'69 Chevelle Driving Project

[barrrf]

I have, like most men, always wanted a muscle car. When I was a kid going to car shows with my dad I would think for days "How can I get the money to buy one?" Then I got older and wiser and knew it didnt make sense. My dad was a huge motorcycle guy so by default I was as well. I decided in May that I really wasnt as much of a motorcycle guy as I was a car guy so I made the decision to sell my MV Agusta in order to buy a hot rod - never satisfied.

 

So I searched for a few weeks until I found what I thought to be a good deal. $13k for this '69 on ebay. Bought sight unseen.

So after getting the car and looking it over I made plan.

 

Here it is as it sat at the sellers house in May.

 

Specs are as follows -

396 60 over 9.6:1

roller hydraulic valvetrain

Ported and Balanced and Blueprinted

Keith Black Pistons

Edlebrock Performer RPM 8.5cfm

Edlebrock Pro 2.0 intake

Accel Performance Distributor

Accel Hi Temp Spiral Core Plug Wires

Headman ceramic coated headers

Flowmaster 50 series Dual 3" mufflers

MSD Igintion system

Holley Performance Fuel System

Camaro Power Steering System

Hurst Shifter

4" Cowl Fiberglass hood with locking pins

 

Doug Nash Ent. hybridized Super T10 close ratio

Centerforce Dual Friction Clutch

12 Bolt real axle

Clutch type posi w/3.31 gears

Custom Driveshaft

 

Hotchkis Rear 4 Link with Drag Bags

All new bushings, seals, lines throughout

All new brakes, Discs in front, Drum in rear

 

And then the fun begins -

So I started doing things to my car recently. Here's some pics of the bull**** Im going to have to fix someday. I order some vinyl for the dash and a-pillars. And started tearing plastics off to paint them. Just picking away, here and there.

 

Why is there a camaro wheel on my column?

 

What once was blue and then was black is now blue again with a little degreaser

 

(A couple months ago) And now for the moment of the day - I was taking some friends for a ride when I noticed it was unusually hot in the car. So I reached down to the floor to feel HOT air coming through the carpet seam. Like blow dryer hot. So I pulled the carpet up a couple days later to find this hack job (less the silicone and marine epoxy). The "patch panel" had pulled all of the self tappers out and was letting HOT air come up through. So I bought bigger self tappers, some marine grade epoxy, and a tube of trusty silicone and made a semi permanent (at least until it happens again or I can afford the body off resto) fix to it. Now no more heat! Make no mistake - I KNOW THIS IS THE RIGHT WAY TO DO IT but it is the way to do it RIGHT NOW. This will be fixed the right way at a later date.

 

 

Derpacolor the license plate bracket - it was a rusty piece but I sand blasted, rust inhibited, then duplicolored it.

 

Whats behind the glove box? A bunch of old nasty firewall insulation and some wires for whatever the **** -

 

And now Im going to start painting things on the inside. I already did those blue kick panels black with SEM (**** is awesome imo). I've decided to paint the metal parts Ultra Silver Metallic and keep the rest of the black stuff black. Im going to cover the dash and A pillars in Whisper Vinyl black. Eventually, I'll do custom door panels with silver suede inserts (probably this winter as Id like to complete a custom center console at the same time).

 

Needs cleared yet -

 

Pic is dark but I reinstalled the kicks - I'll get better pics when its light out

 

And this last weekend -

Doing more things on the car -

 

Remember those blue kick panels from above?

 

Painted Cluster carrier - did not smooth. Too many broken mounting tabs to want to put work into the panel other than paint. Its black but the sun makes it look lighter.

 

Got the metal part of the dash painted Ultra Silver Metallic. Just need wifey to stitch up the leather dash pad cover and start reassembling.

 

Also started polishing the dash trim piece. I highly recommend the Dremel polishing kit for these smaller pieces. YOu can see in the pic the part that is polished and the part I havent hit yet.

 

 

This was around 8/8/12

I sanded and polished the lens for the gauge panel

 

After and mounted into freshly painted carrier

 

Covered the a-pillars in Whisper Vinyl

 

And mounted license plate

 

Shown is stitched dash pad installed (I had a pro cover it since I have no idea what Im doing), gauge bezel painted, metal dash part painted silver along with column, A-pillars covered on soft touch vinyl (really nice ****), kick panels redyed black, vents painted black, tach reloacted from top center of dash.

 

I know the stitching on the dash pad isnt perfect but if you saw the monstrosity it was covering, its 100 times better.

 

I have also installed a new heater core. That required removing the passenger side inner fender well. Which required cutting because of rust issues. So I also replaced both inner fender wells. I dont have those pictures taken off of my camera yet tho. It was a mess. But now I have 2 new inner fenders and a new battery tray. The old battery tray was so rusted I just yanked it out.

 

Im not sure quite what I want to do with the car next. I have a LOT of necessities - Brake booster and prop valve, core support, rebuild/replace carb, suspension bushings. As far as aesthetics go though not sure what to do - center console, seats, or door panels. Im leaning toward seats because the current 40 year old seats arent very comfortable.

 

My overall goal for this car is PT setup. Probably going with SpeedTech Track Time suspension, AFX Tall Spindles, and some variation of big brakes. And run a boosted 5.3 for a powerplant. Id like to get the interior done and then move to suspension over haul followed by power plant transplant. Then drive for a couple years - strip car and restore body and paint. Ive got fit frame stiffening in there somewhere - probably when I do the suspension.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Chris05GTO

[Rich]

That was in rough shape. Looks a heck of a lot better. Like your license plate too. Good job!

[Fat Mike]

Looks like you have a good start on a what ought to be a real fun project B.

[Redbeard]

I know some of that stuff is really aggravating, but overall I'd say she's in pretty good shape. The body looks good at least; how is it on closer inspection?

I've had a few projects over the years where I bit off more than I could chew. I told myself I'll never buy anyone else's project again, but we'll see how long that lasts.

And finally, feel free to post pics of the MV Agusta!

[barrrf]

Yeah I guess I left out the closer inspection report. Body lines are tight. The front fenders and rear quarters are all new and it appears as it they were done right. The rockers are solid and make that nice metal noise when you tap on them - not like the thud you hear when you tap on rusted steel. Firewall in the usual spots is solid. Floor pan is good for the most part - will probably need a patch in a couple spots when it comes that time. The trunk is a rotten mess. The frame, while I cannot attest to it straightness, is solid - I did the hammer test to it as well. I was more concerned about the frame than anything.

 

I think whoever owned the car before lived on a long dirt road and NEVER cleaned the car. Its amazing what just a vacuum job will do. While I had the dash apart I washed and cleaned everything I could reach and pulled ALL of the old insulation out (old stinky insulation). Finally, here are a couple pics of the MV - I kinda miss it.

 

[J.greenroyd]

Looks good!

[MAYBEN]

nice ride!