‘63 Chevy II Pro-Touring Build

[WSSix]

Love the seats. They look great!

[bkswede]

Originally Posted by WSSix

Love the seats. They look great!

Thanks! I’m really happy with them - think they turned out awesome and should look really good in the car!


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[bkswede]

Originally Posted by Nlped47

Looking awesome!


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Thanks!!


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[bkswede]

Kurt sent me a couple of new pictures with some additional progress... I’m going to install a radio that will be hidden and operated via Bluetooth on phone, so we filled in the portion of the dash where the factory radio mounted. From the factory, that portion of the dash is flat, but Kurt patched in a piece that has the same contour as the rest of the dash, which should look much cleaner. He also filled in where the ash tray was, as well as the factory locations for ignition switch, lights and wipers. I’m installing a push button RFID start system, so we’ll drill new holes for the starter button, as well as light and wiper switches. Here are before and after pictures:



Photo with vent installed... we’ll paint the vents a solid black color



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[bkswede]

Drove to Eau Claire on Saturday to meet Kurt. He’s been busy mocking up various things: vintage air unit, clutch and brake pedal assemblies, making bracket for drive by wire throttle pedal, installing seat brackets, steering column, etc. He wanted me to stop by and check out seating position. Everything felt great, although we’re going to take 1/2” of height out of the seat brackets. We also mocked up the digital dash to make sure we head a clear line of sight. Took some pictures to give you an idea of things. The steering column in the attached pictures is not set completely in place - it will be about two inches closer to the firewall than shown here. The steering wheel is not what I’m using, either, but an extra that Kurt had lying around the shop.

In this picture, you can see the work he did to fill in the dash where the factory radio and ash tray were located.


Here is a shot from the driver seat... digital dash is going to work awesome!


Here is a picture of driver seat installed... they turned out great and fit the car really well. Height of seat is perfect.


Here is a picture of Momo wheel that I’m using...


This week he will be mocking up the air conditioning condenser, drier, etc, as well as finishing up some work on the firewall before paint, which is getting closer. He’ll also finish test fitting all of the headlight bezels, parking light bezels, grille, etc.


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[bkswede]

Hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe... drove over to Eau Claire today to see progress on the Nova. Kurt had the air conditioning unit installed, was nearly finished with the cold air intake, and had completed the extensions he built for the bottom of the dash. The extensions are a subtle change, but really add some needed height to the dash and do a nice job of hiding things that might otherwise be seen when looking at the dash (e.g., the air conditioning unit is largely hidden now, as is the mount for the gas pedal, etc.) We also installed the short hub adapter and mocked up the steering wheel.

Kurt also sprayed out a test panel for the body color (shark gray metallic) and trim (carbon flash metallic). I really love the colors and can’t wait to see them on the car.

Here are some pictures of the progress. Below are some pictures of the cold air intake. We will run the polished aluminum tube through the bead blaster and have it powder coated black. In order to get the air filter past the radiator, Kurt cut a hole in the inner fender and will weld in a new dished panel to cover that hole, providing a pocket for the filter to sit into. He will then cut a large hole in the radiator fill panel providing a direct path for fresh air to the filter. The pictures below are not the final cuts - these initial cuts were just enough to allow the filter to sit into the pocket. Kurt will open the pocket up approximately 3/4” on all sides to ensure adequate air flow to the filter.




Below are some pictures of the interior showing the steering wheel installed (minus the horn button). You can also see the lower dash extensions, which still need to be primed, in these photos.



Below are some pictures of the test panel that Kurt sprayed. A little tough to capture on my phone’s camera, but took a few different pictures with and without flash to try to better show the metallic in the colors.




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[bkswede]

As a reminder, here’s the rendering of my car that Ben did for me... body color is the shark gray metallic and all trim, bumpers, grille, etc. is carbon flash metallic.



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[waynieZ]

Nice

[Nlped47]

It’s going to be an absolutely beautiful car!


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[bkswede]

I hope everyone is safe and making the best of the unique situation we find ourselves in now... unfortunately, the stay at home order in Wisconsin has slowed progress on my build, and we’re not as far along as I hoped we would be at this time. Nevertheless, Kurt and team have continued to make progress and we get closer to paint. He’s finished with mock up of drivetrain, radiator, condenser, a/c drier, vintage air unit, catch can, PWM module for fans, routing of oil cooler lines, and test fit of all front end pieces. He’s also got the bumpers finished, having welded the mounting brackets to the back of the bumpers, welded up the bolt holes, smoothed everything and primed them. The drivetrain was removed, front subframe removed and working now on final welding/smoothing of the firewall. The rear suspension will come out early next week and then he’ll put the car on the rotisserie. We need to smooth some welds on the bottom and get it prepped for Upol... should then be ready for paint. Here are some pics of progress. I haven’t been able to drive over and see the car due to the stay at home order, so relying on pictures from Kurt to see progress.

Here are finished shots of the work we did for the cold air intake. We had to cut a pocket out of the driver side inner fender for the air filter to sit into. We then opened up the filler panel in the radiator core support, which will allow cool air through the grill to be funneled directly to the air filter.




Here are some shots of the work done on the bumpers, which will be painted carbon black metallic:




We installed LED driving lights in the front bumper, and Kurt fabbed up some mounting brackets that were welded to the inside of the bumper:



Here are some shots showing mock up of the condenser and drier. The drier was mounted in the passenger side inner fender well. We’re running all a/c lines and heater hoses through the inside of the passenger fender well to keep the engine bay as clean as possible.


My car didn’t come with a rear seat and I’ve been considering a number of alternatives, including the TMI custom molded rear seat that is basically two small buckets seats. That seat is super expensive, which doesn’t make much sense in that the seat will rarely be used. As I was doing research, I noticed that the rear seat from newer 3 series BMWs is a near perfect match in size. I got a great deal on one on eBay. I will have it recovered in the same leather as my front seats, with similar pattern. The two side pieces on the seat back will fit over the wheel tubs nicely, but need to be trimmed a bit, which is why they’re not shown in the photo. It fits really nicely. We’ll need to fab some mounts for it and trim a bit around the driveshaft tunnel, but it should look great when done.



I also got my driveshaft built during mock up - went with a QA1 custom carbon fiber shaft. It’s a work of art and a shame it won’t be seen under the car.

Underside of deck lid and hood primed and ready for paint:


Rear package tray that Kurt fabricated to replace the original one. Speakers will under mount.
Front end all test fit and adjusted. I bought some LED lights with halos. The halos are white as day time running lights, but will blink amber with turn signals.


For the rear spoiler, I decided to use the aluminum spoiler produced by Ring Brothers. This is a picture of it on a Mustang they built:


This is a picture of it sitting on the deck lid. This isn’t the actual mounting position, but gives you a sense of width of the spoiler and size on the deck lid. The spoiler will be painted the same black as other trim on the car.



Be well and stay safe... Brian


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