'65 Chevy Bel Air Wagon

[BossHogg69]

After looking at this over and over, I think you're right Pick, the Highlander style with the vinyl 'divider' is the way to go. My better half thinks so too, so now it's settled!

[KevsClassics]

Very Nice wagon.

[BossHogg69]

A little update on 'Wanda'... On a trip to Texas last Thanksgiving, my girlfriend got a 6 point buck! Problem is, she got him using Wanda Besides the deer and Wanda, no one IN the car was hurt. I tried to source clean GM sheetmetal, but it was hard to find. I had to use an aftermarket hood and left front fender and man was it a bear to get to fit. Was able to find a GM header panel and core support on eBay (above the grille). The rest I beat out or patched up. I got all the parts from Classic Industries.

Luckily I had my little buddy Clyde there (3rd pic) to help me out!

[BossHogg69]

surprisingly, the bumper & lower valance weren't damage. I just had the lower valance repainted and put new trim on it. Sadly, the money I had saved up to redo the interior got spent on fixing the car. Hopefully I can get it finished up later this year.

[BossHogg69]

And in between, I was working on an older sister to keep her company... Her name is Irma (for Ermine white).

[mongocanfly]

Clyde looks pissed about Wanda.....Irma is a looker.....nice pair

[Advanced Design]

Nice fix on Wanda! Color looks spot on. And Irma....wow! Any build details? A 61?

[BossHogg69]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Clyde looks pissed about Wanda.....Irma is a looker.....nice pair

Yeah, he was pretty pissed - I think he likes that car more that I do! Anytime I go anywhere, he's with me in it.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice fix on Wanda! Color looks spot on. And Irma....wow! Any build details? A 61?

Yes '61 Bel Air Sport Coupe (aka bubble top) it was mostly finished when I got it. It' was an older build. I put on new exhaust, new shocks, fixed the air ride, fixed the busted differential (spider gears), some paint correction/compounding/polishing, and cleaned up wiring & dressed up under the hood. Then a little carburetor tuning and a good distributor recurve and was good to go. She's got a ZZ454, close ratio M21 4spd, & 4.10 rear gears, so she gets a lil thirsty out on the streets but a blast to drive. It's nice to have another 'hot rod' since my C10 hates me and is always causing me heart burn

[Nut Case]

Dude

2-2X4's and a large C clamp!!!!! Fandamtistic. Thinking outside the box, that"s the best place to be.
I would do that too.

Keep on keepin on


NUT CASE

[Clyde65]

My parents had a 65 or 66 wagon that exact color, also had a 66 blue Byscayne (sp). I would love a wagon myself, they are real popular and expensive now! Great job!!

[57larry]

2 great looking chevys

[NONHOG]

Love the wagon! reminds me of my buddies dads car except his was brown.
As a child I couldn't understand why his wagon was a Biscayne and not an Impala. LOL. Years later I had a 2 door Bel Air, 65 miss it.
Thanks for the thread!

[nicke]

Really cool cars! Bummer on the deer incident. I did a similar number on my 65 a few years ago (story and pics on my 65 ss page in signature).

Yours is such a cool wagon!!!
-Nick

[BossHogg69]

Finally got around to getting the a/c in the wagon up and running. It was an original factory air car and still had all the factory pieces in place. I called up Old Air Products (www.oldairproducts.com) and got a ProTen 6 replacement compressor, hose kit, STV upgrade kit (guts the suction throttle valve & allows the compressor to cycle w/134A), a parallel flow condenser and drier. Everything bolted up nicely, I was especially impressed with the compressor. Fit the factory brackets perfectly. I had to make some brackets for the condenser, but it was no big deal. I removed the evaporator, flushed it out, checked it for leaks and cleaned the debri out of the evaporator housing/box.

I threw on some new valve covers while I was in there and painted the accessories & brackets since it was all apart. Those exhaust manifolds will be the next to get some attention, but I didn't want to wrestle with old, rusty exhaust bolts, so for now they're staying as is.

[BossHogg69]

couple more. I previously had a Harbor Freight a/c manifold gauge set, but it leaked and wasn't very high quality (you get what you pay for). I got a Mastercool a/c gauge set and a Mastercool a/c hose crimper and they are really nice pieces and made the job easy.

[BossHogg69]

Of course summer's over now so I'm just in time getting the air blowing cold - good thing the heater was already working well!!

[Advanced Design]

Very nice! I have the same crimper and it works pretty well.

[Ol Blue K20]

I just found this thread. I'm signed on to watch. I love that wagon!

[BossHogg69]

Well, the rusty ram horn manifolds didn't last long... after finding a pretty good sized crack on the drivers side manifold (that hadn't started leaking yet) I started looking for headers. I found a set of headers on eBay that supposedly fit '65-89 full-size Chevy cars (along with chevelle and camaro) with a small block. They are from the vendor 'speed-daddy'. I used a set of headers from them on my '05 GMC a few years back and they worked out okay (they're actually still on truck and they're 7 years old now), so I went for it. They were $138 shipped to my door and are listed as 304 stainless steel, 1 5/8" tubes, 3" collectors, 2.5" reducers. The ones on my GMC were listed as stainless, but have about 60k miles on them and look like hammered cat poo now, but haven't rusted through and never leaked. I never clean or polish them either, so there's that... I fully expected these new headers to not fit well since they are basically one size fits all, but was willing to spend a few bucks to find out. I soaked the manifold bolts down in CRC 'Knock'er Loose' and let it sit for a few hours. Everything busted loose with no drama or cussing. Much to my surprise, the new headers slid right in from the bottom, the spark plugs went in with no issues and they didn't hit the lower control arms, steering box or trans crossmember. They even came with bolts, gaskets and reducers. Got a Hedman Hedder's a/c bracket, which needed an additional hole drilled in it and a little persuasion from a bench vise, but it all bolted up nicely in the end. They added a little more growl to the exhaust and I can definitely feel a seat of the pants improvement over the manifolds. Overall I'm pleased with the purchase.

[BossHogg69]

Of course the older sister Irma got jealous when she heard Wanda fire up with the new headers installed... So she said she'd let it go if she could get some new shoes. I happily obliged. I also finally broke down and installed some 'Bel Air' emblems that had been shaved whenever the car was painted by the previous owner. It took a minute to work up the courage to jab a nice new Fastenal Super Magnum drill bit through the rear quarters!! Funny thing is, when I was younger, I always shaved the emblems off all my rides, now I prefer them!

Big shout out to Stephen Cantrell @ http://www.cantrellhotrods.com/ for the hookup on the wheels. And also to Boris @ Street Machinery (member name here is Way2Lo2) for confirming my suspicions about being able to fit a 10" wide on the back without beating the fenderwells in. I measured until I was blue in the face, and was confident it would work, but it's nice to have some affirmation before you drop that hard earned cash.

I ended up with 18x8's on the front and 20x10's in the rear. I probably could've stuffed a 9" wide wheel up front, but this car is bagged and I drive it a lot, so I didn't want to take any chances of clearance issues. 255/35 tires are at both ends. Previous sizes were 225/40 up front and 255/35 in the back on Coys 18x7 & 20x8.5. I reused the 255's that were on the rear Coy's wheels because they were nearly brand new. I'll be going with a 295/30 after I do a few nasty burnouts and wear these 255's down.

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by BossHogg69

And in between, I was working on an older sister to keep her company... Her name is Irma (for Ermine white).

Beautiful '61 Belair bubbletop!!!

[flatbed67]

Really nice wagon you've got there! I like the stance and wheels, sounds real good too.
I like how close to eachother the tail lights are placed on the '65. More on this topic coming
up in my '68 Bel Air wagon thread

Regarding the interior, I'd maybe go for some kind of vinyl strip in the middle of
the bench seat, like Pick says. The plaid pattern, if unbroken might look
too simplistic, or too repetitive. Maybe. The factory fabric has some stripes
woven in, that kinda parts it off in sections.
Just my $ 0.02.

[Advanced Design]

Just doing some catch up. Those headers threaded the needle for sure! And still hot for Irma.

Couldn’t imagine Boris would have time to be here with all he has going on.

[flatbed67]

I made a real classical mistake, and posted a reply on the first page of ths thread. Sorry 'bout that.
Oh man, that '61 is a looker!
Good to see nobody got hurt in the accident with Wanda. Sheet metal can be fixed, people are worse. She looks great again. Good work!

[BossHogg69]

Been awhile since I updated this thread. Engine had a leaking timing cover/balancer seal, rear main and oil pan. Trans pan was seeping too. Got tired of sweeping up kitty litter so I went ahead and pulled the motor to reseal it. It runs really good and doesn't smoke, had 150# cranking compression on every cylinder, so the gaskets are all she's getting right now.

Pulling a small block out of this giant engine bay was a cinch. MUCH easier than pulling a BB with a manual trans bellhousing hanging off the back of it!