'66 Malibu N/SA

[Dave Muller]

Thanks, guys. The encouragement helps keep me going forward.

[Dave Muller]

I'm sure slow progress will be the theme for the next couple of months.

This weekend I got the rear bumper installed. That was easier than the front. I only had to cut, bend and re-weld one cross brace. The front brackets, I decided, just weren't worth the trouble. They are twisted and pushed almost an inch to the left side. I ordered new ones.

The taillight bezels are only in here for a test fitting. I have to remove the corner pieces to get access to their mounting screws. But I did also get the trunk weatherstrip installed.



The challenge with those taillight bezels is they use weird captured nuts that, as far as I can tell, are only available if I buy new bezels. But I think I can fabricate some using sheet metal, tin snips, a drill and self-tapping screws. I do have two of the eight nuts so I have an idea what they're supposed to be like.

Meanwhile I found that I have three door handles. Unfortunately only one fit properly, the other two have much longer actuating rods. It does seem like the one that I need will fit after cutting the rod down. I ordered the rubber gaskets for those, they should go in when those and the bumper brackets come in. I'm hoping by the holiday weekend, but probably not. Restoration suppliers aren't all that fast.

[Pinballer]

Originally Posted by Dave Muller

Thanks, guys. The encouragement helps keep me going forward.

Sometimes I think my build is slow going, there are a hundred little details I haven't even gotten to yet, but at least my car was mostly assembled other than a powertrain when I started so I had the benefit of seeing how everything fit together. Yours, being a basket case when you got it, has got to be twice the headaches. The taillight fastener and bumper bracket snafus are about typical of what you run into when you get it in pieces.

But it's looking real good Dave, just keep hammering away at it a little at a time. It will get there.
Behind you all the way!

[Dave Muller]

Thanks, Pinballer.

I am very fortunate to live just two miles from Space Age Paint, where they have all sorts of specialized hardware for old cars. They didn't have the nuts I needed to mount the taillight bezels, but they did have others that were usable after applying pliers and tin snips. So now the rear trim and taillights are done.

[Dave Muller]

Well the temperatures dropped a little but the humidity went up a bunch. Hello Monsoon Season! But I've been able to put in a few hours each day this weekend.

First the bumper brackets came in, and wow, what a difference! A couple of bolts required a little tweaking because the bumper is kinked just a little, but on the whole the installation was pretty easy.



I also got the door handles, rocker trim and one of the door locks installed. I'm waiting on a part for the other lock.



I also did a little welding. If it were cooler I might have also done the small piece that needs to be added on at the bottom, but not today. That was enough welding for now.



Now I'm doing some more wiring: headlights, parking lights and tail lights.

[HandOverFist]

I like it when they get to this stage...things start rolling.

[Pinballer]

Originally Posted by HandOverFist

I like it when they get to this stage...things start rolling.

Remember when you first brought the car home and was trying to envision what it might look like done? Are you seeing it now Dave?
That is going to be a gorgeous car, and in my all time favorite 60's blue.

Still cheering you on from afar...

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Having built five Chevelles in the last 22 years, I know how much fun this has been for you.I can't seem to stay away from car projects even now. Isn't it rewarding to see it come together in the later stages like that? The really fun thing happens the first time you take it out and race it. I've followed your project since your first post, and you've made really excellent progress on it.
I just got hold of a '71 Monte Carlo, red with black vinyl top,black interior, and am doing it. It was a car I got in 1983 with a wrecked front end. Frame was OK,engine and trans were good, so I hit the self serve auto parts places and got a hood,a core support,a grille, a new radiator, a front bumper, and reconstructed it. It had been hit in the rear once before, it had a rechromed bumper and a different deck lid replaced previously,and about two weeks after we started driving it, my wife got hit at the bottom of a freeway offramp.New bumper, a tail panel, deck lid, and a bunch of aggravation. CHP wouldn't take a report because it happened on the offramp,not the actual freeway, city police wouldn't make a report because it wasn't on a city street,but on an offramp.We fixed it ourselves and had my painter friend paint it to match.The car got away from me, we made it into a bracket car, it sat about 20 years in a storage building, I just got it in May and went to work on it. It's going in for paint as soon as I fix the rust in the front fenders. It will be cranberry red,black top and interior,new bumpers and trim, can't wait to finish it and run it again.
Again,great Chevelle, fun project, this motivates the rest of us.

[RobbieRacer]

I'm glad you finally got the motor home! If JoAnn and I would have driven anything but the Mini Cooper to Portland we would have brought it home for you.

[Dave Muller]

Things are still going slowly, and the heat hangs in there. Last weekend was a wedding in Buffalo, NY. There will be two more cross-country trips in the next couple of months plus the Summit Division Finals taking a chunk of time. But inch by inch I keep moving forward.

This weekend I got the valvetrain completed other than adjustments. It's getting time to see about the shifter and getting a driveshaft made. Might have gotten more done but my bracket car insists that I pay attention to it.