1968 Chevy Bel Air Wagon Project

[flatbed67]

Small steps.
Seems I work hours on end, and nothing happens. One explanation is that all
and every part needs some work before mounting to the wagon.
These side markers/327 emblems are a good example. They needed to be
polished, and while I was at it, I decided to paint the black areas. To make
things just a bit more interesting, the top one, on the left hand side
is off a 307 car, and I painted the zero to a two. I'll look for a 327 emblem
at some later point, but for now we have to make do with the painted one.



The front is coming nicely. The bumper is still not perfect, but compared to
before, at least it's much better. This is a good lesson to me: No more cars
with crooked and bent bumpers!
Actually I was going to stay with the patina look, but it kinda got out of hand.
I painted some details today, and will probably get the head lights mounted
this evening.



All side marker lenses are cleaned up thoroughly, and polished, all tail lights
are new, as are the park/turn signals in the front, and the headlights. The
wagon cleans up pretty nicely, even if the chrome leaves some to desire.

[Ol Blue K20]

It's looking really nice so far. Good progress.

[flatbed67]

Working on it Ol Blue K20
I've ben polishing parts and mounting them. Vacuumed all five doors, if you
count the tail gate, and rust proofed them with Dinitrol ML.
Today I finally got the left side head lights mounted and connected, even
adjusted, and the front suddenly looked ready for the road.
I changed the wheels on the right hand side (only had the left hand ones
changed for photographic reasons earlier *grin*). When I was at it, I
adjusted the toe, as the ride had felt a bit erratic when I came home from
the paint shop.The old tires were worn on the insides too. I had to adjust a
good amount before the wheels tracked parallel.

Then I just couldn't help myself, but went for a bit of a shake down test. It
now rides straight and nice, and the 327 has a much better bite, which stems
from a really poorly adjusted throttle linkage. The previous owner has
probably never had the secondaries open at all! How much is in the last
quarter of the primaries and all the secondaries? Can be a hundred ponies?
Small ones perhaps, but it sure feels a lot quicker.



Still lots to do, but it looks almost ready for the mayday cruising.
Oh, and still a week to go.

[Ol Blue K20]

I wasn't worried about the ponies....I was worried about it's appearance. ...lol! Keep up the good work

[Getter-Done]

That is an Awesome job you have done.
You will make the May Fest.
Do you have a Picnic basket to put in the back
Like you did with your Flat bed.?

[flatbed67]

Thank you Getter-Done for the kind words. I actually have put a
surprising amount of hours into this project this winter. I almost beleived my
friends, that say that we don't get as much done nowadays when we've grown
so old. I have had a hard time swallowing that as a fact, and feel that
judging from this winter, my age (53) is not yet a problem.
Oh yes, we're hard core picnicers, so now that we don't have a pick up bed to
sit on, we just bring the old picnic table I inheritad from my parents, a few fold
away stools, gas burner, coffee grounds, water... You get the picture.

[flatbed67]

Ol Blue K20, we need ponies to get the wagon moving. No use if it
sits like furniture. I worry about everything *grin*

I took out the wagon to be able to change my dad's tires today, and as we
had a wonderful warm afternoon, I stayed out, and cleaned the windows
inside and out. I just had to snap a pic of my wagons.



I worry about the interior too, so I mounted the driver's door panel. The vinyl
on the original armrest was broken, so I had ordered new ones from
Eckler's.

https://www.ecklers.com/late-chevy/i...-332000-1.html

On that page the text says among other things:
These door armrest pads are manufactured to perfectly replace your
originals, while giving your Full Size Chevy a great renewed look.

The edges look like a 12 year old with a sharp knife would have cut them
out, and I had to re-drill the mounting screw holes. I actually threw the right
hand one back into its box, because the original looks better.
The result is good enough for me, as this is no restoration, but these arm
rests are definitely no concours quality.
New cranks provide some bling to the interior.



The lock knobs, that supposedly are for this kind of Chevrolet weren't
exactly a "bolt on" deal either. I had to drill and tap them to get them to fit
low enough, so that the ends go down into the door panel. These
aftermarket parts really make time fly.

[mingoman]

The old wagon looks wonderful! Really like the color you chose too.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by mingoman

The old wagon looks wonderful! Really like the color you chose too.

X2, I'm glad you got some horses out of it too..

[flatbed67]

Thanks guys!
Today I've been working of something I didn't plan to do before after the
Mayday cruise. The right hand side rear side window seemed so loose that I
was afraid of it blowing off the wagon. I got it off today, and it wouldn't have
blown of for sure! It was a bit of a struggle to get it out, and while I was at it, I
painted the moldings, and in general made it ready for the window to go back
in.
Cleaning the window itself was a bit of work too, as part of the rubbery gluey
strip that the windows are glued with, sat on the window, part in the opening.
Over spray from a few paintjobs had to be cleaned off also.
I went down to the paintshop and "borrowed" a cartridge of windshield glue
and primer to really get the window to stick. Good to have some contacts in
the industry, otherwise I wouldn't know where to look, or even to look at all,
for this stuff. Borrowed in the sense that I'll have to pay for it later.

Nothing to show pics of this time, but it's still progress in its own way, as
what I do today, I needn't do tomorrow.

[Advanced Design]

Flatbread, great job on the wagon! It looks spectacular and is sure to be a hit at the event. I really appreciate the extra effort you have put into the details as well. They make a positive difference for sure.

[flatbed67]

Thank you, Advanced Design, The more work on details I put into the
car, and the more little modifications to suit my taste, the more "mine" it
feels. This wagon still needs lowered front springs and new exhausts to really
feel mine. After that is done, I might start feeling some pride for it, and that's
an important part of my car ownership. I wrote something about that in the
beginning of this thread. I'm kinda broad minded, and am able to feel pride of
any heap, as long as I like it
Aanyway...
The last couple days have been filled with litle tinkerings, like adjusting the
rear bumper, which now sits nicely, changing the rear shocks and cleaning
the interior.
And the glass, as I wrote about the other day.



The top pic shows the glass, cleaning work going on (some old seal scraps
under the glass), using the tail gate as a work bench. Can closest is SIKA
primer.
The glass didn't fit exactly to the frame, so I pulled it in a bit with the
contraption seen at the bottom pic.

[flatbed67]

Yesterday I got my new centercaps that I had had turned from aluminum at a
friend's shop. I measured the chromed plastic center caps that came with the
new front rims, and drew a plan for new ones for the rear wheels.
Four Aluminum caps, with threaded holes, with the plastic ones
in the center (top pic).
Second pic shows a polished aluminum cap, with the plastic one under.



The bottom pic shows both kinds or caps with the "SS"center logo. Too bad I only have two
of those, so I have to come up with something to glue to all the caps.
Same as with the wheels, anyone who doesn't know, won't probably notice the difference.

Even if it's not ready, I decided to take my new wheels for a spin today. With
toe adjusted , and better shocks it now rides decently. Still no door seals, so it's
pretty noisy. The exhaust leaks at the manifold to tube joints too.



Rinsed with water in this pic, hence the ripply look.
Just to convince myself that there is a difference since last October:

[Ol Blue K20]

Thar car looks great!!! You should be proud. Especially since it's a foreign car in your country and parts aren't as available as they are here...I know I'm proud!!

[flatbed67]

Very nice of you, Ol Blue K20, parts availability is actually pretty good,
especially since you can get things ordered over the internet. After
postage and VAT the parts prices get fairly steep, though. Used parts or wrecking
yard parts are a different story, most American cars are not junked and salvaged,
but made to run, so that's why I have gone through some extra work to make
the old parts, such as my sandblasted/ruined hood, usable again.

So the Mayday cruising was a success, as I got the wagon to a driveable
state, and even MOT tested just yesterday. The day was gloomy, but spirits
were high.
In this first pic we're lining up for a parade through town. Sometimes we've
been up to about 500 American cars in this parade. bear in mind, that this is
a town of about 60,000 residents' so it's a fairly small place, and the
American car hobby is well represented.



After the parade a lot of the cars assembled to a gathering on a big parking
lot.



Of course we had to take our traditional family photo, but as both our sons
live in other locations, there's only two of us in the pic. Your's truly and
the wife in the photo. You might be able to guess who's who.



Oh, and the picnic basket was in the back seat. We enjoyed our coffee inside
the car today, as it was cold with a light drizzle.

[Clyde65]

Great build and family pic!

[Getter-Done]

This goes to show that hard work Pays Off.
Great Job!!!!

[Advanced Design]

That is a great picture of the two of you! And the parade had to be a fun time. Great job on the wagon. The before and after pics show a stunning improvement.

[Ol Blue K20]

Looks like a good time great pics. The car looks great

[flatbed67]

Thank you Clyde65, Getter-Done, Advanced Design and Ol Blue K20 for
the support and nice words!

This last weekend I was supposed to make new exhaust pipes for the
wagon.
A few new parts were lugged home for fabrication of the new pipes. A pair of
Flow tech Raptors, and some 2-1/2" tubing. I had some lying around from
earlier builds, so it should suffice.



Apparently I'm getting slower, because the whole weekend went by, and only
one pipe was produced. Well, while at it, the rear shocks were changed for
brand new ones.
Here's what the old exhaust looked like. Not a performance exhaust by any
measure either. The cross over pipe was rusted through in a couple places,
hence the awful sound.



I tried to get the exhaust neatly tucked up along the prop shaft, and luckily
the Chevy transmission crossmember is bumped up for twin exhausts, so
they can be made nice and tight on both sides (As opposed to Oldsmobile
crossmembers I've wrestled with). I really dislike exhausts that show under the
car's profile hanging below the frame.
Here's the right hand side exhaust system:



The front part to the left, fully welded and ready to go back under the car.
I painted all the welds with a Dinitrol rust protective heat resistant paint that
contains aluminum.
The rear part on the right is only tacked in this pic. 17 pieces alltogether for
the whole pipe.
Still only one hanger welded to the pipe. Two more will get fabricated, one at
the muffler, and one aft of the rear axle.

One more to go.

[flatbed67]

A few days "wasted" on other aspects of life, I finally had the time to make
the right hand side exhaust pipe totally finished.
I thought I'd share my view of a good hanger for the tail part of the pipe. I've
used this type of hanger under my hot rod, and it worked for years. The idea
is you put the weight on the rubber thingy, not a pull force.



The 1/8" thick bar stock pieces go around each other, and the threaded metal
inserts in the rubber is just holding things in place. The result is a firm mount,
that does not wobble, and not too much vibration is transferred to the frame.
These rubber pieces are about 3/4" in diameter, and the threads are M8
(about the size of 5/16" UNC), top and bottom, not through threads. I have
tried hanging exhaust pipes off 2" diameter ones with M10 (3/8") threads, and
the metal will rip off the rubber inside a few months.

Before I made them, I felt I needed some inspiration to make my exhaust
hangers, and here are a couple fun youtube clips on how to make them:

A super cheap way to make exhaust hangers that takes no time at all to make
Well. No, I can't imagine how this kind of hanger would do the job.

In this clip we apparently will learn to do it like a muffler shop:
How to muffler repair - hanger repair -muffler shop
At exactly 5 minutes into this video, you can see the result.

Always nice to have experts on youtube give you advice on making things for
your car.

[Ol Blue K20]

Cool hangers. ......

[flatbed67]

Thanks, Ol Blue K20. Now the whole exhaust is ready and hung on a total
of six hangers. The exhaust sound is nice and growly for a little 327, and so far
I'm very pleased with the result.
It's just awesome, how much difference a new exhaust does, when the old one
was so leaky and awful. The wagon feels a hundred times better, and I haven't
even taken it for a ride yet. Got the exhausts ready about half an hour ago, it's
almost midnight, and it's raining.

I uploaded a clip to youtube, but I couldn't figure out how to embed it, so you
just have to make do with a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dW9IKNHAnE

[gottattooz]

Sounds awesome!

- Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Sounds great! Nice and throaty. ...