Bucketlist Car For Me Aquired

[linus6948]

I had a sharp eyed buddy since high school who still has the 67 Chevelle we used to go to school in point out to me the doors and dashboard on my new car were from a 1968 Chevelle positively. This caused me to do more research and I found the Streetside Classics consignment listing that my friends cousin bought it from in May 2019.

https://www.streetsideclassics.com/vehicles/1408-nsh/1969-chevrolet-chevelle-ss-396-tribute

Finally I got the nerve up to call the guy who built the car, I have  2in stack of receipts with his name address and phone number on them. It rang about 20 times and he answered, I told him I thought I had his car and wanted to know if he would answer some questions about it.

He had a heavy Tennessee accent and was very slow in his speech and thinking but he agreed. My first question was the 68 parts, he laughed and explained that he built this car for himself and that he was duplicating the car that he had as a teenager and it was a 69 that was cobbled together with 68 doors and dash. He said he never planned on selling it but said that life changes. He said he had the 402 BBC already and brought it to the best hotrod engine shop in Tenn. and had it redone with nothing but the best to go fast. He said it was set-up to produce 500hp and everything about the car was done with the very best components.

I could tell that he was tiring and while I stirred up some good memories for him I could tell he was struggling. I asked him when he sold the car and he said many years ago and then he said maybe 2017. I have receipts of his from 2018 when he was still building the car. I thanked him profusely for building such a beautiful car and promised I would take good care of it. I then asked if he would mind if I called him again sometime if I run into an information dead-end on something about the car and he said sure. 

I found the engine work receipt and it is impressive just like he told me.

 

 

 

Edited June 14, 2020 by linus6948

[linus6948]

I had to hustle to get the garage pad ready for the Tuesday morning delivery of the modular garage.

 

 

[linus6948]

Well the garage was delivered yesterday morning and it looks like it has always been here.

 

 

 

Edited June 28, 2020 by linus6948

[linus6948]

Been working on the 69.

The fuel injection system had a now discontinued fuel filter and a bad #3 injector. She's feeling much better now.

 

 

 

[linus6948]

 

 

[JBNeal]

Kinda looks like there's some smoke in them back tires that needs to be let out

[linus6948]

Put a set of light blue fuzzy dice and a blue number two pool ball shifter ball in the 69 today. I thought of Don Coatney when I hung the fuzzy dice, I remember how much he hated them with a passion.

Edited July 1, 2020 by linus6948

[linus6948]

I got a much nicer "Bob Falfa Skull" for the rear view mirror and figured out why my bucket seats had such a low-rider Snoop Dog rearward incline to them which was sort of ridiculous. Apparently the person who reupholstered the buckets did not put the inch thick black rubber bumpers/spacers back at the bottom of the seat back and that inch at the bottom translated into several inches at the top of the seat back incline wise.I bought the set of four and installed them now I can drive comfortably what a difference it made.

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by linus6948

[linus6948]

 

[linus6948]

My 67 Chevelle`s motor is almost finished and ready for paint.

 

 

[linus6948]

 

[linus6948]

I got a console made by Classic Consoles in Cairo GA today for the 69 chevelle and I must say they do a nice job custom making these to order in the correct colors. I ordered it thru cupholdersplus who is one of their dealers and had the best delivered price hands down by far. The build quality and craftsmanship is outstanding.

 

 

https://www.cupholdersplus.com/

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by linus6948

[linus6948]

My engine for the 67 was finally finished and I put her back together.

 

[linus6948]

The repaired engine hoist worked great with the harbor freight ram running it.

 

 

[linus6948]

 

 

[linus6948]

After the engine rebuild I was finally able to confirm what I had always suspected that the fairly new rebuilt carb that came on my car was no good. I finally got a new rebuilt unit this morning and as soon as I put it on my engine she started running like the proverbial "Swiss Watch". Took it out for a ride and it is a lot of fun to drive. handles like a go-kart and that 250 six has a lot of pep and low end torque.

 

[RobertKB]

The engine looks great. Glad to hear it runs as well as it looks!  I do love in-line six engines. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by RobertKB

[linus6948]

Thanks Rob, I have to admit this car is a lot of fun to drive, it handles like a go-kart and that 250 six has a lot of pep and amazing low end torque.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by linus6948

[RobertKB]

Nice looking cars. Yes, a good six inline engine is usually pretty torquey. I have a friend who did a cross Canada tour and return with a '62 Chev with the inline six. He pulled a small trailer the whole way, about 10,000 miles, and had no problems. Engine had a lot of miles even before the start of the trip.

 

Incidentally, Bob is a is a nice name, just not mine. I go by Robert or Rob. A lot of Americans assume that if you are Robert you are therefore Bob. Not criticizing, just pointing out.

 

Edit - Thanks for making the name change!

Edited August 8, 2020 by RobertKB

[linus6948]

The inline six was running a little hotter than I liked so I put in a 160 high-flow thermostat that made things better but I then noticed the flow thru the radiator wasn`t as fast as it should be. I know this car sat for a couple of decades with old anti-freeze in it and it had crystallized partially blocking the tubes. I contacted a large radiator shop near me and was quoted $200 to do a rod-out with no guarantees and $100 just to boil it out but they don`t use acid anymore as the EPA has banned them now.

I then tried some old time remedies I removed the radiator laid it on it`s face and filled it with vinegar for 30hrs. Then I read that Sulfamic Acid was what was used to dissolve anti-freeze crystals and you could buy it in dry crystal form from Home Depot as grout and tile cleaner. I mixed it with boiling water and filled the radiator for 40mins then neutralized with soda ash followed with a lot of high pressure hosing from the garden hose.

It worked and now has a decent coolant flow and my engine is much happier.

[linus6948]

I did the first oil change on the newly rebuilt six at about 50 miles and it had the expected "dirty" look to it and I plan on changing it again in another 200 miles. So far the gas mileage has been so good I thought my gas gauge had gotten stuck at a half tank, I can see why this motor was used in all the Checker Cabs.  I`ve been taking her out to run errands to continue the engine break-in period and it seems to continue to improve as it breaks in.

 

 

[Los_Control]

Sounds awesome ... I remember a few older cars where it took forever to go from full to 1/2 tank, then the gauge would drop like a rock from there.

Love the car.

I bought my wife a older  70's Camaro years ago, was a 6 cyl 3 speed floor shift. Father built it for his daughter to drive in high school, was a nice car.

I liked it because it was a 6 cyl, I knew the car was not beat on to hard and really was in good shape.

[RobertKB]

I had the same issue with the rebuilt flathead in my '51 Dodge D39 business coupe project. Radiator was pretty plugged up with crap in the tubes and the car always ran really warm and upon return on a hot day it would boil over once shut off even though fluid level was not overfilled. Using a laser temperature gun showed the engine was running considerably hotter than the older flatheads in my other two old Mopars.

 

Radiator shop I use, as they don't mind working on old radiators, said it was unlikely the radiator core would survive rodding. I had them re-core it instead and have had the car out once since then and it runs much cooler. Wasn't cheap but you gotta "pay to play" as most of us with old cars know.

[T120]

I found your method of cleaning the radiator core interesting. I still have the original radiator in my 1948 Dodge and while it probably could use a thorough cleaning, I've only had one occasion where it overheated to the point of puking coolant.I attributed it as my fault in blocking air flow.  I had the car out enjoying a drive on a hot summer day ,on the way home I noticed the engine temperature rising and then it "pinned" rather quickly..(Because I found it a nuisance cleaning the flying insects and bugs that ended up on front of the radiator core I had put a wire screen in front of the radiator to catch the bugs. It was the same type of mesh as used on storm doors.) While the mesh had caught hardly any bugs that day, my thoughts were that it had reduced air flow sufficiently to cause the problem.I removed the screen, topped up the coolant and carried on with no further problems and haven't since...a learning experience. ? 

[linus6948]

Here is one of the places where I learned about the sulfamic acid.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/radiator-flush-cemicals-question.16278/