I've had it for 20 years since getting out of highschool. It's was repainted 15 years ago and a new top put on about 9 years ago. The floors and trunk have rust holes in them. Can anybody give me any dismantling tips.

Here's what I'm thinking so far.
1. Remove everything engine/tranny, wiring harnesses all chrome, bumpers, dash, convertible top, seats,

2. Have engine bay and trunk area media blasted.

3. Take to body man.

4. Remove body(all new panels going on besides trunk and hood)

5. Disassemble frame and have it sand blasted. Then fix a couple of cracks where the frame goes up for the wheels.

6. Prime and paint frame.

7. Reassemble frame with new bushings and parts.

8. Bring the frame/running gear back to body man.

9. Have him complete body work and reassemble.

10. Start putting it back together.

I don't have $20,000 to throw at it at once so this will be a year or two project.

Any tips are much appreciated.
Thanks

One of our Chevelle club members just finished his 67 Malibu convertible a while back.

Jamie's 67 restoration page (http://home.kc.rr.com/holleyhomepage/67chev.htm)

Jamie's gold 67 Malibu convertible (http://macc.chevelles.net/images/jamie_671.jpg)

Hey Marina blue. I am right in the middle of what you are about to do. I have my chassis finished, I have my motor finished. I painted it yesterday and plan to intall it in the chassis next week so I can install my new Gardner exhaust. Then I finish the bodywork. I've alredy done all of the metal repair. Hope to be done this summer. I wanted to try and make CB04 but I don't have quite enough hours, so I think I'll slow down some and just cruise the 57 this summer. Your plan of action is pretty much right on. http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL97/466970/2986544/46291421.jpg

Dave in Denver

I'm doing kinda the same thing, just figure out a good way to keep things organized. I'm using plastic totes and zip-loc baggies. Take lots of pictures, I've got a digital camera and a dedicatd cd with "chapters" for all the different area's of the car. Even if you buy a new bolt kit, save the old ones in baggies and mark them for where they go, it's relly helped me to reference them for various reasons. Good luck,Dave

Originally posted by 71metbu:
I'm doing kinda the same thing, just figure out a good way to keep things organized. I'm using plastic totes and zip-loc baggies. Take lots of pictures, I've got a digital camera and a dedicatd cd with "chapters" for all the different area's of the car. Even if you buy a new bolt kit, save the old ones in baggies and mark them for where they go, it's relly helped me to reference them for various reasons. Ditto.

Thanks for the replies. Keep them coming.

Here's is my plan for the car. It's a real SS convertible, however when I bought it in 1984 it had a small block in it. The motor is long gone. Since it isn't a numbers matching car I thought I'd make it better with todays technology. I think I'm going to go with 4 wheel disc brakes, tubular A arms, polyurethane bushings, and I've seen some of the rallye wheels in 16 and 17 inch. I will leave the interior stock. Anybody have any thoughts on these ideas?

Marina, I'm also in the process of doing the same thing on my 67 SS. The only thing I can say, is photograph every thing and buy a lot of plastic zip lock baggies so that you can bag and label everything. Believe me, it is the only way to do it. Good luck man. ;)

I am in the process of putting my body back on now. I used a lot of baggies. Took alot of detailed digital pictures. If you do this make sure you back up the pictures to cd. I had some backed up. My hard drive crashed. Lost 2/3 of them. (BACK UP) I also logged everything i took apart. I think i will be ok Also had 35 mm pictures. I had them put on cd at walmart.
Good luck with your project
Ron

MarinaBlue,

Good advice above. Also, keep a journal and as you take things off of the car and/or disassemble parts, make a list in the journal of what needs to be replaced or repaired or refinished.

Greg

MarinaBlue,

If you are going to take it down as far as you say and it needs all new panels {quarter panels, door skins, etc?} these have to be done on the frame. A convertible body must be repaired on the frame. I can tell you from experience, the best way to have everything fit correctly is with a loaded frame {engine, trans, rear installed}. I would pull the interior {at least the back seat and the rugs. Do the 1/4 panels first with the doors still hung. When this is correct, then pull the mechanicals apart and continue with the body off of the fram. Replace the floor pans and the trunk while apart, on the floor pans only do one side at a time and be sure to brace the body in as many spots as possible. You have to remember the factory had body jigs to build these on. For cleaning, either use a blast or preferably get it stripped. If you are really amibtious, you could leave the mechanicals in the frame, lift the body off, have it stripped, then place it back on to do the panel work. Then take the body back off to do the chassis. This may seem like a lot of work, but once the cables and brake and fuel lines are disconnected, the body can be moved on and off the chassis extremely easy. I know a couple of guys who have used the rolling chassis as a dolly to roll the body in & out of the garage as needed.

Good luck.

Boy i hope you don't think $20,000 will get you thru the whole project!

I think that you can do it for 20,000 or less. By doing everything that you can yourself, you'll save quite a bit.One thing to do is sit down and really make a good list of what all you will need/use. Make sure it will all work together, and search out your parts and compare vendors. Like at PST if you buy a complete kit for the suspension rebuild, you get 50.00 off on dropped spindles, or whatever. same goes for buying complete brake kits, get the package discount. I've saved hundreds of dollars that way. I really don't have alot of extra cash for my car, so it's taking longer than I'd like, but you could hear that story a thousand time a day around here. Good luck, and like I say, a little research can save a lot of cash. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Two things control the flow of money on a project - subcontract labor and the willingness to reburfish factory materials. My '69 SS has been done off the frame. So far, the frame has been blasted, primed/painted; frt & rear suspensions rebuilt {all factory component reused except rear lower control arms - blasted and repaired[welded] where needed; rear was redone [subcontract $1200.00 total]; trans received TCI kit [350.00]; engine was freshened up and roller cam added [2100.00 total], another $800.00 in misc parts - so far around $4450.00 total. Fortunately I don't need any sheetmetal or interior except rugs and all the trim will be reused. Only thing left now is paint which I will do myself - total expenditures should come in around $6000.00 when done. Sweat equity is another story, in real dollars the labor will be close to $10K. The last car I did was a '68 Mustang Conv. Shelby Clone. This car had $14,000 in receipts for parts alone and only had a mild 351W and a C4 Trans, so the money wasn't in the drivetrain, I just bought too many replacment parts instead of fixing / freshening the factory stuff. Labor on that car (sweat equity) was around $15,000.00. Needless to say I took a bath on the one. A real good example of reusing the factory parts was a '49 Chev. Woody Wagon we finished 3 years ago. That one was a 5 year project [ half of which was spent refinishing the factory ASH wood ]. Repro parts for this are non existant, so everything is rebuild, repainted, rechromed, repolished. Cash expenditures on this around $25,000. Sweat labor - lost track after the 2nd year - probably another $50,000 worth if converted to real dollars.

The point of all this is 2-fold [ first, I am sitting here early this morning watching the March 16th snow fall and the phones aren't ringing yet, so it is pretty quiet this morning], second is the make the point that where you are headed with a project makes all the difference in what it costs. A restoration actually costs less than a restored/modifed car, the difference being the personal labor factor applied to refinishing factory parts as opposed to going out and buying aftermarket parts. $20K for resto expenditures spent correctly will yield a very nice '67 Conv.

It may be a good idea to consider reinforcing the frame when you get to the frame off part. I have seen several 66-67 convertibles sag in the middle even though the frame is boxed to help prevent this.

Chris R.

Thanks for all the great replies.

Chris R, I live in St. Paul. do you ever bring your car to University ave?

hey guys, My friend use to own a Marina Blue '67 SS along time ago. His name is Dallas Thacker and lives in Utah when he owned it. Are any of the '67 SS convertibles here his old Chevelle? I'm looking for it.
thanks,
wes

Mine was originaly K code turquoise, but blue when I bought it. I think it got to Denver via South Dakota.

Originally posted by MarinaBlue13867:
Thanks for all the great replies.

Chris R, I live in St. Paul. do you ever bring your car to University ave? Yup, but Not every weekend. You can be assured that I am up there on Car Craft summer nats and MSRA back to the 50s weekend.

I usually TRY to hit north St. Paul on friday nights but its about a half hour drive and I almost always make it to the Anoka show on saturday nights.

If you are intrested in meeting up sometime, Im game.

Plus, since you are new here. We have a Chevelle club here in MN. The Northstar Chevelle club. Perhaps you are intrested.

There is info on our meet this sat (the 20th), so if can, come hang out with us. This time its held in lakeville. There is info on this in the Team Chevelle Cruisins section.

E-Mail Derek69SS for the directions.

http://www.chevelles.com/cgi-bin/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=000950

Chris R.

Pay close attention to the frame-I have a 67 malibu convertable SS clone- the frame has either been repaired or reinforced- between the middle of the door and rear axle hump riser. I'm now getting ready to either merge or replace the frame with a 67 elky I found, thats also not the greatest. The upper part of the drives door rubs on the QP- likely casued by frame sag.

I'll add a few more tips...

Not only keep a journal and pictures, but for "oddball"stuff like the convertible top hardware, I drew diagrams showing the location of each attaching bolt and the proper order of assembly (sometimes washers go in the middle of the top hinge pivots, etc)... I put each seperate bolt in its own baggie with the diagrams for that bolt... Remember that many pieces can be left or right specific, be sure you know which one is which... This was a big help when reinstalling everything (especially the convertible top frame) as I couldn't find any factory diagrams showing some of those things...

As for refurbishing or buying new, also considering buying second-hand... If you don't need the part just yet, hold off on buying it. Keep an eye on the classifieds for deals... I just bought a set of "almost new" repro redlines and steel wheels for about 1/2 of what it would reasonably cost me (if I included tax/shipping, mounting/balancing, purchase, etc)...

In the past I have bought new parts when the old ones would work and look fine... waste of money...


Make a plan of what you want the final car to look like and make a plan...

Where in St. Paul do you live?

Mark