Too long since I updated the site!

I've been very lax in updating the blog on my progress. However- I've gotten a lot done on the car! (I'd rather be turning a wrench than typing I guess).  Let's see what's been done.  My last post had me bolting together the front end.  I finshed that up and put the car back on the ground. Notice- it's already sitting lower, and that's without the motor/transmission in the car!

At this point I made my colour choice and took advantage of a sale- the car will be Cobalt Blue Metallic Pearl with a black roof. So I ordered the paint, primer, clear and basecoat. I also ordered some metal flake- I'll shoot a test panel later (probably the fall when the temperature is right) and see how it goes.

I had a bit of downtime - but not really enough to start a huge job, so I decided to do a little work on the firewall.  I knew that I needed to remove the firewall ribs and clean up some other parts, so I gave that a good start. 

With both ribs removed and a temporary coat of black paint on the firewall to protect it, I was happy with the results.

The firewall ribs are spot welded on - so if you're reading this about to start your own project- thoroughly sand and clean the rib joints, you'll be able to cut the ribs off quite easily once you see where the spots are.

At this point, I still wasn't quite ready to drop the motor (a 350) and transmission (a saginaw 4 speed), I had scheduled that for June or July. So I decided to start working on the body, starting with the rear quaters.  With my grinder with a flap wheel in hand, I started on the driver side. I knew it was where the most damage was, but I had no idea it would be like this...

Several conversations, a lot of climbing in, over, under and around the dented area, and a lot of advise later, I decided just to jump in.

With a cut off wheel, I surgically slit the crease (a relief cut) and started hammering away. my neighbours are very patient.  Not too long later, I'd gotten it back to a more normal shape-- not quite perfect but much much better.

This was actually a LOT of work, and a lot of great experience. At this point I made the decision to replace that entire section instead of stitch welding it back together. I knew I needed to patch the lower portion of the quater - it had been badly rotted out - but rather than try to repair the hundreds of tiny dents (stretching and shrinking the panel) it was just easier to replace the entire panel. I ordered a new panel from EMS Automotive, and a few days later it arrived. To my excitement, it's overall quality was wonderful.   So I pulled the axle - and a hit to anyone about to try this - bring a friend, two hyldraulic jacks, a piano dolly (the flat moving kind) and a comealong.

With the rear end out, I test fitted the panel and it fit wonderfully, so I welded it in and moved on to the rear section of the quater.

There was alot of hammer work involved where the quater wraps around to the tailpan - this car has obviously been hit - badly - but with persistance I was able to bring it back into shape. 

There's still more work needed back there, but I got enough done on this side that I could move over to the other side and replace the rusty parts there as well. (I was itching to get the rear end in, I hate having the thing up on stands like that.

I had a really hard time welding the other side for some reason- actually I'm just not that good at welding yet. I ended up warping the panel, and it took a bit of hammering it get it to come back. Even still, there's more filler on the passenger side rear than I care to admit.

The bodywork took me a LONG time, because I kept being inturrupted by the weather - It rained a lot this spring, and everytime it did I would need to recover the whole car. That's where the carport came from.

With the bodywork done I measured and drilled new pilot holes in the firebird rear end to re-center it and bolted it in with the camaro bottom plates I had.  My plan is to remove the plates and fabricate new ones or cut the camaro plates down so that the shock mounts will fit properly, but that's a project for another day.

Next, I moved on to the front end again. While I was doing the body work my steering column (flaming river) arrived, so I lined everything up and connected it.  Three u-joints ( the column and the Mustang II front end were an inch away from lining up). It took a bit of math, and a bit of trial and error- but it it ended up working very nicely.  I also installed the brake master cylinder - but I'm still working on the clutch linkage so I'll post a photo later.

Hey, here you can see the colour of the car will be too!

Before I assembled the column parts I finished cleaning up the firewall (with the fenders off) and I repainted it body colour.

What really surprised me is that I found a perfect match for the colour at canadian tire. At least I'll have touch up paint if I need it. 

And so, on one fantastically rainy day in June, I invited my nephew Russell over and we installed the motor and transmission.  It went in  very easy, no spills or chills of any kind.

Russell had a tonne of fun, it was a great experience for him.

I've been working off and on since then - but the heat has been insane up until a little while ago (35+ degrees not including the humidex). So I've not done very much that's visible in and around the Chevy.

As I mentioned, the brake master cylinder is in, and I've begun fabricating the clutch linkage and transmission mount. I'm also ready to re-install the front sway bar (it's just mocked up right now).

I also discovered that my math on the driveshaft was off- and it's 6 inches short. Fortunately, I was able to track down a replacement that is too long if anything.

When I had the fenders off one rainy day I stripped the driver's side and found it was in worse shape than it looked. Fortunately, I think I've found a pair of fiberglass front fenders thanks to a member on ChevyTalk. I'll let you know.

And maybe it won't be 4 months before I post again.