This video takes you through the car stored in a garage before Pete purchased it. As you can see, just about every body panel has damage, but the car has never been hit. Seeing these flaws made me realize that he would have to replace every body panel. Some of the imperfections look worse than they actually are, but some of the imperfections aren't as bad as they look. Overall, the car is solid, typical rust around the rear window, some rust around the front window, but cowl, floors, and trunk as solid as a rock.
Car inspection and assessment with some disassembly. Notice the fact that there is very little, if any, rust on the floor pans, cowl panel, tail panel. The frame is untouched and in very good condition.
This is the underside of the trunk floor, mint condition. Still with its black phosphate coating
Interior floor pan, no rust. Excellent shape.
Rust repair has started. Package tray replaced with AMD metal. Matched up to all dimensions and welded in. If you have the sound on, note that Pete says 'Zeppelin always helps'.
Rear roof brace. Drilled out. Badly rusted around rear window.
Ready for new rear brace.
New rear brace welded in. This brace was from Goodmark. Fit was right on. Measurements taken before and after; and they ended up spot on.
Trunk floor. Very good condition except for slight pitting as shown in the photo. Didn't go all the way through, but patched metal, as needed, less than a square foot (in total) needed to be repaired.
Video of firewall and floor pan from underneath. Once again, no rust. Even the fuel and brake lines are in mint condition, but will be replaced with stainless steel lines.
Both quarters removed. Sorry no pictures of 10,000 spot welds removed (haha). Once again, notice the lack of rust. So this is a solid foundation to build upon. There was a small amount of metal repair at lower, outer wheelhouse.
Trunk drop offs welded in.
Both doors hung with rebuilt hinges. Quarters mocked up.
These shots are of the interior, floor, and cowl. The paint is starting to be removed with sandblasting in Pete's garage. BIG mistake. Pete is still finding sand in spots of his garage, 3 years later. Proof of solid foundation to start building.
Pictures of the BARE body. They just got back from powder coating. The trunk and cowl were done in a textured, black finish. Done by CPC Powder Coating in Joliet, IL over one weekend. Shout out to Dave and crew at CPC, thanks for a great job.
Pictures of the frame, fresh from powder coating. As you can see by the pictures, this frame is mint. It looks like Pete went back to 1970 and stole a frame off of the assembly line. Once again, the frame was done over a weekend by CPC Powder Coating in Joliet, IL (separate from the body).
Assembly begins on chassis. Pete did a 4 wheel disc brake set up from right stuff. All stainless lines from the ground up. Everything fit well with slight modifications to brake lines to fit. You will notice coil springs in the car, but Pete will install coil-over set up. All fuel line and brake line clips are original, just cleaned and painted. Calipers all ground smooth and painted with high temp caliper paint.
Body reunited with frame.
You hear all of the horror stories about removing body mount bolts. All of these bolts broke loose by hand with a 1/2 inch ratchet. The picture with 2 bolts in it, you can see the worst of the body bolts. Dry, Southern cars are great.
Starting to install body panels for the last time. Rear filler panel glued into place. Screws will be removed after dry and spot welded. Using Lord Fusor structural adhesive.
Preparation for quarter panel install. Black lines are seam sealer.
Left quarter panel installed.
Right quarter panel installed. Both quarters, once again, glued with Lord Fusor structural adhesive. They were screwed and clamped to hold tight. Screws removed when dry and spot welded. All body panels are from AMD; notice the lack of modifications to make the panels work.
Preparation for roof panel installation. The only modification to fit was a slight trimming on the roof rail edge.
Roof panel installation using Lord Fusor adhesive and spot welds.
Trunk lip glued and screwed into place.
Short block pieces.
Here is the foundation of the power plant for Chevelle.
Sorry about the delay; a bit of a computer error and had to do some photo recovery. To catch up, here are a few pictures from front end mock up. AMD released the front fenders earlier this year and Pete purchased and installed them. Was having difficulties getting his gaps and found out that the original core support was bent even though there was no evidence of an accident. Purchased new core support from AMD and everything fell into place as far as the gaps. Slight work needed on hood to get gaps the best we can to fenders and fender extensions. Mocking up grill and fender extensions, everything fits in the holes for attachments.
Bare metal ready for epoxy. Note how little work has gone into panels. Added some metal to edges for great gaps. All lines match great. Thanks AMD!
SPI Epoxy laid down. Two coats following their directions. First time I have painted since 16 years old. A few more years have been added.
High build primer. Anywhere from 3 to 6 coats so I have enough for blocking out.
Stripped off e-coat to get to bare metal.
SPI Epoxy shot with Eastwood concours gun. Filling seams as needed.
High build primer time.
Just filling in some imperfections before sealing for paint.
Epoxy sealer
Edging out with SPI red.
Edges finished with SPI UV clear.
Miscellaneous pieces painted & cleared.
Body painted & cleared. 3 coats clear.
Clear sanded per SPI directions.
3 more coats clear.
Starting process of sanding clear.
Insulation before headline install.
Coil over suspension installed. Kit was bought from Viking. Nicely designed kit. Rear braces that were on rear had to be removed for install.
Before I play upholsterer.
After. TMI sport foam and covers. 1971 style as I think it looks better than 1970 style. Nice suede inserts made for comfort.
Bumper brackets sand blasted and 3 coats epoxy sprayed.
Yes, the car is being resprayed.
Paint job so shiny that you can see your reflection.