Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

Lost in the 60s · President

New patient in the Chevelle hospital

Lost in the 60s · President

I gave the car and trailer a bath yesterday and let it dry overnight. they look much better today.

I was able to pull the trailer ahead with a floor jack far enough to unload the car without using the pickup and having the door open for 10-15 minutes in -10° weather.

Used the winch to control the roll rate.

Not having the trailer attached to the truck made it interesting, as the back tilted all the way to the floor and the tongue came off the stand. Oh well, the increased angle encouraged the car to roll off that much better.

We used the winch to pull the car up yesterday too. I really like that winch, but the cord is about 10 feet too short for working by myself. Maybe someday I will take the time to lengthen it.

And all done unloading without losing all my heat. It's about 10° above now, so I will hitch up the trailer and get it out of the way this afternoon.

Derek69SS · Founding Member

Looks like he brought it to the right place. :)

I need to get a winch on my trailer... don't know why I'm still loading dead cars the hard way.

Lost in the 60s · President

This is 1 of 6 areas he wants repaired. This got a LOT more involved once I knocked all the loose undercoating off.

First step was to get it stripped down to the gown and get it on the operating table

The old car looks decent on the outside, but it's quite rusty underneath. Still has the original spiral shocks.

All that over-applied and cracked undercoating had a bad effect on the inner wheel house. More on that later.

Left rear wheel body mount that wouldn't come out.

Next step was to remove the bumper. I documented the bolts and washers.

Lost in the 60s · President

I got out the basic instruments necessary for extraction of the bumper mount bolts.

But, of course, the 4 main bolts had other ideas about co-operating, so I had to get out the induction scalpel. Few fasteners have ever argued long with that tool.

This pic is for Jim. That washer is absolutely flat and has no serrations on it.

It still has the rubber dust/ water shields. It looks like they cut used tires for this, that they most likely got for free.

Lost in the 60s · President

Then I got another extraction tool and went after the body bolt. There wasn't much left of the bottom washer and after a bit of hammering on it, it mostly disintegrated and pushed thru the frame hole.

The inner wheel house after knocking the loose stuff off. Dang, looks like swiss cheese now...

Lost in the 60s · President

SShink · 3K+ Club

Nice job Mitch documenting with the pics and commentary. I know a lot of people (including myself) enjoy learning from them.

That trunk looks amazingly nice other than the rust areas.

Glad you're taking the approach that this is a time capsule and not just ripping into it. I'm sure Chris P. appreciates it too.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

Thanks for the washer photo Mitch, notice how it fits exactly between those indents in the frame. Also nice photo of the bumper splash shields, how many stapes are holding them one? AIM shows 4. Do you think they are origional? Nice old Main Motors emblem along with the AAA. To bad about those inner and outer wheelhouses. Hopefully they are better near the rear floor area along with the crossmember.

you will have to make note of the filler panel paint to Dale and the other experts on TC, maybe a plant specific thing or front end damage with replacement panel with repaint, I replaced my bumper, filler panel, grill, and radiator and fan blade a year or so after I bought my 66 new in 65 after hitting a big dog; it was around -25 So I just drove home at the hwy patrols suggestion. hopefullythose are just stuck on side markers on the fenders and quarters. Looks to be another club meeting in Stillwater.

-- Edited by jim larson on Wednesday 3rd of January 2018 12:18:27 PM

-- Edited by jim larson on Wednesday 3rd of January 2018 12:19:27 PM

67ss · 1K+ Club

The marker lights are not stick on they are through the metal and wired into the parking lights. They will be coming out and patched over, I don't like them at all.

Lost in the 60s · President

67ss wrote:
The marker lights are not stick on they are through the metal and wired into the parking lights. They will be coming out and patched over, I don't like them at all.

They appear to be original GM for a '68 Camaro...might be worth a few bucks on ebay...

Too bad they didn't use '69 Chevelle. They are small enough to look decent.

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Looks like Chris should upgrade to a boxed ElCamino frame and shorten to fit.
I just happen to have one in stock.

Slippery slope of restoration.

"it would be sooo much nicer if"

Karl

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Looks like Chris should upgrade to a boxed ElCamino frame and shorten to fit.
I just happen to have one in stock.

Slippery slope of restoration.

"it would be sooo much nicer if"

Karl

P.S.

Mitch bring your "heatolator" to the brunch, maybe the plasma cutter too.

Lost in the 60s · President

more ambition than brains wrote:

Mitch bring your "heatolator" to the brunch, maybe the plasma cutter too.

Oh boy, you just made my day...I need to cut something with the plasma...

67ss · 1K+ Club

more ambition than brains wrote:
Looks like Chris should upgrade to a boxed ElCamino frame and shorten to fit.
I just happen to have one in stock.
Slippery slope of restoration.
"it would be sooo much nicer if"
Karl
P.S.
Mitch bring your "heatolator" to the brunch, maybe the plasma cutter too.

Karl I already bought one of your parts with a good frame. But that swap is going to be down the road.

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Soooo much stiffer if it was the boxed frame

Karl

Lost in the 60s · President

More progress yesterday. The patch pan was about 1/2" short of reacing the wheel house at the drop.

Then John came over and fixed the holes in the inner wheel house...

I thought we should maybe, do something a little more permanent, so we ended up with this. I modified the edge of the pan to line up with the wheel house before cut it out, but it still needs a section welded on to reach the drop flange.

Going to need to fab up a couple flanges to replace the missing ones on the floors.

bowtie · Secretary

nice job. looking forward to seeing it rolling on pavement next year.

Lost in the 60s · President

Chris came over Sunday and worked on fabing replacement flanges for the inner wheel house. He got to learn about using the stretcher jaws to make radius's. The car went from this..

to this...3 new flanges, ready to be welded in today.

I cut out a rusted section of a floor support and got replacement flanges ready and fab'd up a rough copy of the body nut cage.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

Progress is good Mitch is that the cage from next to the front seat? Thinking that might have a different set up than the other cage nuts and even had a different size bushing.

67ss · 1K+ Club

Jim do any of your books have a paint code the fawn interior. I need to try and match the 4 speed steering column to the rest of the car?

jim larson · 2K+ Club

I am in Phoenix now; but I think the Fawn interior could have come with different exterior colors. I think the interior was painted the same as the exterior except for the B/W interior. I just ordered the black interior paint from James Hinshaw in a spray can. I believe the upper dash is the same paint except less gloss.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

http://chevellestuff.net/1966/interiors/int_paint.htm, this might help

Most painted at 60% gloss except part of dash under windshield, new fed regulation in 66.

-- Edited by jim larson on Tuesday 9th of January 2018 01:45:55 PM

Lost in the 60s · President

The interior is 706 A...Medium Fawn
I'll see if my painter can come up with a mix code. He is working on getting the dark and light for mine.
Your painter buddy in Circle Pines may be able to obtain this for you too.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

This site has a wealth of info on all the gm exterior and interior colors.

http://www.autocolorlibrary.com/aclchip.aspx?image=1966-Chevrolet-pg01.jpg

Lost in the 60s · President

Got the wheel house fitting fairly well. Still needs final tweaking to be where I want it, but it's a little more progress.

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Purty!

Lost in the 60s · President

Sunday, I got out there and welded the trunk pan in and did more fitting of the inner wheel house. I modified the pan 1 last time before welding to relieve some pressure from the house and the 2 pieces fit much nicer and have a rounded appearance.

This morning, I finished welding in the 2 trunk pan replacement flanges. John drilled more holes to plug weld and final prepped the inner house. I screwed it in place for the last time and turned John loose with the welder. I'm pleased with the final result. The 2 pieces are pulled together tightly and the house to pan seam looks really nice.

While John was welding and grinding, I was working on the floor pan patches.

I made use of a floor pan I only cut a small section out of for my '66 to patch Chris's. I welded the edge at the rocker and hammer formed it down over the old floor .

Moved back to the front patch that required rebuilding the flanges on the support brace.

Cut a patch out of the floor pan, but it wasn't long enough to cover the entire hole, or rust holes ahead of it. I'll cut another piece next time to finish the hole at the brace.

Making progress...and the cave I made to protect the interior.

Chris S · Active Member

It’s coming together nicely.

Nice work Mitch and John!

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Purty to Beautis!

Larry Lucast · Active Member

Very Nice! Such skill.

Lost in the 60s · President

On Tuesday, I remembered Chris had mentioned a soft spot in the left front frame area behind the wheel, so John and I looked at it to see what the story was. One glance and I was "oh crap !!" we were done for that day, so I decided all work on sheetmetal was stopped until the frame was reinforced. I got done with work early today, so I dug into it. I was going to cut plates and weld to the frame rail, but after hitting it with the air chisel to knock the loose stuff off, there wasn't anything left to weld to. I cut oversize plates and went to good metal beyond the holes and welded the plates together instead of the frame. I had to cut the bottom of the fender off for access with the welder and then a slight cut in the fender mount of the cowl and it all fell off. Sorry Chris...

By welding the vertical seam and about 1/2" of the 2 horizontal, the metal was warm enough to hammer form around the curve, welding and hammering as I went.

Then I rolled underneath to do the overhead and it wasn't going well and I ran out of gas, so I could justify quitting for the day....2 1/2 hours. About another 1/2 hour or so tomorrow and this will be done.

-- Edited by Lost in the 60s on Thursday 18th of January 2018 09:17:10 PM

OscarZ · Mega Poster

Great work as always Mitch! Does your new patient make you miss the GTO? :)

Lost in the 60s · President

OscarZ wrote:
Great work as always Mitch! Does your new patient make you miss the GTO? :)

No Mike, my current Chevelle had enough rust problems to deal with that I was reminded of the GTO all the time. I am glad for the experience gained from the GTO and have used it extensively since...

dashboard · 2K+ Club

more ambition than brains wrote:
Looks like Chris should upgrade to a boxed ElCamino frame and shorten to fit.
I just happen to have one in stock.
Slippery slope of restoration.
"it would be sooo much nicer if"
Karl

Lost in the 60s · President

67ss wrote:

Karl I already bought one of your parts cars with a good frame. But that swap is going to be down the road.

I'm thinking that plan should be moved up the priority ladder now....like getting it ready this summer....

jim larson · 2K+ Club

Lost in the 60s wrote:
67ss wrote:

Karl I already bought one of your parts cars with a good frame. But that swap is going to be down the road.
I'm thinking that plan should be moved up the priority ladder now....like getting it ready this summer....

I would agree, check for straightness, blast, and paint the frame, do what you plan for suspension and don't look back.

SShink · 3K+ Club

Man, that sucks.

My experience with the vert resto was there's the rust you see, the rust you can find by poking around, and the rust that you know is there somewhere if you keep digging deep enough when things are taken apart. Especially on cars of this age that lived any life in the 'rust belt'.

Chris P., I guess it depends on your goals what to do next IMO. If you're only looking to get it back on the road and in 'driving' condition, then the 'rust master Mitch' can make necessary repairs. If you want to get it back on the road with spirited driving bursts, maybe it's time for a new frame?

The upside with pulling the body off and replacing the frame is you'll be able to see any other underbody rust repair areas.

My

Lost in the 60s · President

It's all good, I got a new tank of gas this morning, ground out the pitted, crappy welds from running out of gas yesterday and welded the bottom plate on. I cut off the corner of the bottom to match the radius and cleaned things up a little. It's plenty strong to last a number of years, but there are other areas that shouldn't be ignored for to many.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Mitch, what thickness metal are you using for the frame patch?

Chris, I have a set of 64/65 trunk drop down panels, if they’ll help with the project there yours.

Lost in the 60s · President

dashboard wrote:
Mitch, what thickness metal are you using for the frame patch?

Chris, I have a set of 64/65 trunk drop down panels, if they’ll help with the project there yours.

1/8th inch or 11 gauge

67ss · 1K+ Club

Hmm.... frame was worse than I thought. Yes I may have to move up the time frame on my other frame. But it should be good enough for a year or two. Thanks Mitch for getting it patched up.

more ambition than brains · 1K+ Club

Lets have a "get Chris's frame stripped and off to powdercoat" party.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

more ambition than brains wrote:
Lets have a "get Chris's frame stripped and off to powdercoat" party.

x2

Lost in the 60s · President

Managed to get some time in on this again today.

The patch is about half way to final fit.

No wheel house section on this side. Just need to recreate the lower edge for a weld flange.

Derek69SS · Founding Member

Should have just done a little mini-tub while you're in there.

BLyke · 1K+ Club

Lost in the 60s wrote:
It's all good, I got a new tank of gas this morning, ground out the pitted, crappy welds from running out of gas yesterday and welded the bottom plate on.

Several years ago spent the extra money to buy a second to buy a second tank. Even though Toll Welding is ~2 miles away, i always ran out just after they closed for the day...

It has really been helpful and reduced the aggravation level when the gas runs out like it did for Mitch, just as you are trying to finish.

Lost in the 60s · President

Got more done on Chris's Chevelle today

trunk pan all fitted and ready

Chris came over and helped weld it in.

Cut out the rusted weld flange, made a cardboard template, transferred to metal and welded that in too.

While Chris was welding, I cut into another problem area in the floor at the left front seat belt area. The floor support was badly rusted away and Chris decided to buy a replacement so we could section in a larger piece, rather than try to patch this.

Lost in the 60s · President

The wife "invited" me to go to Target with her, so I told her I had "man's work" to do and had to go in the shop...

The old trunk pan sat up higher in the right corner than the replacement, so I had 3 drill holes that were exposed. I layed 2 pieces of 1/8" arc weld rod in the channel and welded it all shut.

Cleaned up in the wheel house and it's ready for seam sealer and undercoating.

Inside I used the cut-off wheel to sculpt the rods down into the channel enough to use seam sealer to cover the whole mess.

As long as I was curled up in the trunk again, I went ahead and finish ground down the welds.

jim larson · 2K+ Club

Looks good. I also need to add a little extension to the inner wheelhouse to cover the cage nut area. At sometime prior to 1994 someone did about exactly the same replacement in the 2 corners of the trunk on my car. I noticed that Chris's trunk had the little bracket for the tire jack to rest. If it is missing that is one sign that the trunk has had repair work.