The Chevelle Challenge

[derekf]

Hi. I've been here for years, and I have realized that I don't talk much about my projects. I reckon that should change, and it should change about now.

For the longest time, my daily driver was a 98 Z28. I loved that car, driving it was fun. Last October, a gentleman in a pickup truck and I had a disagreement over whose lane it was, and I ended up in a concrete retaining wall and he never even slowed down. Insurance totalled out my Camaro.

Rather than getting another Camaro, I tried something different: I bought a BMW convertible.

I hate it. I hate driving it. I hate everything about it except the ability to fold the roof down.

I'm not in a financial position to buy another car right now, so I'm stuck. I'm years away from finishing my El Camino.

However, I have a 65 Chevelle that's been patiently sitting next to my driveway for years. I bought it in 2001, replaced the floors and quarter panels, and then bought a house and broke the El Camino so the Chevelle got put on hold. It's a convertible, so it's got the whole "top folds down" thing going on.

A few weeks ago, I took a look around my garage at the immense pile of crap I've amassed over the years - sometimes without purpose - and realized that I have almost everything I need to make a complete car.. I've got the Chevelle body, I've got the 396 I pulled out of the El Camino, I've got most of a Muncie M20 I was given back in 1992, I've got the Painless harness I was going to use in my 67 Camaro project back in 98 or so. I could make a car. I'm not looking to make a pro-tourer out of the Chevelle, just something I can drive.

Finals ended Wednesday. I don't have any classes scheduled for the Summer 1 semester, and Summer 2 doesn't start until 17 July.

So: Enter the "Chevelle Challenge". My challenge, to myself, is to make the car run before Summer 2 starts... and to do it cheaply, since I'm not really in a position to drop a bunch of coin on it. It ain't got to be painted, or pretty, or even have much of an interior, just needs to run.

I'd say "make it driveable", but there's a lot of bits I need to get for the Muncie to make it work - a couple of gears, the shifter, clutch, flywheel, and the regular rebuild kit - but I'll try to get that done too. Everything else - brakes, suspension, etc., that would be required to drive it is included in my challenge.

Current status of the Chevelle:
Body exists. Rust that still needs repaired in the wheelwells and in the trunk. Car was painted in epoxy primer before I moved in 03, but I guess it wasn't a thick enough coat as I'm seeing some rust showing through.

The body has been pretty well completely stripped. No brake lines, no cables for the e-brake, no rear drum setup, no interior or top (but I do have the frame and most of the interior, such as it is).

The El Camino, since it's getting the whole PT treatment going on, would be more than happy to donate its almost complete drum brake setup, UCAs and spindles, as well as a bunch of other little stuff.

Last weekend - instead of studying - the wife, my youngest, and I moved the car from the mud next to the driveway to the driveway, and got everything ready for me to have the free time.

Yesterday I cleaned up the rear drums from the Camino, sandblasted them, rebuilt them with new springs/shoes/etc., and installed them on the car with the intention of making the parking brake be one of the first things I get working; I suspect that the intermediate cable from the Elky will be too long and I'll have to buy the proper length, but we'll see.

Tomorrow I pull the front end apart and clean up and paint the frame, replace the bushings and ball joints on the LCAs, and install the Camino's UCAs, spindles, and springs. I'll also be painting the firewall so I can start installing brakes and the like.

I know,

even if it's not a PT car.

Here's where it sat last weekend after we moved it over:


Apparently 14" tires are hard to come by these days, at least used. My local used tire place had someone break in last weekend and only take their stock of 14"s... so I wasn't able to buy any on Monday. Not ready to drop the funds on new.

And, just to show progress, the rear brakes after rebuilding:


I know that I'm missing the tranny crossmember, radiator, and the rear seat bottom. Radiator I should be able to adapt the Camino's old radiator and if I don't complete rebuilding the tranny before the end of the summer I won't need the others.. but we'll see (and if you have a crossmember or the seat bottom, please let me know).

I've got roughly two months.