I've had this car about 3 years just waiting to do full build. We were getting ready to build a house so I reluctantly decided to sell it a couple months ago. Since the world has gone bat**** crazy house plans might be on permanent hold. Last week I decided to do a driver build Roadkill Garage style with the help of my 8 yo son. The car was last registered and on the road in 1992.
First order of business was see if the motor was any good. It was stuck at first but I was able to break it free with a prybar against the starter. We pulled the plugs and squirted some 3 in 1 oil and rotated over several times.
We replaced the plugs, battery cables, battery and filed the points. Amazingly it fired right off with starting fluid. We drained the old gas out of the tank replaced all the rubber hoses and added a new filter. I poured 5 gallons of fuel in and with in minutes it was staying running with the new fuel in the tank.
Next order of business was the real axle seals and rear brakes. We drained the old nasty diff fluid and replaced the old axle seals and wheel cylinders that were internally rusted solid.
Ordered a few goodies that showed up this week. Speedway disc brake kit and drop spindles.
I then started working on the most important part of the job. Figuring out stance and tire wheel combo. Its going to be a close fit but going to run a 275-60-15 in back. I trimmed the rear springs to get rid of the 4X4 look. I will probably end up coming down about 1 inch more but will wait to get the front back together and get it back on the ground and then I will find tune the ride height.
I had a very similar wagon (64 Tempest) build when my kids were that age. I regretted later dropping the front end a little too low ( cut the front springs 1 coil) for what thats worth. See pic. Yours and mine started out very similar. I paid $500 to the guy that inherited it from the original owner. A/C car too. Now that wagon is in England.
That red wagon is so complete it'll look very nice in an original form. Very nice find and good luck. It doesnt appear that yours have the 3rd seat option but thats an interesting option in those cars...
Did not get near as much done as I wanted to today. The hardest thing about this is not letting project snowball happen. I have to remind myself I am not restoring a car just getting it on the road. I did wire brush the steering arms and added a quick coat of rustoleum. I started to assemble the brake and spindle assemblies only to discover the set up has 1/2 steering arm bolts. I carefully drilled the steering arm holes out to 1/2" and started to assemble that side. Well between the brakes being one brand and the spindles being another some of the hardware would not work. 2 bolts were too short.. I thought I would run up to Home Depot and pick some up. NOT!!
There was at least 100 people waiting to get in the store. No way in hell I was going to wait in that line to find out that didn't have what I need. I went back to the house and started drilling the other side steering arm. I found out it is slightly bent so going to have to find another one. 🙄 I pulled the leaking steering box and found out the rebuild kit I was sold for it is wrong. We put the booster on a couple times to get the rod length right and installed the master cly. That was about it for the day.
Just curious,couldn't make out the engine callout on the front fenders,I believe it's 327? My "66" AB Malibu had the original L30 "327 with the one year only-Chevelle only Carter AVS which this appears to be with the rear fuel line entrance. The valve covers appear to be the"283" style with Chevrolet script?
My "327" used the other style covers with the rectangle area for the "327" 275 horsepower decal. Was just wondering if the 283's used the AVS also? I have a "66" service manual that I could probably look at to see but we're moving and it's packed away. Nice lookin car by the way,also nice to see junior on the project with ya.
Made a little progress this week. Got the brakes installed and new hard lines made. Test fitted the tire / wheel combo tonight. Rear is perfect but going to have to get a little height back in the front and switch from a 7" to a 6" wheel.
Sitting on the ground it wont clear. Here it is today with 6" front wheels with 205 70 tires and final proposed ride height. Gives me 4.5" cross member clearance and a 3/4" rake. Now I just need to get drop springs so I can raise it up.
Tried to cruise up to a local cruise night but giving it any acceleration at all it would fall on its face and want to die. Took it back home and started with a compression test since I have yet to do one. Came out good for a stock motor that's not been started in almost 30 years.
Started digging deeper and found this exhaust preheat valve was rusted 3/4 shut. I was pretty sure this was my issue. Since 1/2 the motor can't breath. I'll put it back together to test the theory and still bad.
Found a bare wire laying against the distributor housing. Thought maybe it was grounding out when advancing but was not the issue
Another trip to Summit to grab a few things including a tuning kit for the carb. This turned out to be it. I dropped 2 steps lean on the chart and cleared it right up.
Went for a drive and discovered the transmission is smoked. I found a used TH350 on CL and took the gamble. It paid off after swapping out after work last night. I'm getting to old to do that on the floor. LOL
Well it's loud and obnoxious with open exhaust but it's a driver now with 3 solid gears. Next stop headers and stealing the exhaust system off my 66 Cutlass.
Made a few steps on the exhaust this week. Got the headers mocked up without too much beating. Have to flip one frame motor mount bolt around to clear on the driver side.
The factory alternator/power steering bracket was made on to the factory exhaust so had to address that. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on nice custom stuff but also didnt want to use a cheesy universal bracket.
I decided to use the original manifold to make a template for my own bracket. I started getting ready to attach the exhaust system I robbed from my 66 Cutlass to the new headers. Used a piece of U-bend cut down cut at just the right angle and welded to the collector.
I did run I small issue I didn't think about. the Cutlass exhaust runs right up against the frame in the rear. Would work fine on the driver side but spare tire well is in the way on the other side. Just a little more work to redesign behind the axle.
Thanks. The bracket should work great. I finished the front of the exhaust over the weekend and made some new transmission hard lines. Still need to redo exhaust behind the axle and make some plug wires. Hoping to be able to drive it again next weekend.
I hindsight I should have called the wife to tell her to record but it was more spur of the moment. She was following me since there are no tags yet. We stopped at a stop sign and he asked if we could make mom dissapear.......
Phase one complete. Finally on the road. Finished up the engine compartment. My bracket worked good. My tips finally came in this week so I was able to finish the back of the exhaust how I wanted it. I think it came out great. Finished the day with a 40 mile trip going to see my buddies house that I bought it from 3 years ago. Drove out awesome. I am so glad no one bought it when I had it for sale 4 months ago.
Well interesting end to yesterday. On my home from work lower radiator hose decided to split and was pissing coolant everywhere. I was only 20 min from the house so had my wife come get me so I could get the trailer. Can't find the weak links sitting at home LOL.
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