The story of a 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle: AKA desperately trying to avoid a slippery slope...

About two weeks ago I bought a 1967 Chevelle from a buddy who owns a tow truck company.

So I bought a muscle car on a whim what was I thinking?

I have always liked the style of the mid 60's muscle cars. I think this time frame represents the epitome of the breed and is the golden era for the American car industry. I particularly admire the lines of the 1966 and 1967 GM A-body hard top cars, like the Tempest / GTO , and Chevelle. Well when the opportunity presented itself to purchase the car that is now sitting in my driveway for $6000.00 I couldn't get the money out of my wallet fast enough.

Here is the car the day I met with the seller and struck the deal.

Now it looks better in the pictures then it actually is but I feel pretty good about the deal even though I am sure as I tear into the car I will find more things to address. It runs well and the brakes stop it like they should, the parking brake even works! The transmission is noisy but it shifts well. The clutch pedal sits higher then the other pedals but it is smooth and doesn't seem to slip. Now that I have it at my house I can slowly start to address its many needs.

First on the list is the wheels, without them the car is not going anywhere. Lets start by saying I am a fan of the Cragar SS wheels that are on the car, they are classic and look great on the car but... I made the decision to ditch them for a couple of reasons. First off the rears are the wrong offset and they rub the rear fenders outer lip. Second of all I only have one front wheel, so I would need to source another on top of the rears being the wrong offset. Thirdly the tires are all completely dry-rotted. Finally I want to run four wheel disc brakes and the inexpensive options require a 16 inch wheel or larger.

With car in hand I began looking at my inexpensive wheel options and I immediately came to the conclusion that a majority of the wheels for classic American cars mimic the Cragar style 5 spoke. There are variations obviously but even though I dig the look it is a little played out.

For inspiration I turned to the General himself. I like the OEM rally wheel look and it is not as prevalent as the 5 spoke cragar look. Like this only bigger...

Enkei RFP1

pres589 wrote: Enkei RFP1

I am a fan and actually own a set. They are the wrong lug pattern though.

pimpm3 wrote: With car in hand I began looking at my inexpensive wheel options and I immediately came to the conclusion that a majority of the wheels for classic American cars mimic the Cragar style 5 spoke. There are variations obviously but even though I dig the look it is a little played out.

I don't think that those wheels even look good most of the time, I feel like people run them because they're 'supposed to.'
Very cool starting point, can't say I wouldn't be in the same position were I afforded the same opportunity!

A quick search of craiglist scored me a set of 18 Inch 2010 Camaro wheels. Not bad for $120.00

Some elbow grease and sandpaper...

A little primer...

Some silver spray paint (Ignore my flip flops and socks it was cold and I was to lazy to put on shoes)

Add some new 18 Inch 245/40/18 inch Sumitomo HTR Z III tires...

And you get....

Not to shabby for $120.00 wheels

Chrome beauty rings...

In reply to pimpm3:

Hrm. Pretty sure the RFP1 comes in 5 x 4.75". If not, well, that sucks.

In reply to pimpm3:

Aren't those not really the same bolt pattern?

Now the car drove fine but I figured I wanted to start with a solid baseline. I removed the Holly carb and took it to National Carburetor which is based in Jacksonville. They rebuild a good portion of the "rebuilt" carbs one would buy at their local auto parts store. For $125.00 they completely rebuilt the carb, bench tested it and cleaned it to the point that it looked brand new. On top of that they guarantee their work by backing it up with a life time warranty. Needless to say when ever I get a vehicle with a carb I have them go through it for me.

I also fixed the ghetto fuel filter and old soft fuel line.

pres589 wrote: In reply to pimpm3: Aren't those not really the same bolt pattern?

You are correct, they are also the wrong offset. I know it is not the ideal solution but for $110.00 I bought a set of 5x4.75 to 5x120 1.25 inch wheel adapters with 14mm studs. That way I can reuse the 2010 Camaro lug nuts that retain the center cap.

Tomorrow I plan on changing the oil and the ill fitting incorrect spark plugs.

In reply to pimpm3:

This is one of those times when a wheel adapter sounds like the right solution. They do look decent on the car, and the price is right, so why not.

In reply to pres589:

I agree I normally am not an advocate of adapters but I would have had to spend at least three if not four times what I did to get a 18 wheel under the car. Unfortunately there are no readily available factory wheels that fit offset wise in that size, which limits me to the Cragar style aftermarket options...

In reply to pimpm3:

Can you tell me a little more about the Camaro wheels?

Offset? Width?

18x7.5 38 offset. A GM A Body wants a 0 ish offset. Most all modern vehicles have positive offset wheels.

Man, I have liked those wheels, but they maybe too big for the Corvair. Plus the tires would virtually be rubber bands.

Back to the cheap wheel drawing board for me.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

look at impala police car wheels they are available in 16 inch and 17 inch sizes. Not sure of the lug pattern or offset on those.

In reply to pimpm3:

Like the newer Impalas? That's ok, those wheels are hideous.

Someone had suggested the Camaro Steelies and I hadn't really thought about them until now.

There are very few OEM wheels that I like that would look good on the Corvair.

I was just starting to think about a set of drift wheels for the CTSV, and those might be the ticket. The question is whether they're strong enough to handle 4400lbs sideways. Either way, they look darn good on the Chevelle.

In reply to mazdeuce:

What, like the current Camaro is light weight? What's the delta between those cars, 400 lb?

Pretty soon 60s gm products are going to rank up there with miatas for active build threads.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

In reply to pimpm3:

I like it but...I think the wheels would look better a slightly darker metallic gray.

Like the darker color on these Pontiac Rally II wheels.

In reply to Nick_Comstock:

I agree and that is not out of the question, I actually was very close to going with the rustoleum "cast" gray. The beauty of the cheapo steel wheels is I am $7.00 in spray paint away from a color change.

The factory rally wheels are "argent" silver which is a little darker then the silver I picked up from the local advance auto-parts

I ordered a new radiator today from ebay motors.

The one in the car leaks. I was showing the car to my buddy after driving it a few miles. All of a sudden I feel a warm wetness spreading across my jeans and my first thought is that I am to young to be incontinent. I look down and there is a pinhole sized spray conveniently angling directly for my crotch region from the radiator. "Nice car" said my non car enthusiast friend...

Anyways I am now $175.00 poorer but I have a "champion " aluminum Radiator enroute to my house.