Well, after 22 tears of driving and waiting I am finally tearing into the 65 convertable. So far, so good--it is coming apart with only a few rusted fasteners. The first 2 pics show her on Monday eve December 7 09. I have worked on her each night after work and have about 12 hrs work so far.The last 2 pics were taken Wednesday night after working on her.3 nights of work. I now have the firewall completely clear including the wire harness. I will keep you all posted on the progress. I am very excited to get this project going after all those years!

 

Good luck!...Always fun tearing into a project!

 

Looks like your project has good bones. That helps alot. keep the pictures comming. Good luck

 

Mike,
Needless to say, you have a beauty to start w/. It is a good feeling to start something that you've thought out over a long period of time. It's also good to have a well thought out game plan in mind, as you're not just tearing into it w/o a pretty broken-down idea of exactly where you're headed and an idea in your head of what your final outcome will be. Two nights ago, my brother asked me about afew ideas I brought up in relation to my project w/ the 455 going into my '62 Ford p/u. My reply was that, it's not like I haven't thought this out a million times in the last fifteen or twenty years. It does make a big difference when you've thought a project out over a long period. You not only have your idea/plan as to where you're going, but f/ sure where you WON"T be going w/it.
Are you taking the entire body off the frame, doing a complete/total restoration/modification? From my experience, I feel that patience is a monster-big part of a good project. Getting in a hurry can make a mess out of things, and may have you, in the end, sorry f/ leaving something out that was over-looked along the fast pace. I'm only relating, out loud, to my many projects over the years. Looking back objectively, like always, thinking weather certain doings were worth doing or worth not doing.
Since I'm new to the site, I wouldn't know if you previously posted any info as to exactly what your plans are; different engine, daily driver or Sunday car, etc. My plan, in short, is to completely assemble the truck w/ the new drive trane and make it 100% driveable, and then tare it completely apart and go through the whole thing, logically, system by system.
I saw something only two days ago that I had never seen before, having to do w/ keeping rust from forming and/or going any further on your vehicle. It was on the show "Truck You," and was an electronic anti-rust system that is hooked up to the battery and connected to pads all over the vehicle to electronically keep the ride rust free. Hell of a thing. I plan on looking into it online just to find out all the particulars. I see no reason f/ it on my new project, but ie on the '71 Olds 98 I have, the rust on the back window is also inside the roof in that area, and IMO, a very tough place to entirely clean up properly. I'm thinking that this electronic anti-rust system would work well in a situation like that, as maybe it would keep the rust that isn't gotten to completely from continuing it's destructive path.
Thanks f/ the thread and I'm looking foreward in following it as you go. No rush and Good Luck.

 

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Yes body is coming off the frame and I plan on cleaning up and detailing the frame, 2 coats of por 15 and a top coat of flat black POR. The fire wall will be flat black and the radiator support and fender wells satin black. (Still deciding on semi or satin but I am thinking satin,comments appreciated.) I am not looking to make it a 100 point show car--just a beautiful driver so I may clean up the firewall dimples to make it look nice. I have 2 clean fenders for it which I purchased many years ago from Hemmings. I also have----get ready to drool-----a brand new, in the original box---rear trim peice (between the tail lights)which I also found in Hemmings about 20 years ago. It was bought from a dealer lot of parts where someone ordered it in 1966 and never picked it up. I paid $100 bucks for it back then--now it is probably worth nearly as much as the car in its present condition. Although I am tearing into it fast I am being careful to plan my moves. I have been around long enough to know 1 thing leads to another and then another 10 things. It looks like I am going to go with a 383 stroker crate engine and a new tranny to match. I need some advice on the drive train. Does any one have advice on the tranny I should choose? The car has a 3.08 10 bolt posi rear adn I want to match that up with a Th400 or TH350. I have heard I may have to tunnel the floor for a 400. This is the kind of thing I am trying to avoid to keep the cost down. The 350 would most likely be fine for my use. The motor I am looking at is 420 horse and 440 tourque so a good 350 can handle that but if the 400 is better and no tunneling is required I may go that route. There is also the issue with the console so I need to look into that. Any advise or comments are appreciated!!

 

Looks like you've got good bones to start with. Please keeps posted.

 

Nice start, whats in it now ? 330 ? I wont give you any guff about a Chebby motor. Hope you take bunches of pics along the way.
Fun to watch this one!

 

Rut Row....Better stick with the body and chassis part of the build. Some guys are known to tar and feather guys with non Olds motors.

I just went through a similar build last year if you want to look through the thread. Just click the link below about 66 my way.

 

Good luck man. I wish you all the luck in the world. Heh I'm in the process of doing this to my '65 also

Oh and something a noticed, your upper radiator hose goes to the passenger side vs being on the drivers side like mine. Don't know if it means anything, it just stood out to me.

Best of luck!

 

I did put a 4 row A/C radiator in it a few years ago when I did the heater core.The original 3 core radiator seemed to run hot so I figured it could not hurt. I I detailed the interior heater box at that time also so no need to go there again! Tonight I removed the entire interior with exception of the front carpet. I could not see how the gas padal disconnects from the floor, getting late so I left it for tomorrow. I am going to post a couple pics of the condition of the floor--pretty good except a crude older repair where the center floor support is missing.This was no surprise as I bought it knowing this condition.

 

lol at least your floor isn't fiberglass

**not a lucky one**

 

TH400 fit just fine in my '65 convertible. Only thing that had to be done was to relocate the mounting points on the frame for the transmission cross member. You'll also have to figure out what you want to do for a shifter... I assume you have a 2-speed in it right now.

 

Best of luck on the resto. Hope evrything goes easy but they never do. Keep us up todate with pics. I am not one of the purists (unless you have a car that is extremely rare) so I think a 383 w/ 400 is a good choice.

 

nonhog,
Yes it has the 330 hi comp with 4 barrell carb. I recently found some specs stating it has (had at one time) 315 horse and 360# torque. Pretty respectable numbers.
Thanks for that advice mongoose. What did toy do for a shifter? I have the console with only P R N D and L and the 350 and 400 are 3 speeds.
Today I removed the door panels some trim, starter and exhaust.I also got a few of the body mount bolts off. Going back out now to get the shift linkage off and the speedo cable disconnected. It won't be long before the motor and tranny are out--maybe tomorrow.

 

By the way to answer to geraheads and others who may be purists. The original engine and tranny will stay with the car. The rest of the restoration will be pretty straight forward and I wish to retain as much originality as possible without spending stupid amounts of cash.This car should be very easy to return to original (restored) condition by rebuilding the motor and trans and reinstalling them. I have had many years to mull this over and the fact that with the economy the way it is the crate motors are 3 to 4 k and have a 30 month 50,000 mile warrantee. You can't beat that.The rebuilding of the motor is a major project on its own and with all the unforseen costs I feel I can get to the finish point easier and with less unforseen costs with the crate motor. Plus the 420HP sounds real fun.

 

Also-- I am thinking about Magnaflow dual exhaust with x pipe and headers. Anyone have some advice on headers???

 

I'm not a purist but a bunch of people here are. I was just giving a warning to have flame suit zipped.

 

For the shifter, I wanted to make sure I used the factory console, without having to cut it up in any way. I used the shifter hardware and linkage (meaning switched from the rod linkage to cable) from my old 68 442. I also modified the detent plate so that it performed similier to a "Rachet-style" aftermarket shifter. Seems to work good... never skipped a gear or gone into neutral by accident when manually shifting.

I keep in the back of my mind that I'd like to find a good after-market shifter with reverse lockout, etc... but it'll have to have the right dimensions to accomodate the shifter slot... shifter arm width and range of travel from Park to 1st.

 

Motor and tranny came out tonight.Body of the frame next. Hopefully tomorrow.

 

I am considering installing a rear sway bar. Does anyone have a diagram on how the factory sway bar was installed? I see some holes below the axle at each end.My factory manual does not show it or I have not located it in the book yet--still searching.

 

Sway bar mounts in the rear control arms. You need aftermarket arms or or box plates to modify your arms.

 

You would be amazed with what you can do with a little cutting and welding of aftermarket parts mated with factory parts. In my 10sec 1998 TA that looked like an average 13sec stock car I set up an aftermarket shifter with the a reverse manual valve body and trans brake. Looking through the window of even sitting inside the car it looked like a stock shifter and console.

 

Body is off the frame.
It was hoisted off and is sitting on jack stands. Any one have an idea how much the stripped body, with doors and trunk lid still on, weigh? I need to figure how many buddies I need to lift it onto a flat bed. (Roll back-- so the bed goes to the ground like a ramp) It seems to be pretty heavy.

 

There's a pic in the latest Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine of 6 people lifting a '70 Chevelle from a donor frame and putting it on the restored frame. Hope this helps. Good luck with the project.

Matt

 

I would say 800ish lbs. make sure to have lots of guys if you are doing it by hand

 

Good luck ,tearing into a 65 coup myself .

 

Nice looking project.
You should start a thread on it

 

We also have a few project 65s going over at this board.

http://ultra-hi-comp.proboards.com/index.cgi

 

Update on my progress.
No real surprises on the sheetmetal repair needed. The trunk is basically gone and the floor had only the center support and the floor section above it gone. It was repaired long ago and although it was welded in fine--it was done out of many overlapping pieces. The remainder of the floor was really solid so I decided to leave it and only patch the bad sections. I had repro floor pans so I cut out the pieces I needed and now have the correct contours on the floor. The other floor braces are pretty good with the exception of the areas near the mid body mounts. I also found a couple of small,old repairs to the frame in the area to the front of the rear wheels. I can see in through factory holes in the frame that the rusted areas were small. Was there a problem with the center brace material or something?? The rest of the floor is so solid it looks like there was some reason this brace self destructed and the others are good.

 

Thanks for the update ! We will need more pictures, you know that right ?

 

For the shifter plate mod--did you grind out an area of the plate for a space for third gear similar to the attached drawing? I traced the plate and marked the area I think I need to remove. Attachment to come soon--I have to figure out how to resize the PDF.

 

Here is the attachment.

 

I didn't modify the detent plate in the stock 2-speed shifter to work with a 3-speed. I don't know if that would work or not, considering the rod-style linkage of the 2-speed shifter, and the "throw" required for the 3-speed transmission. Not saying it's not possible, I just didn't go that route.

I used a 3-speed shifter that came out of a '68 442, which was already designed for a TH400 transmission. I wanted the shifter to perform more like a ratchet-style aftermarket shifter, so I used the factory detent template from the 3-speed shifter as a template (similar to what you're doing), and then made a whole new detent out of flat stock.

If you are trying to retain the factory 2-speed shifter, I would think you would have to wait until you had the TH400 mounted in the car, attach the linkage (if possible) to the transmission, and then (with the detent removed) move the shifter through the gears to see where the shifter will stop at each gear. It will probably take a lot of "fanagaling", but it could work.

Gearheads78 (or someone else) may have an even better idea.

 

Here's an aftermarket company that sells a kit to modify the 2 speed shifter to a 3 speed. They may have some other options to consider.

http://shiftworks.com/cutlas.htm#cutlass66

 

Cool! Now there's something that didn't exist 24 years ago when I did my swap. That is definately a nice alternative to have available.

 

That is great info--thanks. There seems to be more and more aftermarket items available. Maybe waiting the 23 years was a good thing afterall!

 

I ordered the kit from Shiftworks in NY. Shipped and received promptly--looks good--i will update when I install.

 

Good luck with the project. Sweet looking motor!