Ranzan

Looking great Rob keep the pics coming

therobski

Here are a few pictures of the dash board restoration, every nut and bolt was removed. There is a old fashioned hardware store nearby that has alot of different fastners etc-helped . Alot of detail and time went into this piece-and a BIG learning curve. The body is still not pulled yet but maybe by mid-April I will have it home and start on that but in the meantime just grabbing interior and other parts and restoring. Have not decided to spend the $$$ and have the speedo restored since it worked when I took it apart.

gearheads78

Looks great Rob!

vista461

That is a beautiful dash

Warhead

For the silver on my dash, and on portions of the front grille (the parts that do not have exposed chrome) I had an extra can of Eastwood's "Tank Tone" that made it look great, with just a wee bit of texture. It is also great for hiding not so slight imperfections and scratches.


Great job on yours, looks like factory.
Big learning curve, steel wool is chrome's friend.

Keep up the good work.

Jim

therobski

Yes indeed steel is great, just bought a new bag of 000 and 0001. Will start ot polish the chrome wiper headlight switches etc.

panos

Looks really good ,wish i had the resources here to make mine look that good!

therobski

Panos I used to work for HemoCue for 15 years! Large plant in Angelhom. Been there! Stayed in Helsingborg at the Clarion Grand Hotel. I used a Chevelle "matte" finish maroon paint for the dash-same color for F-85 Cutlass, I will use this for the darker "matte" finish on the metal part of the outer dash and the kick panels.The flat black and silver choices I used were recommended from 442bro.com. And as mentioned steel wool, 220 sand paper, paint remover, SIM's or other vinyl prep. masking tape, exacto knife and lots of love and patience.

panos

Wow! i didnt know that,Angelholm is about 30-45 min. from where i live
Small world we live in! The problem i have is that my rustbucket will need a frame-of for sure the dash is the least of my worries (putting a 500hp BB in it doesnt make it easier for the frame) Car was sold new here in Sweden and it has been here for all of its life so you can imagine that it had a much harder life than its us brothers plus it had 29 owners before me,i liked the body style and decided to save it from the crusher.It is really not that easy to get parts for those cars here ,especially body parts and now i realize why the last owner decided to live it to the junkyard and let it be crushed,but im not giving up yet!

therobski

Sweet the body is on the rotiserie, new pictures!! As you can tell I'm stoked! This Sunday I will bring the chassis back home and start the restoration, Plan is at this point is to build the rolling chassis while the body is at the restoration center. Plans include a late model GM 8.5 10 bolt posi unit 3:91 gear, going to box alot of the frame and weld in rear upper control arm reinforcements and a very heavy duty rear sway bar. 60-72 front disc brake set up, The frame, front upper and lower control arms, tranmission cross member, front inner fender wells, springs etc. all powder coated, quick ratio steering box, 1 1/8 front sway bar. Will post and add for parts needed soon, like the front sway bar mentioned WS6 Firebird will work, 8.5 GM rear, 85-88 Monte Carlo SS steering box etc.

therobski

Few more pictures, Dam wine I need a 68-72 Cutlass front disk brake set up.

dc2x4drvr

Lookin' good Robert, your frame looks fairly rust free in the pics. The rustbucket has came a long ways Next time take a shot of the "headquarters building".

therobski

Here are some shots today-balancing the rotiserie....

Warhead

Looking good, Robski.
I went to a 72 setup from a local wrecking yard on my 65, & a new rebuilt vacuum booster for a 72 also (large diameter).
I just installed the front inner fender wells for the first time, and it hits the booster. It bolted in, but absolutely NO clearance.
For all the hassle I went through...just get a MP conversion kit.
JMO
Good luck

Jim

therobski

I feel your pain, however this buggy will run on manual discs (in the front)no need for the master brake booster, not a problem, like you will not fit anyway. If you need P/B check out the Corvette nuch smaller (9 inch)

Othaiii

Excellent, making good progress. We are finally making some progress since the weather broke. Holdup on my trunk as the company shipping the center pan got a little confused and sent a floor brace instead. Oh well, the common pains of the restoration business. Attached are some pics of the Holiday Coupe. Had to recover the front seats, a real pain, must have been doing something wrong. The back seat was remarkable, about an hour's worth of cleaning, it came out great. First couple of coats of paint on the engine.

Love the post car!

Keep you progress reports coming, it motivates me.

therobski

Last several days since my last update spent a lot of detail time restoring the glove box door, the heater controls, the rest of the dash switches and I spent an additional 12 hours with a needle scaler on the underside of the body and removed all the 47 years of undercoating. This is called "sweat equity at it's finest" Doing so revealed more swiss cheese under the rear seat floor area. Although not bad at all we may remove as much rust out of the pores as possible hit it with rust encapsulator then cover the small areas with fiber glass sheets. If it were a 64 442 post car I would order new panels and cut these out but since it's not and this build will cost a fortune as is. Prime the floor and install some type of sound deadner/insulation-like Dyno-mat After preparing the underside it be finished with a fresh undercoat and the rear wheel wells included. As you can see the restoration guy striped the top and was applying rust encapsulator at the time of the picture was taken. So we are moving along.

therobski

More pictures and I have the chassis back home.

Othaiii

Looking great! Excellent! I'm installing the new center trunk piece this week. Had a little set-back with a cam issue, chain and fuel pump. Hoping to resolve this week. Trying to get the frame & suspension ready for a car show the first weekend in May.

By the way, what color was the drive shaft, some folks have told me a cast aluminum color, others have told me most everything was blacked out on the 60's cars.

Take care and keep those pictures coming. I've attached a few of my progress.

therobski

RUST! but your right it was black.

therobski

Star date 4/28/2011 the resto shop found more Swiss cheese on the lower qtrs. Has to make patch panels, body is now stripped on the rotisserie. Meanwhile at the home shop I have degreased the front end and used the needle scalier to remove the undercoat. Just waiting to borrow buddies new spring compressor, then off to get the frame sand blasted and powder coated. Looking on line at front end kits, disk brake set ups, springs, rear ends etc.

therobski

Few more of the body work.

dc2x4drvr

The rust is keeping Phil very busy..looking good.

stan 65 cutlass

git er done, weather is gettin better

therobski

Stan except for high winds, tornadoes, floods, the 107 plus tempurature in late July, August here is almost good 10 months a year to wrench.

Ranzan

Rob how did the needle scaler work?
car is coming along.. what kind of time frame for the bodyshop?

therobski

The needle scalier is one of the best tools I have for this car. I bought it at Harbor Freight Tools I think for around $30.00. Extra pack of needles are only $4.00. My compressor stays on constantly but keeps up. Forget removing undercoat with a heat gun scrapper, oven cleaner. It works great removing scaly rust and undercoating. On removing undercoating I have noticed it's best to work on shaded areas where as the sun heats the undercoat it's not as effective. It's a life saver.

stan 65 cutlass

shade? sun? heat? none of that around here yet. its still cold eneough here the undercoat is crispy. great tool tip rob, ill keep my eyes open for one. always room in the tool box for a good tool that works

Ranzan

puck me.......... now you tell me Rob...
I migt have to get one for the collection

therobski

Star date 5/15/2011, a lot going on in since the last update. The needle scalier has been very busy removing all the scaly rust and 47 year "olds" undercoat off the frame. I figure the cleaner I can get the frame the better for the sandblaster and end result. The drivers side frame rail in front where it starts to bend inward (where the front door and fender meet) needed repair. I bought some 10 gauge hot rolled steel for the job. A friend of my came over a we fabbed 3 pieces to fix the spot and boxed it in making it much stronger than when it left the Olds plant in 12/10/63. Then I boxed the rear frame rails behind the rear end " dog legs". Today I am going to finish needle scaling inside the frame rails, hit it with some rust encapsulator and may box those sections in also. Then off to the sandblaster and powder coat. Then before starting re-assembly I'm going to use Eastwood's Internal Frame Coating W/spray nozzle and coat the inside off the frame with rust encapulsator. http://www.eastwood.com/internal-fra...ay-nozzle.html I'm so sick of rust on this car!!! Now for the good stuff-Ready to install I have a complete Hotchkis front and rear suspension, Hotchkis front and rear springs, A Moser 9 inch with the N-center section, upgraded yoke, 3:50 gear and QA-1 double adjustable shocks and a Jeep Grand Cherokee steering box I'm going to send off for a re-build.

stan 65 cutlass

thats a cool can o paint, thats what ive been looking for for inside my trunk lid and roof and sail panels. another good one rob

Jocko124

Coming along very nicely Rob.

therobski

Thanks guys. Today pretty much finished up with the scalier, used up a few cans of GUNK engine cleaner on the front engine area/upper a-frames, cross member. Hit with a power washer with the narrow 15 degree nozzle. After drying I hit the open inside frame areas between the front and rear wheels with rust encapsulator because the plan is to box in 8 inches on either side of the center body to frame mount. Once it's welded that area will miss sandblasting and powder coat. Then as mentioned when I get the frame back I'm going to hit it all again with Eastwood Internal frame coating. I will take some pictures of this procedure once complete. I HATE RUST

64Rocket

What is the deal on the jeep steer box?

Gene

therobski

64Rocket , the JGC steering box is an excellent choice to really updgrade the steering abilities of these old A-body cars. (Power steering cars)Inexpensive too. There is alot of info on this swap out there including other boxes that will also work. Search this site or google. If you cannot locate the info let me know. If you are still running the 64 box, it will be like night and day.

therobski

Got the frame home, learned a very simple lesson-if you are going to use Eastwoods Internal frame coating, do that before you send the frame off for powder coat. The coating shoots out of the holes in the frame and drys VERY fast, I had to take some thinner on a rag and wipe it off. This week going to install the Moser 9 inch and Hotchkis rear suspension, will take uo date the pictures.

therobski

Installed the Moser 9 inch, the QA1's and the Hotchkis rear components. I put the wheels on to help move the frame around and give it a little more stability before I tackle the front end. And to give me visual sign I'm starting to get somewhere. However still need to install rear brakes. I think I am going to order the MPB rear drum set up. Very nice they come complete with 11 inch finned drums, and the rear parking brake already assembled. Lots of pics to follow. Any ideas, suggestions or questions just ask. It's been one hell of a learning curve!!!

therobski

Will work on front end this weekend.

Project Grandpa

Rob, your build is getting better by the day. BTW, I chumped and threw on a set of 72 Monte discs on it versus the Jimmy SLE twin pistonson the 65. Just can't do the 126 degree outdoor heat right now.

dc2x4drvr

Glad you were able to get the control arms on, lookin' good!