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.