Ho-Ho-Ho

It's Christmas eve, and I spend most of the day tuning the Edelbrock carb on the '71 Chevelle. There has been a flat spot on part-throttle acceleration for a while, but Sarah didn't seem to be bothered buy it. For the past week I've been driving the Chevelle, so I noticed it a lot! I pulled the spark plugs last night to check them, and it was running a bit lean. So today I ran to Roadrunners and picked up a new set of springs and metering rods to richen it up. It was noticeably better with just one change, and after a few more tweaks and test runs around the block, I think I have it dialed in. I then gave it a quick wash, and we are going to take it to my sister-in-law's house for the holidays....after all it is clean, running well and full of gas!

Yes Trunk!

Yes, now I have a trunk in the '66 Chevelle. I have been test fitting and trimming, and welding and grinding.... and finally there is a trunk floor. I even cleaned up the drain plugs, and am ready to seam seal them in along with the edges of the trunk floor.

I also installed the gas tank straps after a lot of careful measuring and some test fitting with the tank. I am not going to go too crazy detailing the trunk, because I plan to coat it and the underside of the car with LizardSkin or bed liner of some sort....still researching the one I want.

No trunk

I've been working on the trunk floor of the Chevelle, or rather the lack of the trunk floor. We also realized that the wheel tubs are not the same, the drivers side is much bigger. Wierd? I found out that GM thought of putting the gas filler neck up on the quarter panel like the Chevy II, and that is why they designed two different wheel houses! I've also cut out the lower quarter panel extension, and just need to start welding in everything.

Floor Braces and Frame Mounts

I have been working all week on the frame mounts and floor braces for the 66 Chevelle. I finished up the front, middle and rear on both sides and only have one small part on the inner rocker panel to finish tomorrow. Then the drivers floor hole, which isn't too bad, and then on to the floor brace above the rear end. That one doesn't look like it will be any fun at all. I am excited to think that after I finish up the trunk floor pans, I won't have to crawl under the car anymore.....until I have to undercoat it. I'm thinking about spraying Lizardskin if it isn't too expensive. The photos show the before and after of the inner rocker, and does it no justice....it looks much better.

Chevelle in garage

The '66 Chevelle is now in the garage, and up on blocks. I looked at getting special jacks, or 12 ton stands, but decided to go with the concrete blocks and safety straps tied to the ceiling joist. Best part was the whopping $25 cost!

I spent a day crawling around under the car, just evaluating the condition of the floor and braces, and getting my game plan together. There is NO grease or dirt, just a bit of sand and cobwebs under the car....and lots of rust on the floor braces where they meet the inner rockers. I came across a few factory stamping numbers on the passenger inner and outer rockers that I want to keep. So, my plan is to keep as much of the good factory steel as possible, and only replace the rusted out spots. Once the floor is done, then the trunk, followed by the quarter panels, rear deck and windshield lower channel. Then, tackle the front end sheet metal. That's the plan.

Throttle

Zach took this pic with his phone, and I just thought it was the best photo we have of the car so far. I worked on the outer heater box, trying to clean and strip most of the old paint off. A new one is only $40, but the original is not in too bad shape, and I think it will suffice. I also detailed and greased up the throttle assembly, so all I have to do is install it now, when ever I get that far into it. It seems like such a long way to go. Fall is definitely in the air now, the temperature is much cooler. We had an entire week of rain, and another on the way this week......so it looks like a lot of little parts will be looked at while I wait for better weather, and my inner rockers!

66 Chevelle heater box

I forgot to post last week when I went to the Englishtown Swap Meet. I found a '66 Chevelle used rear seat for the bargain price of $50, and a steering column for $20! Tommy was trying to sell his 75 Vette, and picked up a cool pit bike.

I ran down to IWS to fill my welding tank and pick up a new tip and some wire for the MIG welder, in preparation for all the new sheet metal. Most of it is here, still waiting for the inner rocker panels however, and without them I really can't do too much. I did learn that the 40 lb bottle should last me about an hour welding, looks like I'll be making regular trips back soon.

I started unpacking some of the many parts and pieces of the 66 Chevelle, and when I unwrapped the inner heater box, I was in for an unpleasant surprise. It was rusted out..bad. Where there wasn't a whole, the metal was as thin as tin foil. There was obviously a leak in the heater core for a VERY long time, all the inner workings of the box were destroyed. I tried to patch it up, but it is mostly just for parts. I ordered another off eBay for $100, since no one seems to reproduce this part. The only other option would to be to install a new air conditioning system, and since the car already came with a brand new heater core, it didn't seem worth it.

1966 Chevelle Project - Zach's First Car

The next project at the South Hill Customs garage has arrived....Zach's 1966 Chevelle. The project arrived from Philly in two trips, one with the rolling chassis, and the second with the body. A big thank you to Tommy for helping with trailer!
The chassis was separated 15 years ago, and is already restored, with new suspension, brakes, lines, bushings, springs and shocks. It is even painted and all ready for the body.







The body is going to require some floor and trunk pans, and quarter and fender patch panels at the least. The good news is that most of the parts are there, and everything the previous owner took apart was labeled and the hardware was attached. A few items are even brand new or restored already!

New Project

The summer has been brutally hot, and thus we really have not done too much in the SHC garage. We have enjoyed a few cruise nights, and some days at the Jersey Shore, but now it is time to get another project under way.

Zach has been looking for a 70-73 Camaro for his first car, but the pickings in our price range are slim at best. We also found this project.....but I will wait until it arrives home to go into detail.....stay tuned!

New trunk

On my first vacation day, I decided to tackle some of the loose ends on the Chevelle. First thing was to look into why there were no reverse lights. After a bit of troubleshooting with the test light, I determined that the switch on the steering column was not working. I removed it, took it apart, and found a contact was stuck. So after a few minutes, and one new bulb, we now have it working.

I then decided while I was in the trunk to make a set of panels up to finish it off. I picked up some 1/4" MDF and black felt, a trunk jamb switch and LED light, and the results are pictured below...

Woodbridge Car Show

Sarah took her Chevelle to her first show, at the Woodbridge Main Street Car Show in downtown Woodbridge. They block off the main street to all car traffic, and although the weather was cloudy, there was a good turnout. We followed Tommy in his 72 Chevelle there, and even parked the "twins" next to each other.
(Tommy's is on the left, Sarah's is on the right.)

We had a great time, and Sarah even got a bit frisky with a mean, green '71 Cuda on the way home. That's my girl!

NHRA Supernationals

Tommy and I went to E-town for the 41st Annual NHRA Supernationals on Saturday. Thats Tommy on the right, and his buddy Cliff on the left, who is an NHRA Tech Inspector from Las Vegas. He always hooks us up when he comes back home to NJ....thanks Cliff! We had to go into the pits and get "nitro-ed" of course...and if you have never experienced the smell of a top fuel car, well it is like tear gas or pepper spray. I tried to get some video of the crowd, but I couldn't see where I was pointing the camera. I did get some footage in the pits and on the track...

We also stopped by the pits to talk to Chris Trela's pal Karen Stalba and her Top Alcohol dragster, who qualified 7th with a 5.574 @ 254.9 mph, but unfortunately went out first round.




I also saw this awesome Tucker hot rod in the pits. Now there is someting you don't come across very often.

Hot Rods & Harleys '10

Zach and I decided to hit up the 2010 Hot Rods and Harleys show in downtown Rahway....we had not been there since 2008. First thing we had to do is drain the old gas out of the Vette, and wipe it down. We had just enough gas to make it to the local Sunoco...it seriously ran out of gas as we pulled up to the pump! We were parked so far away from the main show, we were almost in the next town. We had to move to a better spot, not to mention we were parked under a sign that said "SLOW" with an arrow pointed to our car (see the photo)....and we were not staying there!

So we found a better spot, and even found a video on YouTube that someone shot with our car in it here...

We ran into a lot of friends at the show, and in the end won a trophy! The best part of the day was the look on Zach's face when we left the show and pulled out on to the highway with a HUGE drifting burnout....and Zach said "Damn...that was awesome".

Rear End Questions

I bought a new rear sway bar for the Chevelle at the swap meet, and when I climbed under to see if it fit....I realized that my suspicion of this not being a Chevelle rear were true. There is no way the sway bar will fit, as there is a large bracket in the way. Now I need to figure out what rear this is from, and if I can get a bar to fit it. I took pics of my rear and Tommy's '72 and you can clearly see the difference. More to come as soon as I figure this out...

I then figured I would show Zach how to tear down a small block chevy, so we took the 283 apart to clean up the pieces. To my surprise, it was stuffed with TRW 11:1 pistons....WOW! I'm glad I didn't decide to use that for Sarah's Chevelle, but now I need to decide what to do with it.

Chevelle Wheels

This weekend, Zach and I went to the Spring 2010 Englishtown Swap Meet. We picked up a few items for the Chevelle, but mostly spent the bulk of the weekend working on the new 18" Coys wheels for the Chevelle. I took the tires and rims to Ace, but we could not mount them with the equipment there, so I went to see Cary at BC Tire. After a lot of effort to remove the tires from the wheels, he was able to get them mounted and balanced. Saturday, I mounted the front without problems, but the rears required new longer studs. I removed the rear brakes for more access, and after a few hours got them installed. They look and feel great!

R.I.P. Bob

Today we paid our final farewell to our friend, neighbor and car enthusiast, Bob. His '29 Ford pictured here was chopped and built by Bob and his son Bobby. Although Bob had spent the past few years living away from the neighborhood (and the '29), Jimmy and Tom made sure to get the hot rod cleaned up and running so that it could go to the service today to honor him.

A few years ago, I was talking to Bob about how the shifter ball broke on my Stingray while I was racing it, and the next day he called me over to give me a beautiful billet aluminum sifter ball that he machined at his shop. I fit perfectly! When I needed some good advice on my project car, or just wanted to stop by on the way home from work, Bob was always eager to talk about the cars.

We will miss you Bob.

At the track...

I've been spending some more time down at the track this year, both with Tommy and Chris. Tommy's wagon has been running very well, and has even dipped into the 10's! There are some new video clips posted on the SHC YouTube site.

Chris and the Ace Motorsports Altered has been getting things going at Atco, and although we ran out of brakes last week, we were able to throw a new set of pads in the front and go another round. Funny how you can burn through a set of brake pads in 20 races...that's only 5 miles! I guess trying to stop from 150 mph is the reason.

Sunday Drag Racing

What a weekend! The Ace Motorsports crew as well as Tommy and the rest of the guys went to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for the first race day of the season. The weather was beautiful, and although everyone went out in the first round, it was a good day. We shot some new videos for the SHC YouTube site, including Marc's awesome 1968 Nova doing an amazing wheelstand!

Look Out!

I saw this photo, and want a set of these! How much fun would it be to speed around town with a couple of missile balloons chasing you.

Oh yeah, I also set the choke on the carb for the Chevelle, and it runs great now. It's going to need tires if I keep this up.

Spring is here!

Finally, the weather has changed for the better, and it looks like spring is here. I spent Saturday with Dave, Tom and Gary working on the '69 Corvette. It hasn't seen daylight in over 30 years, and the engine needs reassembly. After removing the plugs, I was happy to be able to spin the motor over by hand. So, I changed the oil, spun up the oil pump with the primer tool and a drill, and installed the intake and starter. We also freed up the calipers that were stuck on each wheel, so now we can push it out of the garage. The distributor needs rebuilding, so as soon as that is ready we can test fire it.

Sunday, everyone went to the track at Englishtown for opening day. I stayed back and swapped in a new water pump in the Chevelle. I also measured Tom's '72 Chevelle rear end, and it is the same width as mine. I can now order the carb and interior parts, and measure for the new wheels.

"Enemy AC130 above!"

So, why hasn't there been any recent post on the SHC Blog? Well, if you live in the northeast of the good old USA, then you know how this time of year can really get you down. There has been a lot of snow, and I have been miserable. I have my wish list prepared for the swap meet, my parts ready to order from the speed shop, and even saved a few bucks to pay for it all.....but I have been snowed in.

I did figure out that I can't add an electric choke to the Vette carb I have installed on the Chevelle, so it looks like she is getting a new carb soon. Probably an Edelbrock 1406, 600 cfm Performer.

I have the interior parts ready to order, basically front and rear seat covers and head rest (probably should get that trunk mat while I'm at it). I also need to go up the street to visit Tommy and his Chevelle, and measure the rear end width to make sure that my rear end is the stock size. Then I can use the tire backspacing tool and order the wheels and tires to finish up the Chevelle. I'm thinking some 18" Coys C-5s for now, they look nice and the price is right. Most everything else I like is way out of my price range. I found some other Chevelles on the forum running 18x8 4.5 bs 245/45/18 front and 18x9.5 5.5 bs 305/45/18 rear.

What have I been doing to occupy my self for the past few months? A lot of extra work to save up for all the parts, and a good dose of X-BOX 360 Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. "Enemy AC130 above!"

Barrett Jackson 2010

It's that time again...the 2010 Barrett Jackson Auction. Click here for the live coverage.
http://www.speedtv.com/stream/barrett-jackson/