Scuncio Chevelle ex-L78

[TomN]

Here is a picture I took today with the 396 emblems and the hood pins removed from the hood of the car.

[TomN]

I've been removing the old bushings from a set of used rear control arms I have that are boxed. Next I will need to get them cleaned up and put on a fresh coat of paint.
After that I will try and get the rear-end out from under the car. There are still some tabs welded on the axle housing from old traction arms, and the 'posi' doesn't seem to posi any longer. I would like to look at the axles and of course the car needs new shocks.
It doesn't seem sometimes like I getting much done ... but if I keep moving, I might make it.

[GrumpyJeff]

Gonna be a neat car when your finished ! just keep chipping away a little at a time, and before you know you'll have it where you want it . I've always enjoyed these type of project cars way more than the full restoration,"show car"/ types.

[TomN]

Thanks GrumpyJeff. Some of this work is dirty, tiring stuff. Wears me out and I have lots of muscle aches. But I still hope to make it a solid reliable car that I can drive and enjoy. And like you say, I may just get to enjoy it a lot more than some of the 'show car'/types.
I did order the new rear control arm bushings, rear shocks, and rear coil spring seat insulators today.

[TomN]

Here is a picture of the rear control arms all cleaned up. They have a rust treatment on them and will need to be painted and then have the bushings pressed in.

[TomN]

I have been making some progress but it is going slow. Replacing the tail light extension gaskets and tail light lens gaskets to stop/prevent leaks...as well as stoping leaks from the side marker lights. Also looks like I will have to put in another new trunk seal. The shop that fixed the rust on the lower portion of the trunk seal area seems to have put the seal in 'backwards' ... oh well.
Still hoping to get it all sorted out before to long.

[TomN]

Well, I got the gas tank out of the car yesterday. I wanted to see what I could see about how, and how well, the new trunk floor was installed (in my humble opinion) and I also wanted to look inside the gas tank to see what condition it was/is in.
Everything on the body looks good. Just a little wire brushing, mainly on the frame, and then I treated everything with Permatex rust treatment.
Today I painted the frame and all the seems and the panels. Looks good.
So on to the gas tank. I'll get it open, drain it and and see if it is still a good tank. I know it wasn't leaking or anything, so there is hope.

[TomN]

My gas tank was in good shape. Little surface rust on outside but inside look really good. Cleaned it good outside, painted it with POR-15 and then painted it. Have it back in so now I'll try and get the back bumper re-installed.

[TomN]

Having the bumper back on and everything together....today I pulled the axles and differential out of the rear-end.
Before removing things I tried rotating the driver side wheel forward to see if the passenger side wheel also turned forward. It sort of did, but not like the posi was really working well.
With the rear cover off I could see that it did have a posi diff., so I'm thinking probably a 4:10 gear. Counting gear teeth I had a 3:08.
Funny thing to me was the carrier had 1 thick shim on one side and 1 thick shim on the other side. Like it was a factory install.....I think.
i will have to have a close look now at the posi diff. to see what it needs.
I have a complete 3:31 posi rear out of a 70 Chevelle but don't think the gear change would make a 'big' enough difference on acceleration to give up the highway drivability of the 3:08's.
Thoughts ?

[big gear head]

I've had 3.31 gears in 2 Chevelles and liked them.