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1966 Chevy Biscayne - Killer BsEven as g-Machines continue to multiply, the back-to-basics street/strip formula is still plenty legit From the June, 2011 issue of Popular Hot Rodding By Stephen Kim Photography by Rabahito Maganishi
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As soon as your retinas lock onto Mike Perreault’s ’66 Biscayne, the Bs just start flying out at you. Maybe the fact that it’s a big bullet of a B-body has something to do with it. Or perhaps it’s the utterly brutal 540 big-block that launches the Biscayne down the quarter-mile in 11.36 seconds at 119 mph. What’s more, the Biscayne’s overall execution is refreshingly basic, replete with a stock suspension and a blue bench seat. In an era when the typical street machine is becoming increasingly complex with luxuries like EFI, ABS, and GPSwhich often necessitate funding a project car with IOUsMike’s B-body reasserts that a back-to-basics street/strip ride will always occupy a well-deserved slot in the diverse spectrum of hot rodding. Mike’s a full-frame kind of guy, and of the 80 cars he’s owned over the years, most have been GM A-bodies, B-bodies, and Tri-Fives. Pint-sized Camaros and Novas, with their noodley unibodies, just don’t do it for him. Even with a ’67 Malibu and a ’65 Biscayne already in his garage, Mike was still on the prowl for another project car. I did a body-off restoration on my old ’65 Biscayne and put a 540 engine, four-speed, and a 12-bolt in it along with dog-dish wheels and whitewalls. It was a fun car, but the ’66 body style was always my favorite, so when the opportunity came to buy my current Biscayne, I couldn’t pass it up, he says. My goal was to build a street car that would run 11s on pump gas. I wanted to keep the car very simple, which is why I prefer the plain-Jane flavor of a Biscayne over an Impala or a Bel Air. The white paint really finishes off the car’s sleeper appearance. Just like it should be in... Just like it should be in a car like this, the cabin is as bare bones as it get. The steering, brakes, windows, and door locks are all manually operated. The radio and heater have been deleted as well. Other than the Auto Meter tach, coolant temperature, and oil pressure gauges, the interior is completely stock. The Biscayne started life from the factory as a six-cylinder, three-speed car that’s drivetrain got chucked by one of its former owners for a 396 and a four-speed. Thanks to the arid Arizona climate, the Biscayne was in great shape when Mike found it. The bulk of the bodywork had already been completed, and the car was primered and ready for paint. Other than the fiberglass cowl-induction hood, all the body panels were original, and after spraying on a new coat of two-stage PPG white, it was time to move onto the fun stuff. Just like it should be in... Just like it should be in a car like this, the cabin is as bare bones as it get. The steering, brakes, windows, and door locks are all manually operated. The radio and heater have been deleted as well. Other than the Auto Meter tach, coolant temperature, and oil pressure gauges, the interior is completely stock. Relying upon the experience amassed though decades of building industrial-grade tanks, Mike knew that big B-bodies needed all the cubic inches underhood that you could cram. And at 3,700 pounds without the driver, the Biscayne was quite the chunky monkey. To address the situation, he ordered an all-aluminum World Products 540 big-block. The beautifully balanced package boasts a Merlin aluminum block with massive 4.500-inch bores, a forged Scat crank and rods, and aluminum 350cc cylinder heads that flow an impressive 382 cfm. Matched with a Merlin single-plane intake, an 850-cfm carb, and a custom 236/246-at-.050 hydraulic flat-tappet cam, the 540 is a paragon of simplicity, streetability, and reliability. Its mild 9.5:1 compression ratio maintains compatibility with pump gas, and it rips out 605 hp at 5,800 rpm. Even more impressive is the big-block’s potent low-rpm grunt. At just 3,700 rpm, the big 540 tugs on the dyno’s strain gauge with 665 lb-ft of torque. Just like it should be in... Just like it should be in a car like this, the cabin is as bare bones as it get. The steering, brakes, windows, and door locks are all manually operated. The radio and heater have been deleted as well. Other than the Auto Meter tach, coolant temperature, and oil pressure gauges, the interior is completely stock. When it comes to laying out the rest of the driveline in a basic and streetable fashion, having so much torque on tap is a godsend. Despite the burden of nearly two tons of car, the Biscayne makes do with a modest 3.73:1 ring-and-pinion set in its DTS Dana 60 rearend. Likewise, since the Biscayne is a street/strip cruiser and not a cross-country hauler, Mike opted for a simple-yet-rugged TH400 transmission, which is further tamed by a not-too-loose 2,800-stall torque converter. I’m not too coordinated with a stick, so I went with an automatic, he says. With 29.5-inch-tall Mickey Thompson slicks filling the rear wheelwells, the B-body cruises at 3,000 rpm on the freeway at 70 mph. That’s not too shabby at all for a car that doesn’t even have overdrive. Overall, this car is very streetable, but then again that’s something that’s very subjective. The carb has no choke so you have to hold the throttle open a hair until the motor warms up. I’m not opposed to bumping the trans into neutral at a light if the motor starts idling roughly. To me, that’s part of the hot rodding experience. Within the confines of the... Within the confines of the stock tubs, a 9-inch-wide tire is as big as Mike wanted to go. He mounted them on 15x7 wheels for the proper amount of old-school sidewall bulge. Measuring 29.5 inches tall, the meats fill up the wheel/tire gap nicely. As no surprise, there are no fancy tweaks going on beneath the car, either. That’s partly because the B-body comes with a very capable four-link from the factory, and partly due to Mike’s resourcefulness. The Biscayne rides on stock springs, and Mike hacked half a coil off the fronts to achieve a more aggressive stance. With the exception of QA1 single-adjustable shocks and a set of airbags to help preload the rearend at the track, the suspension is completely stock. To assist with planting the rear meats, the front mounting points for the rear upper control arms have been lowered for a more conducive instant center. At the track, the rudimentary suspension setup proves its mettle time and time again with consistent 1.69-second 60-foot times. As any B-body fan will attest,... As any B-body fan will attest, the platform is blessed with very unique proportions featuring a short front overhang and a ton of trunk aft of the rear wheels. From the side profile, the look is reminiscent of an altered-wheelbase drag car, just on a much larger scale. The Biscayne’s on-track prowess reflects a parts combination assembled by a man who has been down the dragstrip more than a few times. I’ve done my fair share of drag racing over the years, and won the King of the Hill competition at a nostalgia drag racing event at Phoenix Raceway back in 1991. I was up against a much faster car, but I beat him out by cutting a 0.004-second light on a pro Tree, he says. The Chevelle I was driving back then ran 11.38, so I wanted to go at least as fast in my Biscayne. The problem was, I couldn’t get it to go any faster than 11.80s at 109 mph, and I was beating my head trying to figure out what was going on. Then I remembered that I had intentionally dialed back the throttle linkage to slow the car down at a race one day so I wouldn’t get kicked off for not having a rollbar. I had an extra half-inch of throttle to go, and once I fixed it, the car ran 11.36 at 119 mph. When you get old like me, you tend to forget little things like that. Even straight-line enthusiasts need to turn and stop every now and then, and the Biscayne again relies upon simple but still effective hardware. The original 11-inch drum brakes reside at the rear, and up front Mike swapped in the spindles and disc brakes out of a ’70 Impala. They’re actuated by a manual master cylinder, and the steering box is of the stock manual variety as well. The Biscayne rides on 15-inch Cragar SS wheels measuring 4inches wide up front, and 7 inches wide out back. The front-to-rear split is enough to lighten up the front end and put the power down, but not so extreme that it evokes harrowing flashbacks of the Pro Street era. It may not be the most powerful... It may not be the most powerful big-block out there, but the torquey World Products 540 is the ideal lump for a heavy B-body. The all-aluminum crate motor is 100 pounds lighter than its iron-block counterpart, and tips the scale at a reasonable 595 pounds. Interestingly, despite his penchant of Chevys, Mike works as a service adviser at a Ford dealership during the day. Yeah, the guys give me crap about that all the time, he admits. Mingling with the Blue Oval faithful does have its benefits, however, and the idea for the Biscayne’s vanity plate that reads GDZILLA came from the most unlikely of sources. I had a customer come in one day with a Lincoln Town Car. She said her car is so big that she calls it Godzilla ... I thought it was really funny and the name stuck with me, Mike says. Integrating modern technology into older muscle cars has always been part of hot rodding. These days, Pro Touring machines are taking that concept to the extreme, offering levels of handling, braking, and comfort inconceivable just 10 years ago. Nevertheless, even as g-Machines continue increasing their market share, simple straight-line machines have and always will represent a large core of the hobby. As Mike’s B-body Biscayne so resoundingly affirms, basic can be brilliant, and big can be beautiful. So while other fads may come and go, street/strip machines such as this Biscayne aren’t going anywhere.  With 665 lb-ft of torque,...  With 665 lb-ft of torque, 3,700 pounds of heft, and sticky tires, Mike didn’t want to risk rearend failure and went all out with a Dana 60. The dual 3-inch MagnaFlow exhaust system was originally designed for a Chevelle, but Mike adapted it for B-body duty. By The Numbers
1966 Chevy Biscayne
Mike Perreault, 53 Scottsdale, AZ
Engine
Type: big-block Chevy
Block: World Products aluminum bored to 540 ci
Oiling: Melling pump, Milodon pan
Rotating assembly: Scat 4340 forged crankshaft and steel rods; Mahle 9.5:1 pistons
Cylinder heads: World Products Merlin 350cc aluminum castings with 2.300/1.880-inch Manley valves ported to flow 382/280 cfm
Induction: World Products single-plane intake manifold, Holley 850-cfm carb
Valvetrain: COMP Cams lifters, pushrods, timing set, and rocker arms
Ignition: MSD billet distributor, coil, and plug wires
Fuel system: Holley pump and pressure regulator
Exhaust: Hooker 2-inch long-tube headers, 3.5-inch collectors, dual 3-inch MagnaFlow mufflers
Cooling: Be Cool radiator, dual electric fans
Built by: World Products
Output: 605 hp at 5,800 rpm; 665 lb-ft at 3,700 rpm
Drivetrain
Transmission: GM TH400 transmission, Hughes 2,800-stall converter, B&M shifter
Rear axle: DTS Dana 60 rearend, 3.73:1 gears, limited-slip differential
Chassis
Front suspension: stock with QA1 shocks
Rear suspension: stock with QA1 shocks and airbags
Brakes: GM ’70 Impala discs, front; stock 11-inch drums, rear
Wheels & Tires
Wheels: Cragar SS 15x4, front; 15x7, rear
Tires: Moroso Drag Special 7.10x15, front; Mickey Thompson 29.5x9.0x15 ET Drag, rear
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