'65 Impala SS Update

The distributor will turn as the camshaft drives it. The oil pump is driven from the distributor. The pump could be frozen or the oil pump drive shaft damaged due to the pump locking up, if it did. My guess is a head gasket leak, the original head gaskets on the 327 were steel shims and if the car has been sitting could have rusted the gasket through. I don't have a small block engine ID book handy but if I remember correctly the 327 in that year if it was a 2 barrel was the 250 hp. And the standard 4 barrel was the 300 hp. I won't swear to it but I don't thing the 350 hp was available in the impala. If it was it was probably a 4 speed manual transmission option. And I know the 375 hp wasn't as it was corvette only. Man your making me think back to the day when I started driving, these were the era of cars that I grew up with.

nospam

I reckon i'll sawr off a slotted screwdriver and chuck it up in the cordless drill and stick down in there to see if i can build oil pressure without running the engine..

Compression test is definitely in order, then. I'll pull the plugs and check that out. The car has been sitting for at least 10 years... Do you think that if someone rebuilt the engine, they could have used the original type of head-gasket? Or did GM do-away with that type of deal and supercede it with something better? I don't know for sure that it's been apart, but i see black RTV pooching out from the intake manifold at the front... and like i said it's clean as a whistle inside the valve cover.. I took apart a 413 dodge motor from a Winnebago (a 72) and everything was caked in sludge.. probably the dirtiest motor i've ever worked on (besides a crosshead diesel)..

Okay, it has a quadrajet (i guess that's what it is) on it, so I guess It would be the 300hp motor.. it's definitely not the fuel-injected, 375-horse motor although that would have made me cry to open the hood and see that someone put that on the car :o)

The trunk has two small patches in it and a couple small rust holes in the middle.. The frame rails seem to be perfect all the way down the car.. I buffed it out a bit on one side today and it looks a shitload better than before, even though the paint job is still *definitely* a 20 footer.. Shoot, i may just keep this car for myself to add to the collection... get rid of some other crap..

I'd like to ask about the manifolds... they are the ram-horn-shaped type manifolds... should i keep those on there or think about some headers?

What I would do is to pull that 327 out. Take the heads off, check every thing out. Clean out the oil gallies in the block and heads with gallie cleaning brushes (simmular to rifle bore brushes). If every thing checks out specks wise, drop a new oil pump in it. Re gasket it, and reinstall it.

The springs should have a rubber pad at the top. This is called either an isolator pad, or a anti-squeek pad. To get the springs in, jack the car up as hiigh as you can in the rear. Place the frame on jack stands. Remove one shock, and pull the rear end down on that side. Then using a small prybr if needed, pry the spring in. Do one side at a time, bolting the shock back when done. Charles

you're absolutely right.. that's the best thing to do, so's not to hose it up.. it is what i will do. Besides, I can detail the engine compartment at that point as well..

Crap... unbolting the shock was what i didn't think of... thanks for the tip! And I guess I'll be getting new isolator pads (i like that better than anti-squeak) Now that i think about it... it's the same on my Celica's rear.. take the shock loose at one end, and the spring pretty much falls out once you jack up the car high enough..

ok thanks for that info..

I was just looking at the exploded diagram on this page:

actually, i have no idea, I take that back. I'll have to look more closely.

there is a picture of the engine on this page:

I don't know when Chevys first started using them, but Quadrajets were first introduced in 1952 on the 303 Olds Rocket engines.

Hairy

(powerglide)...

But didn't the spread bore first come out in 1966 on all GM models?

Brian

Look at the pictures on the website of the car. Notice that the intake is painted black? Also notice the lack of a oil filler neck on the intake? Then look at the valve covers. They look to be Corvette Aluminum Valve covers off a 68 up Small Block Corvette.

Unless my memory is wrong, all pre-67 small blocks have a oil filler tube at the front on the intake, execpt some Corvettes. Also all Small Blocks untill the mid 70's were painted "Chevy Orange" from the factory, including all non-aluminum intakes.

Using Carburator type to guess HP of that engine is a moot point, as it clearly has had a few minor changes. Charles

Charles you are correct. Possibly 1967 models may hve still had the oil filler tube, but the carburetor looks like a late Quadrajet to me with the choke coil on the side of the float bowl. Those used originally in the mid

You must be correct. All the searches I've done agree with you. I own a '52 Super 88 and I know I read it somewhere, but can't find it now. BTW, I'm not Hairy Face:). H

Sorry about the name mixup. I usually read these postings from midnight to