The frightening Flintstone stage

More reverse progress this week. A friend came by and cut the floor out, and exposed more rust in the drivers side rocker area.  The good part is this is in front of the rocker that shows, behind the fender area.  I may work to replace this part as the body work will not have to be perfect since it is hidden.  A wire brush works great for removing the rust without removing metal, and is hard enough it exposes thin areas in the metal.  This is the the beginning of the part that is hardest on me - to see the car cut up into pieces.  Maybe because it is the stage that irreparable damage can be done, but it has to be done to get solid metal back in the car. The passenger side did not look bad, but we decided to cut out a larger section to replace an area full of pinholes in the metal.  It also removes a factory seam, so should be stronger in the end.  Factory seams are only spot welded, and the repair panels will have full length welds holding them.

The new panels are inexpensive thankfully, but there is a lot of labor getting them to fit properly, cutting out old rusted metal, and welding in the new without warping any sheet metal. We will need the body on the frame to know where to put the transmission hump.  It needs to be a couple inches taller, which is why we cut the tunnel out in this picture. We stopped cutting at the floor braces, so we don't impact where the body mounts to the frame.  The original pieces look okay from what I can see, with just surface rust, so by avoiding them we should maintain the shape of the car and make it easier when mounting the body.  The trunk area isn't so lucky. Hopefully it will not be long before I can share pictures of the new floor in place.

Here is a closeup of the drivers side after I cleaned away the rustiest bits.  The panel open in the middle bottom was full to the top with rust (inside the rocker).  Amazingly the inside of the rocker itself is not rusty.  Go figure how that happened.  There were multiple layers of steel here, which I think helped keep the moisture in.  There aren't patches made for this area, so I am thinking to make one single plate (thinner than stock) to cover over the whole area.  By removing the layers I hope that this will stay rust free in the future.  I don't think that it needed the strength of the thicker steel, and the only thing I can say for sure that the multiple welds we add should improve the strength, even if we use 22ga instead of 16ga steel.

Merry Christmas to me, and a story for you

I drove up to Iowa after Christmas to go rummaging through the garage for old Chevelle parts.  More on that trip below, but I thought I would start with a little story behind the car.  We dug through some old newspaper clippings about how the Chevelle came to be where it is at today.  The clipping below is from the Washington Evening Journal, June 14, 1965. The circled article is about the Chevelle; it reads 

"Accident. - A 1965 model car driven by Bennie B Gray of Smith Center, Kansas, was totally demolished Friday at 2:30 p.m. when it ran into the side and under a truck driven by Gerald Gene Bender of route three Washington.  Sheriff's officers investigated the crash which occurred as Bender was turning his truck, owned by Lee Drollinger, into the driveway at Farm Service of Washington. The Kansas car was attempting to pass the truck at the time.  Treated for minor injuries were two Smith Center men, passengers in Gray's car: James Myers and Dennis Sutton."

The article to the right is about the marriage of Betty Louise Peters to Bennie Bryan Gray.  James Myers was an usher in the wedding.  It must have been intentional to put these articles side by side in the paper, don't you think?

After the accident the Chevelle ended up at Van Dyke Company in Cedar Rapids (top car in the add below).  Compare 'totally demolished' in the newspaper report to 'Will drive' in the advertisement!  Different perspectives, certainly.

 We also found the original license applied for tags.  It's amazing to me the miles this car accumulated in the first year.  It was being built in January of 1965, and Bennie B. Gray managed 9000 miles before the accident in June.  The car was restored after July 12, and was up to 16,000 miles by the end of 1966!  Imagine this on a car with no power steering and no power brakes.  They tell stories about how the Chevelle did not tune well stock, and needed timing set to +16.  In the short time Gray had the car, it seems that he had recurved the distributor, cut holes in the air cleaner, and possibly put a cam in the car.  All we know is it was fast.

 In a future trip I'll look for photos for the following life.  We talked through stories of the Chevelle at the Gulf of Mexico, in San Diego at the Golden Gate Bridge, racing on the salt flats in Bonneville, and playing around at night before the windshield was in.

My fun was looking for parts in the garage.  Below may look like a pile of dusty parts to you, but it is an incredible find to me.  The boxes are literally falling apart; I need to repackage or get the pieces on the car.  We found brand new, OEM rocker panels, wheel well arches, hood front molding, and a grill center.  There are lots of other trim pieces from parts cars that we think may fit the Chevelle,  but we can't be sure until they are cleaned up and matched to the car.  Hopefully we can find at least one of each molding in good shape.   These parts would be impossible to find as OEM today, rather you would buy remanufactured parts that will not fit as well or look original.  It appears that Hoss bought these from the dealer in 1973 in anticipation to restore the Chevelle.

 There were also some nice original parts, many hard to find.  There is a glove box molding, shifter boot, and a steering wheel in perfect shape.  This may not sound like much, but you cannot find this wheel as a reproduction, and I have never seen one come up for sale. I really like the look, and will probably try to use this on the car if possible. We also found the dash top mounted clock, a rare accessory for 1965.  I saw one on eBay listed for $1,199.  That seems high to me, but gives you an idea what people think these are worth.  These parts will be a huge plus when we get the car ready to go back together.

Rear axle R&R

A quick update today; Sig's finished up the rear axle rebuild with all new bearings and seals, as well as installing the Powertrax limited slip.  Comparing the final result to the picture, you will see everything is new except the axle, axle shafts, and ring and pinion gears.  Keep your parts if you ever restore a car - that little bracket you see at the top of the axle holding the brake lines is $45 to replace!  Thankfully I have most all of the original parts in the basement so finding and cleaning this little parts is reasonably easy, and saves me some money. 

I did not show the tear down, but you can see what we started with in the picture above.  Several broken bolts, lots of rust, wasp nest, and those annoying upper control arm bushings added to the enjoyment.  I found a slick method on Youtube if you ever have to replace the bushings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXf1OR9Lnk

Below are a few pictures of the rear end assembly.  The brake kit is from CPP as part of the Pro-Touring Stage 3 kit.  They calipers dropped right on (after painting), although one of the three t-bolts does not work with my axle.  I bought a 3/8 grade 8 bolt instead for one position that solved the problem. I don't know why they use t-bolts, a regular bolt would be easier and work better.  The instructions were terrible, but thankfully there isn't a lot of ways you could do this wrong.  I don't think that I found one, at least that I can tell at this point.

 Next step was installing the new cover. It isn't necessary to have aluminum, but doesn't it look cool?  This is one of those things that I have always thought helps set the rear look of the car, a little bit of jewelry under the bumper.  Two quarts of Royal Purple gear lube filled the case; I will check the level once the axle is in the car.

 Here is a better look at the disc brake that replaced the stock drum setup.  They won't fit behind the 14" wheels, but I'm planning on at least 17's for the final ride.

 The springs are new, with refurbished spring seats.  This is about as far as I can go without the frame.  You need a BFH to put the bushings back in, and that is easier done in the car.  With new seals, disc brakes, and posi-traction, the rear axle should give excellent performance for the next 50 years.  Just don't ask what this part alone cost ;)  It is where the rubber meets the road, so money here is hopefully well spent.  It felt good to empty out a couple boxes from the basement.  Hopefully the frame will be ready soon and I can empty a few more!

Thinking about colors

 I know it's early in the process, but I've been thinking a lot about color this week.  Maybe because I'm to a point where I need the help of others to move the project along.  The original color is Madiera maroon.  I like the car in this color, but it's just so common and we have the opportunity to go with something a little more lively. Value wise, I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but I'm not planning to sell this anytime soon.  Since the car will be repainted top to bottom, the time is now to decide if we go with something different.  You don't want to rebuild and change your mind later, because it is next to impossible to get in all of the door jams and little crevices without starting all over again.

My first choice today is something in the family of a black cherry pearl/dark maroon metallic. I have wanted a street rod in this color since I was a teenager.  You could argue black cherry pearl should be reserved for a '49 Mercury and have a good point, but I don't have one of those. Scion has a series of this color called 'Black Cherry Pearl', 'Blackberry Crush', or 'Sizzling Crimson Mica'.  At least in pictures this looks like a great color, you don't see it often, and would be a modern interpretation of the original maroon.  The Scion below is in the sizzling crimson mica.

My favorite color has always been in the dark blue family.  I think the '66 Chevelle looks amazing in this color, but for some reason I don't care for it on the '65.  I'm not sure why since they are so similar.   Chevy's 'Imperial blue' comes pretty close to what I call midnight blue metallic. The GTO is also available in something similar, so chances are if Chevy made a Chevelle today, it would get this color from the factory.

I've seen a few pictures of Chevelle's in dark silver metallic, like the one below.  I love '65 Chevelle's in this color, and if I were to branch away from maroon, this is the color I would go for.  The picture shows one with the molding's painted (yuck), but the silver really sets off nice against the polished stainless trim.  I may not be the most exciting of the set above, but it has a nice elegant and sleek look appropriate for a Chevelle.  Write me a comment and tell us your thoughts.

Powdercoating new parts

More piecewise progress this week.  The rear axle is back from painting and off to get the axles back in.  It looks nice cleaned up and powdercoated.

 Parts from CPP for the brakes and suspension came in various coatings and prep, so I decided to take the time to strip them down and either paint or powdercoat before they are installed.  I think this will keep them from rusting as quickly, and get's everything to a nice uniform finish.  The spindle on the left is bare, the right spindle is in black powdercoat.

 I think the brakes turned out nice.  The top is the finished product, the bottom row is how they arrived.  I powdercoated the gold cadmium plated parts black, and used a silver caliper paint on rest.  No gaudy red for me.  How did red caliper paint catch on anyway?  You see it on new cars, and mostly it just looks tacky, IMO.  I like the subtle silver that will blend in behind the wheels.

Let the rebuilding begin

 Last weekend with the help of my neighbors, I finished stripping the body down to the bare bones.  In the picture you can see the only parts left that could be removed are the windshield and deck lid. I guess more will come off, but those parts have to be cut away, not just unbolted! So here is what I have to work with - a good shell from a rare original '65 Chevelle Malibu SS.

The passenger side floor is solid,

 but the drivers side needs a small patch in the footwell and up into the cowl area.

The trunk is in poor shape.  It doesn't look that bad, but it is full of pinholes and will need to be completely replaced. 

 I found Gateway Muscle Cars in Moscow Mills last weekend, and met a couple great muscle car fanatics.  We spent a couple hours just talking cars.  I brought home a new trunk floor and drivers side floor.  The trunk pan is so big I had to bend the piece to the right down to fit it in our van.  Thankfully we will not be needing that part, since it is not rusted on the car.  The rest of the pan will be used to replace the floor.

 This weekend was spent powdercoating old pieces that I have sandblasted.  For those that do not know, powdercoat is essentially a powdered plastic that you apply with an electric charged spray, and melt in an oven to cure.  It is a lot more work than spray paint, but makes a fairly permanent, rock resistant coating. It is much more durable than paint.  One can from Eastwood doesn't go very far, and it took me the better part of yesterday just to do the parts you see below.  I think it will be well worth it in the end.  The parts at the top are originals that have been cleaned and coated.  All of the suspension pieces and trim that is not stainless will get this treatment.  I need opinions on what color to do the new brake calipers; red, black, silver, or high temp stainless?

 I put the new park lights and coated bracket into the original front bumper.  I'm very happy how this looks.  Unfortunately one of the first pieces restored will be the last to go back on.

I test fit a bracket from Speedway Motors to relocate the alternator, and the good part is that it fits the alternator well.  Unfortunately it does not work with the engine lift mount in place, so I cannot install it just yet.  The GTO power steering pump looks to be about 1/2" wider where it mounts to the block, so I will need to pick up a pump from an F-body ca. 2002.  I'd rather use the GTO pump since it has a remote reservoir for the fluid, but that would require precise modification of the bracket.  Anyone want to trade an F-body pump for a GTO pump?