Okay let me state up front - I am one of damn newbies! I have restored a few cars in my time but mostly body work and cosmetics! I can tune an engine but building a rod is new to me. I am looking to make a rod out of a mid-60's to mid-70's station wagon. I am light on cash to just toss around so I would rather find a wagon with the best stock engine and mod from there - I am not sure I am up to any big engine swaps just yet!! My question is this, what is the best (largest horsepower) engine to look for in this model year range? I am only looking at Detroit iron - nothing foreign! I really do not want to buy a wagon only to find out later that the engine can't really be modified or I have to start cutting the frame just to add headers! So the criteria is: Largest Detroit engine made between 1960 and 1976 that was available in a station wagon. Engine that will allow for performance upgrades without modifying structure Engine with easily available performance parts. This will really help me narrow my searches and final decision.
#1-Biggest in a station wagon,was probably the Ford 460. The only bigger motor was the 500 Caddy. Finding big block headers for a unpopular body styles might be a challenge. Easiest to find parts for would be the SBC. Had a 400 SBC in a '76 Chevy Caprice Estate Wagon. Ran pretty good at the time.
big block chevy in a 65-70 wagon. People actually race the late 60s full size chevys, so finding parts should not be a problem. Or if you consider the Chevelle wagon "big" (it is big compared to newer cars) go for an early 70s chevelle wagon, SS454 cars are pretty common so the hot rod stuff is all there.
yep, Caddy 472 or 500. More and more parts becoming available with an already good selection. Good hp and ALOT of torque
440 six pack, yes hemis are awesome and im a mopar guy but the 440 makes more power. chevrolet L88 427 mostly in corvettes crazy amounts of power, torque every place you need and everywhere else, and pulls revs like mad. I got the top end of one on my bbc 468 its amazing. the 454 in the 70 chevelle(thinking it was only in 71-72 but i cant recall for sure) was a hoss as well. any small mopar.
If your on a budget and want to go fast, I'd say a big block Chevy, or a 385 series Ford (429, 460). Personally if I ever did a wagon, it would be done up as a 421SD lightweight '63 Tempest wagon (too cool....) -Dean
The 426 Mopar Hemi was available in B and C body wagons, but rarely ordered for a family grocery-getter. You'd have to pay big bucks for one, if you could find one. I'm a Mopar guy, but you'd be better off with a big-block Chevy wagon. Lots more of them, and parts are more plentiful/cheaper. A person might have been able to special order a 396 in a Chevelle/Malibu wagon from 68-72 though, Roger
Ah, I see. I should have read deeper and not just answered the question in the title of the listing. A chevy wagon would be cheapest to build an engine in but IMO ford and chrysler had some more interesting body styles in the 1960's. I would have to go with the 440 in a chrysler wagon and a 460 in a ford.
1968/1969 Olds Cutlass Vista Cruiser with a 455. Plenty of goodies available, great lines, big wheel wells for some serious rubber and a racing heritage. NHRA Super Stock in the late 60's/ early 70's. The Summer Brothers ( Tommy and Dick of TV fame ) and Chescrown Olds to name two of the more famous. Or a Buick Skylark from the same era with a 430 or 455.
Any '65 -'76 Pontiac wagon. The '70 -'76 were available with a 455, from '67 -'69 with a 428. The '65 -'66 came with the 421. The best-looking ones were built in the '60s, that's what I'd get. Any of these wagons will accept the 455 with no mods, it's a bolt-in. Headers are readily available, no custom-fab needed. Cast-iron free-flowing exhaust manifolds were offered for these from the factory, repros of these made of ductile iron (won't crack like many originals) can be had for the price of decent headers. There are no Pontiac big-blocks, the 1955 287 is the same size externally as the 1976 455. You don't need big-block headers when you go from a 350 to a 455 for example. Plenty of factory performance parts are available, as well as aftermarket for the Poncho V8. These engines have a torque curve like a diesel, great for tugging a 4500# wagon around.
426 hemi 426 wedge 440 Mopars had the power and torque, parts are availably. If looking at the 440 if its a street cruiser go with the six pac.If its going to be a road and track car go with one or two four barrels. IMO 64 polara would be the best lookin wagon to put it in.
Well,if I had to pick I'd go with Skratch. I've got a 500" Cad in my 65 Impala wagon and its lots of fun but not a real practical swap since they were available with 396's and 409's. Practical would be my 63 Belair wagon with a factory 250hp 327 and much easier on the budget. But what do I know? I love'm all and would spend my $$ on whatever I could find in the BEST condition be it Ford, GM,or Chrysler. Projects take time,I haven't driven any of my 3 wagons in the past three yrs.
if you wanna keep it all ford all chevy or all mopar. go with a polara wagon put a 440 six pack in it makes more power than the hemi like i said plus its cool because its not extremely different but its not the cookie cutter Hemi. chevrolet go with a Vega wagon you can put a 396 in it its tight but i goes. the wagon isnt a boat and doesnt weigh a whole lot. perfect wheel base for race applications. Pontiac tempest wagon kinda cool if you like pontiacs not a fan myself but still would b neat.
Another vote here for the Ford FEs. Not the biggest CI, but durable, readily available, plenty of speed parts out there.... I have a fairly mild 390 in my Galaxie, but it always surprises me (and makes me smile) when I put my foot into it. A good friend of mine beats the crap out of his '65 Ford Pickup w/ a 352 and it just keeps on going.... Malcolm
You can pretty much put any GM motor in any GM full size wagon, might have to make new holes for the front mounts, but any 455 or the Caddy motor could be put in a car. 71-76 wagons are prime demo derby cars, but most guys who are real pros run a special built demo motor, sometimes you can pick up a big block cheap from them. The biggest advantage to a Pontiac is that there's tons of interchangability because the block is the same. If anything the bigger CI motors could be called a "small" block because the crank/rod journals are smaller. But finding headers to fit one and so forth, shouldn't be a big deal.
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