So, I've been lurking here quite a bit and posting now and then about specific questions about my build. I figured it was time to post a build thread here. I've done several project before with my last one being a 57 Chevy truck and I learned a lot from it and one of the big things was to build everything before I put any paint on it.



I've been working on this for about two years now with about a 10 month break while Schwartz Performance had my car to build the frame.

The plans for this are to put a G8 engine (L76) unless, I find a better deal on something else.

What I have is a pretty stock 1963 Biscayne. It had has a decenter interior, a 400 with a TH-350 transmission and it runs OK, once you get over the exhaust and oil leaks. When I first looked at the car, I could see that the floor pans were replaced but, instead of cutting out the old ones, they put some others on top of the old ones therefore; I'll have to change them again.

I purchased it in Arizona and drove it back to Kansas and the one question I didn't ask is where the car was titled in originally because it is an Illinois car so, I think once I blast it I'll find more rust than just the floor and trunk pans but, live and learn.

When I first purchased it, it had some really lame exhaust cut-outs on it and those were the first to go. Followed by installing some new trunk hinges that ended up being harder than they should have.

The plans for it are a Schwartz Performance frame, LS series engine, new wiring, new interior, different bucket seats, paint, Dakota Digital VHX gauges, air conditioning, power windows, new wiring, etc. Still trying to decide on color combinations but, I'm thinking a dark silver on top with a dark metallic blue, black or something else on the bottom. At the rate I'm going I have plenty of time to decide.

Because I was dropping this off at Schwartz for the frame install, I figured it would be a good idea to at least get the peeling paint on the roof covered so that I didn't have to deal with more rust than I already do. The paint was already peeling so, I figured it would be easy to strip...Wrong answer. The only part that came off easily with the razor blade was the top four layers, not the other five that were below it.

Now, on to the pictures.

I'm always open to ideas on paint, wheels and interior schemes.

 

This was my first thought on how I wanted it to look when I finished. I've reconsidered the two tone idea and I am most likely going go to with a single color. I'm undecided on whether or not the bumpers are going to get a brushed nickel finish or, go with powder coating.

 

Here are some pictures from Schwartz building the frame.

 

When I got it back from Schwartz I started the teardown process and since it was too cold for the dustless blasting, I went ahead and started to fill some of the various holes. What you'll see in later posts is that I ended up cutting out some of the work I did on the firewall when we went ahead and smoothed it.

While I was at it, I picked at some suspect spots and found about 10 pounds of bondo covering up some ugliness. Fixing the B pillar wasn't as bad as I thought but, the quarter panel is another story.

 

More pictures of fixing holes in the dash. Not exactly the smoothest but, the part where the switches go will end up being covered by carbon fiber.

 

Finally got some time off of work to drop it off to get it stripped and pick up my front end pieces that have already been blasted. Not too much rust and only one big dent that I didn't expect. Looks like I need to order some fender bottom patches. Surprisingly, there were some pinholes near the top of the fender (along the inside edge) but, a little brazing and those are taken care of.

Have had some extended time of work, something that I haven't had in about eight or nine years. I took advantage of it and spent quite a bit of time on the car.

Prior to this, I primered the fenders and did some repairs to them. I was able to get a lot of the dents out without any filler but, not the case for all of them.

Also, was able to get it blasted using the dustless blasting method. Each of the methods have their advantages and except for one area on the trunk lid, ended up with zero warpage however, I did have to deal with a bunch of flash rust. As it sits now, it is just about all epoxy primed using SPI epoxy with a bit of reducer. Intent was just to get something on it to keep it from flash rusting.

I also made a mock up of a 6L90E transmission so, that I have something to go off of when I build my floors and transmission tunnel. I used welding rod and brazed it together to get an outline.

Next order of business is building the floors and making the mini-tubs.

 

Here are the pictures during and after the blasting. Overall, a pretty good process and fantastic service from BK Rodz. The only challenge is getting all of the crushed glass out of it. Seems like evertime I do any hammering on the car, I'm still getting crushed glass.

I'm really glad I blasted it. The body was in a lot worse condition than it appeared.

 

So, spent another day on the car. Finished up the priming, just enough to keep it from rusting, I will have to hit it again. I am really impressed with the SPI epoxy, it sprays on great and is so much easier to sand than some of the other epoxies I've used.

Braced up all of the car and cut the floors out. Also, removed all of the bracing on the package tray in preparation for the mini-tubs. Hope to get the mini tubs done next Saturday. In the interim, brought a door home to get it finished this week.

I was hoping to get it painted by the time I move this summer but, I think I will be lucky to have it edged in.

 

Managed to get a little bit accomplished this week. Patched and welded most of the rust in the drivers side rocker panel, make a replacement for the front floor support and fix the lower cowl.

Nothing really exciting. Hopefully next weekend I can get the mini-tubs done and then on to the floor.

 

So, after much researching on how to do these, I was only able to find one source of documentation on how to do these. The source was the Muscle Car show and like all things on TV, there wasn't a lot of details and it looked fairly easy.

Like most things, it wasn't easy and I'm glad I had some help to do these. I would say there is about 20 hours in doing these and if I had to do it again, I probably wouldn't. But, on a positive note I did manage to buy myself a new welding helmet and it's amazing how much better you can weld when you can see clearly.

Since I was back there, I went ahead and did a few other patches on some rust. Hopefully next weekend I can get started on the B pillar and quarter panel.

 

Finally got to the part that I was dreading. The B pillar had been hit at some point and whomever the piece of humanity who painted it before fixed everything with a gallon of bondo. The B pillar was a bit intimidating because, the replacement part came with the entire inner window structure and it isn't an exact match for a Biscayne.

After looking at it for a bit, we decided to go ahead and cut out the damaged portion and graft the new piece on the old one. I'm very happy with the quality of the replacement B pillar however, I can't say the same for the quarter panel patch.

The quarter panel patch is a POS. If anyone has to do one for an early Impala, Biscayne, etc., I would recommend going with an entire quarter (believe these are stamped better) and cut out the portions you need. The quarter came out OK, had to add in a piece of metal and some welding rod to fix the door gap and that is still a work in progress. I have a high spot on the back of the patch and a few low spots but, nothing that can't be fixed.

BTW, I'm getting very comfortable with stitch welding and plug welding.

Lastly, I'm glad I had help with this and the mini-tubs.

 

Well, I've made some progress with the floor with a lot of help. A bit of a learning curve with doing bead rolling and oil canning but, nothing that we won't figure out. So far, the floor boards are done with the first part of the transmission tunnel. Not a lot of sexy stuff here so far...I figure I'm about six months or so away from that.

 

I've been looking around for a mock-up block so that I can have better measurements when I build my firewall and new inner fenders. A new plastic mock-up engine is about $300 so, I figured I would check out the local junk yard to see if they had anything scrap that I could get.

Well, $200 later I have an 5.3 LM7 out of a 2002ish Avalanche and from what I can tell, the only thing wrong with it is the intake and oil pan are cracked from having a tree fall in it. As you can see, the cross hatching is still there on the cylinders and when I pulled the valve covers off, there was zero sludge inside.

I was thinking about using this but, at this point I make go with a newer and larger engine.

 

The floors, trunk and firewall are all finished. Now on to the hard stuff...Fixing dents, finishing the rust repair, sanding, sanding and more sanding. I am extremely pleased with how everything came out and without some help, I'm afraid of what it would have looked like.

 

Nothing too exciting to update on.

-took the car off the frame and on the rotisserie. To help hold it up, decided I needed to make some cribbing blocks
-managed to fit the late model GM windshield wiper motor
-finished removing all of the rest of the rust and undercoating under the rear half
-re-fitted the center body to frame supports
-capped off all of the floor supports
-made a driver's side rocker patch and welded it in
-welded and capped off the rear trunk supports
-welded in the trunk firewall
-fit and started welding the driver's side quarter patch...Would have finished if I did run out of gas and wire.

As you can see from my list that I conveniently wrote on the side of the car, I have a crapload more to do...Before I have to come up with the next list.

One thing on here is that I should have figured out my fuel cell idea before I welded in the trunk floor and supports. You will see in a later post that I had to cut these out and re-do.

 

More pictures. The quarter panel patches for these cars are absolute junk so, I tried to save as much as the original as possible on the driver's side.

 

For this update, I've done the following:


-Finished welding up the driver's side quarter panel patch. The patch panels are a POS but, I made it work. I was going to weld up another rust hole but, decided I would put in a patch...While I was welding I heard a clunk and now I have a new dent to fix.

-Fabricated seat mounts for the front and back seats. I sourced the seats from a Lexus SC400, the fronts are full power and heated. Although there are a crap load of wires, you only need three wires on the driver's seat (two grounds and a power) and two wires on the passenger seat. The back seat was a little more involved. As you can see from the pictures, it was too tall for the car so, I cut a six inch chunk out of the middle of it and welded the inner frame together. Fortunately, the foam isn't very flammable. I used 3/4" square tubing for the bottom frame, light weight and plenty of support even with me sitting in it. The seat doesn't sit as low as it did in the Lexus so, I welded in a couple of bars so the upholstery folks have something to fill the hole in with.

-Worked out a few dents on the drivers side quarter and while working on the rear tail light panel, discovered that it is going to have to be replaced. I think the patch panels for these are halfway decent and if they are bad, I'll just graft in a piece.

-Removed the passenger side trunk weatherstrip rail and replaced the metal that it attaches to on the quarter panel. I finally got a chance to use the shrinker/stretcher that I've had sitting around the garage and it was worth the $50 bucks I spent on it.

 

More pictures of shortening the back seat and mounting brackets.

 

This is where the shinker/stretcher really came in handy. I'm pretty happy with how this came out although, after it was finished I found a few spots that still needed a couple of tack welds.

 

I didn't think I made much progress since the last update but, was able to get a few things done.

-Replaced the drivers side rear tail light panel
-Replaced the filler below the trunk
-Welded and panel bonded the trunk weatherstrip channels. I am really glad I have a shrinker/stretcher otherwise this really would have been a PITA.
-Stripped all the surface rust off of the trunk lid
-Fixed the majority of the dents on the PS quarter panel however, I will still need a bit of filler on the seams where I welded in the patch. Seems like every time I weld in a patch panel, I end up getting a pucker (low spot) where the seam is. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.
-Rebuilt all of the hinges
-Fixed the master cylinder backing plate to allow for the difference between the original firewall and the smooth firewall
-And the big thing, last night I looked outside and a big box is next to the garage...My Aeromotive Stealth Fuel Cell and cage built by Schwartz!!!