1965 Belvedere slowly getting the Pro-Touring treatment.

[mascot]

Hello-
My car is a 1965 Belvedere, and we just installed Hellwig sway bars front and rear. What a difference that makes. I eventually want to go Pro-Touring but that's going to be a slow process.
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My first order of business was getting the power train taken care of
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and a couple months ago we installed a Dual Quad EFI system from FAST.
Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxhej9xbyk0

Slowly but surely...

Thanks,
-Michael

[Amatouring]

Nice looking car! I have always loved that body style. This should look excellent in pro touring trim and will be unusual because you don't see them often and if you do they are usually prepped for the drag strip. Please post photos as you go along!!

[mascot]

Thanks! I've had this car for about 15 years, and only got the engine done a couple years ago. It's not a pretty car, it's a driver... but it's lots of fun to drive. the Hellwig sway bars are awesome on this... handling is 100 times better than without bars! Who knew? LOL

[lineberrcasey]

i love the car im a pure Chevy guy but belvederes and gtx have their special place in my heart lol

[mascot]

I haven't posted in a bit, but we installed a set of Hellwig Sway Bars on the Belvedere, and with only that modification I took the car to Willow Springs Raceway here in California. The trip there is about 3 hours, so I drove up on Friday night, raced Saturday and Sunday, and drove home. You would think that having a 1965 Plymouth with stock suspension, 60-series Mickey Thompson Sportsman tires, and only a set of sway bars that I'd have a tough go at it. I did upgrade to factory-style front disc brakes because, well, racing with four wheel drums was not going to cut it.

I had a BLAST! We'll be going back, next time with some other improvements. My friend runs a 2005 Mustang with a stage 2 Kenne Bell supercharger, full Eibach suspension, and a big brake upgrade. Would you believe my best lap time was only about 7 seconds slower than his best lap time? This picture below shows me exiting the final turn 9 and heading onto the main straight. I had caught up to the car in front of me, a modern wide-body Porsche. I'll bet he was surprised to see 1965 iron filling his mirror!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/04/hellwig12312x208-1.jpg (http://cdn.speednik.com/image/2013/03/hellwig12.jpg)
(Image is clickable for full size)

The in-car video is in the article we posted: http://www.streetlegaltv.com/news/video-1965-belvedere-reels-in-a-porsche-at-the-track-with-hellwig/

Thanks.

[drylegmcrae]

Nice looking car. Should be a lot of fun. Can you say how much your fuel mileage improved with the FAST EFI system?

[mascot]

We were pretty surprised, I know I have the wrong cam, but fought with carburetors, had two different pairs on this Poly. But after installing the Dual Quad EZ-EFI, we picked up about 20 RWHP and I went from about 9 mpg to about 15. I need to try to do a mileage run again, because you know how it is: when you have something new on the engine it's hard to keep your foot out of it!

The FAST EFI did great at the track, especially since I race another car there sometimes with a carburetor and have to change jets when I race.
Here's our install article: http://www.streetlegaltv.com/tech-stories/electronics-efi/fast-ez-efi-installing-a-dual-quad-efi-system-on-a-65-belvedere/

[mascot]

I haven't updated this lately, but here's a few pics from the latest additions. We've installed QA1's front suspension components and shocks, a Borgeson Power Steering Gear conversion, Weld Racing wheels, Mickey Thompson Street Comp tires, and Master Power disc brakes all around. I've been doing a little autocrossing with it for the first time to see how well it does, and haven't had a good opportunity to test it out at Willow now that I have the brake issues ironed out.

I'm having major issues now with a crappy aluminum tank I paid about $900 for from a shop in San Bernardino. It was supposed to be baffled for road racing, but even with 3/4 of a tank, I get so much fuel slosh that every right turn my in-tank pump sucks air and being EFI, no throttle for a couple seconds. So now I have to either have it modified, replaced, or try a sump kit. I don't trust the clown at the shop that built it to touch it again, I've had nothing but problems with this tank since I got it.

Other than the tank issues, the car has been a lot of fun to race, and the next big project is a 426 HEMI build, which I'm excited about. Not sure if I'll stick with an automatic or switch to a manual... still up in the air on that one.
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[68firebird]

Very nice!! definitely like the looks of that, great job!

[CampbellshotrodsAZ]

Sharp car, I like it!

[64G-lark]

Great looking car. Nice to see something different.

[72BBSwinger]

Super cool Mope, a 426 would be so righteous in so many ways, keep in mind though that in stock trim with aluminum intake they weigh in around 700 lbs! Try and score a good used KB water block since you're in their neck of the woods.

[lxmodguy]

I love the car. I am doing a 64 Polara myself. I have a gen3 motor going in mine along with a turbo.