66 Chevelle - New Beginnings

[tommycomfort]

Hey Tom, think we should paint those dove gray so they look factory?
After all I am the "purist".

Alright Andy, I will get Sam right on it. We still have some paint from the last chassis... ;-)

[analyte]

I'd love to see a write up on the installation of those coilovers as that's something I might be interested in installing one day. Have Sam take lots of pictures.

Thanks,
Kerry

[tommycomfort]

I'd love to see a write up on the installation of those coilovers as that's something I might be interested in installing one day. Have Sam take lots of pictures.

Thanks,
Kerry

The fronts are really simple to install, but the rear is much easier with the body off the chassis. Pretty much just as the instructions say.

[tommycomfort]

We've been pushing forward on Andy's chassis. We had a death in the immediate family and wrench turning has been really good therapy for Sam and I....

Here's the stack of parts that came from our 66. I spent about half a day cleaning them up which of course wasn't billable hours and should have been done months ago...


Jeep Grand Cherokee steering box


Front suspension as it was going together

[musclecarmatt]

looking good tom!......already looks like that chevelle will want autocross

[lower90xcab]

good looking project guys....cant wait to see the final results....

[coolwelder62]

Looking good.

[796spdbu]

Cool project!

[csouth]

Thats a nice batch of quality parts... What did you guys use to paint the chassis? Did you have it blasted or wire wheel it first?

[tommycomfort]

Thats a nice batch of quality parts... What did you guys use to paint the chassis? Did you have it blasted or wire wheel it first?

Andy brought the frame to us already blasted and painted. If I got the story straight, a farmer was having someone come out and blast some equipment and Andy took the frame over there to have it done and the farmer just shot it with black implement paint. Maybe Andy will chime in and say if my story is way off base.

[tommycomfort]

Rear suspension together. Next will be ordering all the miscellaneous steering components and restoring all the clips and brackets that we need. Always helps to have a field full of Chevelle's!

[musclecarmatt]

sweeeeeet!..i feel sure them DSE coilovers will handle and perform nicely!

[tommycomfort]

sweeeeeet!..i feel sure them DSE coilovers will handle and perform nicely!

Yep, the same ones that are on our 66 right now. Working well for us!

[66larkgs]

I use gloss POR15 for chassis paint.it lasts forever. Love the work you are doing but why c4 rear brakes over C5 brakes?
Paul

[tommycomfort]

I use gloss POR15 for chassis paint.it lasts forever. Love the work you are doing but why c4 rear brakes over C5 brakes?
Paul

We've used POR15 on a lot of things, but on the rearend in our 66 it really started to haze from exposure to the sun and no top coat. It may not have been an issue if it wasn't a rolling chassis for years before going under the body. For the most part now we have our stuff powder coated just to be safe.

Really a few reasons for the C4 rears. 1.) they came with the used C5 fronts 2.) we already had brackets for them on the shelf 3.) that's what we have on our personal 66 and they have been performing great on the street, auto-x and road course.

[TomT]

Look what the UPS man brought on Friday. Same thing we have on our 66, but still fun to play with the new ones for a while...

Absolutely beautiful parts - The DSE stuff is awesome!
I look forward to seeing you guys make progress on this one.

[Alpina]

Jeep Grand Cherokee steering box



Can I ask what year the box is out of and what is needed to make it work in an a-body?

[csouth]

You can use the '93-'98 Jeep Grand Cherokee box. You will need your pitman arm, new coupler and inserts for the metric fittings on the steering box. Call Lee Manufacturing and they can hook you up with the parts needed outside of the box and pitman arm.

http://lee-powersteering.com/rebuild-misc.htm

[tommycomfort]

Yep, exactly what Chris said! I actually found and printed the information from the technical reference pages on Chevelles.com.

[tommycomfort]

Updates coming soon! We're finally back on the project and making decent progress.