douglee25

And that brings us to today 4/24/13

You should now be caught up on the build. I have since ordered a couple of floor patches and lower cowl patches. When that stuff is complete, I just need to order doors and fenders. Then the metal work is done (minus the grinding of welds).

So hope you've enjoyed thus far.

Stay tuned!

Doug

rlgood

Looks like you're doing great work. Put full quarters on my '71 and didn't catch the f'ed up gap between bumper and quarter till it was too late. Good job getting those right!

ijimmy

1st thats alot of work
2nd you better never get rid or sell that car
3rd with all the love you have shone it it owes you some serious good times in return
I own a 66 ss 396 that was in simalar condition , been workin it for 18 months , down to about 2 more small patches left , was on a rotisarry , I can relate

chuckd71

iTrader: (23)

You can get a used T56 with clutch, flywheel and bellhousing on craigslist for $1200-1300ish every couple weeks or so. Even on here $2k will get you a rebuilt one with most other swap stuff several times a month. Some guys ask stupid prices for their used stuff but fortunately only stupid people pay it. Anyway, do you not need a trans that takes a slip yoke? Car looks good though, that is a ton of work. Super intense for a garage project that's for sure.

Spec134

iTrader: (5)

WOW!!!! I am impressed. You have done some serious work there. That should be a beauty when done.

Chevelles.com is good for anything chevelle-specific but sometimes can be a little negative with their opinions. I too was told to sale my car and look for a new project.

cbrodine

I really enjoyed looking at all the pics you have posted so far and I look forward to seeing alot more. My hats off to you for saving one that no one else would or even considered. Most people wouldnt put the time or exspense into a car that far gone. I have done the same thing with my current project, although its a convertible, and a Skylark. I'm always searching Ebay for my next project and I always look for the cheap rotted/rusted out cars that people think are too far gone. Even the rusty one need saved...

TDMKR496

iTrader: (3)

Great build man!!

douglee25

Ha. Good point. You really need to assemble the entire damn car to check alignment of panels. It can be painstaking. Hopefully I have the rear gap decent enough now. It may even take some more filler work to make it perfect.

1. I know. It's been insane. Progress has slowed as my attention has shifted to my side businesses. I am vowing to complete the few patches I have left and purchase doors/fenders this summer. That should take care of all the sheet metal work. Yay!

2. I don't think I will. It's been a dream of mine to own a muscle car. Unfortunately I didn't think I would have gone down this route for my first one!

3. I can't wait for some good times! I think about driving it often. I'm looking forward to cruising to work in it and showing some people at work who have been following my build. Do you have a build thread going on?


I tried and tried to find a trans. As much as I would have liked to find one, I could not in my price range. Either way, I've enjoyed engineering my solution together. I'm curious if it will work as I planned! I am going to run a two piece drive shaft similar to an M5. The slip joint will be located in the rear piece.

Thanks man! Chevelles.com is a little old school at times. Good info for the most part. They seriously lack LSx info though. I send people over here all the time for LSx questions. Either way, it has been a good resource.

Thank you! I probably will not do a build like this again. I just don't have the time as I get older. I would have probably purchased something about 75% done and just finish it and put my special touch to it.

Thanks man!




Stay tuned. I will keep everyone posted when I complete more work.

Doug

douglee25

Update 7/14/13

So it's been quite a few months since I've had time to look at the Chevelle. I've been quite busy with travel for work amongst other things. But if I can't work on it, I might as well buy parts for it. I've been pressing to get the body work done, so I purchased some new floor pan patch panels, new lower cowl sections, new doors, and I'm picking up new fenders on Monday. I may not have mentioned, but I also picked up a brand new hood several months ago and a cam and intake for the lsx motor as well.

So just as 'Murphy' usually goes, two steps forward, one step back. Yesterday I removed the inner pillar braces in the back seat.





There is a small section on each side that has some pin holes. In order to cut it out I had to removed the braces. I decided against buying repo panels for this section. I am just going to use flat sheet metal. I don't think anyone is really going to notice if it's missing a couple of factory dimples or lines from underneath. That 'should' be a straightforward repair.

While I was at it with the drill and air chisel, I decided to pull the driver's side lower cowl apart.



I find more hack repairs (no disrespect). Jeff - if you're reading this post, I love you man, but your fab work needs some help!



So I just stared at this mess for a while -



Not pretty. This patch ran from the backside of the lower cowl and back to the rocker. I think I am going to slice down from the internal vent hole, trace out a new piece that will hang down to the bottom of the rocker, patch the rocker with two separate pieces (one front/one back), reuse that flat bar where the fender bolted on the bottom side, and then button it all back together. Aye aye aye. Just when I thought I was on the home stretch. I hope the other side is better.

On vacation for the next week or so. Hotter than hell in the garage. Who knows when I will get back to it. My goal either way is to have this damn sheet metal work done no later than December. I really feel I have about 40 hours left and I could have everything mocked back up and have it look like a car again.

Doug

douglee25

Hey Everyone! Thanks for checking out my build! Glad to see some are still interested.

Unfortunately, things for this build didn't turn out the way I had expected.

The back story is that I relocated from Pennsylvania to Texas for work. Since I didn't know the area well, I didn't buy a new house right away. I decided to do the apartment thing to become familiar with the area, throw everything in storage, and once I made a decision, I'd pull everything out and throw it in the new house.

Rewind to December 27th, 2015 and I'm back in PA for the holidays. I wake up in the morning and do my usual thing in the morning....check the news on my phone. Scrolling through I find - "North Texas Slammed with Tornado - Severe Damage" (or something to that effect). Now when you live in the South, tornado warnings/sighting are a common occurrence. You don't even give much thought. Oh well, clicked on the link. My heart sank when I read the area hardest hit. That was the area where all my stuff was in storage. Literally my entire home in storage which was about 30 mins from where I actually lived.

You guys of course like pics, so here they are...

Here is what the storage facility looked like before.... I had two units circled in the upper right next to each other. The lower left is my boat outside the unit. You can make out the 'V' shape if you look hard enough.




Here is the picture I found on the news...The third row of storage units was completely wiped out. Gone. Like it never existed. Check out the boat. It's flipped on the side and smack up against the building about 50' from where it was.




I continue to scour the news reports since I'm 1500 miles from home. Guess what I find? Looks like my '72!! See circled.






Boat surveyor went to survey the damage. Boat was total loss. Luckily I had an agreed value policy, so I did fairly well there.


Here's the pics. Check out the transom of the boat... the tornado launched a 2x4 right through it!




























I finally went back to Texas and tried to salvage what I could. It took me about 4 days to weed through it all. My father came down to help me. I was able to salvage some things but not much. When my company moved me down there, there was over 120 boxes per the work order. I found maybe 10-12 boxes. I found some stuff 300 yards away.

Here's the Chevelle after I cleaned a lot of crap up to get it out of there...











Continued....

douglee25

Continued from last post....






All week I had planned on keeping the car. I even went as far as renting a dolly the last day to tote it out of there and put it back in storage again. When I arrived on site with the dolly, I became disgusted with the whole thing. Every damn panel I replaced was damaged. Quarters, roof, doors, hood (actually couldn't find the replacement that was there?)... EVERYTHING was dented. All my part boxes that were bagged and tagged - GONE! Yeah, I said F this, pulled out my phone and started calling classic restoration companies in the area. I spoke with the owner of a local joint, explained to him my situation, etc. I made him a deal of a lifetime and he hung up the phone and showed up with 2 guys and a trailer and took the whole damn thing off my hands. Thank gosh. No more storage fees, no more headaches, etc. I'll probably never build another car again. Too busy with life at the moment. I'll buy something that is 80% and finish it maybe, but nothing this bad. Lost all my drive after this. Such is life I guess!








I can't believe it actually came down to this. It was an odd way for a project that was moving along so well. As cliche as it sounds, at least I wasn't in the area and no one from my family was hurt in any way. About 11 or 13? people lost their lives about 2000 ft from right there. People in the apartments and the highway just in the background. Mother Nature is something that must be respected. Onto the next chapter!

truckdoug

iTrader: (25)

Ay man that sucks. Glad your family is okay.

350SS

iTrader: (38)

unfukenbelievable

ls1nova71

iTrader: (4)

Man, I just read this whole thread, got kind of sucked into it with all the body work, only to find this at the end. Hope everything works out better for you in the future, I can't even begin to think how it must feel to be in your shoes.

-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

I finally did a search on your user name and found this thread. Unbelievable! I'm so sorry for all you must have lost. I hope you were able to recover some of your sentimental items. Tough to see the car lost after all the work you put in, but with time you may find the drive again and pick up a new project, perhaps in better starting condition. Have you started any new projects or have one in mind?

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I am so sorry to see this. I didn't catch this tread when it was first posted. The car is not "ElSalvadore".... YOU were the Savior....what a heartbreak...

If you ever decide to do something, I would suggest finding a really clean g-body. They can be had relatively inexpensively. Do a LSx swap of some sort and enjoy it...

Andrew

douglee25

Grab some popcorn..... In response to both of you -

Yeah, it definitely sucked losing it all. Bummer for sure considering all the time I put in. I will say that during the entire course of the metal work I vowed to myself I would never do it again. I typically try doing something at least one just to prove to myself that I can do it. Some things I really enjoy doing while other things I just don't like... ie metal work blows but rebuilding engines is OK. So with that said, if I ever decide to get another Chevelle, it's going to be 75-80% complete.

About this time last year I started checking for other projects online. I scoured Craigslist and found a 1990 Chevy short bed pickup. At the end of the day I made a short list of what I really wanted in a project or fun car... it ultimately came down to something that I could drive while I worked on it, had a rumpty engine that made some good power, and was something that my son could or would come to enjoy while he grew up.

So back to the truck... the short story is that I find this truck that's advertised with a 468 BB Chevy, etc. I check the truck out and it's overpriced and obnoxiously loud. Brutally loud! No exhaust at all in fact, just headers. The kid claimed he was moving come Monday morning to Kansas and he had to unload projects before he left. With this in mind I made a low bid offer but he declined. I explained to him why he was overpriced and essentially what I was paying for was the motor and not much else. The next day I withdrew cash and sent him a text with the cash laid out and told him I was ready to make a deal. Ultimately he conceded and I got it for what I wanted. He offered to deliver the truck to me (which I thought was odd) but OK sure. He delivers it on a trailer. I traveled several weeks for work and the finally start to wrench on things. First thing up was the exhaust. After I quieted it down, I noticed a faint knock coming from the motor. After diagnosing it and finally deciding to pull the pan, I found #6 piston skirt laying in the bottom. DAMN YOU!

I sent the kid pictures and nothing but crickets. Funny thing was just a day prior he answered a couple of questions I had without issue. Now I'm not one to call people after the fact when buying something 'as is', but I found out he legitimately scammed me. The pictures posted online showed the truck had exhaust. When I showed up, no exhaust was present. He removed the exhaust to 'cover up' the knock. Then I pull the motor and do a parts inventory on what I had.... everything he told me about the motor was a complete lie. He told me it had upgraded larger valves in the head... they were stock. Told me it had domed pistons... they were flat tops. Told me it was bored out to a 468... it was a stock bore 454. Told me it was a four bolt main... it was a two bolt. Everything was a lie.

Moving on... got the machine work done and reassembled the motor. Stab the motor and started it up. I reused the cam (even though it wasn't the best) in order to save a few hundred, so it didn't need much of a break in. 20 miles later I come home and change the oil. It was a gold mine in the oil filter. WTF. I changed the oil, did another 20 miles, and checked the filter again. Same thing. Bearing material everywhere. I pulled the pan and checked the thrust bearing because that's what I suspected and sure enough I had over 0.020" endplay. I tried to throw a new bearing in, but the crank thrust surface was shot. Out comes the motor again, disassemble, inspect the crank. What I determined was that the crank was ground incorrectly. The thrust surface is done with the side of the crank grinding wheel. If they don't polish the thrust surface afterwards, the crank will actually 'wipe' away the oil film like a windshield wiper and starve the surface. I decided to take the crank do a different machine shot and have them repair the crank by welding it up and recutting it. The shop calls me later that day to inform me that they messed up my crank. Unbelievable. He asked what I wanted done to rectify the situation and I said buy me a new crank. He back pedaled and told me they didn't have one, he couldn't get one, etc. I kept pushing back and finally he sourced a used stock crank, cut everything, and I picked it up. I measured everything and it was perfect. So kudos to them for making things right. I reassembled the motor and switched bearings to a bi-metal aluminum version instead of the tri-metal. I wasn't super thrilled but online results indicated it should be fine. When I measured clearances, they were slightly larger than before... about 0.001" on the bearings. Most agreed the aluminum versions showed slightly larger clearances. I threw it together and it's been fine for about 2000+ miles.

Since then my trans blew out while coasting at 5 mph in traffic. It literally blew the servo cover right out of the case and cracked the case. The trans was brand new according to the kid, and it definitely appeared that way when I inspected (about the only thing that appeared to be true). I had a shop rebuild the trans because it needed a case and I was still traveling out the wazoo for work. I put the trans back in and it shifted terribly. Long story short I diagnosed the problem, took it back to the guy, and sure enough the throttle valve was stuck. In addition something with the accumulator is/was incorrect, and he tried to change it or fix it, but the shifts were totally sloppy after I drove it. Putting it back the way it was when he took it apart resulted in the firmer shifts. Stillwhen it auto mode, 1st gear short shifts. I still don't know why and I haven't had a chance to drop the pan. I can deal with it forever if I had to.

Onto the next problem was a vibration that I couldn't resolve for months. The driveshaft that was in the truck appeared to not be the original and it was too short. I had it remade locally figuring I'd kill two birds with one stone. Now it was long enough but the vibration was still there. I forgot to mention I had the wheels balanced first because they had NO weights at all on them and I replaced some worn out steering components. Slightly better, but not fixed. I took the driveshaft out of the truck and had it rebalanced again. It was off. The guy was dumbfounded but suggested something else was going on. Based on my description, he told me the yoke was likely worn out on the rear end. I was about to order a new yoke when I decided let's install the DS again, throw it up on stands, start the truck, and put it in gear while on stands. So that's what I did. I was elated and troubled by the fact that I found a whipping driveshaft at the rear while at idle. How does that happen? I pulled the yoke off and the pinion shaft was BENT! Never saw that one before! I ended up puling a rear from a truck in a junk yard for $125 and it fixed the problem. No more vibrations!

That's where things have been lately. I've been enjoying it with my son for weekend runs. I drive it to work on Friday about 100 miles round trip. It does pretty well. I would estimate it has around 425-450 hp. When it comes on the cam it really screams music to my ears. My son laughs.

Here's a video prior to exhaust....



Here's after the exhaust and 2nd? rebuild I believe. I have since cleaned up the engine compartment and put a stock looking cooling fan setup from a suburban and early 60's muscle car on it to get rid of the electric fans. They weren't mounted correctly and weren't cooling well.

I will get some better pics up at some point if anyone is really interested.

totalchaos

iTrader: (5)

Nice find , sucks about the issues you have had though

-TheBandit-

iTrader: (1)

Wow Doug here I am showing up a year.5 after your reply. What a story and string of bad luck! I hate to hear about a scam like that - what a mess - especially after all you went through prior. But I will say the motor sounds and looks great in the most recent video! There's nothing quite like a big block!

How is it doing these days? Have you thought about getting a classic/muscle car again?

*EDIT* I re-read your post above and discovered more great stories buried within that I hadn't picked up on the first read. Thank you for taking the time to share all that! From the scam on the original sale to multiple problems on the crank, pinon bent etc. FWIW I have heard of pinions getting bent in rock crawling situations. Maybe the gears were swapped over from a hard life in another vehicle.

douglee25

Definitely a string of bad luck for sure. I cleaned up the motor and engine bay quite a bit after those pictures. Besides the aluminum valve covers, the engine bay looks pretty factory with the OEM fan shroud now. I literally haven't done anything to it besides oil changes. I drive it a few times a month and have no plans of restoring or upgrading anything else. It was never purchased to be a show car... more so a burger run ride on Sat/Sun for my son and me. It's ratty, loud, bumpy cam, gets looks, does crazy hole shots and runs through underpasses... it serves it's purpose for under a $10k investment. The weather in Texas has been crazy hot this summer... weeks of straight days over 100+ degrees. This vehicle doesn't do well in those kind of temperatures nor does it have working AC either, so it hasn't been driven as much as I'd like to. Hell my M3 even gets too hot for my liking in 100+ weather. The pinion thing still escapes me. I have never seen it before and still can't fathom it honestly. Either way, the used rear has still been working fine ever since installation.

As far as getting a muscle car again... I'd like to someday. Currently my hobbies have swung other directions... RV'ing, boating, side by sides, etc. Mark my word though, I will NEVER... EVER.... buy and restore a vehicle to that degree EVER AGAIN!!!! The car will be an 80% completed car and I'll put my finishing touches on it. My available time is nill these days.

Thanks for bumping this... I went back and reviewed the pictures... it sure brought back a lot of memories when life was simple.