bought a 67 holiday coupe a few years ago. good title, and...well i had hoped for more. But considering what i wanted to do to this thing. Well at least i wont offend anyone by cutting up a good, rebuild-able car. In fact im saving this one from the Earth trying to reclaim it.
Been cranking on it and found you guys. so i thought i would share my adventure as i go and maybe pick up some tips and pointers on the way.

First...and i hate this question but it really is the most important when building a rod. What are your plans for the car. IE...what do you want to do with it. What do you want it to do...
What do i want?
I want a proMod i can enjoy driving on the street. something that i can take to the track (maybe not race but to at least get there) something dependable, serviceable, amazing to look at, and yet not afraid to drive. something i will be safe in, and the wife wont mind riding in. YOU KNOW A UNICORN!!!

Lots of pictures and text to follow. but for now i have to get back to work.

 

Welcome, have fun, your own way.

 

I knew going into this that this one was about done.


passenger floor. and daylight from the left floor

a few pounds of bondo

I could see it was a 2 speed auto without opening the hood

bondo continues on the hood

i think these are ford wheels...jenky stuff going on here

trunk. the patch on the right is tech screwed straight into the tank.

 

Time to start taking this poor thing apart and see what i have. Then start a plan of attack.


front end apart. found someone interested in the AC parts

found a home for the engine (with water) and transmission

found a home for the frame and suspension

down to just the tub, outer body parts, and title. and about at the break even point on investment

19 layers of paint. beer can bondo repair in the lower rear quarter huge rust in the drip rail.

well now i know why the floors rotted out. gonna need a windshield frame. I think Chevelle is the same (at least at the glass attaching points)

 

I have the drivers front floor from AMD if interested. Just something I'm not going to use. I just welded mine up, mostly pinholes.

 

I haven't started stripping the doors. im sure i will need some if there like the rest of this. Just not ready yet. storage is a concern still (have to keep the wife happy)
when i get to that point i will send you a PM. Thank you. I know a rear clip is going to be needed before paint gets thrown at this thing. the rear window rotted a lot. and the tail lights rusted the body under them pretty hard too.

 

Started cutting floors and rust out of this thing. every time i touch it piles of dirt and rust fall out of this thing. Welded some bracing, the poor thing is getting a little flexible in areas i really don't want moving.


Cut the floors out. Dropped it to the ground, Laid the C5 torque tube and engine at it. the Cooper seats i like and just tried to get a feel for how things could be.

Drilled the inner rocker plates out. Wow the dirt that is trapped inside these.

Ok I think every one with these"A" bodies needs to find a way to flood wash these rockers out and oil or spray some kind of protector into them. the dirt was Inches thick.

this wasn't even a inch thick.

Bondo by this tail light is deep.

pulled the beer can and bondo off this side. It literately flaps in the breeze.

 

I sure hope you got it real cheap beause you will have a million $$ worth of labor and sheet metal invested. You could have bought my sons car that has had all of this work done to it.

 

Hello there welcome to my world. It looks like your handy with some metal and welding work. That was my deciding point on my 64 F85 build. I either needed to buy and learn how to weld or I would not build the car. So I bought a Miller/Matic 190 and took some welding courses. I bought new trunk and floor pans and all the braces and got after it.Once I finished with that, took the car to the body shop of choice and they pulled the body and put the body on a rotisserie. your doing great....

 

looks like those welding skills are coming along great. and a rotisserie even cooler! wish i had the room for 1 of those. your floors look great.

Decided to build a chassis car using the C5 corvette suspension, power train, harnesses, electronics. Then Stance this thing to look like a Promod. Floors i want flat and nothing hanging below the rockers.
Trick is i want to upholster over the cage with enough pad that I or the Wife wont have to wear a helmet.
The plan is to still have this as a street car. Maybe not a daily but a weekly.

 

The rotisserie belongs to the body shop. I replaced the floors, trunk pans and braces, they did the rest of their magic. Seam sealer, a grinding wheel and patience were my best friends. Your build is something that I envy and wish I had the time for ONE more build. ( that's what they all say right? ) I'm about at the end of my career and I'll have the F-85 for a while longer, my 67 resto-mod and 62 Dynamic 88 coupe have new homes now. The 63 Corvette seen I'm going to list on Hemmings soon. Between the F-85 and a 03 8k mile Z06 will be the 2 cars, you can't have the Z for a parts car!!!

 

i have a 98 vette buggy donor for the 67. i have a vid of the wife driving it. i need to build jigs of the suspension and cross members and find out how abused the engine was/is. love the 63. and the 03 both.

 

As you know those LS motors are almost built proof and can make a lot more HP with a few mods and $$ I'll be watching your build to see what is needed to drop the LS in the 67 frame rails. Same frame rails as the 64, they widened them 1.5 inches in 68 on up. Best of luck...

 

sold the frame. But to put that LS into your 64...trans plate adapter (may need a flywheel/flexplate adapter. then a set of mounts. along with all the other swap bs. just don't think its a 1500 junk yard swap.

Complete donor.
fuel pump,
harness
ECU
gauges,
Exhaust
those above mentioned mounts and adapters
fans+cooling system
AC hose conversion
throttle pedal, or cable throttle body
AND that other thing im forgetting that costs $500.00 bucks

I have done a low buck LS swap for 3k but I used the donor harness, ecu, fuel pump, exhaust, built my own mounts etc...
Im building my own frame/cage for this 67 so its gonna be a 1 off/nightmare/frankenstine.

 

Very cool please keep us updated. If I would do the LS swap I would use the automatic trans that comes with it, That said I wouldn't need a trans plate adapter right? Or what am I thinking? Are you going to need to carve on the 67 trans tunnel? Your going to fab your own frame or box and reinforce what you have? On my side of things with my limited, novice skills this would be a huge but doable conversion-challenge. Thanks...

 

If your LS Donor comes with a 4L60. i know that will fit in your tunnel. (its a long turbo 350) and those can be beefed up to deal with whatever HP your in need of
Not sure on the 4L80 nor am i sure about the 6L60 or 6L80 as far as its girth and fitment around the tunnel. would require a walk through the web to find that out.
pretty sure the transmission cross member will need notched or replaced. but if your frame isn't boxed you could just slide it back and redrill. it uses the same transmission mount you have on yours. (or just a standard turbo 350 tail housing mount)

 

Took some time off and dismantled the Vette buggy made Jigs that allow me to put the Corvette suspension into anything. Built a frame table that I can spirit level and start building this 67 on it.


rear Jig going together. Had to figure out a way to map all the suspension attaching points and make the assembly removable.

Got the brake line attaching point, shock, and a tube to show center of axle (to help locate)

Front are rear jigs looking for a frame to attach these too. that's next. Front has the rack mounts incorporated as well.

Jig on 1 side, Suspension it represents on the other. I also learned this suspension layout is super easy to map. Not sure why it hasn't taken off in the hot rod community. Arms, knuckle, bearings, 13inch rotors, and corvette calipers weigh less than 100 pounds. Serious light weight stuff going on.

 

This to me is amazing, to bad your too far away, Id be free help just to learn...

 

some awesome skills my friend, wow

 

Building this as a chassis car, no body mounts (Corvette didn't have any either) so I moved the frame rails to inside the rockers. there is enough room for a 2X3 rectangular tube to fit in there. (this will help with the floor space). good thing the rockers are parallel.
Build the Box that will define the cab. will add the front and rear clips later. Also trying to decide if the C5 mid mount transmission is going to kill my back seats or how bad will it kill them.

Making sure the frame that will define the interior is within a nats azz of perfect (no twist no out of square). this is to be my foundation. the better this is, the better the build will be.

Decided a moc pinch weld lip would be good. it will be a nice jacking point. and a place to weld the new rockers to.

This was a dance of clusters. car is hanging from the ceiling. sometime supported by the bracing. as the cab box frame is slid down the rockers.

Front view of the frame install. when done it will look like it has no frame. this should add 3-4 inches of ankle room to the floor (per side). BTW this took hours of very nervous work to final fit.

OK frame in (not tack welded yet) nice and snug. time to toss some plywood and cardboard at it to see where i want the motor. (front to rear and right bias) also to test console ideas with dealing with the corvette driveshaft tube. (it is a lot like crawling through a jungle gym right now.)

 

I'm on board watching this all come together. It's like a Art Morrison chassis!

 

damn nice work

 

Called my father up to see if he still had my old roll cage bender (one i built about 25 years ago). He still has it and actually just finished with it on his 53 Belair build he is doing. (But that's a different story).
Got him to ship it out to me. Then I found time (or dad) haven't been so kind to this thing. had to fix 2 pins, invent another index marker. and it needed a remote off switch (emergency off), belt guard missing too.
Then i needed some tools, and practice. bent me some chunks of cage too get the feel of this old gal. made me some radius templets and a bunch of angle finders.
Been forever and only had to redo the C-pillar loop 1 time is pretty good in my opinion. i will cut the failure up and use it elsewhere I am sure.


This thing weighs about 600 pounds. Made from a chunk of I beam. Cage tubing doesn't boss it around.

Various angles bent, marked, and used to test fit, angle finders (easy/simple/effective) and some sheet templets to see how the radius will fit (this cage needs to be tight)

first try. It's to short between the bends (bad math, something about measure twice and cut once comes to mind...now)

second try. going good.

this is within a 1/4 inch of the outer roof skin and as far out as the rear window regulators will allow. I primed it with a weld through primer because im not sure how long before the outer skin is removed, and i would like to minimize rust between layers.

Stitched in If you look close you can see it should tuck under the headliner. (Note: all the frame under the vehicle is my frame table)

 

Very nice fab work.

 

Awesome work.

 

Nice work.

 

Distracted from the cage a bit and built me a cardboard wheel tub. Needed to see what kind of space i was left with.
Tossed the 98 corvette wheel and tire at it and took some photos to get a stance feel. added the brace from the C-pillar to the trunk frame.

I am not sure if that little 27 inch tire is tall enough for the look i am after.


Cardboard is my friend. I think every build i have done was done in cardboard first. don't forget the tape

Added the rear brace. love how it sneaks into the sail panel.

98 Corvette wheel and tire in the full up rails on the ground position. clears the cage but just touches the rear glass when its all the way down...

trick of the camera angle to get the murder stance and kinda make it look like its on the ground. still not sure if that tire is tall enough

sure is a lot of nothing going on in here. I guess this is 1 way to get rid of the rust in the floors.

 

B-Pillar was a tough decision because this is a Holiday coupe. how do i make this safe without turning it into a post car...
After going through dozens of cage sketches and nothing strong with that opening...the post won.
well at least with tinted glass you wont see it...
the windshield frame was tough to copy considering how little of it i had.
i cant believe the doors didn't fall off due to the rust inside the A-pillar (the hinge braces were gone)


7 bends to get the B-pillar right (first try though)

notched the interior as far as the window regulator will allow. will have to put some thought into the posts color and/or upholstery.

painted and tacked in. added some upper roof bars, and the back 1/2 cage is taking shape.

Cut the dash and lower windshield out. well just connected the dots between the rust holes.

right down bar was my first attempt at a dual plane bend. (twist) nailed it first try took about 2 hours.

OK symmetry is a bish. the left down bar took 2 days and this is the 4th. It is very close but not perfect. But I am sick of dealing with it. the flaw isn't noticeable until you hit it with a tape (its within a 1/8th) every thing else on this build has been under a 1/16th. Very frustrating weekend.

 

Pretty interesting project, looks good.

 

(i cant believe the doors didn't fall off due to the rust inside the A-pillar (the hinge braces were gone)

IT'S AN OLDS...

 

Looking good, you’re gonna wear out your welder..
rocket on

 

Got the upper windshield and lower windshield bars tacked in and started addressing these rotten A pillars, good thing new Chevelle sheet metal looks to be the same.


I like how all 3 roof bars are hidden in the roof. Hopefully the headliner will cover them.

took 7 little 2-3degree bents to make the lower bar for the windshield

added 4 gussets between the cage and windshield. to fill the gap and to hold the a-pillar in place while i fix the hinge areas rust

Took bends 5 for the upper bar. Removed the outer part of the a-pillar so i can weld in some new steel.

 

man I know it has been said before I can hear your welder Panting LOL... damn your a magician... great stuff

 

I bought a new welder about a year before i started this project (knowing it would get a ton of mileage.) Snapon mig with a 100% duty cycle. last project was channeling a 2004 Colorado 3 inches, custom suspension, seats,column,air ride, and the list goes on. (its my daily)

Replaced the hinge pillars with some new Chevelle repop steel. fits great, if you take your time.
got them welded in. moved to the bottom the the windshield frame (also Chevelle repop) then added a filler panel between the skin and the cage.


measure twice and weld once...if only! measure about 10 times then check with a different tape just to make sure. tack. remeasure, cut it off, measure again, tack, measure, finally got it. got the hinge pillar sitting exactly where i wanted it. (kinda critical if i am to every have good body lines.)

fully welded. will need some cleaning so the seals fit nice.

got the back side welded to the cage, giving the door hinges some needed structure.

How to add a panel that is literately floating in the middle of the air...I found looking at it for a long time, bitching about it to my dad and some how a idea pops in. Vise grip a cute little spacer or 2 in and rest the panel on it. set the glass in and adjust till all gaps around the glass fit nice. don't forget to shim the glass out as well and top to bottom and side to side.

every this is looking good. added a hand full of those cute little spacers (tacked into position)

I am learning that a weld is only slightly more difficult to remove than a bolt...this may not be a good mindset. Built a filler panel to bridge the gap between the panel and the cage.

 

Subscribed, nice fab work..

 

Made a decision to NOT install the C5 Corvette trans-axle in this Cutlass because it eats up all the rear seat space. But i still want the IRS of the Corvette. Additionally a hydraulic lifting system that would not change alignment or suspension geometry sounds fun.
hydraulic ride height, with air ride for ride quality...so build a lift-able rear sub frame..


Still need a IRS thirdmember. scored this off ebay. its a posi too. 2013 Camaro

laid out all the pieces (Camaro diff, Corvette suspension, 12 inch lifting rams, and the reverse suspension jig) kinda got a idea how this is to go together.

Cube frame tacked in along with some test braces. you can see the jig showing exactly where the upper arms and shocks mount. (never enough clamps or magnets).

Tossed some tubing at it got the upper arm mounts in and was able to remove the sides of the jig. the square tubing corner posts will house the rams.

all mounts in and added the Corvette suspension to see if every thing lines up and fits like it is suppose too.

next alignment of the diff and brackets to hold it in. custom Axles will be required to fit a corvette CV at the wheel and a Camaro CV at the diff. i also narrowed it 6 inches...

 

I am just amazed at the talent some people have on this forum. 67 is probably my favorite year. Great work!

 

Yes fabulous work and fab skills I am enjoying your pics and comments thanks for posting

 

truly some mad skills my friend nice work

 

Reading thru this thread again!

I have a confession to make. I’ve been busy w other projects and have been neglecting my car. This thread and others like it had me thinking about my car again and has motivated me to get back on it

thank you I needed that