Well this is my second car I ever bought, but my first real muscle car. I used to have an 83 Cutlass with a done up 350 but it was to rusty to even bother fixing. I am also big into 4x4ing and have built a couple trucks.
I picked this 67 up for a quite reasonable price back in April. I dont really know my long term plans for the car yet.
It was sitting for the last 8 years and wasnt run in 3. I had it running and driven home the day I bought it though. Once I tuned it up, and drove it a bit the motor started using about a litre of oil every 100 miles. So a motor is in the works for this summer. I have a 350 with vortec heads outta a 98 Chevy that will be getting built to drop in.
I currently gutted the interior and started fixing the floor and trunk pan. All I can say is the more I dig into this thing the more shady things I find from the previous owners.
Enough talk heres the pics:
The day I brought it home:
Gutted:
The new stance(removed the hillbilly coil spacers):
The proper way to fix rust: I would like to point out that who ever "restored" this car put a cheap patch over the rear body mount. They than proceeded to weld new mounts behind the old ones and used hockey pucks for body mounts.
The body was shifted on the frame about a inch, so I figured i might as well do body mounts while I am at it. I put a new floor pan on the drivers side and cleaned up the passenger side. I have since started on the trunk as well.
Once I get the trunk fixed up I have a few odds and ends before I can bolt the body back down. Such as I snapped all but 2 body mount bolts.
I have way to many parts layin around for it already. So its kind of nice that I am able to finally get some put on.
I can also tell you it sucks working outside, I forgot how nice having one was. It has been a extremely wet spring here so I havent had all that much time to work on it.
-- Edited by bowtieboy on Friday 18th of June 2010 09:39:12 AM
Once I get the trunk fixed up I have a few odds and ends before I can bolt the body back down. Such as I snapped all but 2 body mount bolts.
I have way to many parts layin around for it already. So its kind of nice that I am able to finally get some put on.
I can also tell you it sucks working outside, I forgot how nice having one was. It has been a extremely wet spring here so I havent had all that much time to work on it.
-- Edited by bowtieboy on Friday 18th of June 2010 09:39:12 AM
working outside does suck i feel for you on that one but it looks like you a good amount of space
The pass. side quarter might need to be replaced. I am not sure how they were put on though. It seems like around the wheel well they just put the new one over the old one. I will have to have my bodyman give me his opinion on what I should do.
Can you take a picture.... I know my buddy (body man) made me cut around the rear outer wheel well... Down to bottom boards thing, ahhhh let me find a picture...
-- Edited by swamper on Sunday 20th of June 2010 08:52:28 PM
Well got a quick update, should have some pics up tommorow. I switched back to dayshift at work this week and the weather cooperated for a couple days. I finished up the drivers side of the trunk, ground off a couple mounts, started and pretty much finished the passenger side today. Im hoping to have most of the seam sealing done tonight.
If the weather holds out for saturday, Im hoping to have the body bolted back to the frame.
Along my journey I found a couple places in the wheel well that will need to be fixed. But they are atleast easily accesible if I take the back tire off.
EDIT
I will try to remember to take some pics of the rear wheel wells for ya.
Jesse
-- Edited by bowtieboy on Friday 25th of June 2010 07:06:35 PM
Got the body bolted down today. It sits straight on the frame now.
Seam sealed everything, got the front bumper on, park lights, tweaked the fenders a bit. Than finally got a good look at her, seems like its been forever since I jacked the body up. Also got a good pic of the hillbilly rear body mount tab. I lucked out and found a proper sized washer for the body mount to fit in, so it should be a breeze fabbing an original looking one up.
The to do list:
fab up a rear body mount tab for the frame. mount side vents, hook up dimmer switch, ebrake cable/ pedal, gas tank, rear bumper and finally mount Up my seats. Im still probably forgetting a bunch of things too. Just remembered I forgot to take pictures of the quarter panels
I might get flamed for this, but oh well. I picked up some Sparco seats for a incredible deal, I couldnt really pass them up. I would like to eventually put original type buckets in, but right now they arent in my budget.
Update, seats are in. Fabbed the brackets up thurs. Bedlined the floor for the most part. Seam sealed the floor plugs which should help with my water problems.
So far I have realized that who ever worked on this car was in love with clear silicone as I have found this stuff everywhere.
I ended up putting the gas tank back in as RPM(my main source of parts) was closed friday. I JB welded the vent breather as it was cracked, so we will see if it holds. It also has a few good sized dents. So long story short, if it starts to leak again, I will put a new one in.
I got a hundred miles put on it this weekend. Felt great to drive it again.
Well quick update. I painted the dash black, as well as the kick panels. Got a new windshield put in. Hooked up the ebrake, the gas gauge, put some rubber between the tank and the trunk pan. Seems to rattle less now.
I dropped the rear seat off to get my new cover put on. It should be done with in the next week or so.
Well I have been focused on some other projects lately. But I managed to get a good day's work on the car today. I returned my old steering wheel back to the 80's, and tossed my new Grant one on. I also put a stereo in it finally. I made a custom mount in the glovebox for my JVC deck, and mounted a couple sony 6x9's in the package tray area. I also put a am/fm cassette deck in the original spot for looks.
Recovered back seat:
-- Edited by bowtieboy on Monday 2nd of August 2010 04:44:27 PM
Had a mobile glass guy come and re glue the back window for $75. The windshield frame was actually quite solid and only had a lil bit of surface rust.
I got the rear body frame mount fabbed and welded on the pass. side.
Started on the trailing arm bushings, broke all the bolts loose. The arms are ready to come out. I have to repair one arm as it oblonged the hole about a inch or so.
wow thats a great car and you work soo quick wow Thanks for all the great pic's really makes me want to work on mine right away! and keep up the Great work!
Thanks, I couldnt bring myself to cutting the dash up. Atleast this way all i have to do is unbolt my mount and put the glove box back in.
Well I installed the rear control arm bushings today. All I have to say is I have to invest in a ball joint press. I fought with installing the the 2 bushings in on the diff itself. I had to weld some patches on the one upper control arm bolt hole as it was oblonged. I dont know how ghetto it is, but it will be fine for now. I would like to install a hotckiss or edelbrock suspension in the car, but thats looking way to far ahead.
New body mount, way better than the exuse of one the PO had on there before:
