Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

SShink · 3K+ Club

Another 'Cars apart' member-Pushrod

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Picture #3 has a guy that looks like John Delke but it cannot be. If that was really John he would have a beer in his hand during this process.

gearlube · Active Member

Craig what are you doing to the engine?

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

This is John, helping out

Lost in the 60s · President

Dave Seitz wrote:
Picture #3 has a guy that looks like John Delke but it cannot be. If that was really John he would have a beer in his hand during this process.

Stan must have caught him wiping the condensation from the can off his hands...

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Ok you had me worried, for a minute I thought he had a twin or something.

Now we need to start on Craig to strip the front end down for a quick clean, sandblast, paint, upgrade to disc brakes, rebuilt A arms, and the usual minor stuff. Well maybe get him to start cleaning detailing the firewall, since he is already doing that smoothing it a touch for the fresh paint.

Guys what did I miss of things to be done please chime in.

Lost in the 60s · President

Dave Seitz wrote:
Ok you had me worried, for a minute I thought he had a twin or something.

Now we need to start on Craig to strip the front end down for a quick clean, sandblast, paint, upgrade to disc brakes, rebuilt A arms, and the usual minor stuff. Well maybe get him to start cleaning detailing the firewall, since he is already doing that smoothing it a touch for the fresh paint.

Guys what did I miss of things to be done please chime in.

You about got it covered, Dave. I would definately be rebuilding the control arms right now, if they aren't already done and upgrading to power disc brakes. It's so easy to get at everything like that.
I've never seen a clip left hanging like that. It looks a little scary with the weight of the hood still there.

John D · 2K+ Club

Yeah, Yeah... always catch me with a "beverage" wink

At least the pic you posted my hands are dirty! It was a bit too early (even for me) to be having a barleypop at Pushrod's this morning.

Just to be consistant... I was "helping" at Ian's too!

Pushrod · Active Member

Hey pushrod here, first off thanks to John D, Kevin and Stan for all their unexpected but much appreciated help! My plans for the car are basic clean repaint and detail of the engine, clean, repaint and detail the firewall and frame rails. I also plan to service/rebuild/sandblast/powdercoat front suspension and steering components. I think I will do a front disc brake conversion whilst I'm in there. I will replace the front most body mounts, heater blower motor (because I can) and wheel houses. I am fabricating new steel trans cooler lines, using the rad cooler and a fan cooled aux cooler. Finally I will sandblast and powdercoat rad core support and all associated brackets before final re-assembly.

Oh one more thing...... hey Dave did I forget anything?

Pushrod · Active Member

Oh I forgot one thing as far as the "Front clip" if thats what you like to call it, it works out well like that, you should try it, you might like it!

Lost in the 60s · President

Pushrod wrote:
Oh I forgot one thing as far as the "Front clip" if thats what you like to call it, it works out well like that, you should try it, you might like it!

I'd have to have a car that I could leave the fenders on first...

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Can you say easy button?

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Was a fun morning, quickest ENGINE pull I've ever been part of! What 15-20 minutes. G, thanks for lunch.

Nice setup you have there, we need to set up a club function there this summer.

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Get all your parts pulled and swing up to Jamie have him do the blast, and I can pop the A arm bushings out and press the new in for you.

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Jamie said cross member, and muffler bearings will also need sandblasting.

Pushrod · Active Member

Dang it I forgot muffler bearings, now I'll be way over budget!!! Seriously though, Dave, thanks for the referral to Jamie, but I'm way down in Shakopee and there is a couple of guys down here that powdercoat and I have my own sandblaster.
BTW you should of seen the size of the Cali Burgers Johnny D and Kevin ate at Lions Tap.

Lost in the 60s · President

Pushrod wrote:
BTW you should of seen the size of the Cali Burgers Johnny D and Kevin ate at Lions Tap.

It's always amazing how much food a person can eat when YOU'RE paying the bill, isn't it ?

John D · 2K+ Club

What our burgers had in height (no kidding, about 6" tall) you made up for in quantity bleh

.

Those guys do make a good hamburger though...

When you order the muffler bearings, check on the availability of Knuten Valves...

bowtie · Secretary

www.kalecoauto.com should have those.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Craig. What was wrong with that engine that made you decide to pull it? Did you have more then a pushrod problem?

I havent been to Lions tap in years. I remember getting the big burger and I remember it was very tall but the diameter was smaller. I think I ended up eating it with a fork and knife instead of by hand. But I enjoyed it just the same.

Pushrod · Active Member

I pulled the engine to basically clean and paint. John D and I found a collapsed lifter that caused the push rod fiasco. I ordered the new Knuten valves and got a great deal on piston return springs and a gallon of blinker fliud- boy, those guys at Guido's Midnight auto supply have alot of stuff!!! Oh BTW John,Stan and Kevin wouldn't let me buy at Lions Tap, good thing the bill was just short of $60. For 4 guys geeeez!

Pushrod · Active Member

Just thought i would post some pics from from the project on Saturday with John D's help

Chris R · 2K+ Club

How much did that worklight from Cornwell cost you Craig. I have been looking for one of those longer worklights for the hutch on my tool box. See them all the time for over 100 bucks, I just dont feel like paying that much.

Nice work on bending those lines. My only concern would be those coolers you have in front of the radiator. That oil cooler and trans cooler may reduce air flow through the radiator itself. Which its possible you may see a rise in temp when sitting in traffic.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Where did the fenders and hood go Batman? No more two feet on the brake peddle, passengers are going to need seat belts now.

When is the ENGINE going back in? Counter is below 100.

Lost in the 60s · President

NOW you look like part of the hard core club.... wink

I'm somewhat familiar with that bare frame and firewall look.

OscarZ · Treasurer

Looking good Craig. I bet you can't wait to drive the heck out of it this summer... biggrin

-- Edited by OscarZ on Tuesday 8th of February 2011 10:08:40 PM

seagrams72 · Active Member

Nice job on bending those lines. Can be frusturating, but looks like it paid off.

Derek69SS · Founding Member

Chris R wrote:
Nice work on bending those lines. My only concern would be those coolers you have in front of the radiator. That oil cooler and trans cooler may reduce air flow through the radiator itself. Which its possible you may see a rise in temp when sitting in traffic.

Those electric fans will take care of that...

Nice work!!!

67ss · 1K+ Club

That tranny cooler looks suspiciously like an oil cooler that john bought for his car that did not work??

Lost in the 60s · President

67ss wrote:

That tranny cooler looks suspiciously like an oil cooler that john bought for his car that did not work??

Good catch. I thought it looked different for a trans cooler but didn't put it together. Looks like it has been repaired and painted.

Bowtieman427 · Active Member

Craig, It is looking very very nice. HOW HARD is it to just take the grill & rad support only off like you have in your 1st and 2nd pic of front clip and leave the rest on. Your motor looks BN already :)
Looks like you put discs in back

Pushrod · Active Member

Thanks guys, the trans cooler is new I bought it at Car Craft, from universal they call it a "fluid cooler" there is a small fan and shroud that I may use. BTW the trans cooler lines are John Ds workmanship, I wish I could take credit for them they turned out AWESOME!! Thanks again Johnnie. As far as rad support goes, very easy, just be extra careful when leaving the hood on, its possible to fold up fenders with the weight of the hood. bumper comes off first that was the worst part, those bolts dont want to come off But with careful heat and the impact they finally came out or snapped. From that point easy. Also by following the GM assembly manual just in reverse. John and I got alot of work done that day....... hey theres no pics of John with a cold one.....very suspicious, who took all those pics anyway?

-- Edited by Pushrod on Wednesday 9th of February 2011 08:36:38 PM

Pushrod · Active Member

Some more pics after yet another Saturday's thrashing on the car. John D came over again, and after some "creative" engineering with a ball-joint press, the new PST polygraphite bushings were pressed into the freshly blasted & powdercoated A-arms, then the new ball joints, and new stainless fasteners.
We'll leave it up to you to figure out how we got the front springs installed without the engine installed... confuse

New spindles and disc brakes are DONE biggrin

, and the system filled and bled. Unfortunately there is ONE *&^$#%$^$# leak furious

! The connection from the "Tee" on the axle housing to the LR hard line weeps a bit.

69SSConv · Active Member

I had a real challenge trying to get the springs installed without the motor in as well. What I did is pulled my truck up close and ran a chain from the front of each frame rail to my tow hooks on my Silverado and used the weight of the truck.

Won't find that in any books I am sure, but it worked for me.

Lost in the 60s · President

Looking really nice !! On the leak, I've found that new double flares sometimes need to be tightened really hard with a line wrench to fully collapse and seat the tube with a line wrench. If you've already done that, then the tube was cracked during the flaring process and needs to be re-flared/replaced. I've had new tubes with cracks in the past. I would also gently bend those axle lines back toward the housing and away from the tail pipes. It appears you may have enough extra tube to re-flare the right side if need be. I hand built and flared 3 lines on mine but haven't installed the master yet to see if they leak... confuse

Derek69SS · Founding Member

I just use springs that are short enough that they don't need to be compressed at all to get them in. biggrin

Looking good Craig!

Bowtieman427 · Active Member

Craig, I like the brakes, was your car an orignal front disc car ? I ask as I was curious what knid of upgrades were availiable for original front disc cars. It is looking real real nice.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Sometimes you have to tighten, loosen, tighten and loosen a fitting a few times to really get it to seal.

John D · 2K+ Club

Yup, we tried the loosen/tighten drill a few times... I think Mitch might be on to something with a cracked line/flare. This was late in the day and didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

Lost in the 60s · President

John D wrote:

Yup, we tried the loosen/tighten drill a few times... I think Mitch might be on to something with a cracked line/flare. This was late in the day and didn't want to deal with it at the moment.

I've created that problem myself by being overzealous with the second step of the double flaring process. I've tightened the flare tip of the tool too much and crushed the tube to the point of cracking at the tight bend. I've learned to moderate that pressure and let the nut finish the job on the fitting.

Pushrod · Active Member

The problem Ive had was I was using a cheap Chinese double flair tool, solved that buy purchasing a relatively inexpensive one made in the good old U.S.A. smile As far as the weeping fitting, I thought Id call CPP they sent out a new one no questions asked biggrin I think I will keep practicing with scrap tube. Hey, I finally figured out how to use those emoticons, computers are not my fortePeace out!!!!!!

Lost in the 60s · President

Pushrod wrote:

The problem Ive had was I was using a cheap Chinese double flair tool, solved that buy purchasing a relatively inexpensive one made in the good old U.S.A. As far as the weeping fitting, I thought Id call CPP they sent out a new one no questions asked I think I will keep practicing with scrap tube. Hey, I finally figured out how to use those emoticons, computers are not my fortePeace out!!!!!!

Good 'ole Chinese crap.......my flare tool is 30 yrs old.... wink

seagrams72 · Active Member

My dad is a contractor and has crap for auto tools, but I laughed hard when I saw the only good quality auto tool he has is a flare tool!

John D · 2K+ Club

Yeah, it's funny...
Two saturdays ago when I bent & flared the trans cooler lines I was using my Dads inverted double flare kit - Imperial Brass Manufacturing, Chicago IL - that he bought new in about 1947 biggrin

.

Those "overseas" guys can duplicate just about anything... except quality!

Chris R · 2K+ Club

Wait until you try flaring stainless steel.

Lost in the 60s · President

I was thinking last night that if the leaking line is stainless, that a crack is very likely. Since they are sending a new one, it should resolve the issue.

John D · 2K+ Club

I forgot the camera at home, so all's I took was a crappy cell-phone picture...

But, after ingesting a few of McD's early morning gut-bombs, and getting the engine/trans rigged to the hoist... Pushrod's machine now has a powertrain back in it's proper place!

Of course there was the obligatory "massage" of 1 stinking header tube (Friggin' Big Blocks) that was handled by a few love-taps with a BFH and a huge socket, but it is in, bolted down, and ready for accessories!

Stan & Kevin stopped by (after helping GearLube) and retrieved the hoist for next weekend's session - when "Big Bad Blue" gets her powerplant.

SShink · 3K+ Club

John D wrote:
Stan & Kevin stopped by (after helping GearLube) and retrieved the hoist for next weekend's session - when "Big Bad Blue" gets her powerplant.

Like we talked about yesterday John, your hoist has gotten a work out on these projects (yours, Pushrod's, and mine) compared to sitting in storage for almost 10 years?

SShink · 3K+ Club

On behalf of Pushrod, his Chevelle took some major steps forward today getting out of the CAC:

Some new inner fenders:

And the fenders are hung on loosely (Not the 38 Special song from the 80's ) until the car is back on it's wheels:

Hang in there Pushrod... we'll get you out of CAC in time for the drag race!

Lost in the 60s · President

I'm betting you guys had more fun working in a warm garage than standing outside for 5 hours in 32° temp with a 15mph wind freezing your face off....

Cars looking nice.