Happy_Meal's Never-Ending Rustbucket

[Happy_Meal]

Originally Posted by Philly

Welcome to the world of BBC's. I'm in the same boat as you. I been parts collecting for it for 2 years. The deals are out there. Everything's looking great. Keep up the good work and fightin the good fight.

Thanks man, the 350 in the car right now runs great and makes good power, but I didn't touch the rotating assembly and I used what I had/could afford for the top end. I sold an extra 350 I had for $200 so I broke even on the deal for the big block anyway. I can't wait to get this thing together!

[JohnL71RS]

Nothing like BB power. Been hooked on it since i was 12 years old and took a ride in a 67'Impala w/427. Nice metal work also.

[Happy_Meal]

After a bit of a hiatus I decided to open the garage and get back to work. I pulled the gas tank out and started attacking the tail panel.

Started with this:







It didn't really look all that bad, but I knew there was rust lurking behind it.





Gonna spend some time cleaning up the inner structure and patching the rotted spots
before welding the new tail panel in.

[Happy_Meal]

Well it certainly has been awhile without an update, and progress has slowed a bit due to lack of time and funds, but I have gotten some work done.

I finished up the patch work on the passenger door jam and front quarter area.









I smoothed out the welds the best I could and shot some primer.



It'll need some filler work to smooth out the seams but I'm happy enough with the results. Yes, that is a 70-73 door jam but it was all I could find so I made my peace with it. I may end up replacing the other side so they'll match but I seriously doubt anybody will notice the door jambs are slightly different.

I also stripped the underside of the roof. Luckily it was completely rust free so I went ahead and primed it.

[Happy_Meal]

I started tackling the floor pan as well, and got most of it stripped. It's actually in pretty good shape from the front seat mounts to the rear shelf so I may just scuff the remainder of the factory paint and shoot primer over top of it. Since I don't have the luxury of sandblasting it I'm going to leave most of the factory seam sealer as well.

Here's what I started with:



After several hours and lots of abrasive wheels:





I also patched a small hole where the driver's seat sits using some spare sheet metal.

[Happy_Meal]

I bolted on the passenger door as well to check the fit with the new door skin.



It looks a lot better than I expected, and best of all I know the entire door is rust free. The skin does need to be smoothed a bit but its MUCH better than what I was working with before. I'll have to tweak the alignment a bit, but its pretty close I think.

I couldn't help but line up one of the fenders to see how it'll look with the Z28 vents





Obviously I still need to strip the fenders and get them in primer, but they're in nice shape. The driver's is an original Z28 fender and the passenger is a reproduction. The repop one is going to need some work on the mounting holes to get it to bolt up but I'll make it work even if I have to cut the tabs off and weld them back on.

That's all I've got for now but hopefully the floor pan will be done sometime this week and I can get to work on patching the toe boards, trunk pan, and finally getting that new tail panel welded in. Thanks for checking my progress!

[xnightflyerx]

Nice work on the car so far! Glad to see a fellow Floridian=D I live about an hour from Orlando lol. Good call on the 454/496 combo thats what I want to do.Might as wel go for the extra cubes

[Happy_Meal]

Cool, that's not too far at all. Do you have a progress thread started yet? I'm really itching to get started on the 496 build but I think it'll have to wait a bit unfortunately. In the meantime I have plenty of body work to keep me busy!

[Blu-By-U 79Z]

Looking good man keep at it.

[Michael_1979z28]

excellent work, keep at it!

[JohnL71RS]

great work.

[xnightflyerx]

Originally Posted by Happy_Meal

Cool, that's not too far at all. Do you have a progress thread started yet? I'm really itching to get started on the 496 build but I think it'll have to wait a bit unfortunately. In the meantime I have plenty of body work to keep me busy!

No unfortunately not. I don't have a car ...yet. I'm in the pre planning planning stage lol. Just doing lots of research on just about everything on these cars. But hopefully not too far off Everyone's threads have really helped me grasp what's involved and just making me drool lol.