Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Scott Parkhurst · Super Poster

RE: 'Stanitization of a '72 Malibu Vert' Thread

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Looks good Stan………………and Tim, when that floor goes in you will have turned a big corner. When does the frame go in?

Nice to see you wearing the safety glasses and the extra safety supports under the body, I spent four hours in the ER Tuesday morning. Ya, me Mr. Safety, and I had on glasses and a full face shield and still got something in my eye; Doc suggested it came off my gloves when I was removing the face shield.

OscarZ · Mega Poster

Looks good Stan!

Kevin - Sorry to hear about your mishap.

Tim H · Mega Poster

dashboard wrote:
Looks good Stan………………and Tim, when that floor goes in you will have turned a big corner. When does the frame go in?

Nice to see you wearing the safety glasses and the extra safety supports under the body, I spent four hours in the ER Tuesday morning. Ya, me Mr. Safety, and I had on glasses and a full face shield and still got something in my eye; Doc suggested it came off my gloves when I was removing the face shield.

Sorry to hear that Kevin. I did the same two years ago. Maybe I should start wearing safety glasses.

With any luck the floor will be in on Friday then we can cut and replace the trunk floor. After that the frame can come out and head to the powder coater. We're burning this thing up just ask Stan he'll tell you we were on fire

-- Edited by Tim H on Monday 4th of February 2013 07:13:57 PM

OscarZ · Mega Poster

Reminds me a little bit of a funny car.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Houston... we have a floor!

Just needs some patching on the toe boards, and it will be good as new.

Then on to the trunk pan!

Tim H · Mega Poster

If anyone needs some boiler plate I'm cutting the custom trunk out now. It should lighten up the car by a few pounds.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Tim H wrote:
If anyone needs some boiler plate I'm cutting the custom trunk out now. It should lighten up the car by a few pounds.

Here's a pic of the 3/16" thick steel plate. It has to weigh 75 pounds min. and that's not including the 25+ lbs. of dirt and rust that came out with it!

And here's what's left after the floor is out:

Then on to seperating the body from the frame while the frame gets blasted and powder coated and the trunk floor pan in installed:

Lost in the 60s · President

Making progress. With the crash damage evident on the left cowl, I would get the frame checked on a rack to see if it is tweaked before paint/powder. Gonna need some mount washers welded in to. Common issue with these cars.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Going to make it?

http://www.gopherstatebuick.org/

I only ask because it’s been our traditional spring kick off show for the last few years. Seems we always go there to freeze our butts off, we pick up a few parts then go home to spend the night trying to get warm.

Looks like your all in now; did you get the frame broken down?

SShink · 3K+ Club

Lost in the 60s wrote:
Making progress. With the crash damage evident on the left cowl, I would get the frame checked on a rack to see if it is tweaked before paint/powder. Gonna need some mount washers welded in to. Common issue with these cars.

Yep, there's a plan for the body mounts that are rotted/rusted out. As you said, common issue after 41 years.

Kevin, my goal is to have it on the road with some short trip miles on it by mid May as the wife and I would like to drive it to Lincoln, Nebraska for the Hot Rod Nationals that are the last weekend in May. Her niece also has a graduation party, so it would be a great road trip for the resto. Not sure if it will be ready for the Buick show, but I'll have my long underwear ready just in case!

Yes, the frame is broken down now thanks to Tim's impact wrench, and a patch is going in on the drivers side corner, but other than that no other issues.

Lost in the 60s · President

You planning to drive the Elky ?? You have a long slog ahead with the Buick too.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Ya right………I’ll keep slogging along but the Buick won’t be ready, I don’t even expect the bumpers back from Keystone until June.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Finally have some time tonight to post some pics from the work last weekend.

Tim's buffer was busy on the frame and it's ready for blasting and powder coating. All the rust has been cut out and patched, and the body bushing mounts repaired:

I spent some quality time at the blast cabinet, then primed and painted lots of parts:

Also primed and painted the 8.5" BOP 10 bolt that I bought from Chris P. which Steve S. rebuilt for me with a posi and 3.08 gear set. It should be a nice setup compared to the 8.2" 2.73 gear 10 bolt that was under the vert. Thanks guys!

Finally starting to feel like progress is being made!

SteveS · Super Poster

Looks good Stan! I was impressed with how stout the BOP 8.5" was. Thick axles with press on bearings instead of C-clips, it should work great for you.

67ss · 1K+ Club

You can swap the cover from your 8.2 on to the 8.5 and nobody will know it to be any different. One of these days I hope to finially get around to building the one for my car.

SShink · 3K+ Club

As Tim put it today, 'Two steps forward.... and a half step back.' Tim made great progress on the trunk pans, but found some more rust pinholes on the outside of the rockers and a few other places that will get patched.

The frame, a-arms, trans mount cross member, and inner fenders are at the sandblaster/powder coater, and should be done by the end of the week. So, we'll bring the frame back to my cave for reassembly while the rest of the body panel work is finished. Then, the rolling chassit goes back when the body is ready to be dropped back on for the trip to Maaco hopefully later this month.

Dashboard, Pushrod, and Scott (new member) stopped over to check out the progress, and all they could say was wow, WOW, and wow....

Tim was able to patch the area below the windshield by using some sister GM car panels, and it turned out great. It's funny that there are patch panels for almost every part of a Chevelle except this area. I did see patch panels for 66 and 67's, but nothing for 68-72's. Nice job Tim!

And now there is no longer a big hole in the trunk! The 3 piece kit worked out great, and it just needs the braces, and we are waiting for the trunk valance panel to show up next week, then it can be finished off.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Lost in the 60s wrote:
Sectioning in just the corner of the quarter panel is a tricky job...

Yes, the man has skills like yourself Mitch! to both of you.

That corner panel came from the drivers quarter section of a Chevelle that I got from Bryan. And, there will probably be even more of it used before it's done. Thanks Bryan!

More progress, as the frame, a-arms, trans cross member, and inner fenders are at the powder coater and hopefully done this week:

-- Edited by SShink on Wednesday 6th of March 2013 09:59:54 PM

Tim H · Mega Poster

Not quite up to the project that Mitch has but a little metal replacement also

Lost in the 60s · President

Sectioning in just the corner of the quarter panel is a tricky job...

gearlube · Active Member

Good thing Tim is only charging Mexico labor rates!!!

Tim H · Mega Poster

A little closer. It was a rat rod see the nest.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Tim's buffer has been busy this week, and the rear quarters are now all cleaned up and have new metal:

The rear of the car is going to be totally rehab'd by the time Tim is done with it!

Spent some time this weekend painting more parts and putting new brake hardware and pads in the rear end:

BEFORE

AFTER

And starting on some of the engine part detailing:

SShink · 3K+ Club

A little more progress tonight. Finished up the rear axle brakes and installed the upper bushings. It's ready to make the frame a roller.

Painted the steering linkage and it's ready to go:

SShink · 3K+ Club

The brown truck brought a dash goodie today. The in dash tach!

In the dash:

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Sure like that tach!

Lost in the 60s · President

dashboard wrote:
Sure like that tach!

I can hear the gears grinding on how to put one in the Buick....

Tim H · Mega Poster

And the tach has no rust I like it.

Lost in the 60s · President

Tim H wrote:
And the tach has no rust I like it.

Tim H · Mega Poster

Started a little lead work.

Lost in the 60s · President

You are waaaaaay beyond my level with that.....

SShink · 3K+ Club

Santa and his red Chevy truck pulled into the drive way this morning and brought my present... a powder coated frame, cross member and inner fenders! I do feel like a kid at Christmas morning. This means we are turning a major corner, and will hopefully have the body back on the frame and going to paint soon!

Thanks again to Tim and his buffer for fixing up the frame as good as new, and all the other things he's done on this resto.

I know what I'll be workin' on today!

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Looks great, can't wait to see it in person.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

dashboard wrote:
Looks great, can't wait to see it in person.

x2

67ss · 1K+ Club

Going to have a brand new car when you get it all done. Looking really good Stan.

bowtie · Secretary

Your garage is a mess. Get it cleaned up. :)

dashboard · 2K+ Club

I saw it today and it looks great, even put some parts on it!

SShink · 3K+ Club

bowtie wrote:
Your garage is a mess. Get it cleaned up. :)

Yeah Bryan, I've been avoiding it... but I'm going to need to starting bringing painted parts into the house to get organized. Tina's going to love that!

SShink · 3K+ Club

Buffers R Us was busy this weekend and the firewall and underside are more or less done:

And I got a little bit of suspension assembly done:

And I learned a really cool trick from Tim to install front springs without any weight on the frame at all. I put the upper a arm spindle nut on with 3 or 4 turns, put the spring up in the upper a arm pocket, then brought the lower a arm ball joint up into the lower part of the spindle and got the nut on a few turns, and it was all done! Only had to pump the jack a couple of times under the lower control arm, and there was plenty of thread for the nut. It helped that the springs are 1" lowering springs, so they weren't as long, but I've been told this will work with even stock big block springs. Thanks for the tip Tim!

Lost in the 60s · President

Body looks nice with all that new metal. Those 1 piece floors just look like original...

Frame has come a long way too. It will be ready for the body in no time...

66 RAT · Vice President

You're not going to want to get your new car dirty by driving in the rain!

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Who did the powdercoating? It looks really nice.

BLyke · 1K+ Club

Hi Stan,
the car is looking good i have been watching the progress but had somehow got my account messed up. thanks to John i and back on and can post comments again. when mine is ready for the CAC i will need all your work and then some.

Tim H · Mega Poster

Chris R wrote:
Who did the powdercoating? It looks really nice.

JIT in Lakeville

Tim H · Mega Poster

BLyke wrote:
Hi Stan,
when mine is ready for the CAC i will need all your work and then some.

Oh Stan's car really didn't need it, it just wanted it

Tim H · Mega Poster

just about done

SShink · 3K+ Club

Been some progress made this week in the evenings... More pics at Tim's:

And some progress on the chassis:

The plan is to get the body back on the chassis early next week, remove the bracing, a little clean up, and then off to paint by the end of the week. I can't wait!!!

Lost in the 60s · President

I dunno, looks like you're building a trailer queen...

Tim H · Mega Poster

Lost in the 60s wrote:
I dunno, looks like you're building a trailer queen...

kinda looks that way but sagly he'll probably put more miles on his Chevelle this year than you and I will put on ours combined.

-- Edited by Tim H on Saturday 30th of March 2013 06:37:09 AM

SShink · 3K+ Club

HUGE progress today!

Got the fuel, vent, and brake lines mounted up so the body could be put on:

Then it was time for a barley pop, open the cave door, let in some fresh air, and sit back and soak in the chassis vibe.

Then Santa showed up in his red truck and took away the chassis to bring it back together with the body:

We rolled the body outside and hooked up the engine hoists:

Dropped on the hockey pucks aka body mounts:

Rolled the chassis under the body:

Almost there:

And back on all fours again!

I learned a ton in this process, and everythng went back together without any issues thanks to Tim's skills.