner well, stop well, have plenty of power, a 5 speed, and be comfortable with A/C and probably cruise control and FiTech EFI.
The car was only 14 years old when I got it and the quarters below the chrome were repainted. Other than that, it was completely original. The skirts were on it and so were the 14 inch spinner caps. The car was really nice and the second owner didn't want her son (that was almost 16) to drive the car because it had a big block in it. Really..... that's what she said. $100 (NOT A TYPO) later I drove my first car home. It needed nothing, the complete jack and spare tire were even there.
This is the second time I've done this car and I want it to be the way I've always wanted it.
The pictures are pulling it out of my parent's barn in December '14. I started taking it apart before that as you can see, I tagging everything, and put it all up stairs in the barn.
At this time I need to know if the placement of the opening in the console for the shifter is the same for a 1962-1966 B Body. Silver Sport Transmissions can't tell me if they are. They need the measurement from the front of the bell housing to the center of the console opening and also how far to the left of the transmission center line the opening center is. Does anyone out there know what that measurement is? THANK YOU!! I'll post more later.

 

[Davea Lux]

The center consoles are not quite the same because the C body cars have a longer floor plate. Cars that came from the factory with a 4 speed manual transmission also have a different center hump to accommodate the manual transmission. It is very difficult to find clutch pedals and the various linkage parts for an automatic to stick conversion for your Fury, so be warned. This is a nice solid car and is worth a lot more being kept stock than if you alter it. Most modern 5 speed transmissions will not stand up behind the torque of a Mopar big block.

Dve

 

[Polara_500]

The console plates are identical between a 65 Polara and a 64 Sport Fury. That's all I know for an absolute, although I believe the console body itself is also the same or at least interchangeable. The steel hump in the floor is different for sure from B to C as are the pedals, but the transmission and shifter itself are also interchangeable so the shifter handle sits the same between the two although the handles are different between console and non console cars.

 

[65Fury440]

The shifter location of a B body trans is the same as a 65 C body trans.
Just as a side note, the 65 hump is square, the 66 up is oval, not that it would matter for your intent.
This thread has pics
1966 plymouth fury 4 speed hump?

 

[Darby]

Thank you for the information!!!! ALL OF YOU!!! I had almost everything to do the stick conversion. I even had a 4 speed od from the early '80s with very low miles on it (it was stolen). I still have the complete shifter set up for a console. I also have the Z bar as well as other miscellaneous parts. I've been gathering up parts for many years. I have a the complete pedal set up that I took from a '65 SP convertible I'll tell you about at a different time. Going with a Tremec I don't need to install the hump I have for the side of the console because the shifter will come through the floor directly under the opening in the console center piece. It'll look stock - without the hump on the side of course. I will need to do some cutting and welding to the floor, but its minimal compared to going with stock 4 speed.

I made quarters for it back in '91 and they still looked good, but I figured if cut them off and made them again (over 25 years later), I'd never need to do it again. I purchased the only quarter I could find and they were so far off, I straightened them, cut them up, and made them myself. The skirts had to fit!! Here's some pictures of that process..... I used panel bond on the bottom of the quarters and welded everything else. As you can see I used POR15 on everything before installing them.

.........

 

[ImpJay]

Where did you put the Road wheels?

 

[Badvert65]

Looks like you had a pretty good car to start with. It's looking GREAT now.
I got my 65 Sport Fury Convertible in 1980 for $300. Back then, they weren't as desirable (everyone wanted Cudas, Chargers, Road Runners). My 'Vert is in my shop waiting for the supercharged stroker while I work on a 65 Belvedere Drag car.
That is good that you are building the car the way you want it and drive the wheels off of it.
I'd love to get a hard top 65 to keep the 'Vert company.
My hat's off to you (and my roof).

 

[Darby]

Where did you put the Road wheels?

I still have them. They're real nice and I like them, I just can't use them now. The smallest wheel I can use is 17 inch because of the 13 inch 4-wheel disc brakes.

 

[Darby]

Looks like you had a pretty good car to start with. It's looking GREAT now.
I got my 65 Sport Fury Convertible in 1980 for $300. Back then, they weren't as desirable (everyone wanted Cudas, Chargers, Road Runners). My 'Vert is in my shop waiting for the supercharged stroker while I work on a 65 Belvedere Drag car.
That is good that you are building the car the way you want it and drive the wheels off of it.
I'd love to get a hard top 65 to keep the 'Vert company.
My hat's off to you (and my roof).

The car was pretty solid because it hasn't been driven in the snow since '79. There's been several years that it sat outside and that caused some problems with the floor pans in the front and left rear. The door seals leaked a little and once the carpet got wet the rust started. I purchased the replacements and they are fixed. Other than that, there was nothing new to fix since the '91 repaint and I cut everything off and did it again as I said in another post.
Here's the dyno video
Sounds like you have some fun cars!! I don't need 2 cars that that can't be driven year around, so when I get close to having the SF finished I'll be selling my convertible. It doesn't fit in with this forum, it's a Mustang GT.

 

[Darby]

This is how it went taking it apart........
This is what happens when the carpet gets wet (for a couple years) and you take a pick hammer to the rust.

 

[Darby]

Repairing the rust (other than the quarter panels)

 

[Darby]

The only spot on the frame to fix.

 

[65sporty]

The engine sounds great, loving the build.

 

[Darby]

Here I have the front suspension parts and frame cleaned up and painted.
The complete front end rebuild kit came from PST as well as the sway bars. The front is larger than stock and I added a rear bar.
Firm Feel Inc. has 5 torsion bars for C-bodies starting from the stock size. After talking to them about the firmness of the different bars and my plans for the car, they recommended the third bar (1.12 Torsion Bar 44": HD/ Street app). I don't want the car to float anymore and I added the sway bars to help it handle.

 

[Darby]

The differential was an open 3.23. I had it rebuilt and added limited slip. With over 500 foot pounds of torque and a stick, the open diff would have be silly!!!
The TKO 600 Tremic has a .64 od. That, with the 275/40/17
tires gives me an rpm a little under 2000 at 70 mph with the 3.23 gears, so since my gears were like new we used them. If I don't like it they'll be changed to a lower gear later.

My Dodge Ram quad cab has a stick as well as my Mustang GT and at 70 mph the tack is at 2000 rpms. With the fury I'm hoping to see fuel mileage of 15 mpg or better using the a/c. It would do 14 with the 383 with 2 four barrels and a 727; as long as the carbs weren't at full song of course.

Because of adding rear disc brakes I had to add Green Bearings. There's no more adjustment for the axles, just press them on and you're done!!
This seemed like a good time to install new studs and since the new front hubs were all right-handed threads, the left-hand thread studs are all gone.
I'll get into the brakes next........

 

[65sporty]

Good looking pattern on the gears.

 

[Darby]

Good looking pattern on the gears.

I found a guy at a car show/swap meet with a table of Chevy and Ford differentials and the set-up looked awesome. I ask him about the cost of having an 8 3/4 Mopar done and the price was right. I took it to his house about 2 hours away and he installed the LS, Timken bearings, new seal, and set it up. I think it had .012 back lash to start with and he set it at .010. He liked how nice the gears looked and said new ones wouldn't be any better.

 

[Darby]

I wanted 4-wheel disc brakes and spent a lot of time looking around for '65 C-body kits. I like 4-wheel disc brakes (there on my other cars and truck) and they finish off the look of an updated old car. I purchased them in January of '16. Now at this time there's more options for about the same money.

I found this set and purchased them from Engineered Components Incorporated. I chose the optional Corvette 13 inch cross drilled rotors, front and rear. The Corvette rotors have directional cooling fins so they work more like a fan for better cooling than the most common straight fins. That also means there's left and right rotor.

ECI Disc Brake Conversion Kits - Chrysler Products

I took the brackets and rotors to a local plating shop and had everything zinc coated to keep them from rusting. They did the brackets in gold and the rotors in clear, well, they called it clear and said they'd look like aluminum. I like the way everything came out. If you guys need to have anything plated, you can contact K&L Plating at 717-297-1464 or at https://www.klplating.com/
Here's some pictures of the rotors before and after plating. The brackets were steel plates that would have needed to be painted and I didn't want to bolt painted brake parts together.

 

[Darby]

On the rear I had to install "Green Bearings". They're awesome and eliminate the adjuster. Press them on and install the axles! With this brake kit you'll need to shim the caliper bracket, but it's not a big deal at all if you understand how disc brakes work. Also, with this kit you can use the factory emergency brake cables. My problem was the width of the wheel so I had to alter the emergency brake bracket on the calipers. You'll see it's bent away from the wheel. I had to go with 17 inch wheels because of the 13 inch rotors and I wanted the widest tire that would fit behind the skirts without rubbing the leaf spring/wheel tub. That is a 17x9 inch wheel with a +12mm offset using 275/40/17 tires. Any wider or a different offset and alterations are needed.

Yes, I know the brake hoses can't go on top of the diff because of the bump stop. It's now on the rear of the tube and doesn't interfere with the U-bolts.

I'm going to grind and sand the calipers smooth. I've had good success using urethane primer, painting, and using urethane clear on them. Not sure of what color paint they're going to be yet.

 

[sgtdave]

Nice build! Keep the photos coming!