71 Chevelle SS project

[StRacerDuke]

Project: 71 Chevelle SS
Timeline: 3 Months

Hi guys,

I’m back in the country and started another project. This one has a big sweet spot for me and a lot of sentimental value as it’s my mothers SS. This car was ordered and purchased by my mom from the local Chevy dealership with all the options she wanted on it.

A little history:
Original owner, 105K miles. It spent 10+ years in the garage under a cover until I turned 14 and my dad and I rebuilt the motor & trans on it. I proceeded to use it as a daily driver all through high school until I finished my 64 chevelle and went to college. It was then passed on to my little brother as his high school daily driver. It’s spent the past 4-5 years in the garage getting driven about once a month.

Recently my mom took it to a car show and wasn’t pleased at how it looked with the other cars around it. So, she asked me if I would fix that. I’m now about a month into restoring and updating it for her.

Goals: Paint, trim, powder coating of all under hood items, (motor & trans were freshened up 5,000 miles ago), all interior replacement, steering rebuild, (body and susp. Already have complete PST bushings), and replacement of all the little things that have aged over the last 35 years.

Below are some of the pictures from the past month I’ve been working on it (nights & weekends only). I’ll update pictures as I get it done.

Day 1:
Removal, bagging, and taggng

[StRacerDuke]

Prepped and ready for body work.



Loosing my finger prints...



Prepped and ready for door jam painting. I'm not shooting it peice by peice because I'm shooting a metalic and don't want it to flop on me. The paper on the rear quarter is for my gun adjustments prior to shooting.



I love the feel of fresh paint in the next morning...

[StRacerDuke]

The night before last I was prepping for final paint and an ran into RUST! I thought they outlawed rust in California years ago. What the hell!

Anyways, it's in a typical place and had to be fixed. Back window came out, black snot removed, and bare metal exposed.



As it turns out there were about 6 spots that were rusted through, including both lower corners. After some checking I found that the lower drain holes for the rear quarters in the truck were open so there wasn't too much damage on the inside of the rear quarters. A good cleaning, some POR-15, and we're all set.



The next night my uncle came over and provided his skills in helping to some silver solder work. I made a patch to put behind the lip so we didn't just fill the trunk the entire night. The sides where a bit tricky though.



Cleaned, smoothed with a Dremal, and painted with POR-15 to prevent any further issues. Earlier this morning we put the window back in and sealed it up.



After doing more sanding and body work around the area's that were damaged by the torch the body is back to being ready to paint. Most of the day was spent doing final prep on the car and garage. With a little luck I'll have it painted by tomorrow night. More pictures to come.

[dropit69]

looking good that awesome that the car has been in family all time..so cool..

[USAZR1]

I love it when a plan comes together.

[StRacerDuke]

Painted!
Spent all Saturday doing the prep and about 5 hours on Sunday to spray it. Sealer, 3 coats of base, 4 clear. It turned out very well. Now for the wet sanding.