So It Starts! - 1970 Chevelle Resto

I don't know how much time I'm going to have to work on this, but I have started the process!  My Chevelle is now out of the barn and just waiting for my dad to get the backhoe out of the shop.  I'll be taking up a small corner of his 40x60 shop for the next few years!  LMAO!!

Here it is!  Rough, raw, and hasn't seen the light of day in over 10 years!!


Click on the picture above to view the album.

Gotta like it.  I like the early ones a little more, till 67.  My brother had one like yours, either 70 or 71 can't remember with a 307 though.  Still was a nice car.  

You can tell a '70 from a '71 or '72 very easily...  The '70 was the only year in that body style with the quad headlights.  In '71 they went to the one headlight per side with the turn signals mounted to the outside of them at the corner.

Yeah I'm 99% sure it was a 70, but they haven't had it for a while now.  Then were the 72's with 2 piece markers?  I remember something like that to tell the difference between the 71s and 72.

That'll be your "workin' fire" response vehicle!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Blazin_Jason

Yeah I'm 99% sure it was a 70, but they haven't had it for a while now.  Then were the 72's with 2 piece markers?  I remember something like that to tell the difference between the 71s and 72.

The '71 and '72 marker lenses and grill were interchangeable.  I do believe that the '71 marker lights, while being 1 piece, were split with a horizontal bar separating the lower and upper sections, matching the grill which also had 1 horizontal bar splitting the upper & lower sections much the same as the '70 grill. 

In '72, the grill lost the splitter making it more monotonous, IMHO...

quote:

ORIGINAL: FFJustin99Chevy

That'll be your "workin' fire" response vehicle!

When I'm done with it, this thing won't be going anywhere near a fire scene!!  LMAO!

I'm not going to keep it red anyway.  I'm planning on a nice heavy metallic dark blue with probably black stripes.  I don't want it to stick out, but I still want it to be recognizable.

Looked through the whole album, you've got a great starting point!  Rust doesn't seem to be too bad throughout, no?

Not too bad no...  My cousin and I are going to remove the front clip Wednesday.  We'll see how the firewall is on the sides...

Say the word Kyle, I'll be on the road and will grab a few cases of Yuengling on the way!!

Great Kyle, keep us posted on it.  I'll have to take some pictures of my dad's 67 RS/SS Camaro when we are finished restoring it. I'll also have to take some pictures of my uncle's 69 SS 396 Chevelle.

Damn i feel crappy, everyone has bad ass cars and i have a 95 Impala SS and an 82 Cadilac Elegante.

If I lived closer, I'd love to give you a helping hand. That's the era of my interest.
For now I'll settle with the older blazers and a '99 Sonoma :)
 
 

99 Sonoma, Me to. 2.2?

Sweet project. My brother is currently working on his 71 Chevelle.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheBrettster

Damn i feel crappy, everyone has bad ass cars and i have a 95 Impala SS and an 82 Cadilac Elegante.

Dont feel that bad.  I only have a Blazer But Im also debt free!!!

Looks like it should be a good project.  Are the plans to restore it to original conditon or change it some?  How long do you think it will take?

quote:

ORIGINAL: BLK85

Looks like it should be a good project.  Are the plans to restore it to original condition or change it some?  How long do you think it will take?

Mostly stick to original for now.  Plans are to do it a cheap as possible but make sure that everything that is done is going to last for a very long time. 

So the frame will be removed and sand blasted & smoothed.  Stainless brake/fuel lines, rebuild the suspension with poly-graphite bushings in stock components.  Convert the front from the drums it is now to factory disk to keep the cost down, but help it stop better.

The engine will just get a refresh.  I will be finding a 700R4 to rebuild and use as I already need a new driveshaft.  I'm going to stick with the stock 10 bolt diff in the rear but fill it with an E-locker and swap out the 3.08 gears for some 3.73s.  I'm still undecided as to if I'm keeping the stock control arms for the rear axle.  With the ladder bars that I have on the car already, the control arms really don't play as big a roll.  The ladder bars really help this car to hook, but I'm not sure if I can keep them and install a rear sway bar.

Interior will basically be going back to stock.  I'd love to find a set of early '90's Taurus SHO seats to put in the front simply because they are the most comfortable seats I have ever sat in.  One large problem is that these seats would not allow for proper access to the rear seat.  For right now I'll probably just get factory buckets for the front and do it up in reproduction vinyl again.  Again, in an effort to keep it as cheap as possible to get back to new or like-new components.

My ultimate goal is to have a fuel injected 350 running twin turbos just to be different.  At that point, I'll need to revise the whole drivetrain to be able to handle the mill.  I'll be looking for HP in the 600-700 range with torque above 600ftlbs out of a lowly smallblock!!

*EDIT* - UPDATE!!
Well, it is simply amazing what a wash will do.  Most of the pics still have water on the surfaces, but with some polish and wax, the finish would come right back.  This is a single stage paint that has been sitting for 10 years!



10 more pictures added to the album.  Tomorrow will have even more!  I hope to have the front clip, doors, and trunk all off tomorrow!!

quote:

ORIGINAL: hillbillyinOhio

Say the word Kyle, I'll be on the road and will grab a few cases of Yuengling on the way!!

me too!! seriously!! I tell ya I'm a great wet sander!!! it looks like a fun project...I really enjoyed retoring our 76 gmc pick up...and fire bird, red bird...good times!! the wash job makes it look sweet!

Awesome, I bet your so excited to be playing with it again.

So we got a lot done today, but found some more rot... 

I added the photos to the album.

heh, getting through it pretty quickly aren't you?
 

The disassembly is the quick part...  I don't have to spend any money!  It's once I get into cutting off rusted metal and sourcing the replacement parts that I may not be able to work as quickly as I want to.  This weekend will probably be the removal of the engine/transmission, but I think I may work at disassembling the dash to get a better picture of what it looks like on the inside of the firewall.  Once I'm down to sheetmetal inside, out comes the power washer to get everything as clean as possible.

I found some replacement cowl sides from Original Parts Group for $55 each so that should make things easier.  I have to call them first and verify what exactly it is they're selling, but from the description I think it is everything that I need.  The Paddock has a complete floor pan with rockers for $900.  Considering that all of the other places I've checked have the complete floor without rockers for $850, that's only another $50 for both rockers completely welded on and EPD primer.  The rockers definitely need replacing.

When we removed the doors, I found the passenger side to be quite bad.  The whole front corner was rotted out.  I didn't remember to snap pictures of it, but would be a pain to repair.  The driver side door isn't all that bad, but does have rot in it.  Most likely, this can be repaired and the door re-skinned.

We'll see...

Still, not bad.  Ive had a lot worse projects.  

All of the rot at the bottom of the cowl sides was caused by a previous repair (before I purchased it) where they filled that entire cavity with tin foil to build off of for glassing the fender!  Quick and dirty!  Geez...

But yeah, I may have to fab up a patch panel for below the door hinges. 

Also, I pulled off the trim on the passenger side and there are some pin holes at the bottom of the A-pillar.  Not all that bad, but more stuff to patch in.

heck, that thing has lest rust than my 92 blazer did.  but i do hate how some hacks do repair work!!!

Well, I have some more pictures, but I haven't uploaded them to photobucket yet.  My cousin and I did more work on tearing the interior out of it.  Still have a few bolts that were giving us fits on the seat belts, but for the most part all I have left to do is the dash inside.

Anyway, I found out what this car looked like originally.  The paint code is 45 which is green mist.  It originally came with a dark green vinyl top which I will not be going back to.  This picture here is what I might do...  Not a typical color to choose which what makes me like it even more.