The frame came back a couple weeks ago - I was out of town so Jill and the shop guys had to push it into the garage in the pouring rain. Hopefully the only time it sees rain. I finally made it out today to check out the work Jack and his crew at Specialized Collision have done. I won't say more about the cost other than it was expensive, but everything builds off the top of a solid frame. The body work is cosmetic for the most part, the frame and suspension have to function well. I had the frame boxed were it was only c-channel from the factory. The first few pictures are of the boxing in the rear section (around the trunk/gas tank). You can't tell that it wasn't originally this way; the welding makes the factory welds look horrible. In fact, they are pretty much invisible.
The next few shots are of the rear axle installed with the new disc brakes, suspension, and completely rebuilt original 12-bolt rear axle with 3.07 gears. The kit was from Classic Performance Products. Parts generally fit okay, except the pre-bent brake lines that were no where near correct. The emergency brake cables are also a little long, so I will need to figure out that at a later date.
The aluminum shocks and differential cover are really just bling, but they look good against all of the black. The kit adds a rear sway bar, that is not available on a '65 Chevelle. This should help, along with all of the new suspension, with the handling since muscle cars weren't known for turning corners.
You can see the boxing in the center sections in the next few pictures. Again perfect welds you would not know there were there. The shop added the end plates to the transmission crossmember and set the pinion angle on the transmission. They reused the original crossmember by my request, to help keep the original look as much as possible.
Notice the factory welding apparent at the seam to the left of the picture, and compare that to the seam at the right. Looks like one solid boxed piece now. I've read that the open frame is like a wet noodle, helps with the ride by flexing over bumps, but is terrible for handling.
And a few shots of the front suspension. I still need to install the sway bar and the steering arms, but that will have to wait for paint and more free time. The ride height was set by the shop pretty low. I'm sure it will look good, but I plan to raise it to close to the highest setting to make sure we have plenty of ground clearance. Last thing we need to to scrape the frame or bottom out on the oil pan.
And just so you remember what we started with, here is a picture during disassembly before:
and after... what a difference. Better than original!
