Hey All,

I'm in a mini dilemma with what direction or the next steps to take my car. Any feedback is appreciated! The chevelle has been sitting in the basement for over a year and a half pretty much untouched. Life gets in the way and this project had to take backshop for a bit. I'm finally working on it again, slowly!

I posted a thread with photos from the tear down and half build up ( http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99112 ) Since then the body has been stripped down to bare metal, sealed etc... This is where the dilemma comes in.

I need to get the quarters replaced, but I need to get the doors aligned first then the front clip on and aligned. Currently the engine, tranny etc.. are not in the car so I'm not sure how much not having this in there will mess with aligning things. The reason I have the block/trans out is that I was hoping to get the car painted, which isn't going to happen anytime soon. If I put in the block then I can't get the firewall painted.

I got the firewall stripped down and smoothing is out now, I'm thinking if I can rattle can that firewall (LAME) black, or get it painted (rent a high cfm unit from hertz, cheap spray gun and do the firewalla and door area).. I can then throw in the block, trans, then get the doors on, then the front clip, then align.. then get the qrts replaced! So I can get the fuel/break lines, booster etc... and at a later date get it painted.


I'm rambling.. does any of this make sense? haha, thanks for readin!

as long as the body is torqued to the frame you dont have to put the front clip on.put your doors on and alighn them to the quarters and rocker and your ready to start replacing the rear of the car !this is with nothing on the front past the firewall.

If you don't have the body on new frame mounts, do that next. Use the alignment holes on the body & frame to position it correctly. Bolt it down and then hang you doors. Get the rear door jam gap correct and the sill gap correct and your ready to do the quarters. You don't have to have the motor in or the front end on, just the doors in the correct position. Get your replacement quarter in hand before cutting your old one off and do one side at a time. Your doing a great job so far, keep it up! Robo3 comments weren't there when I started to reply but we are on the same page.