1970 SS 396 Chevelle: My first job!

[BlueSS454]

Nice play on words there Dan [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]. This car REALLY should be taken all the way apart and be treated to a frame off.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

It is only time and money. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

Looks like fun.

Ryan

The 1970 Lemans Blue L78 Chevelle that was highly publicized a little while ago looks so perfect in that color it's hard to argue.

[BlueSS454]

I am just glad it's not my money this time. I like doing the work, but I get a little tired of spending every dime I have on my own stuff. I would much rather see this car back in it's original Fathom Blue configuration. The current color is some mutation between Marina Blue and LeMans Blue.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Tough to do what the customer wants or what can be afforded at the moment.

Looks great to me.

Ryan

[CC Rider]

Reminds me when I had my front end apart this past summer. It was HOT in my garage!

[Bill Rose]

Damage to the upper rear shock mounts was somewhat common, in the 70's. It was often caused by guys lifting the back of the car with air shocks, to make room for huge tires.

The weight was no longer on the springs. All the body weight was on the shocks, so it started tearing up the upper frame shock mounts. It was a problem with El Caminos too, because all Elkys came standard with air shocks.

The air shocks should only have about 15-20 lbs of air in them. Back in the day, the higher the better, so they often got 100 lbs.

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

are we there yet?

are we there yet?

Bump, more pics?

Ryan

[BlueSS454]

I'm working on it [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/smile.gif[/img]. I blasted all the front control arms, the spindles, steering arms, steering box, etc. The rear trailing arms are shot so I am putting Hotchkis pieces on it. The front springs were already replaced at one point not long ago so I cleaned them up. Tonight I installed the whole front suspension and a correct quick ratio 676 power steering box. I was able to piece together a whole system from my own stock so I don't have to go out and buy everything. I have all of the parts I need sitting here except a few detail things which I will pick up from Ground Up when I go there this coming weekend.

Here are some shots of the spindles after I cleaned them up, see the original inspection marks...








The original dust shields are kind of messed up. Someone chiseled the seal guard off one of them. Now I have to debate whether to replace them with aftermarket ones or take one from my stock or let it be and just have them replated.



I am also going to have the original caliper brackets replated. I can't leave them as is with those fresh control arms and spindles on there...

[Ryan1969Chevelle]

Looking good, moving along nicely.

Ryan

[BlueSS454]

Here are a few new shots for you guys and an update. I have most of the chassis back together. I blasted and painted the front control arms, replaced the rears with Hotchkis pieces. I had to replace the front brake dust shields as the originals were mutilated. I sent the caliper brackets off to be plated, hopefully they come back next week so I can finish up the front. I am also waiting on the brake lines to come in.

I pulled the cover off the rear so I could remove the axles to replace the seals. What a can of worms that opened up! Both axles are shot, grooves so big you could run a train on them, luckily I had a spare set of originals in nice shape. That's not the worst of it though, someone had been into the rear before and they had NO clue what they were doing. The gear set and differential were replaced and NOT set up correctly. The differential was moving back and forth laterally....NOT GOOD! I pulled the caps, removed the differential and flushed all the oil out as well as cleaned the axle tubes. New axle bears and seals were installed, I left the differential bearings alone for the time being just because I want to see the the gears are going to start howling since I set the backlash and preload on the differential the right way and in spec. If it howls, I'll probably end up pulling the whole rear apart and redoing it...not something I really like to do for others just because of the nature of them.

I also got the power steering pump assembly on. I know it's not the correct reservoir, but it works.