Getting started catch up blog - Week 1!

The Chevelle arrived last Saturday, and a lot has been done, so this week I'll try to catch up on everything. Over the next few weeks and months I'll try to share some of the stories about the Chevelle.  We're planning on a mostly stock looking exterior, since this is a fairly rare Malibu SS model.  No need to go crazy with modification.  It will be a long journey, lots of $, memories, and hopefully a great car to share with everyone when we are done.

Last Saturday, Jay loaded up the Chevelle in Marion and drove it down to O'Fallon.  It had three original tires, that of course were flat!  He was able to winch it on the trailer, but we had to get new tires to take it off.  Quick (ha!) trip to Autotire to get three cheap tires, which took two hours to mount.  Tires made in China for a 1965 Chevelle - I don't think we will be driving on the street with these.  Off the trailer then to see 'Here come the Mummies' (http://www.herecomethemummies.com/).  Great show, although poor Jay had a bad migraine and could not go.

Sunday Jay, Jill and I managed to get the interior out and cleaned up as best we could.  Wow, lots of mold on the interior.  I don't think that any of the soft parts will be salvageable.  We tried bringing a seat inside, and it made the whole house smell!

Monday night I removed the taillights, Tuesday was the front bumper, Wednesday the rear bumper, and Thursday the gas tank.  I'm amazed the a little polish and the front bumper looks great.  How about that for a car 47 years old?  The motor also arrived Monday, a 5.7L 350hp LS1/6 speed T56 from a 2004 GTO.  The poor delivery guy had to drag it up the steep driveway by himself.  The shipping papers say 925 lbs.

Saturday Rob from work and my neighbor Paul stopped in to help, and we managed to get the entire front clip off the car.  The rust is starting to show up as we get in farther, with more broken bolts on the fenders.  Fortunately OPGI makes replacements for these.  We found some pretty serious damage to the radiator support, so a new one will need to be ordered.  Everything else looks repairable.

Kenny Mudd from Mudd Auto Body stopped by and will give an estimate on the body work this week.  He was recommended by Jill's boss, who has had him do 5 cars.  His comment was that it has none of the usual rust, and rust in all the places that are usually good. I guess that's what you get from sitting so long!

This week is a very busy week for me with yield data, so I don't see as much progress being made.  I hope to get the dash out, but we'll see. Jill and I will give updates as we go so you can follow along.  I'm hoping to have this finished by August next year, but you never know, that might be optimistic.