Rear Seat Brackets & more dash work...

The last few days have been spent working on more details on the dash as well as the rear seat brackets and seat belt anchors.  I've spent a lot more time than I expected on the dash but I think it's turned out nice.

Below you can see the dash with a few gauges in and the shift light in the upper right corner of the tach.

This view shows the intricate bracket for the shift light and the recess for the tach.

The next area I spent time on was the brackets for the rear seats and the seat belt anchors.  Due to the fact the previous owner had tubbed the car I was missing the outer two brackets so I had to create some out of 1/8" steel and new grade 8 nuts.  In order to get the seat brackets in the right spot I had to actually mount the seats which was a bit of a challenge since they have already got the new seat covers on them, I had to be real careful.

Below is a view from under the car at the seat belt ancor brackets.  For some reason the floor pan only had 2 holes (the ones on the right) so I had to drill 2 new holes for the brackets on the left.  It all worked out fine and once everything is in place it'll be hard to tell they were not from the factory.

Here's a picture of the dash in place and as you can see I've also filled in the ashtray as well to help continue to clean-up the dash.   The other project I finished was the shifter tunnel extension.  The one in the picture below is for a non-console car.  Since I didn't have the console in the care when I got it and it only adds more clutter and weight I thought I would continue to keep the car "simple" and go without the console.

The new dash!

Here's the starting point for the dash this morning.  I spent last night drafting a layout with some free CAD software called PowerSHAPE-e (http://www.powershape-e.com/index.asp) that actually worked out quite nice.  I was able to do the mock-up and get some initial dimensions.

This photo shows the tach that I centered and also recessed the entire contour to help make it look "factory-like".

Here's the view from the rear of the car.

Now with the tach in the hole, this really makes for a nice custom view and eliminates the need for the tach to be mounted to the steering wheel or somewhere else in the car.

From the view below you can see where I made the changes to the panel that will now have all of the gauges.  As you can see from the triangle near the globe box trim molding I actually moved the location by about 1 3/4" so that it's not laid back nearly as much.  With the change in angle it still makes it easy to see and also with the contour by the trim molding it's not too far removed from what I would expect the car to look like stock.

Here's a close-up of the dash, tach and steering wheel.

Clutch brackets and clean-up for the radio & heater delete

I spent most of the day yesterday working on the clutch assembly and a few of the radio & heater delete tasks.  The first project was related to the clutch and required a fairly significant amount of work to do the mock-up and get the right position for 2 simple brackets.  As you can see in the photo below I took the block off the stand and put it on the frame to help get the right position for the z-bar bracket.  Even though the assembly manual shows a 1.80" position based on the reference point I really didn't want to take the chance of it being the in wrong position.

Here's a close-up of the bracket tack welded to the frame along with the smaller return spring bracket tacked to the firewall that you can see in the background on the lower right.  When I got the car it was a automatic and someone along the way must have removed the bracket since I didn't have it on the car.  This is a also a very critical piece of the assembly to ensure the clutch returns to the top position after pressing the clutch.  In the end it took about 4-5 hours to do the mock-up and about 5 minutes to weld the brackets.

In the picture below you can see that I've continued the heater and radio delete work by filling in the defroster holes in the dash along with the speaker hole.  The dash pad has a notch that I'll be filling in later to complete the dash work.  Now all that's left is a bit of work with the dolly and hammer and a bit of filler to clean it up.

The last thing I did was to take the engine assembly out of the plastic bags and I figured I'd go ahead and document and confirm all of the casting information.  As you can see in the photo below the block casting # is 14015445, which was is a 454 4-bolt HI PERF passenger use from 1975-1987. There was a casting date of F298 which appears to be June 29th 1978.  The block is also a service replacement part number from what I was able to tell.

Here's a picture of the crankshaft casting # 3967416 which is a 1053 forged steel crank with nitride heat-treated journals.

Here's a picture of the dimpled HI PERF connecting rods.

Below you can see the heads the motor came with that have a casting # 14096188 that are rectangle port, open chamber, 454 service replacement, also used on later Mark IV LS-6, LS-7 and 454 HO crate motors, 116cc chambers

Now things are starting to get much more interesting than working on all of the rust :)  I have put the seat and dash in place so that I can mock-up the changes to the dash.  Since I've been working on the heater delete I also had to fill the section in the center of the dash where the controls were located.  It's filled in this photo as you can see.  The next area to focus on is where the speedometer and radio are located.  My plan is to replicate the layout of a Ferrari but with Autometer gauges.  I have a 5" tachometer that I'll place in the middle and then to the left I'll put the Amp & Water gauges and to the right the Speedo, Oil Temp, Oil Pressure, etc.  The intent is to cover up the remaining section all the way over to where the trim panel sits above the glovebox.  One of the great things about the car is that the dash is steel so with a bit of planning, grinding and welding I can form it to match my design.

Spot-Welding Part 1

I've spent the last two days working on the firewall and the inside of the drivers side welding. I've gone through nearly one pound of innershield wire with the spot welding and that's actually quite a bit given how much I've completed.

Below you can see the passenger side of the firewall.  I have filled all of the holes finally and gotten rid of the remaining sheet metal screws holding panels in place. 

Here's the drivers side of the firewall with the remaining holes filled.  In addition, I've also filled the location on the lower left where the E-Brake cable went through the firewall.  We'll be using some blocks instead of the E-Brake :)  This is much cleaner and it will also clean-up the underside of the car.

Here's the inside view of the drivers side of the car.  As you can see based on the stripes of bare steel there are 3 braces providing support to the floor pan.    I've been spacing the spot welds no more than about 1" apart so there should be plenty of structural support.



This shows the inside rear view of the drivers side.  As you can see from the picture there are a few structural pieces missing from the inside.   These were torched by the previous owner in order to make room for the tubs.  I'm going to try to fabricate some sections of steel that should also provide more structure to the shell.  However, I wanted to get all of the spot welding completed on the inside before I took on that project.   The inner/outer wheel wells were a bit difficult to get a good weld so I also add some small strips of weld about 5" apart around the radius so it shouldn't go any where.

This is the view from the outside of the car and you can see everywhere that's bare metal has been hit by spot welds.  If I were to guess based on what I completed the last two days it's probably somewhere around 400-450 spot welds.  The fun has just begun, I am only about 15-20% through the spot-welding. I have two more rolls of innershield so hopefully that will last me through this week.

Body mock-up

Today I went through and assembled a portion of the front of the car to ensure that the frame that was created would work without additional modifications.  As you can see from the front view the radiator core support fits well and so do the fenders. I was a bit concerned since the reference points from the Chevelle frame diagram that I had really don't match those on a Oldsmobile.  however after shortening the frame about 3-1/2" and then replacing the front frame section the overall frame works just fine except for one issue.  The issue is the front body mounting holes at the firewall which appear to be about 3/8" to 1/2" lower than a Chevelle from my measurements. During the mock-up below I added about 5/16" to 3/8" of washers to help make up the gap and it appears to have worked out well.

From the front view below you can see where filling the firewall has cleaned up the engine compartment.  The only problem was that I covered one of the fender bolt holes.  This was easily remedied with a drill and a few minutes work.

The front side view below shows that for the most part everything appears to align but what you don't see is the large gap between the door and quarter panel.  After I finish the welding on the body shell I'll then be purchasing new doors, fenders and radiator support.  My plan is to still use the original SS hood so when the car is finished the hood and roof will be the only original exterior sheet metal left on the car.  

This view shows the drivers interior kick-panel that I had to rebuild.  After replacing the rocker panel the lower firewall section was pretty rotted and thus I ended up replacing a large section of the inner structure. I did the same on the passenger side as well but the drivers side was much worse.

Welding the Frame

This weekend was spent working on the frame which to be honest was something I was both avoiding due to the complexity and eager to finally finish. Finishing this part of the build really puts me on the other side of the project where things can finally start going back together.

The picture below shows the frame that originally came from a 1966 Oldsmobile with the shell of on the frame.  As you can see the frame "horns" (the area from the front of the A-Arm) they have a contour outwards where the Chevelle frame is straight.  

The first step in the process was to strip the frame down.  The rear was quite easy, just four bolts that hold the control arms on was required in the rear. The front as was a bit more work but it easier since I didn't have to worry about saving any of the hardware this time.  In all it took about 3 hours to get the entire frame stripped down to the point where i could start working on the frame horns.

The picture below shows the frame after I cut off the Oldsmobile frame horns and then the Chevelle ones leaning on the frame.  When I cut the frame horns off there was a lot of material from the firewall and carpet from some of the previous owners (i.e. mice), they were completely full of stuffing.

The next step as A LOT of grinding and fitting.  I spent probably 5-6 hours trimming both the frame and the Chevelle horns, which took most of the day on Saturday.  However, it's critical to make sure that you do take your time doing this to make sure you get a nice fit.   It's hard to tell from the pictures below but the end result was much better than I expected.  I ended up taking some sand bags out and putting them on the frame to ensure that things didn't move during welding.

Here's the view from the bottom of the frame during welding.  Once I was able to finish welding the sections back together I went back and added a few gussets to help provide some strength where there were larger gaps after putting things back together.

The picture below shows the end result which I thing came out quite well.   Something worth noting is that since the frame came from a Oldsmobile the actual dimensions from the Chevelle forum I found didn't match exactly based on the alignment holes.  However, overall everything appears to measure correctly.

The next step is to bolt the body back to the frame and then assemble the front end of the vehicle to make sure that everything fits correctly.  After that is completed I'll then take it apart again and do the final welding of the body shell as well as box the frame.

I have 3 more days of work this week then the remainder of the year for vacation time so I'll be able to make plenty of progress the remainder of 2011.

Finishing the body shell

This is the first post for 2011, finally!  Needless to say many other projects have gotten in the way as well as a lack of vacation time, until now.  I spent the last week in the garage finishing several of the details on the body shell so that I can get it to a point where I can begin spot welding it together. 

The first area was the trunk and trunk to quarter filler panels.  Lesson learned: spend the money and get the quality sheet metal!  Trying to fit all of the aftermarket panels together without any factory sheet metal is more than a challenge.  The entire back-half of the car has been reconstructed including quarters, one-piece trunk, window to trunk panel, inner & outer wheel well, trunk floor, tail panel, and the wonderful trunk to quarter fill panels.  I spent the better part of 8 hours attempting to get them to fit an be consistent.  In addition as you can see in the picture below I had to assemble the entire back-half so that I could ensure everything was aligned and fit well.  I also finished the trunk latch support.

Then next area I focused on was the firewall.  I decided long ago I was going to recreate the car as a heater/radio delete car with manual transmission, steering and brakes (rotor/pads of course).  So I went ahead and filled the blower and heater core holes in the firewall.  With the heater core gone this will make a nice place to mount the MSD ignition and/or fuel meter block/gauge.

After finishing the outside of the firewall my attention turned to the inside.  This car had a lot of rot at the bottom of the passenger front window to firewall.  I had to rebuild a majority of the inside of the corner that runs from the bottom of the window to the top door hinge.

In addition to reconstructing the inside corner the outside also need a lot of help.  I had to replace the bottom 4-5" of the inner "A" pillar on the inside and the surface that the glass sits on.   The final area that needed to be replaced was the top (grey in the picture) flat surface and a long section that sits below the window fill panel.   The previous owner used just about every type of filler compound in this area to avoid having to do the sheet metal work.  This honestly took about 5-6 hours to fix and will require just a little surface filler to make it smooth. 

Finally the last project I completed this week was to finish the rear rotisserie by adding the large bottle jack to ensure I could raise the car high enough to turn it 90 degrees.  The following pictures show that all of the hard work that went into the rotisserie was well worth it!  I can literally look at the bottom of the car and do all of the spot welding and grinding. I need to make one more modification to the rotisserie so that the pivot points don't walk when rotating which I saw after flipping the car.