While I was on ebay I also bought a bling polished stainless steel overflow tank for $35.00 shipped.
While I was on ebay I also bought a bling polished stainless steel overflow tank for $35.00 shipped.
Glad you like them, but not feeling the wheels. IMHO muscle cars with big rims and low profile tires look like Hotwheels cars. My '72 Nova will have the 15' Rally wheels when it's finnished.
Good luck with the build. Before you spend more on bling, get that transmission checked out
If you want bigger brakes, most often you have to run bigger wheels. I've got 17s on mine to clear c5 vette brakes.
Im hoping to see c6 z06 behind his 18s
So, I looked at your car and thought... that's cool. I always thought those were the prettier body style... let me just see what they go for these days.
Now - I don't want to tell you what to do but I'd really clean it up, add stock wheels and flip. You could come out $15k ahead even if you have terrible paint and crappy body work hiding under it.
Crikey! http://www.carsforsale.com/used-cars/1967-chevrolet-chevelle
I have a suspicion that you do not want to touch that bodywork unless you want to go down a financial rabbit-hole. Drive long and prosper.
So first things first, now that the car has a set of rubber that holds air it is time to start addressing problems. Who knows when the last time the oil was changed so I started with that. A new filter and 4 quarts of oil later, the first maintenance item was struck from the list.
Next on the agenda was replacing the plugs. I pulled the first one and immediately noticed three problems. First of all it was the wrong plug, it had too many threads. Second it was a platinum. And finally the gap was way off, figure about .035 is a good bet for a carbureted 350, this one was set at .060.
I continue pulling plugs and the first four are the incorrect AC Delcos with the huge gap. Next I encounter two autolites and two Bosch platinums, all with huge gaps.
The car runs much better with the new plugs, it is smoother and it seems to start quicker. While i was savoring the smooth idle I notice a jingling / rattling noise. I start poking around and determine that it is coming from the engines lone PCV valve. The drivers side just had a hole in the valve cover. I pulled out the valve and it seemed real "loose". I went to the nearby advance and picked up two and some hose with a "T".
Next on the agenda is.... A noisy, leaking power steering pump. Seems like a good place to start, an easy fix if you will. Unfortunately this seemingly mundane repair is where I began my slide down the rabbit hole.
What's missing in this picture?
You guessed it a power steering pump.
While it was apart I started thinking, the paint on the block is kind of crappy, this would be good time to clean it and reapply. I think you all see where this is going...
...and since I am painting the block this would be a good time to clean up the manifolds....
Off but not cleaned.
After some quality time with a wire wheel and some degreaser.
A few coats of VHT 1300 to 2000 degree header paint...
Back to the block paint. After degreasing and the wire wheel.
Notice the new starter that I discovered when I removed the manifold.
All masked off ready for paint.
Much better!
I like the wheels the colour you sprayed them. In fact, I think they look really good to boot. Almost Halibrand-esque, at least from a distance.
SkinnyG wrote: I like the wheels the colour you sprayed them. In fact, I think they look really good to boot. Almost Halibrand-esque, at least from a distance.
Thanks I like them to, they are not played out, they were super cheap and they will fit over the corvette brakes that are going on the car. I have an idea on how to change them up a bit when I get bored with them as well.
Unfortunately the shiny block paint highlighted how terrible the valve cover paint is. So of course I continued my decent an pulled it off to fix.
A little aircraft paint stripper.
Since the valve cover was off I was able to get to the intake manifold.
Before (not to bad actually)
After
Easy to apply and no masking required. Hopefully it will hold up...
And a gratuitous outside shot because I am smitten...
Welcome to the descent into project car hell.
The slope is already steep and slippery.
Read the drivabeater thread again, cause im pretty sure your gonna wind up in the same place as me. Im hoping to drive it again in yhe next few months.
Yup...right down the rabbit hole.
Better do the brakes next, otherwise there is no stopping!
It's no different than any other 50 year old running and driving project car. There's going to be times its awesome and there's going to be times where it's going to suck. Yes you will drop some mad cash into it, but you will enjoy it none the less.
And if you keep close tabs on expendature, you should be able to break even on cas outlay when it comes time to sell.
At least that's my hope on the elky.
Valve covers? Spark plugs? Well, you have come this far. Time to pull the frame and pro street that bitch.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but with HEI, more so with a hotter aftermarket one one like you have, isn't a wider gap recommenced for best performance? Maybe even as big as 0.060? That is of course, assuming the distributor is hooked up to a good 12 volt source on a heavy gauge wire and not the stock, points ignition, resistor wire setup. Which is a big assumption based on the plugs you pulled out.
Finished cleaning up the valve over...
A coat of primer.
Several coat of VHT wrinkle paint.
The driver's side which is essentially a before picture.
After...
I pulled my FJ60 out of the garage to make way for decorating Easter eggs tomorrow. I thought this was a cool shot.
On a side note I didn't get as much done today as I would have hoped because the body shop finished up the 1966 Plymouth fury that I bought at the auction last month to resell. I had to run by the bank and then my buddy gave me a ride to pick it up. It drove nice but has an exhaust leak, so I dropped it off at my friend's muffler shop. I am not a fan of the wheels but they are on the car and have good tires so they are staying for the time being.
It should sell pretty quick for $7000.00. It is a factory big block car, and has a 440.
pimpm3 wrote: It should sell pretty quick for $7000.00. It is a factory big block car, and has a 440.
It better, that seems amazingly cheap!
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