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1967 SS 396 resurrection

34K views 244 replies 37 participants last post by  Kopfjaeger 
#1 ·
It’s been a ton of time since I posted updates. So much has happened to delay progress. A falling out/major difference of opinion with my body shop manager brother really set me back. Long story short, he intended to set gaps by using filler and not modification of the existing sheet metal. That was the last straw. It kinda put a wedge in our relationship.

The shop that replaced my rotted sheet metal said he’d take my vehicle in to set gaps, do body work, and paint. It was supposed to go there in early spring, was then pushed back to July, then late summer, then I was told it will be a bit longer. I guess he really didn’t want to finish my car.
I found a highly recommended body man who is known for restoring GTO’s. True to his word, She goes in next Wednesday, Nov. 20!

He wanted all the sheet metal installed so I’ve been working on getting that done. Today marks the day that she is the most complete since the day I pulled her apart, 3.5 years ago. Things are finally looking up!

Yes, the gaps suck and all aftermarket sheet metal sucks, but soon she will be making huge progress.

Joe
 

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#2 ·
I hear ya, been there done that... even after doing all the homework, getting all the references and seeing all the finished show cars; it wasn't even close.

Quoted me $85/hour and charged me $95/hour - charged the same for himself and his two grunts; each.

Probably will have the whole thing repainted and the gaps redone.

He even got the body on so that it's not parallel to the frame.

Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread; rant off.
 
#6 ·
Measured out the locations for my turbojet fender flags, drilled and hand filed to fit. Drilled the fenders for my NOS wheel wheel moldings.

I also installed the hood. Pretty much dropped right on except my opening is a trapezoid. I had to slant the hood on the hinges to get her to close and latch.

Still it’s the first time my original hood has been mated to all the reproduction sheet metal.

Joe
 

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#7 ·
Well, she was transported to the body shop this evening. Met with the owner and took a look at a few of the GTO’s he is working on. He does real nice work and he knows his way around these cars and reproduction sheet metal. He assures me he can get my gaps consultant and to an acceptable width. He also will deconstruct the crappy AMD fender to fix the wonky lower body line. So it’s Nov. 20, I’m guessing a month to 6 weeks until I get her back, painted. That may be overly optimistic.

I guess we’ll see.

Joe
 
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#8 ·
Major progress in 1.5 months. All the aftermarket sheet metal needed tweaking to some extent. Door to fender contours all stunk. Found out my trunk lid was no good, too much surface rust under the primer. Could not trust it.

Thankfully my original hood was salvageable!
 

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#11 ·
So now I’m attacking this project on two front. Body and engine. The body is coming along nicely! Roof, quarters and tail panel are all primed. Finished tweaking sheet metal!

Engine, mk4 454 4 bolt main block bored .030 over, Scat rods, Wiseco pistons, and a virgin NOS nitride GM forged 396/427 crank. The last of my former boss’ horde of super duty cranks! I want/need to keep her under 600hp due to fuel system limits. AFR 265 oval port heads, 1 7/8 Lemons Headers, and a to be determined hydraulic cam. Looking for gobs of torque and done making power by 6500 rpm.
Still need to figure out rims and tire size. Seriously thinking about 17 inch wheels 10 inch wide.

Joe
 

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#12 ·
17x10 is doable, but maybe not at all four corners. With some testing you can see what will work. I have 17x9.5, so another 1/2 inch is not much. It may all depend on the upper A arms you have, as I could not go in another mil in the front, and it's pretty tight on the outside.
 
#13 ·
Brad,

I have no problem going a bit more narrow on the fronts. Actually I’d prefer to go with les width up front. I need to get as much tire on the pavement for the rear. I have SPC arms on the fronts with C5 disc brakes.

Joe
 
#14 ·
Test painted the underside of my trunk lid. Code L Tahoe Turquiose.
She’s getting close!
 

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#15 ·
More progress. Fenders and doors edged in color and under coated. Next up is interior paint and engine bay. She’s getting close. I’ll be getting her back soon to install the engine, wire her, plumb the engine compartment brake lines.

Joe
 

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#16 ·
NICE! Hey, while I've never used one until I bought a Mark Jones 454, the Isky Hyd Roller he used 228/238 on a 111lsa seems a real nice cam, to 6200 in 468. Morel lifters. FYI.

Nice progress FINALLY!
 
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#18 ·
Tomorrow, she is getting out of the body shop and returning to me. I need to plumb the brakes, fuel lines, install the engine and trans, wire up as much as I can, install the dash, and steering column.
I figure in two months she’ll be ready to go back and be painted. My body guy does not trust me to do all of that with her being painted. He’s keeping the front clip, just in case! Can’t say I blame him.

Joe
 

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#19 ·
My body guy does not trust me to do all of that with her being painted. He’s keeping the front clip, just in case!
Wait, what???

That sounds something a wife would say..... or does he have prior knowledge of you being careless around wrenches? :grin2:
 
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#21 ·
Dashboard is ready to be picked up. Waiting on my vacuum chromed original gauge bezel and glove box bezel to return, then finally the gauges I had restored but Instrument specialties can finally be installed. I’m putting the original AM radio in with dash speaker and optional rear deck speaker. For tunes while I’m driving, I plan to stream music from my IPad to a blue tooth speaker on the back seat.

I’ve gone through 3 sets of booster brackets trying to find the right angle to line up the dual 9 inch booster rod with the brake pedal hole. Pulling what little hair I have left plumbing brake lines to the new master and prop. Valve. I must have scrapped 30 feet of 1/4 and 3/16 of ni/cop line but I’m finally rounding the corner. Needed some tight radius bends and three lines in some tight real estate. I don’t have the inner fender well in so I hope like hell I tucked everything where I estimated it needed to be.
 

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#22 ·
Real slow, progress-wise. I hated the way my brake lines were routed to the master, so redid them numerous times. Still a work in progress on that front.

My vacuum chromed gauge and glove box bezel returned, so I switched gears to install the gauges that Instrument specialty restored for me several months ago.

Joe
 

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#23 ·
Engine update! She goes off to the dyno tomorrow!! The dyno results will be somewhat skewed. I’m going with EFI but due to ease of getting several pulls, she’ll have a carb on her.

The engine build has been a bit of a challenge. I had worked for him 30 years ago when he opened up his first shop. He’s gone onto being a very successful race engine builder on the east coast. Initially, I was to be heavily involved in the process, then COVID-19 came. He laid off both his employees then he suffered an injury while working with a plainer/joiner (lost a finger tip). The whole thing is finally coming together and it’s amazing!

Joe
 

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#24 ·
That's coming along very nicely. It's a ton of work but it's soooo worth it! That color is growing on me...looks really nice.


Good luck with bringing everything together, with hopefully fewer rather than more hickups! :thumbsup:
 
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#25 ·
Thanks John! 4 years and a ton of money but she’s finally getting close. It was odd to turn the corner on the build by stopping tearing stuff apart and actually start putting stuff together.

I’m not a huge fan of red. She was originally red on red. When I made the decision to change colors it was a toss up between Deepwater Blue and Tahoe Turquoise. The latter won.

Joe
 
#28 ·
Thanks John! 4 years and a ton of money but she’s finally getting close. It was odd to turn the corner on the build by stopping tearing stuff apart and actually start putting stuff together.

I’m not a huge fan of red. She was originally red on red. When I made the decision to change colors it was a toss up between Deepwater Blue and Tahoe Turquoise. The latter won.

Joe
That's gonna be a nice color, and not too common...
 
#26 ·
Ok, a ton of work done yesterday. Had my kids, 23 & 19, sit on a 2x4 that spanned the frame horns, while the lower control arms were up on jack stands, so I could remove and drill the old 7/16 upper A arm studs for 1/2 ARP bolts. My SPC upper arms are much happier now. Swapped out the crappy Delco inner tie rods for nice Pro Forge inners. Now I don’t have to worry about zerk fittings hitting my oil pan.

Now more engine pics!

Joe
 

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#29 ·
A bit more progress. I need to drop the lower control arms to install the shocks. I know Marc told me that the shocks needed to be installed on the inside of the LCA but I didn’t know why. Now I do. The Vari Shock piston doesn’t not have enough throw to mount the shocks the traditional way. I’ll wait until the engine is in before I screw with it. In all honesty, I’ll probably wait until the fenders are on and she is painted and has settled. I may need to tweak the ride height and remove a adjustment plate, since I’ve gone with aluminum heads.

More progress on the engine! Real close now!

Joe
 

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#33 ·
Wow, I remember saying the same thing, several years ago, when I was up to my ears in rust and frustration! Thanks buddy, you’ll get there. I swear!

Use the forum for inspiration. I did!

Joe
 
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