ROASTED 1966 Chevy Impala - Replacement Engine Dyno Tested 

The smile on your face driving that Impala is the greatest ad for classic cars. You were at home cruising in the Impala. Beautiful job!!

In the Air Force motor pool any vehicle that stayed too long was called a Hanger Queen. We made a paper crown to put on top. I'm glad your Hanger Queen is on the road again.

That 327 is a showpiece. Beautiful in its simplicity. Love how Nick's elbow naturally found its way onto that door while he was driving. Here's to many miles and many smiles, George!

While I have always loved how the old 327s could rev so easily, it's the sound of the 340 that spins my spurs! Nice Duster!!!! IIIII want one!

Nick, I feel your pain on this job. My family owned an autobody/radiator repair business for 71 years which I was proud to be a part of for 17 years. Every ounce in a while, one comes back to bite you even if you've done everything right! Who knows why stuff like this happens? Gremlins maybe? Just the cost of doing business.

Nick, a true professional! If I were a younger man I would take a job just sweeping & cleaning to watch you and the guys work on these Classic Muscle Cars! When Detroit was King! Thanks for your videos! Sinn Fein Byrne

I love watching those vacuum secondaries opening with the increasing air demand. Something very satisfying about it.

Hi Nick, been building chevys for years and have been using anerobic sealant on the flanges of the rear main instead of high temp silicone. Found the silicone may seal initially but will leak over time. The anerobic sealant is Permatex Anerobic Flange Sealant which is a flexible gasketing material for use on rigid machined flanges with less than .015″ gap. I think loctite makes the same stuff. I also use this sealant for transfer cases. It works very good where two machine surfaces mate with very little clearances.

I know Nick loves his Mopar but some us are nuts for '60's Impalas so thanks for this episode today Nick and all the vital technical stuff you're sharing with us. It sucks what happened to the car and I empathize with the owner but at the same time this is interesting for viewers - thank you Nick!

Beautiful car. My Dad had one. Great memories. Personally I would add a temp gauge. Service stations are a thing of the past, which is just sad. When I was in high school, 1971-75, my summer job was a pump jockey at my Dad`s mechanic`s Texaco station, and mechanic`s helper when slow. After I got my license I was trained as an emergency tow driver. The look on customers faces when a 17 yr old kid jumped out of the truck to help was priceless. I hope and pray this engine survives. I have never seen an engine cooked like that Nick.

An oil pressure and temperature gauge would be a good investment for the Impala.

Nick, great to finally get to meet you! Glad you could make it to Carlisle. It was great talking with you and getting some pictures with you and your car! Still going to try and visit your shop this summer. Keep the vids coming

The new motor looks great. I owned lot of similar old school V8s and I’ve experienced every over heating program you can think of. There are always warning signs of overheating. Steam, smells, sometimes the run rough but I always had time to cool the motor down and shut it off. Never any major damage like that.

Wow, seeing that horn ring on the steering wheel of that Impala brought back a lot of memories! 🙂

Wow, never seen a cylinder head "cooked" that badly. Not wanting to offend the owner, but maybe it's time for a set of aftermarket guages. Sometimes, warning lights aren't enough.

It was very good to meet you, thanks for taking the time to speak with me . And thanks for the sticker. Glad you came to Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

313 horsepower out of a 327k out of a 327 engine that is pure beauty Nick you are a genius you did it again you knew how to diagnose that motor you took care of the situation and I'm glad his guys like you who do it right the first time and tell Leona 327 with an l79 intake l79 cam that engine is a thing of beauty and it should be treasured holla if you hear me

94 from Petro Canada only 👍🏻 My engine runs so good on this gas.

28:40 Those hands speak many decades of experience. Something so beautiful about that.

The “66” rides again…so beautiful! The Duster sounded mean when opened up a little. Gorgeous! Thank you Nick and George for all that you share.

It's a shame a lousy $20.00 thermostat failed and caused such a nightmare. Same thing happened to me years ago except I had a gauge and caught it in time.I t was my 64' Corvette 327 h/p fresh rebuild....."Fail Safe" thermostats only...Good video Nick...Thanks!

This Car is a Thorn in NICKS side!

The Duster looks amazing, what an awesome car!

Great job on the 327. If that guy plans to cruise that Impala, I would advise him to install some gauges. Keep up the great work. I enjoy your shows

Hey Nick, was a pleasure to meet you and shake your hand at Carlisle this weekend, and getting a close up look at the Vanishing Point Challenger. The car is even more impressive in person!

great job on the impala and i really enjoyed the ride a long..i always smile watching nick work his magic each show..

First, thank you for such a cool channel!I’ve never had a thermostat fail in the closed position; never even heard of one that wasn’t fail-safe. Mr. Gasket should buy that engine. Second; no offense to anyone; but driving an old and/or high performance car is not like operating new car. There’s no Check Engine Light, no limp-home mode or anything else to keep us from running it to catastrophic failure. We have to pay attention to every nuanced noise, tic, whine and wheeze. Otherwise, you stand a good chance of having every little issue turn into a big time problem. You don’t have to be a mechanic, but it helps to at least think like one. Believe me, we actually EXPECT our cars to have problems and never blow off anything that doesn’t look, smell, sound or feel just right. 😅. Thanks again for the always great content!!!

“George the thermostat.” I’m glad George is a good sport about all this. Beautiful cruiser that Impala is for sure. That Duster is just bad ass. Love it. Have a good week everyone.

Stuff like this can happen! I'm finishing up a restoration of my own, and right now I'm getting the engine ready to go back in the car. After watching the last episode with this car showing that the t-stat didn't open, I decided it would be a good idea to test my t-stat before installing it in my engine. It only had about 40 miles on it before I removed the engine for restoration. To my surprise, when I submerged the t-stat into boiling water, it did not open! Glad I checked.

It's amazing how such a small component, like a faulty thermostat can destroy a whole engine. Guys smart tip, test your thermostat in boiling water before installation. Best U tube channel around 😊👍❤️

George the Thermostat, how cool is that. Hopefully George's Impala is all sorted now and he will have peace of mind with a temp gauge. That Duster certainly a beautiful ride Nick and I'm sure you will get that diff sorted in time. Thanks Nick & George for yet another awesome video.

Glad to see the conclusion to this. You really went full on making this beautiful classic right. We've all had our failures, not necessary to our own failures but maybe just a minor part failure. It's not the fail but how you handle it, you surpassed the mark. I helped build a 360 industrial that I ended up driving in a tow truck. On my first long tow ( out of radio range - back in the eighties) it blew a head gasket, with a hook on. I did make it back, blowing big oil smoke. We had blown the gasket due to a defect by the manufacturer. Our machine shop covered the cost ( they supplied the gasket kit and machined the block and heads. We got the short block but put the top end together ourselves. It was a good case to use a reputable machine shop and to have the respect of that shop that came out with a good outcome. We used only high grade gasket sets after that. The added cost was way lower cost than the failures cost. You are lucky to have such an understanding client in the mix. Hope to see the owner enjoying it to the fullest.🌟✨✨✨✨✨

Where's my "Petro Canada 94" T-shirt with Nicks Garage and Nick's happy face!

Beautiful car My dad had a blue 67 Impala- loved it, huge back seat and SBC. Super Sport. Takes me back. Love these videos, I can hear, feel and smell these old engines- what a great bit of history

I was rebuilding long block Chevies as a side job back in the 90s. I always offset the parting line in the real seal by a good half to three quarters of an inch. I also put a slight amount of sealer on the ends where they butted. Never had one come back. Queasyrider...

You have to love the rubber I left on the corner panels on the dart.

I moved to a very hot climate area and redid my cooling system,4row champion Rad,stock waterpump,(high flow waterpump can pump so quick no time to cool) 7 blade rigid fan,ZZ502/600HP..5SPD,3:42 runs 185 at 105°/90% humidity ALL DAY,PLUS I HAVE A REVERSE COWL HOOD SCOOP WHICH PUSHES HOT AIR OUT AS WELL,HAPPY TRAILS ALL

I Had. A 67 Chevelle convertible with a 283 boy I wish I could have kept it. NICK you are a great Man your mom and dad raised you right GOD BLESS

Nick, you look good driving that car! 327 was the first engine I ever rebuilt. Sounded awesome on the dyno! Thanks guys!

Nick I know you’ve done it but check the sender for the light the temperature light to make sure that the threads are grounded to wherever it’s screwed in the block or the manifold sometimes you know The Teflon tape won’t let it ground

These videos are so fun, love old engines

It was great to see this beautiful car in the flesh and meet the owner! Glorious summer of cruising for him!

My dad had 7 327 ,and they all had the fueler heads and Carter carbs but when he moved he sold them dirt cheap

GREAT TURN AROUND, A MONTH LATER.. THAT CUSTOMER HAS TO BE HAPPY WITH THAT SERVICE.. GREAT JOB NICK AND TEAM..

Back in the late 70’s my buddy rebuilt his 289 in his Cougar. We were horsing around over a couple beers in the shop-and I bet him he wouldn’t finish the next day. While He went upstairs for more beer I popped off the hub caps and put rocks inside them and popped them back on. We’ll the next day was the most fun I ever had. He had a hell of a time figuring out where that noise was coming from. Still friends today.

That Impala is a beauty, so clean and nicely restored. Take the puke tube on the radiator lengthen it and run it under the drivers seat. If the engine runs hot George WILL stop! No gauge needed....

Hi Nick Seen you at Carlisle , bought you a drink and fries. Nice to meet you! I had a 77 vette center section rebuilt with 3:70 gears. when i installed it with posi track additive was very noisy. Drained it and refilled it with same type gear oil 80-90 and put GM posi track additive whale oil in it. Sounded great after that.

Best of luck with your Impala, George. It's a BEAUTIFUL car!

I knew you would sort out that 327 and make all things operate as they should Nick. What really surprised me about this failure is did he not smell the engine burning up? Usually, there are signs way before you get to a catastrophic situation. No matter, you did your magic and still have a happy customer. Great video!

The 1st family car was a new blue 67 impala fast back with a 283 ci, i instantly fell in love with it , asked dad to put a black racing stripe on it, NO , loved cars with racing stripe ! great memories family trips to Florida and Canada from NYC ! in the 70's ! love Chargers and mopars but still impalas especially fastbacks forever bring back family trip memory's ! Nick takes good care of the best cars from the best of times!

Nice job Nick and crew. I've been there, it ain't easy! Do a great job and some gremlins fly in from nowhere and ruin you and the customers day! George seemed pretty cool so I'm glad you got him back on the road so quickly. 5 stars!

Iam a chey man. i have a 69 camaro Yenco clone, and that remain has been a night mare. i finally got it rigt. dont give up. I love to watch your friday night videos.

I just saw this video and I had watched the earlier one some time ago. I thought at the beginning you said this engine had the L79 cam and intake manifold but the L79 intake was aluminum. I stopped the video and saw this had the double hump heads but I'm guessing they were the early version with the smaller valves. Also if I remember correctly the L79 came with a 750 or 780 cfm Holley carb. So with what you have is what I think it is your dyno numbers are pretty darn good! I watched a video once where a reliable source dyno tested a plain fan and a clutch fan and picked up a little more than 10 hp so I think that is a great choice. My '62 Impala with a 300 hp 327 had a clutch fan and fan shroud and I drove it for 65,000 miles and always ran cool even with our 95+ degree summer days.

If anything positive, it's a testament to how these old 327's want to run. Almost had to melt it before it quit. The small journal 327 would wrap past 6k like nothing. They screamed.

Road America. One of the very best race tracks In the mid-west of America !! It is a sight to behold! Nothing better than a race track in the country sunshine & racing !!!!

THANK YOU FOR SHARING NICK.

I remember my 1966 327, it was a great motor, since it only had 60k on it when I spruced it up I replaced all the bottom end with Goodwrench part's, along with a Crane fireball cam, Edelbrock intake, accell ignition, and a manual spread bore 650 holly with header's of course, backed it up with a Muncie trans and it converted the otherwise benign Caprice into something a little more spicy.

Hey guys!!!! Man, that Impala sounds sweet: I’m sure with all the extra steps taken, overheating won’t be an issue this time around. Hate to see those kinds of things happen, but we live and we learn. Meeting Nick at Carlisle was a great pleasure, along with Lucas from C.A.R. Great week to you all and looking forward to coming up next year and visiting the shop, and God bless!!! 🙂

that 340 duster was what gave my brothers 390 AMX a hard time at the dragstrip- whiney trans in the blue car and Metallic clank on upshifting

nice touch with the fan clutch. all through my hot rod street cars , i tried to convince friends what a benefit it is compared to a solid

I've had nothing but problems with front/rear oil pan gaskets! Especially with (cheap) aftermarket (Mr. Gasket!) oil pans. Be sure to use the seals that came with the pan and hope it doesn't leak.

I once rebuilt a diff on a 4wd (Nissan patrol) and it whined just like that even though it was set up properly..I changed the oil to ATF and it stopped immediately, after a month we changed it back to gear oil and problem solved..I think its a slight gear set miss match and is best fixed with a little wear.

Thanks for keeping the muscle on the road! These old girls need some love to keep running hard.

That little engine sounds great on the dino. Shame about the other one, it didn't get a chance

my grandmother bought a new 1966 Chevy Chevelle 300 Deluxe base motel. instead of getting the 230 straight six, she got the 2bbl 327, Powerglide, 10 bolt rearend and drum brakes all around. only thing that car had was power stirring. lol i believe the 2bbl 327 put out factory 190 hp. i gave my grandmother a dollar for the car in 1990, first thing i did was takeout the 10 bolt and the power glide. put in a 12 bolt and a 4 speed. of course, my father and i rebuilt the engine. opened it up with a 4bbl intake, header and head work. i still have the car with the same rebuild from 1990 that needs to be redone again, thinking about LSing it. i love the 327, but with Chevy they can't keep anything good. finally, they came out with the LS, the heads are a work of art not mechanics.

WhoooooHooooo the Impeller has left the building just like Elvis did.....Thanks Nick & guy's....Shoe🇺🇸

Good to see the 66 Impala on the road again! It seems you have taken every precaution for the engine. I know you go thru the same procedure for every engine you build! After all you are a professional in your field.

Love the Duster

I cant believe how many times ive read that Teflon tape is actually a thread lubricant and not a sealant, but everyone still uses it as a sealer. I always high quality thread compound for sealing hi temp gasses and liquids, but thats just me.

When the owner got in the car at the end of the video I had visions of it not starting. Thank goodness it did.

Train up plenty of younguns nick what're we going to do without knowledgeable blokes like you! When you get too old?

"Not bad at all". Are you kidding me? Out standing- Thank you.

I wish we had more guys like you in CA

This guy needs an auto shutdown temperture feature.

Always liked the idea of building a 4 bolt main using a 350 4 bolt main block and 307 crank which is the same as a Large Journal 327. This would give you a Large Journal 327 4 Bolt Main.

Evenin Mr Nick! Have a Great week!!

I just ordered a long sleeve shirt from Nick's Garage, looking forward to wearing it.

Hi Nick, I'm anxious to see what the 2nd 327 will produce on the Dyno, here we Go!

I think the reason for the rear main seal leak is lack of crankcase venting. One little PCV valve expected to handle the crankcase pressure?

Greetings from South Carolina, Nick & crew! Love the Dyno room stuff! Years ago I had a 327- 365hp, motor would pull from a dead idle to 7000, & put a smile on my face every time. I loved that little MIGHTY MOUSE! Glad to see this one on it's way to a new home. Enjoy the test drives also...have fun be safe!✌👍😁

Nick, the white Teflon tape is for water pipes.. Use the yellow Teflon tape meant for fuel lines.

Hey Nick, Tim here.....i feel ur pain on the Impala.. my shop had a '51 Ford Victoria that wudn't go away....know it all to well... hope it works right, and get the owner to pay attention just a bit.........we had similar problem.....

Should have installed a mech or electric needle water temp gauge along with an oil pressure gauge. I even have a vacuum gauge in my 70 Z/28. When a valve spring broke on me the needle moved fast and at a low reading.

Air pocket at the top of a newly built engine. You have to put a vent hole in the thermostat to bleed out the air pocket out of the top of engine. If water doesn’t reach the thermostat then gauge and warning light don’t function either.

In Australia we still call them service stations but we have to service ourselves.

Story here from owners son....mother was driving car and thought heat guage was gas guage. Never let woman drive your car

Absolutely beautiful ride,I always loved the 65-68 Impala's.

Nice video as usual Nick. There's an old superstition that bright red cars are bad luck. I had 2 and the strangest things would go wrong with them, things that never happened to any other car l ever had. One was the twin to this Impala. The torq converter gave out and ruined the crank thrust bearing. I built another engine and didn't gap all the rings. The ones I didn't check butted when hot and it never ran well. I ended up changing the engine again and it ran well until I gave it to a friend and he had a multitude of wiring problems with it. The next was a 1967 Chevelle convertible. The rear axle had no oil in it and crapped out on the way home after buying it. I had to change almost everything on the car. I drove to my insurance agent to increase the stated value and the door hinge breaks as I'm getting out of the car. I climb in and out of the passenger door for 2 days until the gas tank falls out!!! I replaced the tank and the straps and took it to a body shop nearby. I didn't know what color I wanted, but that red was coming off. When they stripped all the old paint they found the original Marina Blue. They did a great job with the color change and I've never had any more bad luck. It is now a trophy winning show car.

Glad you went to a fail safe thermostat. Worth the price difference. Hopefully all future rebuilds will have this

Nick, that engine sounded sweet. second time around was a definite "plus" for it. sometimes bad things happen but to see what has come out of it, well worth it. maybe the dreams about that engine will cease.

Awesome show I had a 283 Chevy that did the same thing keep them coming

In all my years as a Mechanical Fitter I've never seen an engine cooked like that, you would have smelled it long before that. I always had guages on my motors and monitored them regularly.

👍 Nice! Yes, I ran a gauge, light, and a buzzer.

Nick, my car is a 1950 ford custom deluxe (shoebox). I'm familiar with constantly fixing things here and there lol.

Those rope rear seals are a pain in the Donkey, I used to get them in my station in the seventies leaking and used a hypodermic with brake fluid squirt into it and let it swell overnight. No more leaks. 😃 Another great video 👍

The 300 horse 327 it was a stock option. The Chevy power-pack- those were the motors we looked for when we were kids. We would bolt them into a small pickup truck with a four-speed and down the road we'd go

Hey Nick Why is the access door on distributor at back of block should be in front right behind the carb

My first car was a 62 Impala SS. Took me a long time, but now a Mopar head. Those old Chevies were good cars.

I’d really consider putting a new water pump since it got that hot. The shaft seal has definitely been overheated. If it’s not leaking now, it will soon be. I’ve seen it happen before. I’d hate to see this engine back in your shop for a simple mistake.

Good Luck with the beautiful Impala George!