Day 63 - 2/19/12

Back for another update on the old Chevy. We continue to work on the rear window which has been and will continue to be the main focus. I got the entire window channel cut out, so now the roof skin is free. Did a little welding today as well and got the parallelogram like patch piece in the passenger quarter in. I did a little oops and got it too hot and warped my nice original quarter by not blowing the tacks in between welds. We'll have to use a spitznagel to pull it back out and then give it a thin layer of filler (which the roof was going to get anyway).

Back to the blankets. Getting ready for the mega cut and welds.

 

 Cut the vertical part out, that was easy compared to the corners. I'm getting better!

Made the money cut, there's no going back now!

 During my learning experience.

Welding and sort of ground. You can't tell here, but its mega warped from above the paint line. (Body line saved me, thankfully)

All cut out and ready for the edges to be cleaned up.

Day 61/62 - 2/14 & 2/16/12

Back for some more much anticipated updates! Lately, I've been doing the majority of the fab other than a few welds. Which is good, because Dad doesn't really need more practice! Anyway, on the 14th, I made the 2 patch panels for the holes I made in the upper quarters to get rid of rust. It looks a little easier than it is, I also made the holes irregular shapes so that made it more fun!

This is the third piece I made because each time I made one I ground it too small and you want kind of tight fit.

I made two of these pieces. Lots of trips to the bench grinder and disk sander here! I'll weld both these pieces flush in the next few days.

I also made the initial cut into the roof on the black line straight part and cut it away from the remaining channel in the center of the opening. We're getting there!

Lots of action here from today, the 16th. Got the lower curvy part cut out and ground down. The three different cylinder disks I used and the old the metal. As well as Dad just so happened to be there during the picture fitting his hood for his '34 coupe.

More to come this weekend, Presidents Day so more fab time!

Day 59/60 - 2/3 & 2/10/12

I was looking at my car, and remember reading that the door ding moldings might've been a dealer install option. Either way, they're staying and it also really 'says' Malibu instead of SS. But anyway, I was looking at them and there was a rubber strip glued in there at one time and there was some residual residue left and plus the stainless wasn't polished. So I took some different solvents and got the high spots and then used my friend steel wool and got just the "race track" as I call it because tape would pick up paint. Then today the 10th, (day after the 7 month delivery) finally got my mind wrapped around the rear window job. Made some measurements before the mega cut so we can be pretty precise when putting in the new metal. After that, I've been staring at a couple of holes one in each upper quarter so I cut them out.

You can see Uncle Mike's TIG in the reflection!

Marked some yellow lines and measured high point to high point and wrote right on the car! I also made a 1/2 inch away line for my cut to get rid of the rusty channel.

I wanted to cut out as little as possible but still going into good metal so that's why it's a funny shape.

Cut and filed clean.

Same deal here, but I thought since I'm putting in a new piece might as well replace most of the rust.

And done. I already made some paper templates and I'll cut out new pieces tomorrow.

Day 55/56/57/58 - 1/18, 22, 28, 29/12

Long time no see, or read if you want to be technical. I made a video for this update but Youtube decided to not like me so I'm back to pictures and words for now. I opened a second flickr so we're back in business. A lot has happened since last update including rear glass body work and getting some little trinkets for the car.

A shot before the major addition of the new lower window channel.

 I made up these rectangles to be bent and welded into the corners for more strength for the new window channel.

Bent, drilled, and paint cleaned off and ready for welds.

Window channel is in for good now! Got the window channel welded and getting ready for the second set of welds across the actual body line.

Dad grinding on the body line welds. 

We spot welded it so it doesn't get too hot and warp. We made the initial welds about an inch apart and I just kept going back and forth in between getting every spot.

Got 'er done! There's a few spots I didn't get because we ran out of gas for the welder...

 Better shot of the new panel, looks good! You can see the factory black over spray on the package tray because the panel serves two purposes: interior and exterior. The black goes with the interior. 

 Got some stuff from the Canby Swap. Everything for only 5 bucks!

(These are out of the box above) I polished up the right one for my car because I broke the little clip that holds in the bottom. Reminds me of the summer polishing days!

Then at the next weekend's swap at the CC fairgrounds I got this trick rear view mirror also for $5! The AAA sticker is cool and I'm going to keep it. It came with the arm too but I took it off for cleaning.

I mainly bought it because the reflective stuff is still intact and the price was right.

See you in a few.

Day 53/54 - 1/13 & 1/14/12

Got some more progress done this last weekend. A little paint, and a little metal work. I had the car jacked up to look underneath so I gave you a peak there as well. I'm kind of coughing at the end. I'm not sick, my throat was a little dry from doing a few takes.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp014QXej_Q                                                 

Day 52 - 1/6/12

Got some more rear lower glass panel work done today. Cleaned up my sloppy cut getting it ready for the new partial panel. Cut the repro panel from All American in half to make it more manageable and allow us to push it under the old but good part for more accurate scribe lines and measurements.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeGOD7I8lg

I wanted to make a shout out to the guys from the Team Chevelle forum for the warm welcome, continued support and I appreciate you looking at my updates!

All you other guys, you know who you are, thank you too!

Day 49/50/51 - 12/21/11, 1/2 & 1/3/12

On day 49, we got the front glass area totally done, fabrication and modification wise at least. So after we completed that, put the Chevelle in the shop backwards for the beginning of the rear glass work. I enjoy seeing the roof get done because I remember the first couple of days scratching my head confused on how we would accomplish that...

Anyway, made the first cut on the rear panel on day 50, getting a start on it. The front appeared to be a little easier than the rear will be, but the one nice thing about the rear panel is that we don't have a huge hood to worry about and especally the dash area. Then that night I got the trunk junk cleaned out somewhat so we can grind/weld without any worries. I popped the trunk plugs out and you can see the third build sheet even better.

Day 51 wasn't too spectacular, but since I was going through the junk I wanted to figure out how the spare tire jack and assembly 'mounted'. I have the black plastic cover to the jack which I hear isn't very common to find in cars so I guess my car will be that much cooler! On to the video:

New!

Day 48 - 12/20/11

So we got the A pillars said and done, well almost. Today we did some more alining and fitting of the upper windshield piece before welding it in. Already it was pretty close but we just made sure it was in the correct spot because once it's welded in, it's in! After welding and mega grinding, Dad ground off the molding tabs on the new pieces because they were kind of loose. I went digging through Dad's many coffee cans of screws and found about 40 of those little tabs, trying to save a buck were I can. Plus the new lower package tray body piece didn't even have those. Got the heater running in the background there for awhile to heat up the place.

(I filmed this new video on the 21st, before the next day of progress. But actually the work we got done was on the 20th.)

NEW!

Day 47 - 12/19/11

We're all on Christmas break so time to get some progress done! Got the old A pillar body pieces cut out and the new ones fit and tacked in. It's looking better already! I managed to cut my wrist so I didn't do too much contributing today, but I'll live and learn. Next step is to get the top and today's progress to flow together. That will be a project for tomorrow. My goal is to get the windshield body work all done by break and at least start on the rear glass area. I believe we can achieve that goal as long as we work on it everyday!

Update! 

Day 46 - Combo - 11/27 & 12/4/11

Today is the 5 month anniversary of picking up the Chevelle! (12/9/11)

It's been very cold! Not as fun to work on the car as it was during the summer. We got the kick panels off and the new video talks about that. I didn't mention this in the vid, but I started to drill out the welds on the A-pillars to splice and dice the 'new' pieces in from the Monte Carlo. Over Christmas break we plan to get really into the body work and get this rig running!

Click me for a new update!