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72 Chevelle restoration

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I finally, finally got the car in tonight. Right now I am going through all the spare/extra parts that came with it.

The brakes REALLY need to be fixed...it is ridiculous how bad they are.
 
worth all the money you spend for upgraded brakes. should be able to use a system from an 80s heavy chevy AKA caprice. vacumn booster master and disk brakes. manual brakes and drums SUCCKKKK. i had an 71 torino that was a nightmare. to stop
 
looks like you have your work cut out for you. What do the floor pans look like under that carpet? Do you have your POR15 order placed yet? 😀
 
FuzzyDunlop said:
looks like you have your work cut out for you. What do the floor pans look like under that carpet? Do you have your POR15 order placed yet? 😀
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I have not been able to fully take it apart, but it looks like the front should maybe be replaced (some rust, but not all the way through). The back is fine. The trunk has a heavy, heavy layer of rust due to some old holes in the hood lid from a spoiler. I think I will just sand it, paint over it, and call it good.

I had an appraiser out here today that will give me an estimate for insurance purposes. Armed with this I should (*crosses fingers*) be able to get historic status and therefore be exempt from emissions testing. I have no chance in hell of ever passing emissions.
 
It really doesn't look too bad. Do you have a place to work on it? Something long term, secure and out of the weather? I would be so tempted to pull the body and completely redo the frame/drive train.
I really like it.
 
I finally got the chance to do some real work on it yesterday:
* Rebuilt front brakes
* Replaces master cylinder
* Replaced 11ft of transmission cooler/filter hose
* A bunch of other stuff

Unfortunately, somewhere in all of that I think we disconnected the starter and the whole thing is dead as a doornail. I know what my project is next weekend.
 
Progress🙂

IMG_1023.jpg
 
Time to get a clutch pedel & linkage and an M-21. :awe:

Always wanted a BB Chevelle. I had a 68 with mildly built SB in it, was actually the first car I bought. Bought it when I was 14 as a project and, with the help of my grandpa (who got me into cars in the first place), had it ready to go by the time I got my license. He passed away when I was 18 so was glad I was able to get to do that, and probably partly why I like Chevelles so much.
 
FuzzyDunlop said:
man i love chevelles. Yours is pretty rough right now, wow. Keep us posted. more.
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It really is not as rough as it looks. Right now I am working on:
* Replace the carpet $300
* Reupholster the front bucket seats $900
* Replace dash and gauges $700 (going semi-custom)
* Miscellaneous small repairs (brakes, t-stat housing, rubber hoses, etc.) $400
Total: $2300

This will not do anything for the outside appearance, but it will make a night and day difference for the interior. It already runs reasonably well, just has some issues with things like the t-stat housing leaking.

It will eventually be painted a non-reflective matte black.
 
Floorboard looks pretty good given it's age. Budget for new rubber/weatherstripping all around when you get ready to paint.
Very cool.
 
Latest update:

Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be a lot more involved than I thought. Effectively, the entire starting and charging system is in the process of being replaced. I suspect there were multiple problems as the 2 year old spark plug wires were so burned that they snapped in hand. The flex plate is also cracked. The starter was sortof broken. Etc...

The overall project was put aside over the summer due to housing issues and the mechanic who I passed it off to for engine work being just a tad slow.
 
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Picked up today (everything new):
Starter
Plug wires
Battery wires
points
spark plugs
radiator
Edelbrock 750 w/manual
heavy duty flex plate
brass freeze plugs
fuel pump
motor mounts
Various paint
valve cover gaskets
header gaskets
valve stem seals



Yeah, it was an expensive day🙁
 
The engine is out but the transmission is staying in. My thouht was that anything more extensive than this and we might as well do a frame-off which i cant afford.
 
All the engine work is done at this point, I am just waiting on a few finishing touches:
* A single spring for the hood (I ordered "hood springs" from Summit, not realizing that they are sold individually.
* A part for the carb
* Some brake work

It was fired up on Sunday and it sounds incredible.

Here's a pic of the bay from a few weeks ago:
 
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power_hour said:
Nice little project. How much do you expect to spend fixing her up?
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This first stage was just the basic mechanical stuff (replacing the starting and charging systems, valve stem seals, and flex plate). This will end up being ~$2,000 (mostly parts).

The next step is the interior. All I am having done is new carpet installed, the headliner replaced, and the upholstery for the drivers seat replaced. That will be ~700.

There is a lot of other work that needs to be done, so I expect it will end up being in the neighborhood of $10,000-15,000.
 
I finally (really) got the car back about 12 days ago. After getting home there were a number of leaks and things that needed to be tightened. I managed to get it properly insured and registered yesterday, so that is all set.

Today I pulled off the instrument cluster cover and replaced most of the bulbs. That got the turn signal indicators working (thank god!). I had put rust converter down in the trunk about a week ago and got around to painting it today. I decided to go ahead and just paint it black for now.
 
A few comments on the new wiring harness:
The new harness was not an absolute necessity, but it was something that I wanted to do at this point given how much time I was having to spend fixing the existing harness. The existing harness had been chopped up in at least a dozen places (dash and engine) for various reasons. This made it very difficult to troubleshoot the many electrical issues I have been having. As an added benefit, the new harness will make later changes to the wiring for more modern gauges and accessories unnecessary.



Old fuse box. I had six different wires clipped into the front of this for power as the leads that should have been used had been cut out/used for other purposes.


New fuse box, note the more modern style of fuses and greater number of fuses.


I wanted to point out that the new harness wiring has two nifty features. One is that it is a heavier gauge wire, which is just easier to work with. The other is that all the wires are labeled every few feet along their entire length. This is a huge help as it almost eliminates having to look up wire color codes and such. Also, the harness comes with a number of replacement switches. Not bad for ~$500.
 
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