Project '66 Engine Compartment Detailing

19 Using the remainder of the washer hose kit, cut the proper lengths required to connect the washer nozzles to the washer "T" and the main feed line from the pump. The plastic clip attached to the cowl is another recently introduced reproduction by The Paddock.

20 Before completing the cowl area, don't forget to install the cowl seal. This seal snaps into the openings along the cowl top and is retained on the ends by two small "L" brackets. With the hood in place, it can be difficult to get in close to attach the seal. A neat trick is to place the flat head of a claw hammer against the embedded metal retainer, then tap the end of the hammer to seat the clip into the cowl.

21 Since we plan on having our 289 breathed on with some speed parts and we plan on having air conditioning installed, we opted for The Paddock's three-row, high-efficiency radiator to help us shed our unwanted heat. Mounting was simplified with the master hardware kit. Our original (and still working!) horns were also mounted at this time.

22 We must have removed and reinstalled our horns three or four times, because we tried to remember the correct angle and what side the wire harness went on. The moral of the story: take lots of pictures or video BEFORE you take your project apart. We finally had to look at another '66 at a show for the proper mounting.

23 Our original hood latch assembly was beadblasted and painted, then assembled with the correct hardware from our master hardware kit. The AMK bolt kits have been used on several sections of our restoration and they are real time-and-sanity savers.

24 Converting to a V-8 means having to eventually mount the darn thing in the engine bay. The task is simplified with the new V-8 conversion brackets now available; they are reproductions of late '66 factory mount brackets. The one caveat is that you need the late '66-'67-style motor mount. We inadvertently jotted down the part number for the typical '66 motor mount and received these mounts which use a stud. The correct style uses a through-bolt for attaching. Make sure you order the proper mounts for your project.

25 With the correct motor mounts in place and attached with the correct through- bolts, the engine compartment is ready to accept our 289 V-8. Also shown here is the engine sending unit wiring, the detailed parking brake cable, and the speedometer cable. The steering linkage is still manual six-cylinder parts; look for a V-8 power steering conversion in a few months right here on these pages.

26 We didn't bother to install these two items now since they would just have to come back off for engine installation, but we opted to upgrade our handling and dress up our engine bay at the same time with an export brace and a straight-style Monte Carlo bar.