Inherited a 66 polara wagon

Cuttyman9

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Hello,
I inherited a 66 polara wagon, it’s in decent shape, has a 2 barrel 383 and I believe 727 and 8.75 rear axle.
I picked up a big block a833 and some pedals for a C body. I hope to swap that in but I’m missing a Z bar and shifter that will clear a bench seat. I figure the clutch/flywheel/clutch fork are pretty straight forward pieces to buy but the C body specific parts are an unknown to me.

The car is pretty complete overall with only a dent in the rear bumper and rear gate.

The engine will need to be gone through as it has a rats stash of nuts in there.

I’ll dig up some pictures when it was more visible before the barn was closed up.
Here’s some of the dress up parts I picked up.

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Congrats to you .I'm looking forward to some pics !!!
 
awesome ! i suggest you look for a pair of bucket seats.

i have a pair of 66 new yorker buckets from a 4dr hardtop but shipping would be a buzz kill
 
Nice score! I'd love a '66 Polara/Monaco wagon. Look forward to seeing the car.
 
awesome ! i suggest you look for a pair of bucket seats.

i have a pair of 66 new yorker buckets from a 4dr hardtop but shipping would be a buzz kill
I would but this will be a family hauler so I’m going to leave the bench in unless I find a pair in Northern California.
 
Here’s some old pics. It’s been in the barn for longer than I’ve been alive I’m pretty sure, but now it’s enclosed.
I have some more recent pictures of the inside and engine compartment but I need to find them.

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nice score. keep the bench seat. look for an inland factory shifter if you can find one. my 66 fury wagon is a 4 speed bench seat with the inland shifter. should work fine unless you are power shifting. you could make any shifter work by reworking the shaft to suit the seat. i had to extend and rework a hurst inline shifter for my 35 plymouth 340 4 speed street rod. a little bit of thinking and fabricating and you are there. good luck with your wagon.
 
Love it. When we were youngish (late teens) my pal had one just like that, and we would all pile in it for road trips and camping etc. 4 speed with a bench, like that too. BTW, you tried the hood scoop on to see what the effect was, and it is not good. IMHO. Look forward to seeing the rest of the photos of the interior and engine compartment. Camshaft
 
Leave the inland shifter.for the restoration folks. No need to put that mess into a non original car. A Hurst for a 1970 and earlier B body car will fit just fine. They both use the forward shifter location on the tailshaft housing.
 
Thanks for the pics...Looks like it's in decent shape, appears to have torque thrust rims, and looks like it has been towed by the front bumper more then once. :(
 
nice score. keep the bench seat. look for an inland factory shifter if you can find one. my 66 fury wagon is a 4 speed bench seat with the inland shifter. should work fine unless you are power shifting. you could make any shifter work by reworking the shaft to suit the seat. i had to extend and rework a hurst inline shifter for my 35 plymouth 340 4 speed street rod. a little bit of thinking and fabricating and you are there. good luck with your wagon.
I’m hoping to find a hurst handle and use a factory looking pistol grip, just a matter of what will fit the seat.
It’s hard to gauge where the shifter comes out too, but the a833 I picked up has both shifter locations so I should have some adjustment.
Also knowing which shifter actually matches an a833 vs gm and ford 4 speeds is hard to gauge online.
 
Love it. When we were youngish (late teens) my pal had one just like that, and we would all pile in it for road trips and camping etc. 4 speed with a bench, like that too. BTW, you tried the hood scoop on to see what the effect was, and it is not good. IMHO. Look forward to seeing the rest of the photos of the interior and engine compartment. Camshaft
Haven’t bolted it on, got it at a swap meet and have just been waiting till the project starts to come together to install it.
I’ll have to make something to block the water from coming in but otherwise it should work fine.
 
Leave the inland shifter.for the restoration folks. No need to put that mess into a non original car. A Hurst for a 1970 and earlier B body car will fit just fine. They both use the forward shifter location on the tailshaft housing.
good to know! The shifter stuff has been a bit confusing because it seems almost that hurst 4 speed shifters are sorta universal in their function and attachment to the transmissions.
I just wouldn’t have assumed that was the case.
 
Thanks for the pics...Looks like it's in decent shape, appears to have torque thrust rims, and looks like it has been towed by the front bumper more then once. :(
That’s just an old picture when I got some wheels off a duster to try on, they had too much backspacing unfortunately. I have some of the same ones though from a family friend for the car, I don’t think they are super wide but they should look the part.
If I get around to massaging the wheel wells maybe I can stuff that big a tire under there.
 
good to know! The shifter stuff has been a bit confusing because it seems almost that hurst 4 speed shifters are sorta universal in their function and attachment to the transmissions.
I just wouldn’t have assumed that was the case.
It will use that forward location. 71up B bodies and E bodies use the rear mount. The forward mount is in front of the transmission cross member so you can kind of visualize where the shifter will come up through the floor. The common "S" bend looking one is the one you want.
 
It will use that forward location. 71up B bodies and E bodies use the rear mount. The forward mount is in front of the transmission cross member so you can kind of visualize where the shifter will come up through the floor. The common "S" bend looking one is the one you want.
Good to know!

I found some pictures on this forum about C body Z bars, I only hope they are accurate.
I need to look in the engine bay for the bracket to mount that on the frame rail.
Did these have drilled cranks for pilot bearings even in autos?? And drilled and tapped blocks/bellhousings for the z bar pivot?
 
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