63 Biscayne

[renegade6]

I didn't get much accomplished this weekend. I've been out of commission for a few days after having my wisdom teeth removed...Finally. If I can give some advice to the younger viewers. Do it now and do wait until you're in your 40s.

I've been looking around for a mock-up block so that I can have better measurements when I build my firewall and new inner fenders. A new plastic mock-up engine is about $300 so, I figured I would check out the local junk yard to see if they had anything scrap that I could get.

Well, $200 later I have an 5.3 LM7 out of a 2002ish Avalanche and from what I can tell, the only thing wrong with it is the intake and oil pan are cracked from having a tree fall in it. As you can see, the cross hatching is still there on the cylinders and when I pulled the valve covers off, there was zero sludge inside.

I may go ahead and use this at least to get me going and save up for some more for what I want or, mod the hell out of this.

[renegade6]

Been kind of slow on the updates. The reason is that I've been busy with a lot of help.

As a result, the floors, trunk and firewall are all finished. Now on to the hard stuff...Fixing dents, finishing the rust repair, sanding, sanding and more sanding. I am extremely pleased with how everything came out and without some help, I'm afraid of what it would have looked like.

On to the pictures.

[renegade6]

And I forgot. A little more welding and a crap load of grinding.

[renegade6]

Nothing too exciting to update on.

-took the car off the frame and on the rotisserie. To help hold it up, decided I needed to make some cribbing blocks
-managed to fit the late model GM windshield wiper motor
-finished removing all of the rest of the rust and undercoating under the rear half
-re-fitted the center body to frame supports
-capped off all of the floor supports
-made a driver's side rocker patch and welded it in
-welded and capped off the rear trunk supports
-welded in the trunk firewall
-fit and started welding the driver's side quarter patch...Would have finished if I did run out of gas and wire.

As you can see from my list that I conveniently wrote on the side of the car, I have a crapload more to do...Before I have to come up with the next list.

[renegade6]

A few more pictures.

In case you're wondering why I have such an odd pattern for the quarter panel patch, it's because the patch panel is absolute crap and I wanted to keep as much original sheet metal as I can.

[renegade6]

Last of the pictures for now...

[renegade6]

I didn't think I made much progress since the last update but, was able to get a few things done.

-Replaced the drivers side rear tail light panel
-Replaced the filler below the trunk
-Welded and panel bonded the trunk weatherstrip channels. I am really glad I have a shrinker/stretcher otherwise this really would have been a PITA.
-Stripped all the surface rust off of the trunk lid
-Fixed the majority of the dents on the PS quarter panel however, I will still need a bit of filler on the seams where I welded in the patch. Seems like every time I weld in a patch panel, I end up getting a pucker (low spot) where the seam is. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.
-Rebuilt all of the hinges
-Fixed the master cylinder backing plate to allow for the difference between the original firewall and the smooth firewall
-And the big thing, last night I looked outside and a big box is next to the garage...My Aeromotive Stealth Fuel Cell and cage built by Schwartz!!!