72 Chevelle SS Rebirth

[silver78]

Since its not a Firebird I thought I'd put this build in the lobby.
  This little project is a one owner bought new in 72 numbers matching SS. small block, 4 speed, 12 bolt rear and a bench seat.
It lived in OH all it's life and was the daily driver including winters.  The car was then parked in a building where it sat for the last 20 plus years partially disassembled.  I drove from TX up to OH (my home town) and picked-up this thing to start the restoration at my shop back in TX. Notice the 2017 dates on the pics.

[silver78]

More parts in the building.

[silver78]

Yes that's mold growing on everything. 

[silver78]

The owner sourced a good used frame.  hauled it to the shop. The plan is to remove the old frame put the body on the good frame, assemble the car enough for transport to my place. The old frame literally broke in half when it was on the lift!
 

[silver78]

Trip from OH to TX was easy.  Made it home safe and sound.  Now....It took another year just to buy and source all the replacement sheet metal so this story is far from over.

[ryeguy2006a]

What a great project! Glad to see a new project in this section, even if it's not a T/A. Great to see you came back silver. Don't recall seeing posts from you in a while. 

[scarebird]

Make sure to box the frame while you can.

[5th T/A]

Silver 78,

While most here are fans of GM F bodies, as I am. I like all muscle cars and look forward to watching your restoration.

Keep the updates and pictures coming.

[silver78]

What a great project! Glad to see a new project in this section, even if it's not a T/A. Great to see you came back silver. Don't recall seeing posts from you in a while.

Lots of life changing events over the last 4 years.  But I hung onto my TA.  Sold everything else; vette, harley, house, shop, I even quite working altogether.  Just hanging out doing my own thing on my own time now.  And it gets better. We bought a new house and built an even bigger shop to play in.  Pics to come on that too. Gonna try to stay more engaged on here like I used to be. 

[Jack]

What a great project! Glad to see a new project in this section, even if it's not a T/A. Great to see you came back silver. Don't recall seeing posts from you in a while.

Lots of life changing events over the last 4 years.  But I hung onto my TA.  Sold everything else; vette, harley, house, shop, I even quite working altogether.  Just hanging out doing my own thing on my own time now.  And it gets better. We bought a new house and built an even bigger shop to play in.  Pics to come on that too. Gonna try to stay more engaged on here like I used to be.

Glad to hear and congrats on everything. Looking forward to seeing some pics.

[silver78]

Had a minute this evening to work on this topic.
   Notice the date now on these pics.  2019!  Like I mentioned it took a while to collect the needed sheet metal for this project.  Complete floor pan with braces, complete trunk pan, both sides of rear inner wheel wells, new core support, new bumpers, new rockers ect.....

[silver78]

I bought everything from Summit Racing in Ft Worth.  Another full load on the ol' car hauler. lol  I sure miss my vette

[silver78]

No more waiting so into the garage went the Chevelle for tear down.  At least the TA has good company. Laters

[roadking77]

Keep us informed. Looks like a great project. I got a 66 chevelle convertible last spring that for the lack of better wording is pretty rough. Its going to be my next project if I ever get my tata finished.

[5th T/A]

I agree with Scarebirds suggestion on boxing the frame if you plan to build up the power plant. I am pretty sure most GM A bodies came with a stiffer boxed frame.

[scarebird]

A friend of mine has a 68 SS; he yanked out the non-numbers 396 and put in a LT1 6.2

He then decided that was not enough so tossed a Whipple on top of it   

This with a bone stock frame and suspension.

[silver78]

The owner wants the car back to stock specs.  Other than internal motor mods it'll stay factory as possible.  If it where mine I agree frame upgrades are in order.

[silver78]

Keep us informed. Looks like a great project. I got a 66 chevelle convertible last spring that for the lack of better wording is pretty rough. Its going to be my next project if I ever get my tata finished.

They are cool cars, the owner of this Chevelle also has a decent 66 SS 396/powerglide convertible and 67 SS hard top. Both very nice drivers.

[5th T/A]

What I meant to say before is A body convertibles came with a boxed frame while all others had open C shaped frame rails in the center.

[silver78]

Some initial inspection pics. The exterior paint was deceiving compared to the amount of rust hiding inside the structure. At least the frame the owner found was pretty nice.

[silver78]

RUST!

[silver78]

Not all but a good example of where this car rusted.

[silver78]

rust

[roadking77]

You call that rust, looks like a small bit of astro flow through ventilation!

[Jack]

You call that rust, looks like a small bit of astro flow through ventilation!

 

[silver78]

Little more ventilation/rust found in the structure. Passenger rocker at rear wheel.

[silver78]

The cowl was rotted out on both sides at the bottom inside and out.  Even the hood had rot on the inside structure.  The mice made a mansion outta this car while it sat for 20+ years too.

[silver78]

Some good news...the dash looked untouched as never removed.  I took many pics before removing it from the car so I could reinstall it back the way GM did it.
The dash pad is original GM.  Sitting in the dark storage bldg out of the sun light sure helped preserve this thing. I'd hate to price one of these today.

[silver78]

Mouse city. The car smelled of mouse really bad.  This guy overstayed his welcome under the dash pad.
Every nook and cranny had mouse housing built in.

[ryeguy2006a]

That looks like a rat on the dashboard there! Dang, they grow them big down in TX.

[76455sd]

My wife’s daily driver 2005 Ford Freestyle ( that we just got rid of) somehow had a zillion acorns inside the hood sandwiched between the bottom structural panel and the exterior sheet metal panel.  You could hear them rolling around every time I opened or closed the hood.     Only thing I could figure was some critter was storing things in there over the years.  Used to annoy the begeezes out of me.

[chief poncho]

Amazing how much damage those little critters can do.  Years ago when I was a copy machine technician, I found a dead mouse inside the copier electrocuted by the corona wire.  The office couldn't figure out why they kept getting paper jams and what the burning smell from inside the copier was.  Poor little guy was pretty much cooked alive. 

Looks like that is going to be a big project, but hopefully well worth it in the end.  I always liked the '70-72 body style on the Chevelles.  Cool project!

[silver78]

My wife’s daily driver 2005 Ford Freestyle ( that we just got rid of) somehow had a zillion acorns inside the hood sandwiched between the bottom structural panel and the exterior sheet metal panel.  You could hear them rolling around every time I opened or closed the hood.     Only thing I could figure was some critter was storing things in there over the years.  Used to annoy the begeezes out of me.

I was shaking this hood like a snow globe trying to get all that stuff outta there...I can relate to the frustration.  lol

[silver78]

Amazing how much damage those little critters can do.  Years ago when I was a copy machine technician, I found a dead mouse inside the copier electrocuted by the corona wire.  The office couldn't figure out why they kept getting paper jams and what the burning smell from inside the copier was.  Poor little guy was pretty much cooked alive. 

Looks like that is going to be a big project, but hopefully well worth it in the end.  I always liked the '70-72 body style on the Chevelles.  Cool project!

Its a massive project for sure.  I have a ton of pics to sort thru and still post.  Not for the faint of heart.

[MNBob]

I will be following your build for sure.  My best friend had a forest green 70 and my sister had a yellow 72.  I remember these cars rode and drove out really nicely (maybe due to frame?).

Before I retired, I looked forward to a life of leisure.  When I got there, I found a little leisure is nice but I really enjoyed building and doing projects.  You now have a nice project.

[NOT A TA]

Cool build! I had a bud when I lived up North that was a Chevelle fanatic. Would only own ones with a bench and 4 speed, ahahaha. To him, the bench was more important than whether is was big block/small block, etc.

[scarebird]

My 66 442 rag was a bench and a 4 speed.  GF did not like 4th gear.

[silver78]

Some trunk pan removal started.

[silver78]

I kept the body on the frame for all this floor structure removal.  It would've been easier on the rotisserie but you risk twisting and flexing of the body shell. Plus you can line up the body mounts correctly keeping the frame attached when fitting the new floor.

[silver78]

This is a big project for sure. I made good use of my new plasma cutter on this guy.  Oh I got the obligatory TA pic in there too.  Lol