Alright…as a lot of y'all know (and for those who don't) I had a major stroke in 2003. I lost the ability to speak and my right side was paralyzed. My sons and their friend (EverestX) modded an xbox for me to use to help me rehabilitate myself. I hooked into X-S in 2005 and got into the graphics forum…and it also was instrumental in furthering more rehabilitation. Anyway…my aphasia is a real problem…so if I don't make any sense; it's just my "word salad" that scrambles my speech and text. So bear with me.



I bought my Chevelle in 1988 when I lived in the high desert in Apple Valley, CA after my car was stolen. In 1990 we drove it to get back to Texas. I, my wife, and my 2 sons, and two chow-chows packed into the car. Drove it for a couple o' years…and it O.D.'ed. Fast forward to 1998 (? The exact year escapes me.) The a/c unit in the house takes a crap in July…didn't have the funds to get it fixed. So I'm talkin' to EvX's dad (Pat) and he wants to buy the car for right about what I needed to pay to fix it. So I sold it to 'em. Then a few years later I bought a 76 Malibu …beautiful car! Fast forward again…between Pat and EvX and myself think that I would like to have my 67 back, and Pat and I make a deal because he wanted to have a big car for Ev to drive…well anyway, I traded for my 76 Malibu to them for getting my 67 Chevelle + $1000 bucks in return. It was a good trade…all of the body bushings, and the suspension were done (they were doing a resto.) They used some top notch parts to do it. On top of that; the interior was gutted. ( As a sidelight…after the trade; about a year after EvX is driving it he has a pretty gnarly wreck…he's in the ICU and wakes up after a day or so…first thing out of his mouth was "John's (me) is gonna kill me." He didn't care that he was in the hospital, and that his car was wrecked; he was worried I'd be pissed! : )



Well; two years ago I built a Chevy 350; with the help of my best friend, and recently I finally felt like I could tackle getting this car on the road again. This is the year! I've been working on it quite a bit lately, and hope to be driving it April (of course…the interior and paint and body will have to take a while longer, ya know how the economy is.) i know it looks pretty ratty...but it is a solid car!



I'm gonna start this wip with a couple o' recent pix…

this is what I would like it to look like...





this is what it looked like a few weeks ago...





I love these wheels...







got my motor and powerglide installed....







work might be slow...but i'll update as frequently as i can.

Awsome, dude. 65-67 Chevelle's are straight up one of the sexiest cars ever built.

Good luck with your project, and your recovery

Awesome car man! there's a lot of potential right there

I must say I'm envious how clean those southern chassis stay... here in the north east we salt the roads in the winter to keep the roads from icing up and it causes cars to rot out something nasty in just a few short years. I mean my car is a 95 and clean and that's astounding to most people around here. if you see a car from the 60s or 70s that's as clean as yours... it means it was imported

Got a li'l bit done the other day...put the headers in, got my water pump and pump pulley, and fuel pump...still waiting for my manual steering box to arrive...the weather has been hit and miss...

Manual steering??.... C'mon, how you gonna pull a Rockford with manual steering....

strong arms and quick reflexes?

nah...i'm just building a simple machine....with manual steering it's one less accessory for the crankshaft to power; no fluid to mess with and less hoses...also it lets me mount my alternator down low on the block.

that car so reminds me of Oliver!!

top gear fans in the UK should know what I'm reffering too!

Good work!

i've seen top gear a couple o' times...pretty cool show.

i did a web search for oliver...i didn't find much info about it; short of it's condition when hammond bought it...but i don't get it?

they went over the Botswana desert/salt lake and the used banged up cars (no doors etc) but Hammond loved his so much he took it back to England it should be on youtube some where I think it's a special episode.

it was an opel (vauxhall) kadett. smashing little motor.

botswana episode of top gear highly recommended to anyone who hasnt seen it, as is the winter special, infact just watch them all, that's an order.

Just read all your blurb in the first post, how is EverestX? we used to chat on aim but I don't have it anymore

Nice build up. The car actually looks pretty tidy, you poked any of the door jams or sills with a screwdriver yet. I'd love a big chevy monster, I just can't afford anything like that, plus they're not exactly practical on some of the narrower UK roads.

I'm starting my own build up on a 1966 Triumph Vitesse convertible this summer though, fortunately the body is good and I've got a brand new rolling chassis.

That car that Hamond drove on Top Gear was a Opel Kadett model A, 1966 ish. Although it was a GM owned company, Vauxhall and Holden didn't produce a Kadett. The three companies stayed pretty much separate from each other, in terms of making the same cars, until the 1970's but all controlled by GM. They did share plans with each other though and the closest to the Kadett in the Uk was a Vauxhall Viva HA.

i just got on aim to see what he's doing. edit: he's working...about to get off at midnight. get aim again.

those li'l kadetts were awesome! i had a bud 30 some years ago had one. good times...good times.

^ damn edit time was a little short or i real damn slow.

i'll be adding some content in the next couple o' days...had to change headers...damn things needed "some modification required"...my ass...i'll explain it in my next post.

I haven't made to much progress…but you know how that goes.

Ok here we go….i had to change the headers; lemme tell you something …NEVER buy any parts with the words "may require modification" in the ad. You WILL be in for trouble. Trust me. Anyway; the shorty headers were going to require some major mods…so I had to get a set that said "custom fit" in the ad. Needless to say…I got that prob cured.

I managed to route my fuel lines…redneck tech, ya gotta love it…nice looking fittings, eh? I had to "create" my own adapter to go from 5/16" to 3/8" from the cars fuel line (5/16") to fuel pump (3/8" fittings); because it's easier and cheaper than changing the hard line, the tank mounted sending unit/float. (I've already spent plenty o' money ya know.) It took some more redneck tech to manage to get the proper base for the air cleaner; it raised the filter housing high enough so the carb fitting fit under it. I also managed to mount the alternator…it took several mock ups to get it right.

So that's where I'm at….next put the radiator/elec fan and hoses and install the starter….

….it's getting real close to firing it up.







check out the pitman arm / ...i painted it gold...because when changing from power steering to manual...you have to change other parts to do it. ie; the drag link was gonna need to be changed too...so i found a guy who has a machine shop in his garage who was able to modify (he used a taper boring tool to do it) the manual steering pitman arm so it would work with the power steering drag link. anyway i kept tellin' the dude "man, that is gold!" saved me even mo' money...so i painted it gold.
man it's a brain teaser for me to accomplish alot of this stuff....i'll say it again redneck tech works.
that's it for now.

just a li'l more today.....

nice work man... you're moving faster than I am

though I've been working on electrical stuff and suspension bushings while I wait for some more motor parts... who would have thought a tiny littl hunk of metal would hold me up 6 weeks

6 weeks! dammit boy.

brrrrpupupuuu!
my wiring is gonna be a pain.

...my day has gotten much better! i got my chevelle 300 deluxe tail lite bezels! they look sweet!




man i love that look...this is the way a malibu should look! such clean lines...

they rarely build cars with style and flare anymore... most of what's on the road are just shapeless blobs... you know wouldn't want to give the car a distinctive shape less someone might not like it and not buy it.

the 60s are my favorite era for chevy cars personally

Man I gotta tell ya…sometimes ya gotta make do with what you have on hand. My radiator of course wasn't a factory original, so like most after market stuff…they don't quite fit and in most areas need "modification" (see my earlier post about my header faux pas.). Well it was fitting right against the radiator support, at the top tank…I damn sure didn't need to be wasting time….I came up with a pretty quick fix though…I had some 1" alum square stock cut the pieces to fit and drilled some holes, had the right length bolts…wal-lah…redneck tech comes in handy when you've got a tight budget for your project.





Tomorrow I gotta go around and finish putting the rest o' clamps on, install the electric fan, install the solid motor mounts, run the tranny lines, add a fuel petcock for security reasons and wire the ignition system.

Oh yeah…about trying to install the radiator upside down…I'd rather not talk about it. Let's just say I wasn't "on my game" yesterday.

The other day I figured out my exhaust system…it is gonna look so trick and be so custom; how you say, S I C K…..well I'll let the cat out of the bag when the time get's nearer.

thanx for y'alls support!


hasta

when; i got a few more things done this past week....i got my electric fan in, i started with the electrical with the headlights and the wiring harness, i put my solid motor mounts in, i got the starter in, the vacuum fitting for the power brakes and the vacuum for the regulator on the tranny, and got the manual steering box in....phew! oh yeah the tranny cooler lines in too.









next is more wiring...not looking forward to it! of course it means i get to put my sweet gauges in! nice big 2 5/8" gauges.

dude... wiring an old car like that is tit

I help out a friend with an old 66 dart and the diagram for the ENTIRE CAR fit on an 8.5x11 sheet

my engine swap on the other hand

I'm thinking I might send it out to have someone else do it for me

dude....it was easier than i thought....

you gotta remember that i didn't take the car apart several years ago. also i've lost the pix that i took 17 years ago for reference to show me how to put it all back together....

i got the starter in and wired, and every thing fell into line once i found the fuse block and figured where the plugs belonged....i'm working on putting the ignition switch and the gauges in.

i got a wiring diagram that is 8.5 x 17 in. from classic wiring on ebay. that is worth it's weight in gold.

yeah, your swap is a li'l bit complicated....i've been contemplating getting a friend for 30+ years to come up to my house and tie up some loose ends that i think can't get done without assistance.

'ya think?

that doesn't even include the transmission harness either
and the reason it doesn't include it is because I don't have one and have to make my own

well...it's been two years since i got to do some actually work on my chebby; and an opportunity to post an update in my wip. the hiatus has mainly been due to $$$ or lack of it. we finally started the engine...hell i built the engine almost 5 years ago; installed it in the car about 2 years ago. actually driving it could be this year! (it could've been sooner if i didn't have these damned brain injuries between my own and my bff and his brain injury too!)


i love my spinner caps!


taking shape now...


i love these custom cut spark wires...


gauges installed...

we just keep chippin' away at it.

we got the brakes bled amongst a myriad of other thing today...next; wiring issues.

Awsome, good luck for you!

i've been chipping away at this project for some time now; haven't really worked on it hard; especially waiting for the texas summers to end. my brain injured buddy; dj; and i can't always get our personal lives to allow us to work on it as often as we would like to. but here is a video showing that we finally got to be able to take it around the block. woo-hoo!

the one wheeled wonder smoked it's first burnout! the video.

Nice!

Holler at me if ya need help sanding!

/Miss working on my jeep =(

Nice, I have a 72, there is a pic floating around here some where of it.

hey, will do. i'm thinking of using plasti dip for the time being until my bro-in-law moves here. he's a body wizard!

have all y'all seen the plasti dip video's on you tube? i wanna black out the spokes on my cragar ss wheels. give 'em the west coast look.