Rusty 66 Chevelle Project

[383 hatch]

Well, here it is another project. This isn't mine, i'm fixing it for a mate/customer. He's not long bought it and unfortunately he got a little bit burnt. Looked nice and pretty from the outside and relatively tidy from the underneath but it had been dodged up. The floor is rusted out. So it's up to me to fix it.

The car is getting a full repaint, but i only have to do the rust repairs in the floors. The customer is going to have a go at doing the paint and panel himself, he's a spray painter by trade but he drew the line at the floor pans as it's a bit past his skill level.

I have to do pretty much the entire floor pan from the bottom of the firewall to the beaver panel except for a piece over the diff hump. I also have to replace all the body mounts and floor braces. It's a bit of a job.

So, here is it.

First thing i did was remove the body from the chassis. This was a bit of a mission in a home shed with just a jack and stands, but with a bit of clever thinking i got it done.

Now for the rust pics

Drivers side.

Check out these beautiful repairs...

Passanger side.

All the sections.

I started a bit of cutting today, cut out the major part of the drivers floor.

That's all i got done. Tomorrow i'll cut out the passanger side so i can make a start on the cross braces.

 

[Drawnnite]

so yet another project =P
certainly does like itll be an interesting project when finished.

and keep it up. should be great to see how it goes along.
along with learning a few bits and pieces along the way.

so may aswell ask.
looking at those floorpans. are they all rusted through, or is it only some parts and the majority is just surface rust?

 

[383 hatch]

Yes, another project. Torana is on hold while i do this (well, i might do a bit on it now and then).

The floor pans have holes all over the place (especially the drivers side), you could do bits and pieces and patch it up, but that's not the way we wanted to go. Also, given that i have to replace the body mounts, it just easier to replace the whole floorpan.

 

[Calaber]

And replacement panels are all still available from the States?

 

[383 hatch]

Yeh, all available. They are from the US, but not OEM, they're aftermarket replacements. They seam to sit in place ok, but hopefully they sit in place nicely when it comes to welding them up. I am expecting to have do some minor work to get them to fit properly though.

 

[Pub247]

thats the good thing about american car industry huge population and love of old cars means repro parts are easy to get. I love the old chevelle what motor did it have 327?

 

[*uwishn*]

well i'm jealous,want to build me one? lol
keep us posted,i will be watching this one!

 

[383 hatch]

thats the good thing about american car industry huge population and love of old cars means repro parts are easy to get. I love the old chevelle what motor did it have 327?

Absolutely, if this was an Aussie car, you would either have to try and find a good second hand floor or use Rare Spares sections, that's your only choices. With American cars, every man and his dog makes rust repair panels. It's fantastic.

Not even a 327, had a boat anchor 305 in it. He also got a bit shafted in this respect too, it was supposed to be a 350, turned out to be a 305 though. 305 won't be going back in though, it'll be getting a hydraulic roller cam 383 similar to what i'm building for my Torana. Should be nice when it's all said and done.

well i'm jealous,want to build me one? lol
keep us posted,i will be watching this one!

I'll build anyone one for the right price. Will definately keep you updated.

 

[hakhawk]

Yeh, all available. They are from the US, but not OEM, they're aftermarket replacements. They seam to sit in place ok, but hopefully they sit in place nicely when it comes to welding them up. I am expecting to have do some minor work to get them to fit properly though.

im sure they cant be any worse than the crap rarespares stuff i see go through the shop.

 

[383 hatch]

im sure they cant be any worse than the crap rarespares stuff i see go through the shop.

True that. Don't get me started on Rare Spares. I bought a black repro GTS steering wheel from Rare Spares when i did my ute, now it's turned brown...Yeh, it was a painted brown one. Not good enough for near on $400. To their credit though, when i rang them last week, they gave me their new updated (read:black not brown) wheel for free no questions asked. So yeh, their product was ****, but they've since rectified the problem and given me a new one.