Last updated: October 19, 1998
Stephane
originally purchased this car at the local Metro Toyota
dealership in the summer of 1995 for a minimal sum - the car had
a mere 50,000 original miles on it and most likely belonged to
one of the older inhabitants of our fine city who needed
something a little smaller and easier to park.
This car closely resembles the car used on the old TV show, Hunter. Bone stock, it has absolutely no optional equipment other than an AM radio. Plain bench seating, no rear defrost, no air conditioning, just the basics. It ran pretty good, but he didn’t buy this car as a daily driver, he wanted a project. So he’s spent the last two years making various modifications.
First, he found a 4 barrel Holley carburetor and an Edelbrock performer intake manifold in a friend's junker '76 Dodge van. For a day's hard labour helping the guy move, he got to help himself. He then found himself a set of cylinder heads from a small block 360, and decided to get busy under the hood. The carb was cleaned in a dip tank and completely rebuilt. The stock camshaft, lifters and timing chain were removed and replaced with Edelbrock performer equivalents, including a roller timing chain. Then, the cleaned and painted intake manifold and the rebuilt carb were put on, some new headers added, and dual exhaust fabricated out of some 2 inch pipe. The entire engine block was repainted Chrysler blue at the same time. The transmission kickdown linkage had to be modified to fit the different carburetor, but other than that the job was fairly straightforward.
Meanwhile, while in storage, the car’s interior headliner had a bad sagging problem. So he removed the headliner from the car and reglued the rubber mat to its cardboard backing, and reinstalled it. He also added an oil pressure gauge and tach to the instrument cluster. At the same time, he replaced the ignition module with a high-performance one, and replaced the spark plugs and wires.
Wide 15 inch rims and some nice low profile radial tires (255/60 rear, 235/60 front) replaced the original bias ply tires.
Currently the car is waiting for the exhaust to be mounted professionally (adapting the dual exhaust to the car’s undercarriage proved to be impossible to do with the tools and workspace available) before it hits the road.
Since February, there's been a few changes to the schedule. Stephane managed to obtain a Dodge Coronet for a parts car, and got a whole new interior, including reclining plush cloth bucket seats for the front and a plush cloth rear seat to match, plus a new headliner (the glue job on the old one was a waste of time). He also scavenged some engine parts and sway bars and rear leaf springs from the Dodge, which was a heavy-duty SE model with a 400 big block. Regrettably, the engine wasn't in good shape so he didn't keep it.
Stephane tinkered with the carburetor some more, added some new radiator hoses and some gadgets, including hood mounted turn signals, a vacuum gauge, fog lights behind the grille, and an old fire engine siren. After several failed attempts he managed to hang the dual exhaust high enough to clear the ground, and re-made a transmission kick-down linkage that was compatible with his Holley carburetor. He also picked up a Grant GT steering wheel.
In August '97 the big bad Fury hit the road. And is it ever quick! I took it for a little drive, and its definitely a car to be reckoned with. Not Mustang GT or Camaro territory, no - but anyone who mistakes this car for a tired old family beater is in for a surprise. Its probably doing 0 to 60 in the 7 to 8 second range, not bad for a car weighing well over 3000 pounds and only packing a 318 cubic inch motor. Next on the agenda is a shift kit for the transmission - its showing its stock family car traits all too well right now - a set of new shocks (needed badly!) - and something to replace the AM radio perhaps.
Pictures of the
Fury Engine (large, possible long download times)
October 1998 - Over the last year Steph's been making various modifications to the car. He put a shift kit in the transmission, tried a few different carburetors, and planned to swap out the springs for some heavy duty ones he picked up from another car. Unfortunately it appears that the engine is damaged in the bottom end, perhaps a cracked block, so he's looking at either finding a cheap 360 motor and building that up, or just taking all the good parts off the car and having it scrapped. Its possible he's just gotten temporarily bored with it, but only time will tell.
January 2000 - Steph ended up scrapping the whole project last summer because he lost the space where he was keeping the car. Lacking anywhere better to move it to, he removed all the goodies from it and had the remainder towed for scrap.
