Out with the old!

 I thought I'd start this week's blog with identification of a 1965 SS, now that I'm down to the body tag on the firewall.  All GM products come with this tag that provides information to the factory how to build the car.  It is also critical if you want to restore a Chevelle back to factory specifications.  This is the tag on my Chevelle:

Starting under General Motors Corporation:

01A: Build date, First week (A) January (01)

ST: Abbreviation for Style

65-: Build year 1965

13837: Fisher Body code for Chevelle Malibu SS sport coupe

KAN: Tells you the car was built in Kansas City, Missouri

9608

TR: Abbreviation for Trim

714-: Seat type and color

N-N: Exterior upper and lower colors, Madeira Maroon

E: Tinted Glass

2: Options from Group 2

L: Muncie 4-speed

P: comfort & convenience group, Type A (Malibu)

(inside day/night mirror, driver side outside mirror, 2-speed wipers, washer, back-up lights, glove box lamp, and bottle w/s washer fluid)

R: radio speaker, rear

5: Options from group 5

W: seat belts, custom deluxe, with retractors

So there you have it, 1965 Chevelle Malibu SS coupe, Madeira Maroon, built in the first week of 1965 right here in Missouri.  Might have even been the first one off the line that year?

There are two 4-speed transmissions found in the Chevelle, Saginaw and Muncie.  I understand the Muncie is the one to have.  You can tell the Muncie by the reverse gear linkage in the rear section.  You can see this as the third arm from the shifter linkage in my transmission, showing it to be the Muncie.

I forgot to write down the engine code before I wrapped it up, so all I know is that it is a 327 V8, with **0 horsepower.  According to Min, this is the 250hp version.  This thing is HEAVY!  I pushed it out into the driveway to wash it off, and it tipped sideways.  It took two of us just to roll it back upright, and the engine hoist to drag it back up the driveway.  My side is sore today. The LS1 has an aluminum block and plastic intake, so it has to be lighter.

Halloween!  I thought the zombie baby was a nice touch.

Yesterday I took a day off from work to get a little more done.  I managed with the help of the lift to get the body up on sawhorses and well supported by 2x4s. I also pulled the engine and shrink wrapped it for long term storage.  The consensus from the Chevelle forum was to keep this in case I ever want to restore the car back to original (or if it goes back to Jay in 50 years).  With the engine hoist this isn't a bad job. I was surprised how heavy the engine was because it was so easy to lift out.  Today's job will be to take more of the suspension apart.  There are lots of broken bolts on the body that will need to be removed.  I'm dreading that job, so will be putting it off as long as possible.

 The engine out and on it's stand (before it broke and more 2x4s added for support). Here it will live.

Our big shock this week was the body estimate.  Mudd came in at $24500 for the body work and paint only.  Another phone estimate confirmed that this may be what we have to expect.  We have a third estimate coming today.  Our budget is $15000 for the body, so I'm not sure what we are going to do.  Kenny Mudd thinks if we do the floors and sandblasting he may be able to swing that.  He seems like a really nice guy, and I would like to work with him.  He is close and local and we have heard good things about his work.  Jay (Jill's brother) has offered to do at least the floors to help with cost, and maybe the whole body work if we have to go that route.  Jay had good training from Hoss, so I know he will do a good job.

On TV you only see the quick take apart and finish.  In real life there are a lot of pieces to take apart and organize, and with one person, it is hard to stay motivated at this stage. It is all reverse progress at this point.  Some of the frame is in worse shape than I thought with more repairs needed where the body mount bushings go.  I shouldn't be surprised since the Chevelle is older now than when I started working on my '53 Chevy truck. (Wow, hadn't thought about that, but when the '53 was started ~1988, it was a young 35 years old at that time.  The Chevelle is almost 47!) I'm really hoping to get the frame to sandblasting soon so I can seen some forward progress to feel like something is getting done.  It's just me so far; I sure with I had that behind the scenes TV crew.  Hopefully I will be through this stage soon.