[that66chevyguy]

Hey Chevelle tech!

I'm fairly new here and have been doing a TON of reading here on the forums, but couldnt find any threads that were exactly applicable to my situation.

So me and my dad just bought our first project car, a 66 2dr Chevelle Malibu. The goal is to have fun, spend some quality time and end up with one hell of a street beast. So what we got so far is a running car with a 327 motor and a turbo350 trans, body is in pretty good condition except for some rust in the trunk pan, lower portion of both quarter panels and the back window. We're going to tackle this project over the next couple of years little by little. Now i know the BEST way to do this is to start with the frame and body work, but i really wanted to drop a new motor in first. (we'd install the motor ourselves)

So my question is, if we put the motor in first, would it cost us more money when we do frame and body work because the engine has to come back out? or can the bodyshops take the body off without taking the engine off the frame? I just want to try and keep from spending too much money on redoing labor. Trying to decide whether to hold off on the engine and just do frame and basic body repairs this summer or to drop in our new engine and have some fun with it instead. It's one or the other this summer. Thanks in advance!

 

[nutt]

First off you need to sit down with pops and decide what you guys wanna do? Frame on and enjoy the car inbetween ot frame off and not have it to cruise around with for a long time. That you have to decide what you want to do.

Next what are your intentions? Restore back to mostly stock? Modified stock? Modified? Start looking up prices and get your budget in order. Its going to take ALOT of money Brandon. whatever you think it is triple it. Seriously....frame on you can enjoy the car frame off you wont. You guys need to sit down work out what you want and budget it. Thats first you need a game plan. dont go into this wildly and start buying a bunch of stuff. Ask me how I know?? Bene there and done that. You can easily buy something and it sits for a few years only to find out its the wrong part, you change your mind on the build or its damaged. Make a plan do a section at a time order the parts you need then. PLAN PLAN PLAN and budget. You thank us later for this advice.


SOOOO.....If your doing a frame off you do NOT want to put the motor in. How are you going to do the frame under the motor? Nah dont do that. If your going to redo this car do it right. Strip it down. Take the dog house off etc. Theres no way to sand blast that frame with a motor in it correctly. Once the frame is done with new suspension parts and steering you can put your motor and tranny in. It easier to run your brake and fuel lines as well. Then when the body is done you can put that back on. Go from there. But I wouldnt put a motor in it unless your planning on doing a little at a time and drive it in between. but then you would be doing a frame ON resto not frame off.

The more work you can do yourselves the better off youll be. Strip it down and clean it out yourselves. you might get a body guy to give you an estimate for the repairs the more he can see. If you take it somewhere and say redo this get ready for a hum dinger of a bill!!

Good luck and ask away with the questions. Your gonna have a ton. This site and the people here are fantastic. Never would have gottin anywhere near where I am without this site and alot of the great folks here.

Oh we have a build forum for projects. Check it out. Thsi way you can keep all your pics and question in it. Good luck Brandon and welcome aboard!!

 

[that66chevyguy]

Well frank thanks for the advice, for the first post i didnt want to write too much of an essay. Just make it easy enough for people to read it.

but as far a plan goes, we have decided on a chevy blueprint 396 stroker for starters and a 5sp tremac transmission to handle the torque plus we want a manual. We are going for a mildy aggressive prostreet car. Drag radials and what not, not anything for the track, just alot of street fun. Stock specs are not really a concern for us. From what i've read in your post, frame ON resto is what we are going to do. Section by section over time. Driving the car in between is a must, we dont want a car that sits for years before we can drive it so i assume frame on is the only way to go with those criteria?

That being said, how hard does that make the frame and body resotoration portion of this project? The interior of the car is compeletely stripped down at the moment, the dash is the only thing intact so there is minor surface rust but we plan on sanding it down ourselves. Welding and fabricating any parts are going to have to be left to a body shop.

So with a frame on restoration is dropping in the new motor a good place to start? or still no?

 

[nutt]

No motor yet. You need to change out your body mounts though. I can Gaurentee that some will prob be rusted out. They sell simple washer like replacement pieces that you can weld on top of the original holes. If you wanna be a stickler you can cut it out and butt weld the washer in. Noone sees this I just welded mine on top after I cut out the cancer. Then just change out the mounts.


Then inspect your tower mounts where your motor mount bolt to. I would clean all that up and paint it beofre you put in your new motor. But you need to make sure your frame to body mounts are good. Also with that kinda motor I would make sure all your control arm bushings are good as well, not to mention brakes, steering components and ball joints. Fun to go fast not fun to go fast dangerously. You also want to stop this thing right? lol

Get her in a good mechanical state if your doing a frame on. Then the body work is last. Front end can be done in a week-end with some friends BBQ and cold beer!!

 

[myrusty66]

x2 on everything given for advice. if you are putting that kinda power into it, seriously think about upgrading brakes while you have easier access. you may have power already, but it may be a good time to step up to larger rotors and calipers. outside that, its fun to have them to drive, but when you go into the rebuilding mode doing it the way you plan....you will be doing things over and over again. not too bad if you are doing it, expensive if you are paying someone to do it.

 

[Birddog1970]

Agree with Frank, plan it all out first ... have an end goal in mind. Nothing worse than spending more money and time to correct or modified something due to poor planning. Lots of projects stall with people going crazy the first 6 months then running out of time, money or patience. Assuming the car is mostly original, I would start with the brakes and suspension as Frank mentioned. Make sure the car is ready for the high HP motor. Assume you will be dumping the 10 bolt and putting in a 12 bolt posi to handle that extra power from the stock motor.

Nothing wrong with a frame on, although you may find yourself doing harder work or duplicating things trying to restore as you drive it. I did a frame on restoration on my Chevelle, only reason I didn't pull the body was lack of space I spent more hours than I could count on my back under the car cleaning the underbody.

My recommendation is to pick an area to tackle per off season since you want to cruise in the summer time. If you plan to get the new motor and tranny in there soon, get that suspension/brakes/rear done first. When you pull the old motor take the time to detail up the engine compartment before dropping in the new one. You will be glad you spent the extra time detailing it. With the front clip off the car you can do the frame rails so its ready for the new motor.

These cars take lots of $$ regardless of the type of build you are doing. Most people are well in the hole on the build of their car. Don't be surprised if the final cost of your build exceeds the selling value of the car. To me it's all about the fun of the project and driving the car, being in the negative is secondary.

Have fun with the build and ask questions as you go. So much knowledge on this website it's amazing.

 

[that66chevyguy]

If changing suspension is recommended when we swap the motor, is it a good idea to go disk brakes in the front and leave the rear as drums for now? Down the line we'd change them out too, but we have limited funds at the moment. Or would i have to change all 4 to disk brakes at the same time?

BTW thanks for all the helpful advice guys! appreciate it

 

[myrusty66]

you can do front only disk and leave back if you want. it would be betteer to do a complete switch, less aggravation....you will have it all apart anyway and cost varies with what u plan on putting in. you will be changing the springs for the big block as well, you may look to upgrade suspension parts if the funds allow. putting that kind of power behind 1966 suspension is going to really let you down or worse not let you use the power because the car will scare the crap out of you when the speed gets up there. do you have power brakes now? if not the kit will should come with new booster and master cylinder so you will be getting pretty in depth when you have the motor out. none of this is quick if you want to do it right and have a car that is safe to cruise around in. ask the quaetions and you will get the answers from those who have already been there.

 

[blm]

Brandon: Follow everyones advice here and I would add the following. This is going to be a long,expensive transformation. Try to do it in little bites and keep the car driveable as often as possible. Many many people that do say a frame off restoration end up having their car torn apart for 5/10 and even 20 years. I know that doesn't sound possible but this website is full of guys that have tied their projects up for that long or even worse have lost interest with their car in pieces and sold their project while taking a big financial loss. By keeping the car on the road it will keep your interest in the car. I've had my car for 15 years and the longest stretch of time it was undriveable during that entire period was 5 months.
I fully understand your excitement with your new acquisition. You have many plans for your new ride. Just watch you don't get trapped as enthusiasm fades when one has $20K tied up in a project that they could maybe sell for $8K and have driven in seven years!!!!!!

 

[6cylcecil]

Bunch of accurate advice here in these post above.

I had a basket case so I did the roof, trunk, floor pans and quarter panels before I lifted the body off the frame.

Brandon I'm still on my jouney like Frank, I'm at 9 years and counting also. I can't tell you how many times I would look at a rusty, primer gray beater of a 60s car going down the road and think "well at least he is driving his".

My home did not have any type of shelter so one of the best things I did for my Chevelle restoration was to first build a garage to keep it in. Having a place to do the work will take a lot of stress off of you guys.

Discipline yourself not to start a new phase without at least 2 or better 3 times the money in hand you think you will need. Try to avoid borrowing money especially early in the project.

I'm somewhat of a purest. so being original is important to me . If you're not, please don't pass over considering the modern power plants like the 6.0. It takes very little to wake these engines up.

Good luck Brandon, please post some pictures when you can.

 

[CoolBlueGlow]

Just finishing my seventh and final 66 Chevelle restoration, Did this one frame off with my sons. It has been fun, but it has taken ten years. Don't kid yourself. A home brew frame off is a lot of work, money and time. You need a plan FIRST, not halfway through.

Good advice by the folks who replied, IMO