Michael 14's 1961 Plymouth Belvedere

[michael14]

Project Thread:
 

 

[locost_bryan]

Is that the Dodge behind it?  Kingsway?  My dad had a '57 (iirc) Plymouth Savoy, very similar shape.  Very cool.

Hope there's not too much rust on the Plymouth, can remember dad repairing rust in the front of the guards above the headlights.

[JustHarry]

Very cool.

A workmate of mine has a 60 fury coupe with a 2bbl 318 poly and a push button auto. 

[michael14]

3 hours ago, locost_bryan said:

Is that the Dodge behind it?  Kingsway?  My dad had a '57 (iirc) Plymouth Savoy, very similar shape.  Very cool.

Hope there's not too much rust on the Plymouth, can remember dad repairing rust in the front of the guards above the headlights.

Yup that's the dodge, it's a 59 Kingsway - it's in a much better state now - photo below. There's a project thread in here for that one on my profile

[michael14]

1 hour ago, JustHarry said:

Very cool.

A workmate of mine has a 60 fury coupe with a 2bbl 318 poly and a push button auto. 

Yeah push button auto this one too - think it's a Canadian 313 rather than the 318

[RUNAMUCK]

I think a lot of the RHD cars were Canadian built, and therefore 313 rather than 318. (My Grandad owned a 62 belvedere back in '62, and that was a 313 too) 

Also, I remember there being a 61 in St Andrews. It was in a garage which could be seen from the main road. Dad had spotted it when coming home from.working down south. He and I were passing through once, and he made a point of showing me. Some time later, he stopped in to enquire about it. But the guy said he'd sold it.

I had thought it was still there in December '92. But perhaps that was when it was gone. 

[locost_bryan]

9 minutes ago, RUNAMUCK said:

I think a lot of the RHD cars were Canadian built, and therefore 313 rather than 318. (My Grandad owned a 62 belvedere back in '62, and that was a 313 too) 

All the American cars assembled in NZ came out of Canada, because they qualified for a lower import duty on account of being a Commonwealth country. 

[michael14]

14 hours ago, RUNAMUCK said:

I think a lot of the RHD cars were Canadian built, and therefore 313 rather than 318. (My Grandad owned a 62 belvedere back in '62, and that was a 313 too) 

Also, I remember there being a 61 in St Andrews. It was in a garage which could be seen from the main road. Dad had spotted it when coming home from.working down south. He and I were passing through once, and he made a point of showing me. Some time later, he stopped in to enquire about it. But the guy said he'd sold it.

I had thought it was still there in December '92. But perhaps that was when it was gone. 

Yeah that’s my understanding too. Being lapsed I don’t have any record of ownership transfers over the years but we’re fairly certain this got brought around late 91 (parents got married on September not sure when they went on the honeymoon though)

[michael14]

Does anyone know the factory oil filter location on these? Looks like this has an oil cooler of some sort hooked up, drained the oil today. 
 

this is by the oil pan but unsure what it is?

[Raizer]

[michael14]

43 minutes ago, Raizer said:

Hmm, didn't see anything like that down the side but it was getting pretty dark at the time (and my wife was running out of patience lol) - I'll hopefully be with the car again tomorrow so will have a better look around - that looks like it should be pretty easy to find though.

[tortron]

Looks like a check valve. You might get a T one you can definatley get an inline one and add a T after it though

[michael14]

4 hours ago, tortron said:

Looks like a check valve. You might get a T one you can definatley get an inline one and add a T after it though

Good idea. Didn’t think of that

[RUNAMUCK]

The oil filter boss on the block is defo at the back on the right side rear. Some mopars have a right angle adaptor. And many of the locally produced cars used a remote set up due to the steering box being right where the filter needs to be. (These were horrific, and made it next to impossible to remove the filter without spilling oil all over the motor)

[michael14]

25 minutes ago, RUNAMUCK said:

The oil filter boss on the block is defo at the back on the right side rear. Some mopars have a right angle adaptor. And many of the locally produced cars used a remote set up due to the steering box being right where the filter needs to be. (These were horrific, and made it next to impossible to remove the filter without spilling oil all over the motor)

Found this out yesterday haha, managed to find it and get it out but did spill a wee bit of oil. Any idea if spin on adapters are available locally? Might need to do some research but that area is pretty shit to get any filter out of I reckon 

[RUNAMUCK]

I'm 100% sure there's a 90° adaptor.

"ENGINE POWER" On YouTube did a 318 build recently. Their motor had a 90° adaptor. 

Being 'murca/but still RHD, does yours have the remote gubbins? 

On my 318, and dad's SBM Stroker  dad adapted a custom remote set up to route the filter to a much nicer spot.

[cletus]

Like tortron said you could probably cobble something together, looks like it allows vacuum to go straight from the engine to other accessories and has a check valve to go to the brake booster 

 

 

[michael14]

On 09/08/2026 at 20:11, cletus said:

Like tortron said you could probably cobble something together, looks like it allows vacuum to go straight from the engine to other accessories and has a check valve to go to the brake booster 

 

 

Yeah I saw that listing. I’ve got a one way valve coming locally ($10 on trademe or something)

 

in theory a pretty simple application so I’ll either try and glue my one back together or hook this other valve up 

[JustHarry]

@michael14 have you tried paul at American auto parts?  They're in the same building as cylinder head specialists now but upstairs 

[michael14]

On 16/08/2026 at 06:24, JustHarry said:

@michael14 have you tried paul at American auto parts?  They're in the same building as cylinder head specialists now but upstairs 

@JustHarry - Have spoken to him but he doesn't have stock - going to take the pump in some time this week and see if we can do anything by sample