While I'm at it......

I apologize if this is too long. Many years ago we had owned a 78 while living in Hawaii and then sold it when we moved back to the mainland. "Never again!" I said.Riiiiiiighht! So almost 2 years ago I buy my wife another 78 for her birthday, a driver/fixer upper. I believe that I decided 3 or 4 things needed to be completed to make it street worthy and pass safety inspection.
Brakes, wipers didn't work, power steering problems and tires. Today I can proudly say that the brakes are fine. However, the same tires are still on the car, the wipers still don't work and I can't begin to tell you what I've gone through with power steering. I became hampered by the while I'm at it virus that infects so many of us. Here are a few things that were done while I was at it. My wife has as much time scrubbing, painting and wrenching as I do. I have come home many times to hear the compressor running and grinder blasting away.

Did I mention that I bought a matching #s 69 project?



Diff rebuild and trailing arms(thanx Mike) as well as a bunch of cleaning and painting.



Nice control arm mount:amazed:















Nobody wants to clean and paint but EVERYBODY wants to help put the motor in.


That was kind of quick and dirty. Here are few pics from last night. I didn't mention that the car was driveable until my wife got the while your at it bug and ripped out the interior.




I'm not allowed to work on this until her's is driveable again.


I have a bunch of "little" things to finish up under the hood like hide the wiring, new air cleaner and valve covers and so on. In fact, the wife is looking for air cleaner and valve cover ideas if anybody has any suggestions. The new dash should be here today or tomorrow.

I still need to get the wipers working

Cheers

Your a lot farther along on that 78 than I am on my piece of shit 76. Nice job:1st:. Hopefully someday I'll be at that point.

Cool '69 - that's what I've been spending the last 3 yrs "while your at it-ing":yahoo:

Nice work. It's good to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

What are the plans for the 69?

I remember that '69 on the trailer from a while back - what was your username at the other forum ??

welcome to VetteMOD :3rd:

Damn nice work there. I'm almost over my first bout of the virus but I think it's like malaria - you never truly get rid of it and a relapse is never far away! :lol:

Best I can offer is 3 hots and a cot, but I need someone to do my paint/body work.....:search::shocking::beer:

Jeremy, yours will be way better. In retrospect, I should have just taken the body off and made my life a lot easier.

my2nd78 said:

Jeremy, yours will be way better. In retrospect, I should have just taken the body off and made my life a lot easier.

Click to expand...

Meh, I'm not happy with the way my right frame rail looks...its got me down a few times this past month, so much that I don't even know why I am working on it. I hate being a perfectionist, but that's just the way I am. The good thing is that I won't accept anything less than perfection when it comes to the bodywork stage - Mike taught me a lot when I was down there and he knows how much of a prep freak I am. Hopefully I can put everything back together.

Thanks guys. I think that we are all pretty critical of our own work. I hadn't looked at those pics in a long time.

BBShark... Please don't tell me that the light is a train.:surrender:

MyBAD I was the same username at the other place, no creativity.

chevy69, Let's see what you've got gong on.

I am always open for suggestions on the 69. My wife covered up so that I can't see it. She was getting nervous.

I have found that Labatts and Tequilla help with easing some of the while I'm at it symptoms.


The 69 is a 350/350 coupe that I couldn't pass up for the price. I intend to do the glass work then pull the body. I don't intend to do any major mods. The motor will come out and go in a wrapper on a stand. There has been plenty of discussion as to what I build for a motor but that is way off in the future. There is a a ton of spare parts in the car that the PO accumulated. I think there are like 4 sets of seatbelts. When I start thinking and talking about what I'm going to do with this car my wife says I get that look:twitch: Then she asks if the wipers on the 78 work yet. :banghead:






I've been secretly buying parts for it. Hope the wife doesn't see this.

Wanna trade vettes? I like chromies so much more

Sorry, can't trade. I'm lookin forward to the day I can drive that beautiful thing.
I do know what you mean about perfection. I have had to learn to make a few compromises that get under my skin.

my2nd78 said:

Thanks guys. I think that we are all pretty critical of our own work. I hadn't looked at those pics in a long time.

chevy69, Let's see what you've got gong on.

Click to expand...

here's a couple pics of my chassis - body just went back on last month. I should probably post up my own project thread, then update it as I make progress. I'm actually in the garage right now working on it (took the puter with me) :lol::lol:

Jeez does that frame look good. Nice job chevy69. I could only wish mine looked that perfect :suicide:

stinger12 said:

Jeez does that frame look good. Nice job chevy69. I could only wish mine looked that perfect :suicide:

Click to expand...

Thanks Stinger12!!!

The frame was powder coated. I actually found a guy with a frame ('69 4 spd - same as mine) that was checked for straightness and powder coated a few years back. I bought it for $1900 and I used my old chassis as reference and built up the new one piece by piece. It took over 2 years. My old frame had some rust so this fixed that issue as well without ma having to do a ton of welding. I have been happy with this decision. My car did have some rust, and I replaced the rocker channels and the windshield frame (did it all myself). It's coming along - still a long way to go though.

chevy69 said:

Thanks Stinger12!!!

The frame was powder coated. I actually found a guy with a frame ('69 4 spd - same as mine) that was checked for straightness and powder coated a few years back. I bought it for $1900 and I used my old chassis as reference and built up the new one piece by piece. It took over 2 years. My old frame had some rust so this fixed that issue as well without ma having to do a ton of welding. I have been happy with this decision. My car did have some rust, and I replaced the rocker channels and the windshield frame (did it all myself). It's coming along - still a long way to go though.

Click to expand...

Here's a pic of mine. It turned out pretty good, but I still wish I would have replaced the entire right frame rail...it looks odd when you look at it from the side. Yeah, you aren't going to see it, But I know it is there. Whatever, too late now. Not one piece is painted - everything is powdercoated, even the rotors.

stinger12 said:

chevy69 said:

Thanks Stinger12!!!

The frame was powder coated. I actually found a guy with a frame ('69 4 spd - same as mine) that was checked for straightness and powder coated a few years back. I bought it for $1900 and I used my old chassis as reference and built up the new one piece by piece. It took over 2 years. My old frame had some rust so this fixed that issue as well without ma having to do a ton of welding. I have been happy with this decision. My car did have some rust, and I replaced the rocker channels and the windshield frame (did it all myself). It's coming along - still a long way to go though.

Click to expand...

Here's a pic of mine. It turned out pretty good, but I still wish I would have replaced the entire right frame rail...it looks odd when you look at it from the side. Yeah, you aren't going to see it, But I know it is there. Whatever, too late now. Not one piece is painted - everything is powdercoated, even the rotors.

Click to expand...

I think it looks great - and you'll be surprised how much of all of this plain dissapears once you drop the body back on - I think I spent too much time making mine look nice, but I guess i can always pull out the old pics to see it - great job - keep the pics coming :beer:

chevy69 said:

stinger12 said:

chevy69 said:

Thanks Stinger12!!!

The frame was powder coated. I actually found a guy with a frame ('69 4 spd - same as mine) that was checked for straightness and powder coated a few years back. I bought it for $1900 and I used my old chassis as reference and built up the new one piece by piece. It took over 2 years. My old frame had some rust so this fixed that issue as well without ma having to do a ton of welding. I have been happy with this decision. My car did have some rust, and I replaced the rocker channels and the windshield frame (did it all myself). It's coming along - still a long way to go though.

Click to expand...

Here's a pic of mine. It turned out pretty good, but I still wish I would have replaced the entire right frame rail...it looks odd when you look at it from the side. Yeah, you aren't going to see it, But I know it is there. Whatever, too late now. Not one piece is painted - everything is powdercoated, even the rotors.

Click to expand...

I think it looks great - and you'll be surprised how much of all of this plain dissapears once you drop the body back on - I think I spent too much time making mine look nice, but I guess i can always pull out the old pics to see it - great job - keep the pics coming :beer:

Click to expand...

No doubt it looks good, I just have extremely high standards and that gets in the way of the overall picture. THis will be lingering in the back of my head until I die lol. Anyways, I won;t hijack this thread anymore. You can see my progress under the projects tab. I have about a thousand pics in there:bonkers:

You both have done some amazing work.:thumbs:
chevy69 is your powder coat on the frame flat? It looks that way in the pick. I'm leaning towards a flat on the frame of my 69.
I saw somewhere but I can't remember where, some had a silvervain powder coat done. Need to find that thread. Interested in seeing some better pics of that.
Getting to be time to head out of the office and go work on the beast.
chevy69 if your wrenching and drinking a beer in the garage in about an hour, I will be joining you from a far.:beer:

my2nd78 said:

chevy69 is your powder coat on the frame flat? It looks that way in the pic.

chevy69 if your wrenching and drinking a beer in the garage in about an hour, I will be joining you from a far.:beer:

Click to expand...

It's kind of a matte or satin finish. Not too shiny but not completely flat.

Do you have spies in my garage? How did you know I'm drinking beer