Johnd

I bought the covers from Vader, but they were made by PUI, so were the springs and foam. I ordered the chrome piping and headlocks for OPGI but ended up sending them back because they were crappy. I ended up getting them through Fusicks.

Allan R

Yikes! It sounds a lot like 'These are all new seats' with only the frames being original? Great looking results though. If the rest of the car comes back looking like the seats, you're golden.

Johnd

Thanks Alan - I'm hoping the rest of the car comes out this nice too. I spent the day at the shop in NH cutting the passenger floor out. I will be heading back up next weekend to cut the drivers side out and hopefully we will have the new pan at least spot welded in next weekend. I will post a few pictures of the rough cut tomorrow.

RAMBOW

Nice work! Feels great to be able to say "I did" when people ask who did your interior!

Johnd

Rambow - I couldn't have done it without your help. Your pictures and input were a huge help

Johnd

I spent yesterday at the shop in NH having the passenger floor pan cut out. Attached are a few pictures of the rough cut in and the new floor pan. We will be working on cutting the drivers side out next weekend. While out I will be treating the inside rails with POR 15.

Johnd

I got a call this morning from the guy I buy parts from in RI, he had a black dash come in yesterday, so I drove up this afternoon to check it out. The dash is out of 1970 F85, so it has no wood trim or bead around the top. Aside from a small imprint on the top from where it was leaning against something it is perfect, the radio has never been cut, there are no cracks or scratches in the pad or plastic piece, and I got the glove box door too.

Boilerz25

John,

When you are repairing the floor pans, are you lap welding or butt welding the new to the old? I ask because I think I may be doing the same and not sure how to proceed.

Thanks
Sean

Johnd

The guy doing my welding is going to recess the old floor pans and weld the new ones in the channels. He said when he is done you will barely be able to notice the repairs from under the car.

Johnd

I spent the weekend in NH working on the car. The olds floor pans are cut out, the supports and top of the frame painted in POR15, and the new floor pans have been trimmed into place. This weekend we should have the rest of the interior floor welded in and the trunk pan cut out.

RetroRanger

Wow not much floor left in there! What did you guys use to cut out the old floors? Good thing it's a long weekend you guys will need it good luck w the new floor install!!

Allan R

Shouldn't that amount of floor removal all at once have bracing to keep the body/door alignment?

Johnd

We did the rough cut with a grinding wheel and the finish cuts with a cutoff wheel. As for bracing, the car is still bolded to the frame and we didn't cut into the rocker, so flex shouldn't be an issue. I can't wait for all the rust to be gone. I also found a set of 70 fenders that I will be picking up over the weekend. The drivers side is rust free and the passenger side has a small patch. This should be all the metal this car needs

Johnd

I spent six hours in the car and $65 in gas going to look at a set of 70 fenders in CT. The passenger one had been patch but had a huge hole cut out for an antenna, and there were a ton of dings on the top. The drivers one was supposed to be a rust free original, but it too had a patch and a ton of bondo. I would have been really pissed if I ordered them from ebay without seeing them.


So if anyone has a set of rust free 70 fenders they want to unload shoot me an email digregorioj@Comcast.net

RetroRanger

John there was a set of 70 fenders recently posted on boston CL, Ill see if i can find the link and post back here...disclaimer IDK the seller or anything about the parts...

last year I made a 4+ hr roundtrip to CT for a "good running 350" when I got there it had 2 dead cylinders wonder if it was the same seller ?

Johnd

Went up to NH again yesterday. We ended up taking the car off the jack stands, rolling it out, and pressure washing the transmission, crossmember, and other areas that are tough to get at with the floors in. Overall, the transmission looks pretty nice, I was able to find the casting code of 11/69 and the tag is correct for my car. Once we blew everything dry, we rolled it back in, put it on stands and screwed the floorpan in so it can be welded. Unfortunately, I cut the passenger side of the firewall about 1/2 in too short, so I need to order a toe patch. When I pull the motor in the fall, I will fix the firewall area, so it can't be seen. I also finished the passenger bucket one night last week, so all the seats are complete. I will take pictures later this week of the complete interior

Johnd

Here are a couple of shots I took after pressure washing the transmission and other parts.

RetroRanger

John here's the link to 70 fenders on cl idk anything about the seller or parts

http://southcoast.craigslist.org/pts/4471735347.html

Johnd

Thanks RetroRange - I found this link last Thursday but wasn't sure if it was the same one you were talking about. To make a long story short, I talked to the guy on the phone and he said they were really clean, so I asked him to send some pictures. The drivers side had the lower section patched and was coming a part, and the passenger had a good size dent that had been filled with Bondo. The car has a long way to go before paint, so I will keep looking for a decent set of fenders and doors.


Thanks for the heads up though - I appreciate how people on the board try to help each other out.

RetroRanger

Yeah you can never tell... Re sellers version of really clean VS buyers version of really cleAn. It's funny sometimes you answer an ad and find exactly what want/needed and in better shape than you hoped ....other times well you know the drill .....your build seems to be moving along nicely tho keep up the good work!

Johnd

Well I went up to NH and helped finish welding in the interior floor pans. Overall, they came out nice with the exception of a small area on the passenger side toe kick. I found a patch for that area and ordered it last week, so hopefully we will have that in next weekend. I also cut the trunk floor out, I can't believe how many spot welds they used in the trunk, there must have been about 100. I am heading back up this weekend and will take some pictures of the interior and trunk. One question I have for people who have replaced floor is what did you do after they were replaced? Did you paint the, use under coating, or some type of ryno liner on the inside? I know they will be covered by carpet, but I want to make sure they never rust again.


The only other areas to tackle are the front cowl and rear window area. Once this is done, there will be no rust left on the car and I will have a solid foundation to start the restoration.

Johnd

I made it back up to NH over the weekend and took some pictures of the floor pan after they were welded in. I still have some grinding to do, seam sealer and a top coat of eastwood rust prevention. While I had the floor out I also replaced all the body mounts, which only took a couple of hours. The only problem I ran into is the passenger side of the floor doesn't meet the brace near the transmission, about a 1/2 inch gap. It was getting last, so we decided to hold off until next weekend to see if it could be tweaked. Not sure if it is the aftermarket (AMD) floor pan, the brace bent while I was climbing in and out of the car, or we didn't stretch the metal enough. However, the other weld point all line up and are tight, so I'm not sure what the deal is

Johnd

I still need to go back and to some final trimming, remove the old welds, and coat the braces with POR15. The new floor came with braces but the old ones are very solid. I am amazed at the condition of the rear quarters and drop off areas - no rust at all. I do need to find the plug for the drives side though.

Allan R

Looks like you're ahead of the game - great progress! Can you help me with something? I'm having some issues with my rear sway bar (and by coincidence it has the W27 cover just like yours). What I'm curious about is how many shims were used to install it, and whether they are all on one side or not. Other thing I'd love to know is the distance between the bottom of the diff and the top of the sway bar. Any chance you could take pics of them and post the info? I'd really appreciate if you could.

That right side brace looks like it might have to be replaced too. How much metal does it have left?

Johnd

Hi Alan,


I cheated on the picture for the right side, there was still a small section of floor I needed to take out - I just wanted to get some pictures of the drop off area. As for the swaybar and dif cover, I will count the shims when I am up there next Sunday, take some pictures and measure the clearance.


It is the least I can do after all you have done for me

ROCKET VAPOR

Inline Tube makes them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/68-69-70-71-...item255955dcb0

Johnd

Thanks Rocket - I just ordered them from the link you sent

Allan R

Mine are all gooped over with some kind of sealant. Is that normal or should I be cleaning that off? Don't know if it was factory practice to seal up that way or not?

Johnd

Alan,


The more I dig into my car the more I find there was no rhyme or reason as to why things were done. A good example, when replacing the body mounts, the ones in the center of the car had no bolts - even though the fasteners were visible when the pans were out. On my core support, there were only 3 bolt holes tapped for the front grills versus the normal 4. On my car, the passenger side had this plug but on the drivers side it was filled with seam sealer. My uncle was the head of the UAW in the 70's and several of my other uncles worked on the line, they said it wasn't uncommon for them to take parts for other model cars to finish the production on time. One of my uncles was colored blind and said he use to mix up the red and brown mirrors all the time - good thing he worked on the chevelle line


JD

Allan R

LOL now that's funny! Sounds like the old Johnny Cash song about the "one piece at a time" Cadillac.

What factory produced your car?

Johnd

What's funny is one of them was over at xmas and I had just picked up the car - he was showing me all the jobs he did


Installed high beam switch - mine didn't work
Installed read window trim - we have all seen how rotted out mine is
Installed wiper motor - mines dead
Installed front windshield trim - we have all seen my dash


After giving him crap for about 20 minutes, he stopped telling me what he did at GM - he worked at the Framingham, MA plant and my car was built in NJ so I know it wasn't him.

costpenn

John, now THAT is restoration work! Most people would have thrown in the towel on those floors and had someone else do it- keep it up!!!

Johnd

Joe,


I have a buddy who does welding and has restored several old Cuda's (I keep telling him it means Cuda bought a 442). He is doing 90% of the metal work I am more or less helping and supervising. He told me if I bought the car he would do all the metal work for food and beer. He had no idea what condition the car was in. I am hoping to have the floors finished this weekend, trunk floor the following weekend, then moving on to the trunk lip, rear window, and cowl. I just ordered a couple of cases of Eastwood Encapselator and under coating and plan on bombing the car to prevent future rust and any old rust from coming back.


JD

Johnd

Hi Alan,


I check the clearance of the swaybar and it is touching the rear differential. There are also no shims on either side.


JD

Allan R

John, maybe one of the others can chime in on this but I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to touch the differential. I appreciate you checking that out for me. My rear sway bar is almost touching the diff, with about 1/8" clearance - and it has 2 shims on each side.

Johnd

Have a problem with the new floor pans.. Long story shot, I recently installed one of the two piece floors in my 70 442 and ran into two problems.One, the floor pan doesn’t meet the front brace on the passenger side.The second problem is the toe kick doesn’t go up high enough on the firewall.The toe patches for a 68 to 72 are the same length as the existing floor, so they do no good.I found ones that are longer but they do not include the hump for the transmission.The ones for a 64 to 67 and 68 to 72 4 door are the right length but the tunnel for the transmission isn’t the same (I ordered one).So I am trying to figure out the best way to fix the problem.Do I use the new floor pan I found that stops before the toe kick and try to use the 68 to 72 4 door toe patch and modify it?Do I buy the new floor and firewall and install both?Do I buy the new firewall and floorboard and only section in the part of the firewall that is needed?Or do I do nothing and just patch the hell out of what I have. The issue on the firewall wasn’t rust, we cut it too short when installing the new pans.
Any help, ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
JD
Two piece floor I installed
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-72-CHEVELLE-GTO-CUTLASS-442-2PC-FULL-LENGTH-FLOOR-PANS-W-TRANS-TUNNEL-/400664863330?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &fits=Model%3A442&hash=item5d497ca262&vxp=mtr

Toe patch 68 to 72 – these are too short
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1968-72-CHEVELLE-GTO-CUTLASS-442-2PC-FULL-LENGTH-FLOOR-PANS-W-TRANS-TUNNEL-/400664863330?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &fits=Model%3A442&hash=item5d497ca262&vxp=mtr
Toe patch 68 to 72 (longer) – no transmission tunnel
http://eastcoastchevelle.com/productview.php?cat=sheet metal&id=1361992447&sectionPID=1

Toe patch 64 to 67 and 68 to 72 4 door – the transmission tunnel is different
http://www.ebay.com/itm/64-67-GM-A-Body-Front-Floor-Toe-Board-at-Firewall-Patch-Panel-PAIR-/251258346788?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessorie s&fits=Model%3A442&hash=item3a802a1d24&vxp=mtr

New Floor
http://www.ebay.com/itm/68-72-GM-A-Body-1pc-Interior-Standard-Floor-Pan-NO-BRACES-NO-SUPPORTS-Dii-/330698403000?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &fits=Model%3A442&hash=item4cff292cb8&vxp=mtr

Firewall
http://www.ebay.com/itm/68-72-Chevelle-Cutlass-Firewall-for-models-with-A-C-Air-Conditioning-Dynacorn-/390128637895?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories &fits=Model%3A442&hash=item5ad57a97c7&vxp=mtr

Johnd

I went to NH over the weekend to look at the car. The gap between the floor and brace on the passenger side is 1.5 inches and the firewall needs about a 2 inch patch all the way across from where it was cut. The guy doing my welding doesn't want to replace the floor pans or firewall, and unfortunately I don't feel like dumping money into with the way the floors and firewall are now. So the choices are to part out the car and loose about 8K or find a new welder and spend 3 to 4k to get the firewall and all the other rust fixed. The wife suggested I just sit on it for a few months and just not think about it. I'm not sure what I will do now - I am just bummed that a numbers matching 442 has been screwed up so bad.

costpenn

I think you have a very wise wife. You will still have those options a few months from now, and maybe some other way of dealing with this might strike you.

Johnd

Here are a couple of pictures of the floor pan. The outside firewall looks like ***** which I could live with but the floor brace is bad. My buddy just wants to cut the metal, bang it down, weld in a patch, and cover it with under coating, which would be fine if I wasn't planning on dumping 20 to 30K. I am shopping around to find someone to replace the firewall and pan, as no one makes the toe kicks to go over the transmission him for 68 to 72 - they have them for 67 but they don't fit, I tried.

Johnd

Thanks for you feedback and advice. I went to NH over the weekend and made a deal with the welder, he could try splitting the pan as several people mentioed, but if I hated it he would put a new pan and firewall in. After about 4 hours he had it to a point where I can live with it, and it touches all the brace. I need to drop the driveshaft and exhaust next weekend so I can get in and clean up the under side. Overall, it really doesn't look that bad. He is going to spray the top and bottom of the pan with 3M Shultz which dries like a rock and will hide some of the repair. Next weekend we will work on the firewall patch.