After seeing all the cool cars and an rv swap I guess I can share mine. She is a 66 Tempest, started out with a 6 cylinder and 2 speed auto with no other options. I found her as a one owner garage kept piece of history with only 31,499 miles. Right now she is residing in the body shop and getting close to being painted. So far I have got all new body mounts installed, umi suspension and disc brakes all around. I just finished the new clutch and brake pedal assembly as well as getting the hydroboost fitted so she should stop on a dime. The power plant will be a texas speed 400++ LS in the 620+ range mated to a Legend LGT 700 5 speed manual transmission. Power will be planted to the heavily modified BOP 10 bolt via a carbon fiber driveshaft. I hope it all meshes well, things have gotten out of hand quickly, I originally planned for a mild LS3 and a T56 and somehow I have created a monster. I am already planning for a new chassis and 9 inch but I will see how this platform holds up. The body is being heavily modified but done in a very subtle way, Kindig door handles, custom hood with recessed Pontiac emblem, custom grill, cut and tucked bumpers, flush mount glass, one piece door glass and Shelby tail lights. I have this old girl almost ready for her new paint and then I can get the power plant nestled in its new home.

 

Trying to get the pics on here, hopefully I can figure this out, lol.

 

She has a very solid straight body. I have only found a couple of spots of rust behind the stainless trim on the fenders and behind the glass in the tray area. Very quick and easy to fix. I did replace some spots in the floor because they were thin.

 

Here's a couple of the UMI suspension, Viking coilovers and front brakes. I used CPP's 1 inch taller C5 spindle and a 1 inch taller ball joint so I should have all the suspension articulation I can handle. If anybody is interested in how to put modern F body rear brakes on 60's model BOP axles let me know and I will post all of that info and pics, I don't want to bore anybody due to not many people run that axle.

 

Loving this one!

 

Thanks Dan. I have been catching hell from the Poncho purists but it is a Tempest she was meant to be rodded up! I have to give a little detail on the rear brakes, they are 1998-2002 Fbody with 1994-1997 Fbody parking brake cables. On a BOP rearend the axles bolt in so you have to have .08 to .012 end play. I found that a .010 gasket, 18 gauge steel plate and another .010 gasket takes the place of the original backing plate perfectly. The end play was .010, took a while to find the right combo but came out perfect. With perseverance and lots of cussing the old Pontiac now has modern rear brakes.

 

I decided to rid myself of the original steering and go with rack and pinion hoping for better performance and more clearance. I went with Unisteer products because I am familiar with there quality and I know when they say direct bolt in it is a direct bolt in. Installation of the rack took less than five minutes since the original steering was gone and I had no engine or sheet metal in the way. I like their system because the way it is designed it should reduce bumpsteer that I have seen from other systems. Usually I like to engineer my own stuff to save coin but why go through trial and error on safety when somebody else has already done it. Another big plus is Unisteer is based in Ohio so it is a good American made product, hopefully.

 

I have always done all of my own body work and metal fabrication but I struck a deal with an up and coming superstar to head up the majority of this project. He has more than proven he is capable of doing things right and he treats each project as his own baby. As I was waiting for my spot to come around at his shop I got bored so I decided that my hood has a lot of real estate that needs something. I did not want a GTO hood since it is not a GTO and no way could I have a hood that looks like the great plains. So I started thinking then drawing then said f-it it's just a hood, somebody makes em everyday, so I broke out the sharpie and tape measure and went bananas. Then came a cutoff wheel, shears and the welder. Then end result turned out to be what I wanted. Since she has been at the body shop I have gone up and recessed the hood ornament which in turn made me remove the hood latch so I put in some Aerocatch hood pins. I am going to hydrodip them or have them painted to look more custom, the black plastic just doesn't turn me on, lol.

 

Great post! love to see these B Bodies getting attention. I've been a fan of Gm B bodies since I was a kid. My cousin and I went half on a 68 4 door Tempest 400 at 16 and been hooked every since. I've owned 3 73 4dr Impalas, 1 72 Buick centurion 455 convertible with factory ac and my current project an 03 5.3 with ported & polished truck intake & tb, ls hot cam, .600 pac 12 valve springs Swap in my 66 LeSabre Custom 400 2dr and been going back and forth with using a bracket style conversion for disc brakes or go the route of the C3 spindles and rotors up front omitting the e brake as they bolt up with the 65-70 Impala with slight play. Going with hydroboost myself, I want to put larger disc on the front and rear to stop this beast. Would like to hear more about the F body rear brakes on the 60's BOP axels. Not sure of the rear gears yet as I'm going back and forth with my chice f tranny. I've had the ST400 rebuilt but not sure if I want to go with the 4l60e for the freeway gear. Decisions decisions. I too will be going with the umi adjustable panhard bar and upper control arms.

 

The first thing you need to do for Fbody rear brakes is source some from eBay or a junk yard. You can buy them new but they are big money. I paid $ 150 on ebay for the backing plates and parking brake assembly. As far as the rotors and calipers I didn't care because I was going with cross drilled and slotted as well as modified PBR calipers. Take your old bearing and grind it down so you can remove it from the axle tube easily and start your mock up and measure with a dial indicator. Like I said earlier two .010 gaskets and 18 gauge steel gave me the tolerance I needed. I got the gasket material from Autozone and I had the steel laying around. As far as axles I went with chromoly USA Standard, those are Yukon blems and are half the price. The bearing used is different from stock as well. You have to have your backing plate on the axle when you press the bearing on! You will not get it on later. I had to reverse the parking brake lever on the backing plate for my cable assembly to work properly, you will see how that works when you get it. The great thing about these brakes is that they are so readily available and you get a great parking brake, whereas the cheaper kits use Lincoln or Cadillac style slide calipers and crappy parking brakes. By going with one of those systems you do get disc brakes but it is 30 year old technology and you get hokey brackets that could interfere with your suspension. As far as the hydroboost, you can buy a wonderful system made for your firewall/brake pedal combo or you can save an *** load of money and do it yorself. Rockauto is your friend here, a reman 2007 Chevy 2500 hydroboost is perfect for damn near every car out there. Remove the backing plate that comes with it and make one that matches your car or you can get lucky like me and use a Mcleod hydraulic clutch conversion bracket and that work is already done for you. As far as the rod to your pedal, cut it and start measuring! You can weld a new piece on or thread the rod and use proper couplers to get the length needed to attach to the pedal. This mock up is way easier if you have your under dash pedal assembly on a work bench. If not be prepared to be laying on your back in odd positions. As far as your master cylinder any 1 1/8 inch bore will work. Some master cylinders come with a rod that you customize and others do not so you may have to source one to put between the hydroboost and the master cylinder. If your car is real heavy you can step up to a 1 1/4 master cylinder. Then all you need is a proportioning valve and plumb it all in. I have around $450 in that setup with a Wilwood mastercylinder, that is at least a $200 savings, I know it's half of what CPP sells them for.

 

Thanks for the info! There's quite a few of those F Bodies around that are being parted out so shouldn't be much of a task attaining the pieces. After reading your response I went looking into the swap and the LS1/C5 calipers are the same fitment but the rotors won't work...so there's an upgrade in itself wit the calipers.

My hydroboost I am going with the unit from a 2000 Astro van I stripped and the brake pedal assembly so I don't have to deal with the guess work of cutting and fabricating the pedal arm or the rod and use the mount plate from auto zone or ebay.

You have given great information to do the conversion in a way I wanted. Came across a 2.9l whipple from a neighbor that I will picking up soon so this post was on time for me.

 

That BOP 8.5" rear can hold a lot of power with the right parts. I have one in my 1965 Skylark with 512rwhp through a 6L80. You have a nice build in the making.

 

You probably should have done a bit more research on Unisteer. Go to some of the Mustang forums. You are lucky to find a good post. Poor products, poor CS.

Hopefully your experience will not travel down this path.

 

Thanks for the concern, my research has been done by using their products multiple times. I personally have never had an issue and the abuse I put my cars through have never had a failure or an issue. As far as their customer service, again I have had nothing but the best from them. Bad news will always travel faster than good news, Painless wiring is good but I will never use them because of a bad experience, so I can say they have poor products and very poor cs, whereas most people will disagree with me.

 

You must be talking about the collection of asshats and clowns at GTOforum.com.

Keep doing your thing.

 

Great shots of your new brakes. I am doing a similar swap in a '67 Tempest and would like to know what you're doing with the firewall. Any mandated relocations or deletions due to the new engine?

 

As far as the firewall, my mockup had plenty of clearance. If you want a T56 you will have to manipulate your tunnel for sure. The Legend transmission require no major mods, it is a very compact transmission. As far as the brake system I only needed to add one washer on the bottom bolts to have the proper alignment on the pedal, that is with the Mcleod hydraulic clutch bracket. I will get some pics of that mockup if you want. The biggest issue I have seen on clearance was the steering system hitting the oil pan while attempting a lock to lock turn.

 

Thanks! Yes, any pictures you can post of your firewall will be appreciated. I'm fairly confident that since I'm replacing a small block with a small block I should have only minor fitment issues.

BTW, I love those hood scoops. I've been thinking along the same lines since we have such massive real estate on our hoods.

 

I have some but not with a mock engine in place, the cool thing is with all the motor mounts available you can move your engine forward if need be. I can tell you there was absolutely no clearance issues with the block. What kind of transmission do you plan on running? And thanks for the compliment on the hood. That was a pretty easy project, from start to finish was only about ten hours, I think it really makes the car. I am making custom grill inserts and matching inserts for the scoops that should really make it stand out.

 

Yes, among other places as well. Make your car your own is the way I see it. People have been building their cars to suite their wants or needs since cars have been made. Just because it is now a classic doesn't mean it needs to be 100% original. If I'm going to waste the money on a restoration I want to like it when I'm done!