'67 Chevelle Concours wagon, bring it back to life

[scuncio]

Great car! My '70 SS396 Chevelle came out of Pearblossom, CA. I'm still finding sand/dust in the frame rails every time I drive it.

[RobR]

Love your wheel choice on all the wagons Bill. The roof stripes on the drag wagon are awesome. What engine combo did you run?

[67since67]

Originally Posted by cook_dw

I look forward to learning some of your tips and tricks.

Compared to you Darryl, also James G, Tim S and Tim G and other true survivor preservation experts here I'm not sure there's anything to be learned from me!
But thank you for the confidence. And as Wilma suggested, the plan has been to keep it simple, and make the best of what it is while preserving as much as possible. - Bill W

[67since67]

Originally Posted by scuncio

Great car! My '70 SS396 Chevelle came out of Pearblossom, CA. I'm still finding sand/dust in the frame rails every time I drive it.

Oh Boy for sure!! As I think I've cleaned everything thoroughly I find more of it. Better than finding rust though!!

[67since67]

Originally Posted by RobR

Love your wheel choice on all the wagons Bill. The roof stripes on the drag wagon are awesome. What engine combo did you run?

The drag car was a 331 (327 .030.), 010 block with spacer bearings to use small journal crank, BRC pistons with .080 top ring, angle plug heads with legally allowed port matching and bowl clean up, 14-1 compression. Crane solid roller, .720 lift, don't remember duration specs. TH 400 with 8" convertor, 5.38 rear. 1/4 through the lights, 7,800 rpm.
7.20 1/8th mile, 11.30 1/4.
I originally planned on going 396 but the 327 worked so well I stayed with it.
If I had raced another season I'd have had to go Powerglide, they were just coming into favor at that time(1976).

The roof stripes were inspired by a nationally known '57 2 door wagon stocker at the time, Scott Shafferoff maybe??

[cook_dw]

Originally Posted by 67since67

Compared to you Darryl, also James G, Tim S and Tim G and other true survivor preservation experts here I'm not sure there's anything to be learned from me!
But thank you for the confidence. And as Wilma suggested, the plan has been to keep it simple, and make the best of what it is while preserving as much as possible. - Bill W

You shouldn't include me into that elite group of folks. I'm just a dumb ole TN redneck.

[nova67]

Bill.....very neat wagon love that all the smog is intact. Lots of L 30 Ca. cars

[67since67]

This Concours wagon is original metal in excellent condition except for the pass side fender, which is a used OEM from another car, painted to a fairly good match but no trim.

First priority was to get it up on stands and clean the underside. I didn't spend a huge amount of time under here, mostly just a good pressure wash. Fremont was very generous with overspray on the floors! Note the welded muffler on the original factory dual exhaust system still in place.

Next came dropping out the front suspension, here's where the cleaning became more difficult. The OO was religious about lubrication, the original ball joints and steering linkage are in great shape, but the build up of grease mixed with dirt was hard as concrete and had to be literally chiseled off followed by hot tanking control arms and steering linkage at the machine shop. Very nice original finishes were exposed from under that grime!

Upper-inner bushings were replaced, wheel cylinders rebuilt, and horseshoe spacers under the front springs to level ride hight up a bit. Multiple seals were replaced in the Powerglide to dry up leaks.

I opted for a 1 1/8" front sway bar and a GM rear bar in the interest of controlling body roll.

Up next, interior.

[olredalert]

----What a cool 67! I respect your decision to keep this long roof original, but it would be a knockout with paint and new vinyl wood.....Bill S

[WILMASBOYL78]

I really like this project...it's a car and a nice old car at that!!

Clean it up...make it safe and roadworthy...don't sweat the cosmetics.

Hope we see more projects like this on the site...it kind of balances out all the high end stuff.

-wilma