I picked this up and lost the transmission on the 50 mile ride home, so it got a new 700R4 right off the bat, and suddenly a good deal wasn't so good. Now I'm just chipping away. I've promised myself never to get another old automobile (I've done that before).

When I bought it:

• someone stuffed in a 700r4 (automatic trans w/ Overdrive), and a 350  and '68 4 bbl Quadra-jet carb
• mostly new brake lines
• mostly new exhaust
• some new wiring under the dash
• Grant steering wheel and mostly new interior (bench seat, carpet, headliner, door panels, dash pad, reproduction stereo)
• Needed a lot of little TLC-type things (electrical gremlins, rattles.....)
• newer front bumper
• Superior 5 spokes, dropped spindles up front

Since then:

• New Jasper 700r4 transmission w/ wiring for lockup converter
• Installed wipers, fix wiper switch, fix turn signals and horn (as well as replace horn), fix the courtesy light, replace lens, and some other lighting issues, plugs in the firewall
• Chrome Exhaust tips
• New rear bumper from Ausley's Chevelle parts
• All new metal in cab (front, middle, and rear floorboards, front of smuggler's chest, and more).
• Replace ashtray
• Install new stereo/speakers/amp (MTX housebrand- 6x9 in boxes and amp), Heater control faceplate. Freed up the Heater controls.
• Strip, patch, and line bed and
  tailgate. Install hooks in the bed (for hauling bikes)
• bed and smuggler's chest look OK: few dings and patched a couple of areas though
• Tailgate in excellent condition
• Sand the body and strip rough looking spots before new paint
• rockers in great shape
• rear lower quarters were replaced with new metal
• replace some metal in front of rear left qtr from previous accident damage
• New paint and body work: metallic gray base with clear
• All new weather stripping and rubber (all window felts, vent windows, door wx stripping, fuel door bumpers, hood bumpers, taillights, handles, etc.
  )
• New armrests and pads. New door lock cylinders w/ GM keys. New seatbelts.
• New tail light lenses.
• new stainless hardware wherever possible.
• Install polished aluminum catch tank for radiator overflow
• Tint windows (35% front, 20% rear, lifetime gaurantee)

THE JOURNEY 

6/16/10. Few maintenance thing left, but otherwise, I'm finally enjoying the fruits of my labor.

5/24/10 Back from paint, FINALLY. Looks great, although I'll need to have them touch up a few things.

3/13/10 Dropped off at paint today, then began cleaning up the trim, etc. Fun.

3/11/10 Think I found and fixed a fairly serious handling problem that's been plaguing the car. Someone actually spent some coin on these boxed arms, but the lowering brackets serve absolutely no purpose and they allowed the axle to move under acceleration. It looks like there may have been bags on the car at one time, so maybe that had something to do w/ the brackets.

3/10/10 Finally, real, visible progress. Cab done and everything back in and clean, and a few other issues addressed.

3/8/10 Cab ready for paint. New rubber in the vent windows (no easy task) and had to do some customtry (I just made that word up) to replace the rivets on one of the vent window latches.

3/7/10 Finished the smugglers chest, and cleaned up the metal on the seat and got the lever working too. Also spent some time on the old wiring and stereo stuff. Got paint quotes: OUCH!!

3/4/10 It's official. I hate this car. Although as of today, the really shitty grunt work should be done, for me anyways, as I finished the last weld on the new floor boards, which wraps up all the metal work I'm going on this car.Still need to do a little grinding, then prep, then paint.

2/26/10 Prepped the areas that are getting covered up. The supports are in great shape. I installed teh front passenger side toe panel

2/24/10 I can safely say I'm starting to hate this dirty, shitty work. Pass side floor panels fitted, now cutting out the driver's side. Once again, I'm pretty impressed with the fit of these panels from NPD.

2/23/10 Began cutting out the old floors on the pass side. cleaned up and retapped all the crusty old bungs etc while i was in there. Found that the 2 body mounts here were missing bolts.......... WTF.

2/20/10 Bed lining done. tailgate sanded. Passenger side trim holes filled.

2/15/10 Pass side done, at least as far as I'm concerned. And I needed a little pick me up, so I took a few minutes to clean up one of the Superior 5 spokes.  ILove these wheels.

2/14/10 Almost done making the patch for the passenger side quarter.

2/11/10 finished the driver's side quarter panel. Rear Window out, and starting on patching that up. Lucky me, found 2 Additional areas behind the glass that needed tending to.1 and half done: just 1.5 corners to go.

2/10/10 Started repair on Driver's side quarter panel and finished filling in the trim holes on the rocker panel.Of course none of these panels are available from the aftermarket. So I had to make this. What a PIA.

2/6/10 Finished the driver's side rear fender, and patching the inner/outer skin of the driver's side door. Also started filling in the tim holes in the rocker panel and sanding the driver's side of the body.

2/3/10 FINALLY, installed the last piece of metal in the cab. That was a shit ton of work and alot of new metal. Just a little finish work remains inside, Then I can wrap up the outside and get this things painted.

1/31/10 Readyto button up the inside of the cab: new rear floorboards, new rear replacement panel in the cab, some other patches in/around the smugglers chest. Also, continued work on the accident damage in front of the rear wheel.

1/30/10 Right side floor board done (after much massaging: bastard). Left side prepped, it and another patch go in tomorrow. Also began panel replacement behind left door where an accident resulted in a poor attempt to repair damage (quarter+rocker). It was a shame to cut up a super solid rocker. But the best thing about doing this was that I found that portions of the ribbon wire to the dome light and rear lights that were chafed and grounding out, which explains my battery and dome light problems, as well as occasional problems with the taillights. While I was in there I treated the metal to some rust treatment and paint.

1/23/10 Stripped the lid to the smugglers chest.

1/20/10 Replacement floor pans arrived, so I started on the right side tonight. I'm surprised to say that I'm impressed with the fit. These are from NPD and $50 each. There's plenty of extra meat on them for trimming.

1/18/10 Now that the back of the cab is patched, and I finished the patching in the bed, I finished stripping the bed, treated any remaining rusty spots, then rolled on a bed liner. Still need a second coat, which i'll finish once the floor pans and lower panel in the cab are done.

1/11/10 Back of the cab is garbage: a function of poor design and the way the car sits. Water in the bed runs to the front, which is the back of the cab, and also where 3 pieces of metal meet and are spot welded together. So, I'm replacing the lower 2" of the front of the bed, and then installing a replacement lower panel from OPG for the front of the smuggler's chest, a patch at the bottom of each side of the smugglers chest, and new rear floor boards from NPD.  

 

9/17/09 Patching below the gas tank filler.  

11/7/08 Stripped some paint on the passenger side to see what surprises lay below. So far, pretty much what I expected. Some small holes, but most of the shoddy filler work was for dents and dings. The rockers look real good and the doors are in pretty good shape. The rear lower quarter is the worst of it.