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Those are some great pictures. I certainly appreciate all the info to about your project. Keep'em coming!
P.S. I have to do my rear end bushings too. I figured I would be able to get them out but now you have me thinking about what kind of tool I need to get/make to get them in.
Those are some great pictures. I certainly appreciate all the info to about your project. Keep'em coming!
P.S. I have to do my rear end bushings too. I figured I would be able to get them out but now you have me thinking about what kind of tool I need to get/make to get them in.
Darrell
Thanks ...stay tuned its gonna start getting good soon.
Waiting on a new hydraulic flare tool to do my brake lines. I did get the wheels painted and mounted the tires today. I can't wait to see the body down over these.
I didn't notice the 67 in any of your photos. Do you still have it?
The 65 has not been moved since I put it in the garage. I have been able to acquire the rest of the trim except for the quarter windows. I also purchased the missing pieces of gravel shield as well as the right vent window and frame. It cost me $200 for everything.
By the way, sorry that you are not going to be able to make the Power Tour. Look at the bright side you are closer to getting your ride done and most important, you will get to spend to quality time with your family. There is always next year.
I didn't notice the 67 in any of your photos. Do you still have it?
The 65 has not been moved since I put it in the garage. I have been able to acquire the rest of the trim except for the quarter windows. I also purchased the missing pieces of gravel shield as well as the right vent window and frame. It cost me $200 for everything.
By the way, sorry that you are not going to be able to make the Power Tour. Look at the bright side you are closer to getting your ride done and most important, you will get to spend to quality time with your family. There is always next year.
I will let you know when I head out to the Christian Cruisers show and you can come see the 66 in person. Its right by your house. It will look a little different than the last time you saw it.
See ya
Take care!
Glad you are able to round up the missing pieces. Have you seen the pics of the red 65 442 hardtop on ROP. It should give you some insparation to get going. Its nothing but perfection.
Have not touched the 67 since we traded. Really have not even started looking at it. My mind starts turning if I look over it and then I want to just do a little something and things get out of hand from there
Its better to just stay locked up in the garage up for now.
Last edited by gearheads78; May 31st, 2008 at 04:48 AM.
Waiting on a new hydraulic flare tool to do my brake lines. I did get the wheels painted and mounted the tires today. I can't wait to see the body down over these.
What size/type rims and tires are you using? They look great.
What size/type rims and tires are you using? They look great.
18 X 10 and 18 x 9 Intro Wheels. The style is V-Rod and the paint I used is Toyota #167 gray with semi-gloss clear. I may end up with an issue on the front. When i mesured for it all the front sway bar was not installed. I was not thinking about it until the ther day. The tires may hit at full turn. i will have to see how it goes. I might have to do some sort of custom bar
Not too much to report today. I had to work most of the weekend but I did get in the garage a few hours tonight.
About a week ago I discovered I have a small problem as I was fitting up the rear brakes. The rotor was not centered in the caliper basket. After a little research on line I saw the other people are running washers or buying a spacer to bring out the backplate. Someone makes one intended for Camaros and Chevelles but it is 3/16" thick. I spaced mine out 3/16 with washers and it was too far. I get it very close to center on my Olds rear with .125" so I decided to make some spacers.
Now that I will bring the backplate out it creates another problem. I had thick spacers made at a machine shop to go between the factory bearing retainer and the axle seal and bearing. Now the spacer will be .125 too short. I'm not going to pay to have them made again so I made spacers for my spacers. Since I already have to cut a hole in the other spacers cut a second hole in the center first and then cut the outer ring. By doing it this way I am basicly making my bearing spacer when I cut the center out of the backplate spacer.
Here is the 1/8" plate marked up before cutting.
Here is the new bearing retainer spacers next to the machined spacer. It's hard to hold the plasma torch steady going arong the circle but they are close enough that a little time on the bench grinder they will be ready to use.
This is me cheating to make a nice straight cut with the plasma. Just clamped a piece of steal spaced away from my line so the torch cuts right on the line.
Here is the rough finished backplate spacer. Little bit of time with a file and it will be ready for a quick coat of paint.
I finally got a little done on the car Saturday. After vacation I hurt my back and did not get anything done since. It still a little sore so I was going slow and taking it easy.
I the task I needed to accomplish is to build brake lines from scratch. I am switching to 3/16" front to rear line to match what was on the car the the brakes came off of. Pre-made lines only come in 1/4" so I just ordered 20' of stainless 3/16. I think it all came out good. I used the factory retainers and added a few of my own. The are Krugel line clamps I picked up at a local street rod shop.
I was origially going to run a 67 dual res. distribution block with a Wilwood proportioning valve. I changed plans when I found that Summit sells a block with a build in valve. I did not want to mount it showing in the engine compartment so I mounted it under the car. I made a bracket that bolted to the original gear selector bracket holes in the frame.
Made a template out of cardboard to get an idea of what I wanted.
I then cut it out of 1/8" plate with a plasma cutter
After drilling, grinding, shaping with a torch in the vise this is the finished piece ready for paint
Finished in semi-gloss black and installed.
Here are the rest of the brake lines installed from the block back.
Last edited by gearheads78; June 23rd, 2008 at 02:13 PM.
Things for been going slow the last few weeks. My boss has been on vacation so I have been working extra to keep up with his duties and mine. Last weekend I selected to completly clean up and rearrange the garage instead of working on the car. It was something I should have done before I started but I was in such a hurry to get going I didn't. Its now laid out much better to tackle a big project like this.
Today I finally got a little work done. I am a little gun shy on my back still so I have been working slow and paying much more attention to how I move and bend.
I did lots of odds and ends that are not worthy of pictures. I did manage to build the front brake lines and get the motor/trans mocked up in the chassis to measure for the driveshaft. I still have to get the calipers powder coated and have the driveshaft built. Once thats done the rolling chassis can be finished up.
The boss did stop in and check on progress. Number one question from her has been "Daddy when are you going to finish the 'vertible" She is ready to start riding again.
When I built the rear brake lines my cheapie parts store bender got the job done. The the front I needed some sharper bends and much closer together than my bender is capable of. I scrounged up some 3/4" all thread and nuts to make up a quicky home made bender. It worked great.
Here is the finished front lines. I will wait for the body to be back on the chassis before building the feed lines.
One thing I was not sure about has how the rear crossmember was going to work out. After mocking it up with the tranmission it place I found out its going to be a cake walk. I will be able to use one exhisting hole and drill one new hole in the frame braket on each side.
Even thought it was only temporary to measure for a driveshaft it sure was nice to see a motor sitting in place.
Pretty work. Both the car and the youngster
I have the same thing going on right now. My new crossmember is 3/4'' taller than the old one though and I'm going from a th200c to a th400 so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to cut and modify the transmission hump too
Pretty work. Both the car and the youngster
I have the same thing going on right now. My new crossmember is 3/4'' taller than the old one though and I'm going from a th200c to a th400 so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have to cut and modify the transmission hump too
Thanks on both accounts
For me its not going to be if I have to cut. Its going to be how much. Not looking forward to the day in the near future that I start chopping up the virgin floor in this car.
hey gear head, your doin a great job i havent been on for like 2 days but i cant stop readin thru this and seeing the detail of what it takes to restore a classic car......im so damn interested, so one day when u just dont have any thing to do and your at "crusin the coast" ,stop by, and lets do my car....seriously lol.. btw, the brake job behind those rims are sweet
hey gear head, your doin a great job i havent been on for like 2 days but i cant stop readin thru this and seeing the detail of what it takes to restore a classic car......im so damn interested, so one day when u just dont have any thing to do and your at "crusin the coast" ,stop by, and lets do my car....seriously lol.. btw, the brake job behind those rims are sweet
Thanks alot. I will need more than a weekend to do you car. You need to set asidea least a week
Its hard to find a place to stop LOL
I was originally going to just do a quick wash and rattle can the firewall. Since I no longer have a target date I took it a little farther. The rest of the engine compartment will look so clean and detailed so I have to make this pretty too.
Used a heat gun and a wood paint stick to get the old undercoating and black body sealer off. The paint stick works good and does not gouge the metal. I left all the original white seam sealer.
I used a DA with 120 everywhere I could and finished by hand in all the nooks and crannies. I then shot it with 2K direct to metal primer. I have some Eastwood chassis black but its laquer and I was afraid if might attack the primer. I will try to find some paint this week.
Last edited by gearheads78; July 20th, 2008 at 08:41 PM.
Isn't it amazing how once you fix one thing to look great then the thing next to it looks bad, then you fix it and so on and so on until it takes on a life of its own, the checking account keeps taking hits, as you look for good replacement parts................The good news is once its done your proud down to the soles of your shoes. Can't wait to see the finished results. Keep up the great work. I am only in the engine transplant stage haven't started on the body of the 57 yet. Winter project will keep me out of the tavern. O'well still have beer in the frig
Isn't it amazing how once you fix one thing to look great then the thing next to it looks bad, then you fix it and so on and so on until it takes on a life of its own, the checking account keeps taking hits, as you look for good replacement parts................The good news is once its done your proud down to the soles of your shoes. Can't wait to see the finished results. Keep up the great work. I am only in the engine transplant stage haven't started on the body of the 57 yet. Winter project will keep me out of the tavern. O'well still have beer in the frig
The sad part is when this all started, although original the body paint and interior were the best parts of the car. Then I am done with stage 1 they will be the worst. I'm going to have a hard time waiting to start on stage 3 which will be the body. Stage 2 will be a pretty nasty 455
This is beautiful work. I wish I had the skills you are obviously in firm command of. Please keep it coming. Actually it would be nice to see others doing a step by step on their projects, so us newbies could learn, and maybe get some good ideas for our own units.
This is beautiful work. I wish I had the skills you are obviously in firm command of. Please keep it coming. Actually it would be nice to see others doing a step by step on their projects, so us newbies could learn, and maybe get some good ideas for our own units.
Thanks for the props. I done lots or individual tasks on a lot of different cars but this is by far the most involved project I have taken on. A lot of the stuff I am just teaching myself by just doing it.
This week after work I have been getting some little parts painted. Rattle canned I few things but did not com out as nice as I wanted so I am using real paint from a gun.
First sand blasting all the old paint and surface rust. I then been hitting with 120 DA to smooth out the basted parts but still leave some bite for the primer. I robbed a floor shift column out of a 66 Lemans. It was really nasty field car piece. Its looking better than new.
Next was a couple coats of 2K urethan primer followed by 400 paper to be ready for final paint
Here are a couple of finished pieces. I am very happy with my results for never painting anything with a gun before. I've used it to shoot some primer but thats all. This is good practice before I paint the firewall.
Nice work, using these parts as learning aids is a great way to work on your painting skills. The prep materials and paints that are available today are easier to work with then the materials we used to deal with. Sure helps keep the costs down when you can do the work yourself. Its the only way most of us can afford to do our builds. Keep the pictures comming, I'm sure gives hope to those who are trying to do a restore on the own car that they can learn the skills too.
Nice work, using these parts as learning aids is a great way to work on your painting skills. The prep materials and paints that are available today are easier to work with then the materials we used to deal with. Sure helps keep the costs down when you can do the work yourself. Its the only way most of us can afford to do our builds. Keep the pictures comming, I'm sure gives hope to those who are trying to do a restore on the own car that they can learn the skills too.
The hardest thing to get used to so far is how much faster paint spreads and flows out. I have gotten to where I can shoot primer pretty smooths but it takes slow even strokes. The paint would be flat running off the parts if I go that slow.
I have only painted 1 car since working in the body shop, so I may be off here. I believe the size of the nozzle will offset that. My habits tend toward moving quickly, so I use a 1.8 mm nozzle. You might want to try a 1.3 or there abouts. Also, paint mfg makes a difference though. I just wish I could have afforded to stay there longer. Id be a lot more skilled and knowledgeable. BTW are there any old bone yards by you that still have the old stuff in them? I've got a 68 cutty that really could use a clean shell. Cars don't like winters up here in the badger.
BTW parts really look nice. Looking forward to seeing her come together. Do you work in a fab shop or something? The quality of your work is amazing
Thank you. I'm just a guy that wants a very nice high dollar car but don't have the high dollars to spend so I have to do it myself. My only official training was working as a painters helper in a body shop after school for about a year when I was in highschool. That was 18 years ago damn I'm getting old.
Painted some more parts this afternoon. These turned out even better than the first batch. With all the odd shapes I have painted I think painting a big panel will be a piece of cake.
i personnally think you are SCARY good .. i am not sure if this post inspires or just really intimidates me... wait i think both ..
And all through your posting you remain modest NOW that is amazing.
NOW seriously , thank you so much for sharing
i personnally think you are SCARY good .. i am not sure if this post inspires or just really intimidates me... wait i think both ..
And all through your posting you remain modest NOW that is amazing.
NOW seriously , thank you so much for sharing
Glad I could help split your personality
Not much of an update as far as progress but did overcome a big hurtle today. I sold the wifes Tahoe so several small parts to buy and, plating and last little bit of powder coating can be done. I mentioned before I got myself out of debt last year. Its been so tempting to just order the stuff I need and pay for it later but I have just been patiently waiting.
I did decide to paint the gas tank since you will be able to see it from the back of the car. Since this was a Northern car it had a ton of undercoating. The normal method of heating up the coating to get off was not the best idea on a gas tank. I tryed several methods but in the end a razor blade on a windshield scaper was the fastest method.
It still took the better part of and afternoon to get it cleaned off. The blade left gouges in the metal So I primed with a heavy fill, blocked with 180 reprimed and wet sanding with 600.
I just finished painting it with dark gray metalic (same as wheel background) and semigloss clear. I think it turned out great. I will have the factory straps plated silver for a nice contrast and detail.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Obi wan,
You are the master. I think it would be an honor and privelege to be your apprentice. Every time I visit this thread I am constantly amazed at the detail and quality you put into your work. Wishin I was there....to learn and help.
Gearhead, you are my new hero. Man, what a project. This has got to be the best thread ever on this site. You should get some kind of award or something. Your fab work is top notch. What do you do for a living? You should pat yourself on the back for knowing your daughter and wife are more important than your car. Alot of guys don't realise this until the wife is done with you and your daughter is grown and gone. Live your dreams man, but keep your priorities where they are now. You're doing great! If it means anything to you I am truly, truly impressed. This should be in a magazine.
Last edited by z11375ss; August 16th, 2008 at 08:42 PM.
Very creative. Did you have any rust issues on the top? if so how did you handle them? P.S. Keep it up man you are kickin it!
After cleaning all the undercoating I sand blasted it and got the little bit of rust off
Originally Posted by Allan R
Obi wan,
You are the master. I think it would be an honor and privelege to be your apprentice. Every time I visit this thread I am constantly amazed at the detail and quality you put into your work. Wishin I was there....to learn and help.
Stop it your making me blush
Originally Posted by z11375ss
Gearhead, you are my new hero. Man, what a project. This has got to be the best thread ever on this site. You should get some kind of award or something. Your fab work is top notch. What do you do for a living? You should pat yourself on the back for knowing your daughter and wife are more important than your car. Alot of guys don't realise this until the wife is done with you and your daughter is grown and gone. Live your dreams man, but keep your priorities where they are now. You're doing great! If it means anything to you I am truly, truly impressed. This should be in a magazine.
Thanks am a make ready manager for a Lexus dealership. Its been my dream since I was a little kid to have a car in a magazine. I hope this one will make it. I almost did a few years ago with my Avalanche. A guy from GM High Performance told me if I would do something custom to the stock interior he would shoot it. I was making a lot better money the time and spending it just as fast. I looked at how much aftermarket stuff I already had on it and the 26K I still owed on it and sold it.
I did get it dynoed on Hot Rod power Tour that year. 379HP to the tires. The ol tank caught a few people off guard.
What the heck got you that much power in the truck? Supercharger?
Yea it had a few bolt ons
That was the first time to mess with boost. The next time was last year with my buddies truck. Simple combo very streetable makes 702 HP. He likes to beat up on race cars with it. Runs 6.50's @ 107 miles per hour. Oh by the way thats at 4200 lb
Thought I would come in a soak up some A/C. My finger tips are sore from sanding all the hard to get at pieces of the firewall.
I found the color of paint I wanted by stopping off at a local street rod builder Sasche Rod Shop.
The painter there was nice enough to walk me through the shop to see if I could point out the sheen I was after. I pointed out something and he gave me the PPG sheet of exactly how he mixed it. I really like it.
Looking for opinons or suggestions
The few std transmission throttle linkages I have been able to find are way out of my price range. I had an idea to just trim down the pot metal piece getting rid of the electrical part and refinishing to look like it was never altered. After disecting it I just could not figure out a way to trim it down and still keep its structual integrity and the needed stops that are built in to the piece.
I then had the idea to just reverse engineer the piece and just make it from scratch. I whipped it up out of wood to get an idea of how it will look. What do you guys think? Leave it as is, change it a little or start over? The is the side the upper part of the linkage will be attached to and pivot on.
May 29th, 2008, 07:54 AM
There is always next year.
