Here are a couple photos of the transmission. I did try the Eagle1 Aluminum Wheel Cleaner on the top of the case that appeared to be stained. Unfortunately it did not come out that great. As a result I decided to paint the entire case with UHT Ceramic Aluminum paint I picked up at AutoZone. I am pretty happy with the results. The paint coats really well and after some masking off, the trans looks better than new. I now need to stencil the OG on the top and it will be good to go. Anybody have the stencil or font and size?

This weekend I am going to try and lift the body from the frame so I will take some photos of the process for those who are interested.

Sean

 

The past couple of days I spent getting the remaining components off of the frame before I lift the body (rear control arms, e-brake cables, etc,…). I also removed all body mount bolts so now it should simply be a matter of lifting the body off.

I also removed all of the stainless trim and drip moldings. Removed the windshield.

In preparation for the lift I went and picked up three 8ft sections of 1.5"x1.5" 1/8"WT square tubing to use as the body support once the frame is pulled out from underneath.

I was having issues pressing the control arm bushings from the rear arms so I found a great neighborhood shop that is going to use their shop press to help. Funny thing is the shop is headed up by an old motor head and his son. They build drag cars and apparently hold the time record for their class. The shop is S&S on Westhiemer and they frequently have some nice cars they are working on. The cars I saw were a pair of Shelby Cobras, a tricked out 66 Nova SS and a 68 Firebird.

I also found a shop that will blast and powder coat the frame for $600 (Allied Powdercoating). I figure that is a pretty good price and saves me the time of doing a POR-15 job.

Saturday I hope to post the body lift process in detail. Until then…

Sean

 

Sean:
Yeah the S&S guys are big into classic cars. Ray, the service manager has a huge collection of classic cars - it seems like he has a car for each day of the year. His son has a '70 Rallye 350 (maybe a clone) with the yellow bumpers and wheels. I live right down the street from their shop and see this car from time to time. One time, Ray gave me a tour of the "back room" where they build their engines, and make a lot of their own parts, intakes and headers; I drooled so much they needed to mop the floor - LOL.

Can you recommend a good rear end shop here in Houston? I have all the parts (new carrier, bearings, gears, etc) and was going to give this a try myself, but work is crazy busy right now and I just don't have the time. Pyle Bros in Baytown came highly recommended but I hoping to find a good shop a little closer. Thanks!

Rodney

 

Rodney,

Funny you ask because I am in need of the same. I need to replace the highway gears in my O-type but cannot find gears anywhere. In addition, I was hoping to have done this already but, I think I will be looking around town for someone to help. It can be a time consuming job and it must be done right the first time. Let me know if you find someone. I may ask Ray at S&S as well.

Sean

 

Sean:
Contact Jim at JD Race about your "O" gears, he often lists good, used gears. He's Monzaz here at CO. I bought my gears and carrier and all the install parts from him at competitive prices (cheaper than Summit) but I have a corporate 8.5" 10-bolt so I didn't have any trouble finding gears.

I've talked to Plyle Bros. about installing my gears, they are highly respected in the race community, and their price was good too, but I don't have time to drive to Baytown and back, twice. I'm considering using National Transmission on Griggs Rd because they're close to my shop, but I need to stop by and chat them up first. Let me know how Allied does with your frame, I'm considering them as well (because they are close to my shop).

 

Rodney,

I reached out to Jim a couple weeks ago and no luck. They truly are a hard set of gears to come by.

Sean

 

Today was huge. I finally got the body lifted off the frame.

I used an engine hoist, chain, cinder blocks, 1.5"x1.5" square steel tubing (for support of body) and series of jack stands.

Here is the process I went through.

1. Attached chain to front body mount pockets on lower front of firewall.
2. Using the hoist slowly lifted body about 4" above the frame.
3. Using 5 cinder blocks on each side of the body I slid in the steel tubing under the front of the body (about 4' from the firewall.
4. Slowly lowered the frame using a floor jack then supported the front of the frame with two jack stands.
5. Moved the hoist to the rear of the car and attached the chains through the truck latch bracket.
6. Lifted the body off the rear of the frame about 4" and slid the steel tubing under the body just in front of the rear wheel wells. Supported on both sides with jack stands.
7. Lowered the front of the frame onto a 1000lb wheel dolly.
8. Pulled frame from under the body and out the back.

This took about 4 hours in total and I did it by myself. I bet if I had some extra hands the time would be cut to an hour.

After the frame was out on the driveway I then blasted it thoroughly with a pressure washer to remove all the road gunk. I uncovered the frame stamps as well. Not sure how to cross-check these, any ideas?

The frame is now going to be sent out for blasting and powder coating to Allied Powdercoating.

I am pretty psyched with the progress of the car and can't wait to get things back to start assembly.

Sean

 

More photos...

 

Nicely done!! Where did you find the stampings shown in your 2nd set of pics?

 

The frame stamps were on the section supporting the trunk. One on the top, the others on the outer face.

Sean

 

Impressive and well done.

 

I decided to swing by the shop doing the motor rebuild (Faerman Racing Engines) today to drop off a water pump and check on the progress. They had the motor fully disassembled and cleaned and it appears the crank was in such good shape no grinding is necessary. Hard to believe a 45 year old car had an engine that was abused as so many are. I dropped off a check to get parts ordered and we talked about what all I was have done.

Summary:
Standard master rebuild kit
Step above stock cam from CompCams
Roller tip steel rockers
Valve job
Intake and head porting
Balancing

All in all we hope to push close to 400hp out of the motor when it is all said and done while looking stock from the outside.

Funny thing is that when I arrived they were in the middle of disassembling an engine from a GT500 that puts out around 600hp in hopes of getting it to over 1100hp on pump gas. Gotta love clients with deep pockets...

Sean

 

Hey Sean:
Is Faerman located on Pinemont? I was driving through that area last week and I thought I saw a shop with Faerman on the front.

 

Yes. 4200 Pinemont just East of TC Jester. Definitely worth stopping by. Denis and the guys there are very welcoming and down to earth. Highly recommend them. Plus they are not too pricey when you consider what they provide.

Sean

 

Yesterday I had the frame sent over to Innovative Coatings on Pinemont where it will get blasted and hit with two coats of semi-gloss black powder coat. I should have it back in time for Memorial Day weekend. Then the assembly can start, can't wait.

Today I got all the bushing pressed onto my front control arms with a little help from a rental press from Autozone (saved me about 150!). I also cleaned and prepped the rear control arms and hit them with two coats of POR-15. Tomorrow will topcoat and press the Urethane bushings on.

While at Autozone I picked up some Aircraft Stripper as I have heard that this is a quick and easy way to remove body paint down to the bare metal. Well on a test area in the deck lid it did not work as I had hoped. Just bubbled up and got down to the primer and not without a little elbow grease. Does anyone have experience using this stuff? Do I need to load it up or do it in multiple coats? If it doesn't pan out, I will just do it the old fashion way with the air sander.

Sean

 

Be careful using aircraft stripper as some contain Methylene Chloride, which is a carcinogen, and needs to be used in a well ventilated area with rubber gloves and a respirator...change the filters frequently as they only protect against the fumes for a short time.

 

Thanks. I made sure I did the test outside and fully gloved and covered. Since I didn't see the results I was hoping, I might just resort to the traditional method of stripping the paint.

Sean

 

Usually the stripper takes several applications, it will raise some coatings and make some primers liquid. It works best when applied as very heavy coat and you want to put in on with one brush stroke and not re-brush it if possible. Do it in a shaded area and covering it with some type of plastic film will help if it is hot out and to keep it from evaporating quickly. I use old cardboard scraps under the panel, let everything gather on that and then set it outside to dry before disposing it. Wear thick gloves and eye protection, stuff will burn your skin and no flip flops or sandals.

 

So I went by the powdercoater today to check on the status of my frame and some other loose parts. He had it in the oven curing but after some time, it came out looking perfect. The first shot is sandblasted, second it primer coat and third is final coating.

The guy is not only very much a perfectionist he also is really affordable. The frame and about 15 others parts were all coated for $600. I thought that was a good deal for sure.

Sean

 

Sean:
I stopped by Innovative Coatings on Monday, didn't know your frame was there (I thought you were using Allied). I started talking about my project and frame and Bernard showed me your frame before blasting. I too was impressed with Bernard (and his price). I read a few not so good reviews about Allied and decided to look elsewhere even though they are a min drive from my workshop. When do you plan to pick up your frame? I'd like to stop by and see Bernard's work with my own 2 eyes.

 

I have a truck picking the frame up tomorrow around noon. I wanted to have it back for the long weekend so i can start installing the suspension. Hope you can check it out before then.

Let me know if decide to get your stuff done.

Sean

 

Sean, that frame looks great. What else did you have powder coated?

 

I also dropped off all the engine brackets, front bumper brackets, jack pieces and some other small odds and ends. I will post photos this weekend of everything once they are back home. Well worth the money.

Sean

 

This weekend I cleared out the garage to accommodate the newly powder coated frame for assembly. Once it was on jack stands I started with the rear suspension assembly. First, the rear control arms were painted with POR-15 then Energy Suspensions Urethane bushings were installed. A little trick for getting the bushings installed was to place all bushing components in the freezer over night to allow for slight shrinkage. Believe me this helped a lot. I then installed all arms and new OEM springs and KYB shocks. The rear took about 4 hours in total to get installed.

The next day I started work on the front. I purchased the front disc kit from Right Stuff as well as the bushing kit. The first side took about 4 hours in total since the coil spring was being difficult to get compressed (using a spring compression tool too…). I then repeated the same for the other side. I am very happy with the results and I think the car already looks like a beast. I have yet to do a test fit on my factory 14" SSII wheels. I have heard comments as to whether they will fit or if a 15" set will be necessary.

The next steps will be to plumb the brake and fuel lines and install the new drum brakes on the rear. I am eager to get the car back rolling so maybe by the end of the week….

I think I am heading to San Antonio to pick up a core support and possible some wheels next week.

Sean

 

This weekend I got a lot accomplished with the car. First, I removed all staples from the front inner wheel wells and cleaned once again in preparation for paint. I purchase some adhesion promoter and satin black paint from SEM. After a couple of coats they came out great. I also did the same with the air dam.

Next was the drive shaft. I began by first degreasing then wet sanding with 600 grit until the surface was clean and smooth. I then primed and painted with caliper paint that was a mild metallic grey. The color turned out nice. I also uncovered the original stripes. I found two (one yellow and one turquoise). The yellow stripe started 17.25" from the end and the turquoise was 21.25". They both were 1" in width. After the base coat dried I simply taped off the stripe areas. I need to hit it with a couple of coats of clean tomorrow but the results so far are great.

I then finished the front suspension linkage and installed the rear brake lines. I am waiting on some all new front to back brake and fuel lines from ILT at the moment so may take a couple days off.

I hope to have it rolling this week so I can roll it out and back it in to drop the motor and trans.

Sean

 

Looks good, that frame looks like it was pit free before you started, looks really nice.

 

Yeah, the frame was pretty solid. Body is pretty good too. Just some rust around the rear window frame.

Sean

 

Sean:
Man that frame looks nice! Looks like Bernard's work is pretty good. I'm trying to clear my schedule this week to drop off my frame on Wednesday, and then take my rear end to Pyle Bros. in Baytown to set up my new posi and gears. Figured if I had to rent a trailer I might as well make the most of it! Did you have Bernard powder coat any other parts, i.e. brackets, pulleys, control arms, etc?

 

I had him coat my frame, engine brackets, pulleys and some odds and ends (jack parts and bumper brackets) for $600

 

Enjoying your build Sean looks great so far

 

About 2 months ago I sent my carb off to Sparkys after countless CO members recommended him. He finally was able to get to the restoration and it is all finished and on its way home. I was thoroughly impressed with his work. Yes, you could essential do this yourself but it is tedious and messy and requires special cleaners and plating capabilities. Well worth it if you ask me. Check out the photos he sent me...

This will arrive just in time to get mounted on the finished motor. Hopefully next week I am doing a full dyno pulls. I am pumped

Sean

 

Nice!

 

Sean:
That carb is a work of art, you even got its own pedestal to be displayed - LOL. Is the cad plating applied on the inside of the carb as well as the outside? I wonder if this helps with the ethanol corrosion problem with today's gasoline?

 

Not sure about the plating as it pertains to the corrosion prevention but, it is coated inside and out. That is the great thing about Sparky, he takes the entire carb apart and each piece is cleaned and plated. He even did a thread repair on the inlet using a heli-coil insert.

Sean

 

Do you mind if I ask what was the cost?

 

Total to do the carb including an additional heli-coil threading on the inlet and shipping was $525. I think his pricing is on his site but you can always call to confirm. Still worth the money in my opinion.

Sean

 

Thanks to my Brother for making the trip down to Houston, we made a lot of progress on the car. After buttoning up all of the brake and fuel lines we got the wheels bolted on and for the first time in about 4 months the car is rolling. We then moved the car out of the garage and spun it around so we could drop the motor and trans in from the driveway. I should have the motor back soon and will finally get the drivetrain bolted up.

Sean

 

No real work on the car this weekend but, I did manage to find a really straight core support locally from a guy that has a ton of Olds parts ranging from blocks and head to wheels and interior items. I will certainly be returning when I get further along with the assembly.

If you are in the Houston area and want to reach out to the guy shoot me a PM and I can give you his number.

Sean

 

Sean:
Are you still looking for better rear gears for your '69? I met a guy this week who has an early type "O" rear end complete with a 3:23 posi. I'm gonna go see him this Saturday. I believe this rear would be correct for your car, if you're looking for OEM originality. Although your current VC rear with the 2-1/2" wide brake shoes should give you better than stock braking. Let me know about the rear end and I'll snap some pics for you.

Rodney

 

Rodney,

I am definately interested in seeing some photos and finding out what he wants for the rear so please do share the info. I contacted Jim (monzaz) this week as he has some 3.42 gears but I need to verify the carrier I have to know if they will work. When I restored the rear I never was able to find the two-letter ID code that would indicate the ratio but I may have to do a more thorough search now. I dont really want to crack the cover to inspect but, I may also have to do that.

Thanks for looking out.

Sean