My Mom had a '63 with the same interior. Wore like iron, lasting for many years. It had a 283 with a 2-speed Powerglide. Tranny was fine around town but on the highway it had that 283 screaming its lungs out in top gear at 75 mph. I think I got her Chevy up to about 78 - once - before I decided it just wasn't any fun and as a poverty-stricken college student, I couldn't afford to scatter her engine all over East Texas. Be thankful for that 3-speed.

That 2Gen Biscayne that ran from '61 through '64. Yeah, it had a monster trunk - it would haul a small family back there - if you didn't mind dragging the rear bumper that hung out nearly six feet behind the rear wheels. Stick with the stock exhausts that turn down inside the rear bumper. A lot of friends ran extended chrome tips that got flattened by the first driveway incline they encountered.

 

I think we are going to do something a little different with the exhaust. I am already seeing a custom single side exit, straight out of the manifold under the fender

 

That's a good idea, Josh. I formed a length of aircraft exhaust tubing into an exhaust that exited just forward of the right rear wheel on my old 6cyl Dodge. Not so much for performance (the '52 Wayfarer had none), but my g/f's driveway was steep and I'd already guillotined two exhaust tips with my rear bumper. That aircraft exhaust tubing is really nice for short runs - if you have a neighborhood aircraft maintenance and overhaul facility that gives you access to their scrap bin. It's a spiral-wound stainless product that has what amounts to a high-temperature asphalt-like compound in between the segments. Cut it to fit and form it by hand as you want, then tie it in place with binder twine and drive it several miles to get it hot. Shut off the engine and let it set overnight and remove the strings. Voila' you have a custom-shaped exhaust line, made without tools. It's going to need a chrome tip of some kind because the end where you hacksawed it to length is going to be kind of ragged. I bent a piece of aluminum rod to connect the clamp on the tip to an existing hole in the frame. I had it for four years without a single problem, and never pinched my exhaust pipe again. Nice sound too . . . if you like a straight 6 that sounds like a pickup with a busted manifold.

 

I know exactly what you are talking about, my dad has some at home, uses it on his ol' hot rods. They used it on the F-15's I think. I can't think of what the stuff is called but once it heats and sets its hard as ceramic, and tough as nails.

After checking the local O'Rielly's, it appears I can rebuild the entire powertrain from front to back for on the order of around $400. Clutch, tranny, engine, head, manifold, gaskets, header, all of it. Seems there is not a part on this drivetrain that is expensive, or hard to come by. The Carb is a Rochester 3 barrel. (odd, but not uncommon), so yeah, pretty easy stuff.

 

That's crazy that O'Rielly's would have all that stuff for a 50 year old car, especially that cheap!!

 

It's not necessarily that crazy when you consider the market for 60s-vintage cars (and the associated demand for their parts) is one of the hottest in the whole antique-car business. That's because millions of Baby Boomers learned to drive during that decade, and, today, many of them still want to hold on to a piece of their youth.

 

Really I think its the popularity of Chevrolet as a brand among old car enthusiats. Go try and find 1963 Pontiac parts at O'Rielly's, I bet you come up with zilch despite Pontiac being anywhere from #3, 4 or 5 in the sales race back in the 1960's, depending on the year. Go to your local cruise in, you'll see 10 vintage 1960's Chevrolet's for every 1 Pontiac.

 

Yeah, among Chevies, the Impala SS was especially popular in the early-mid 60s. But, so were some of the Pontiacs, especially the Grand Prix and GTO, although the Goat didn't come out till 1964.