Day 68 - 4/4/12

Back for some more Chevelle fun. Finally, we tackle the rear opening today. The "new" channel piece I ruffed out and ground down to fit was actually the correct size so we threw it in. Worked a little on my brakes today too.

Reinforcement made up. It's not the prettiest thing, but you won't see it.

Made the final measurements and got it tacked in!

We got the bigger piece in, now time to cut down the other side.

Cut down, still need to do a lot of fitting though.

In favor to keep the ball rolling, I jacked up the rig and took off the drums and shoes to get new linings put on. Grandpa helped out and took the parts to Ott's Friction Supply. The drums are a little over, but I'll run them with oversize linings. Anything is better than Chinese drums.

I have multiple service manuals but just to be on the safe side, I took a bunch of reference pictures to make sure and the springs and bracketry go back on correctly. Wouldn't want to forget one!

Cleaned up the springs and bracketry with our trusty parts washer. One of my favorite tools in the shop.

     See you soon..

Day 67 - 3/31/12

Major steps taken today! I borrowed a spitznagel (dent puller outer) from a friend from church. It will assist in body shaping. We used it along the line of welds on the roof above the front seat. It had a little con caved canal from the splice of new and old metal. Although, we didn't want to pull it all the way up, because then there wouldn't be anywhere for the body filler to go. So by pulling the roof up a little, it will require less filler.

We were in such a groove, I forgot to take pics of it in action. Basically, it's a spot welder that welds pins to a dented surface. Then you grab the pins with the puller, and hammer the dent out.

One of my birthday gifts from Dad.

 No more Frankenstein's head! I get to just watch, but it's still fun to see how it's done.

Day 66 - 3/24/12

Well I'm back, after a long break. That rear window opening has been getting the best of me. Anyway, we rolled out the ol' Chevelle for the first time this year. It was nice to work outside for a change, got a taste of spring/summer weather today.

 Getting some sun.

Finished up the welding/grinding on the front as well as rear package tray area.Getting ready for mud.

Air buffer with sanding disc on it. Makes quick work of the nas T paint around the welds.

Sanding away.

 Good to be outside.

Day 64/65 - 3/2 & 3/3/12

Double update day back to back. This Friday evening I work on 'cleaning' up the window opening getting it that much closer to the addition of new metal. Started to work on getting the new metal cut down to fit in the opening. Lots of clamping, measuring, looking and back and forth trips to the grinder. You can actually start to see how it should look if there isn't big rust holes in the roof. Makes me very happy because I know it's that much closer to drivability.

In some areas the pinch welds were still connected so I gave it a little 'love' and helped them out.

Got the underside lip pretty well cleaned up of residual roof. Updated the towels that cover the quarter glass to avoid sparks eating them! Held on with my friend hard drive magnets.

Here's the lower window channel corners. I cut/ground the excess off to save the 90 degree bend (in my left hand). These will butt up to is the black panel we already tacked in.

Cut a little slit to hopefully overlap it to make some scribe lines for final cuts.

Saturday Day 65:

Got the new metal on the 'workbench' Getting ready for the numerous cuts/grinds ahead.

Made the biggest cut, it'll keep getting smaller and smaller to fit where we need it to.

 

Dad giving me some help. Eventually it will just fit into place! We got it overlapped in there making scribe lines for final cuts.

 

 Made an even closer cut up to about the third vise-grip, so it sits pretty flush along the vertical part.

A closer view, you can see we've had the moldings out getting fitment. I made the final cut along the top as well but it looks pretty much like this except the two are flush instead of overlapping.

I'll see you soon...

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.