Odds and ends

We installed the calipers last night. It was a bit of a struggle getting the drivers side on but they are both on now. My son tackled the drivers side and became frustrated with the whole thing. After he calmed himself down, he returned to it and it was not such a chore. I've been there many times in many situations. There's gotta be something to being in a "Zen" state. We still need to go back thru the front end and make sure we have everything tightened down to specs.

Remember that rusted steering bolt that was broken off and stuck in the steering box? I took it to a machine shop where they first tried heading up the steering box. It still would not come out. They finally welded a washer to the nub and it came out. Whew.

Steering box and the other end of the problem. Look at how rusted that bolt is. Amazing.

Other stuff we have going on.

I masked cleaned, masked off and painted one of the door panels. I am using the SEM vinyl paint and I am getting pretty good results.

The unpainted side

The painted side

My son has also been busy cleaning up the rear end of the car. We'll probably paint it with POR 15 this weekend. The drums came off easily which was a relief. We are going to keep the drum rear brakes and re-use them.

My dog is totally hating winter.

It's been a tough winter.

Steering arms

Our hope was to have the front end built last night. A little problem came up when we realized our steering arms were gone. We think they made it to the scrap yard with our front drum brakes.

No problems though. My brother in law pulled a 67 frame out of the snow with his tractor.

My son and I then spent the next 3 hours hammering, heating, cutting, swearing and finally getting the coveted steering arms. We prepped and painted the arms and went to bolt them in. The holes were too small for the 1/2 inch Power Brake kit bolts. A trip to the hardware store for a 1/2 inch high speed steel bit was in order.

Funny thing was only the drivers side had to be drilled. The passenger side was fine.

Good thing the brother in law has a nice drill!

My son torquing the bolts.

Today we hope to work on hooking up the tie rod ends, sway bar, center link and a few other odds and ends. We'll also begin to prep the rear end too. Control arms and stuff.

 We still have to try and get a bolt out of the steering box. The end broke off due to rust and corrosion. It is soaking in Parts blaster now. I think it may have to be drilled out. We'll see. New steering boxes are $200 + so I aim to get that bolt out.

front end work

The parts arrived a day prior the beginning of a 3 day weekend. We ordered a front end suspension kit, front disk brakes, springs, shocks and the service repair manual kit.

New parts

We had the newly painted control arms painted and a local friend pressed in the bushing for us.

Dinner is served. Fresh control arms. 

A friend welded up the cut in the frame.

We spent most of yesterday getting the springs into the control arms. This part really un-nerved me as I have read some of the horror stories in regards to losing control of a compressed spring. We finally got the formula down. Lot's of good attempts but it really came down to paying close attention to where the hooks of the compression tool grab onto the springs. 

 

Some progress

Next weekend, finish up the front and install the rear. My brother-in-law from KC is building us a body rotisserie.

 





POR-15

Our original intent was to send the frame and various parts off to the powder coater. Someone mentioned POR-15  and I was intrigued. This is some wild stuff. It creates a moisture proof barrier to stymie rust growth. Way cheaper than powder coating. The frame has managed to stay in great shape for 40+ years so I have no doubt it will do so for another 40.

My son spent 2 days power washing the frame, scrubbing with simple green and using an angle grinder with a wire brush. According to POR-15 and Internet advice, we probably did more than we needed to, but this is a job we only wanted to do once.

We also discovered a slice in the frame. I don't think it is a big deal but we'll weld it up any way.

After cleaning the frame, we moved it into the shop to dry for 3 days. All the empty beer can cases made excellent protectors for the jack stands.

We are now waiting on our first big parts order. In the meantime we have to completely disassemble and paint the A-arms to get ready for the weekend.

• Front disk brake conversion kit
• Front suspension rebuild kit
• Front and rear springs
• Shocks
• full set of Factory rebuild manuals

Stripping down to the frame

We had a full weekend to wrap up the odds and ends removal items; dash board, gas tank, front suspension, et......

The goal was to have the body off the car and stored outside for now and begin stripping down the frame. I didn't take a lot of pictures. I couldn't believe how long this job took. I totally underestimated the amount of time this took and if it would not have been for my brother-in-law coming to the rescue, we would not have finished.

Un seasonably nice day. In the 60's

1967 Chevelle

FixinToGunna

Brother in law that saved the weekend. We call him "Slithus"

I have to keep the fridge stocked for help.

We had to cold chisel out a portion of the inside frame as the frame lock nuts were spinning.

Success

Engine out

Still playing catch up. But here are pics of us removing the 350 aftermarket engine. The car also has a power glide transmission. We'll re-use both of these.

The goal

Moving the 67 to make room for the engine hoist

Mission accomplished