The '64 Chevelle SS tribute build thread
 

I have pictures all over the place in here, so I decided it was about time to put them all in one place to make the following of the build a little easier to keep track of.

This car is being built in tribute to my car I had in high school. We were pretty notorious back in the day. The idea is to build a time machine that takes me back to 1991 whenever I get in it.

So here we go. This is what was drug home just over a year ago.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle004.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle006.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle007.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle005.jpg

The metal work started and slowly but surely, the holes were filled in.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...project001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...project003.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...project004.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...0build/003.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...build/0022.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...build/0013.jpg

The tail panel was especially bad. Some genius used expanding foam and bondo back there. It took a minute to straighten it out.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...lebuild001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...lebuild002.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...lebuild003.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...velle006-1.jpg

I had a spot in the gasket track that was missing, so I had to rebuild that as well.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...velle007-1.jpg

On to the mud work. I'm still not done, but it's not easy grinding off four paint jobs. (one of which, is Imron)

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...rogress001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...rogress001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...rogress002.jpg

Here's the cool part. My oldest daughter wandered out and was watching me work. When I got down to shooting some primer, I asked if she wanted to do it. To my surprise, she said yes. She's a natural! It only took her a few minutes to get the hang of it. With a little more practice, she could be laying down some nice paint.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...rogress003.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...rogress004.jpg

Now that most of the rust repair is done, I moved on to some detail work. My original car was very unique. Back then, I had more time than money. Spray paint was 2.99 a can for the good stuff and elbow grease was free. The car will be white and under the hood will be accented with red.

Here's what the engine will look like.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...hevelle002.jpg

I got the car inside finally and the front end stripped off. I've been waiting to get rid of another project, so I had an indoor spot to park the Chevelle. Now we can get busy with it. The build should go pretty quick from here.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...leframe001.jpg

After checking to see what needed replacing and what was still good, I cleaned and painted the good parts and put them back together. ('told you the detailing would be nuts. I drove the original car every day.) You can see what it'll look like now. For using two common colors, the end result is pretty loud. Spray paint has given way to urethane shot from a gun, but the idea is still the same. I can't wait to drive the ole' girl!

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...leframe004.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...leframe005.jpg

good job man!

Thanks! I hope to get the firewall ready to shoot soon so I can get the engine and trans back in. Then I'll pick away at the front clip. Jamming and detailing so I can put the car back on the ground. If I sell my '67 Impala, I should have the money to get this one mostly done. At least moving under it's own power.

Look'n good! Love the 64's my all time favorite!

Looking great, nice metal work on the car.

More progress. The firewall is white! I normally have more progress pictures, but this is going to be a fast build, so there's only going to be a few freeze frames of the action along the way.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...irewall001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...irewall002.jpg

I hit a snag today. I got the radiator support painted and the engine and trans set in the frame. I got the wrong engine mounts, so I'll have to get the long style. It seems to me I had this same problem when I built the first car. The trans mount lined up perfect. As soon as I get the correct mounts, I can bolt it in there and start putting pieces back on the car.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...eengine001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...eengine002.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...eengine003.jpg

I got a little more progress on the Chevelle today. I'm having a problem finding solid mounts for it, so I made some wood mounts to get my engine height right to fit some things while I locate the right mounts for it. Here's where I landed today.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...0build/002.jpg

It is really neat to see the progress of the past year in this thread. Isn't it amazing thinking back to when you got the car to where you are now. Yeah, yeah, we all think we are going to be further along on the build, but there are always those nasty speed bumps that slow us down, looking for parts, making things fit, extra body work, it never ends. That must be why they call us car nuts !!!

I love the fact that your daughter came out and helped you. Now you know if you teach her how to paint that it won't end there. "Hey daddy, I want a car" will be the next step. lol

I do have to say that I like the red block and I like the red pin stripe on the firewall too. I think it is cool looking.

Thanks! The red pinstripe is actually a masked off graphic that I sprayed on. Back in the late '80's and early '90's, Chevy's advertising campaign was "The Heartbeat of America. Today's Chevrolet". The graphic was supposed to represent the Chevelle's heart was beating. My front license plate said, "The Heartbeat of America. Yesterday's Chevrolet". :D

Funny you mention the car thing. I own a hotrod shop so there's always projects coming and going. A couple weeks ago I sold a '53 Ford Kustom and drug home a '61 Bel Air. Cora, (the daughter pictured) fell in love so I gave it to her with the condition that SHE be the one to do the work on it. She's already rebuilt the carburetor on it and is motivated to have the coolest car in the high school parking lot next year.

Here she is with her car the day after I drug it home.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...uake68/006.jpg

Here's an action shot of her rebuilding the carburetor. I think she's scraping the gaskets here. Check out the intensity! :D

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...leframe003.jpg

So what year Ford PU in the back ground. I had a 74 and loved it. Gas was cheap back then.

It's actually a '79, but I back-dated it to a '77. I like those grills better. I told ya there's always something cool floating around. :D

I'm building a full custom '66 Ford for a guy now and trying to find time in between everything else to finish up my wife's 'Vette. The '66 Ford pick up will appear stock when it's done. It's actually an '85 Bronco that I skinned with a '66 Ford long bed. The looks of a '66 with cruise, tilt, A/C, power disc brakes, 4 wheel drive with a soft ride suspension, power steering, etc.

I got the front filler panel, the upper grill support and grill braces prepped and painted today. I'll get the radiator support reassembled tomorrow and get a picture. It's starting to look like a car again!

Here's pictures of where I am today. I wire wheeled all the hardware, chased the threads and anti-seized everything. If I have to take it apart again, it should be easy.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ortdone004.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ortdone005.jpg

Its looking great ,keep up the good work and keep us posted on your daughters project .

I just ordered the front end parts for the Chevelle. Hopefully, I'll have everything cleaned, painted, new parts installed and back on the car by next weekend. I'm starting to get excited.

WooHoo! ball joints and bushings got here yesterday! I should have the springs and shocks today. She should be down on all four again soon! :D

Moving right along, although I don't think it will go very far on the wood blocks for motor mounts. Lol

I have to make a steel run on Monday or Tuesday, so I'll have them before too long as well. ;)

I got the passenger side suspension and steering back together. I ran out of steam and didn't get the driver's side back together. I have to order the brake stuff as well.

I'll get a picture or two tomorrow.

Alan, you are tiring some of us out with everything you have been able to do. I hope that finding the right steel to replace your "wooden blocks" is an easy venture.

I wish I had the time and knowledge to do what he is doing .

This is an easy job compared to some of the customer's jobs I have to do. All I'm doing is cleaning, painting and reassembling with new parts.

One of my customer's is having a Ford truck built. It's actually an '85 Bronco, skinned in a '66 Ford long bed pick up. About 60% of that truck had to be hand fabbed.

My dad just ordered a '23 C-Cab street rod. The ENTIRE truck will be hand fabbed on that one. Just a simple restoration is a welcome change of pace.

Here you go. Progress from the past couple days.

I may have gone a tad overboard with detailing the suspension. I kept having to wash my hands so I wouldn't leave fingerprints on the control arms.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts001.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts002.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts003.jpg

I got my engine mounts made too. Not perfect, but not bad.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts007.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts008.jpg

Here they are painted and installed. They may not look perfect, but they fit perfect. All the angle problems from the bought mounts are gone. It's official. The engine and trans are bolted in. (except I need to buy new through bolts for the mounts.)

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts009.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...emounts010.jpg

Alan,

I can tell you, I would not want to detail that car.....black hides so much.

...and I swore to myself that I was just going to hose down the frame with semi gloss black and call it a day. I couldn't help myself, though. I just kept taking things apart and cleaning and painting them. Before I knew it, I had done everything I said I wouldn't do again. :D

This is EXACTLY how the car I had in high school looked. For me, it's quite the time machine.

I'm picking away at the metal work. This car looked pretty straight when I bought it, but there was a lot of questionable body work done under the paint. Yet another reason to strip the car and start over when you re do something.

Here's someone's idea of a filled hole for the radio antenna. They just backed up a 1" hole with masking tape and bondoed over it.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps10ab3047.jpg

Here it is with all the bondo knocked out.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps2dbe3a4e.jpg

And here's my idea of a repair. 18 gauge steel but welded in and ground smooth.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps0bf08297.jpg

I had to pound out some cellulite that was under some bad body work. It's not done, but it's getting straighter. At least there's no rust to deal with.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps5c1cbe6a.jpg

Excellent work

Thanks, Ray!

I got the driver's side fender stripped down the other day. The car had four paint jobs on it, so stripping the paint goes slow. I only want ONE paint job on it when I'm done. The other fender is in MUCH better than this one. I was hoping to have the fenders blown in and re-mounted on the car, but I don't want to rush it. I'll make sure they're right when they go back on.

I'll look forward to seeing your '64 when it hits the streets. Be sure to bring it up to the Steak n Shake cruise in Springfield.

Wow, never seen masking tape used. That's really shoddy. Great repair work though! Growing up, my friend's father used to use silver 200 MPH A/C duct tape, and the green bondo you buy from Advanaced Auto. It was laughable... I remember going home and telling my father about his "repairs." He was speechless, and simply shook his head in disgust.

I totally get that not everyone has the skills or means to do a quality job, but damn... some things people attempt are doomed from the moment they conjure up a hair-brained idea.

Will do! In the mean time, you're more than welcome to come down to the shop and visit! :D

I got a few more things done today. The driver's fender is straight and in primer with the edges cut in and I got the fender wells painted. I almost have the front clip done! :D

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...psd2d08a29.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps9bcda867.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps4556bea3.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...pse34f351c.jpg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps166d5e19.jpg

Looks great, like the pin stripe on the fire wall.

More work to the Chevelle. This is downright spooky. It's been 20 years since I looked into this engine compartment. I'm still looking for the original car, but this one is SO close to how I had the first one.

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p...pse6ffe9d6.jpg