My 1967 Belvedere Convertible Plans and Restoration (aka - Mad Scientist Build)

[conv67bdere]

Ever have one of those "RUH-ROH" moments . . .

Well . . . I'm working on my car, with the top hanging from the rafters . . . and I start to wonder if all the "updates" that I did to my car will work with the top on ? ? ?

So that starts the process of pulling the top down from the rafters . . . alone . . . and wrestling with the thing to try and get it back in place . . .

Cough . . . . Cough . . . . Cough . . . . Cough . . . . Cough . . . .

Now, can you imagine how much dust has collected on this thing in the past 2 years . . .

Cough . . . . Cough . . . . Holy cow . . . what a mess /. . .

After an hour of wrestling . . . I finally got it back in place . . . and bolted in place . . .

Doesn't look all that bad . . . after seeing it topless for 2 years . . .

A little better picture . . .

Now . . . what about those 2014 Challenger seats . . . hummmm . . . .

A little different view . . . might need to get part of the center section cut away for more visibility . . . but it's looking like things will clear . . . so far . . .

Next, I'll have to pull the car out of the shop so I can put the top through it's complete up and down cycle, and see if I'll have any clearance issues with the mods for the back seat - it looks like I'll have to remove a little metal to allow the top to work properly . . .

But that's why I'm doing it NOW while I'm still doing my metal work . . . Glad that I took the time to pull it out of the rafters and test fit it again . . . especially if there is any metal mods that will need to be done . . .

Then it goes back up in the rafters . . . to collect more dust . . . LOL

 

[Satans Fury]

Ahhhh, so that's what a Khan-vertible looks like!

 

[HYRDGOON]

A Kahn with his top off.. Looks like a sasquatch???

 

[conv67bdere]

Not a bad day . . . if I don't say so myself . . .

Got the car pulled out of the shop so I could test the top . . .

This is where I thought I was going to need to cut some metal to allow the cylinders to move . . . but they didn't move much and the metal may not need to be altered . . .

This is a first for me . . . the first time that I ever saw the top go down on this car . . .

Here's the clearance on the rear seats, and the new rear seat supports that were welded in place . . . tight, but it all seems to work . . .

And in the down position . . . uh . . . kinda . . . this is the I might need to modify my tubs thinking . . . UGH !

And . . . not only tight on the sides, but I'm not sure I like these chunks of metal sticking out by the shoulders ( or little kids heads ) of my rear seat passengers ? ? ? ?

Hummm . . .

It was nice to actually see the top go down and know that it'll work . . . but I may have to do some metal work to allow the top to fit into it's resting place better . . . that's what I get for "thinking" that I was doing it correctly . . . it's close, considering I've never done anything like this before ! ! !

It was a good day . . . can't really complain . . .

 

[SNKEBIT]

I would think you should be able to mod the seats a little to get just a smidge more room for the top to go down farther. 1/2" makes a big difference.

Awesome first shot tho. If that's the worst, you're way ahead of the game.

 

[kiwigtx]

Another couple of weeks and you'll be driving that thing Top looks good on there.

 

[747mopar]

What a relief, looks great Kahn!

 

[kb67mopar]

Looks pretty decent. Honestly better than it could be for all the fitting without it in place. You'll have it perfect in no time.

 

[conv67bdere]

Sorry for the delay in reporting . . . been a very busy Spring . . . had some Spring cleaning to attend to . . .

Got the plywood floor in the bath all fixed and the Perma-Base floor in place . . .

Had a pretty much dead tree, leaning toward my new carport, with the branches wanting to take it and tear down my power lines to my house . . . so it had to come down . . . got to use my tractor and pull the thing away from harm . . . glad it's down on the ground now too . . .

Just got back from the store where I bought the TIG - and all is GOOD ! Turns out the "directions" that the salesman was tell me was not the reality of the TIG. We hooked it up in his shop, and I got a chance to try my hand at TIG for the first time in 10 years ( when I got a very little training on TIG ).

This is really a pretty SWEET machine . . . can't wait to try my hand at it and fab up some new parts for the convertible . . .

 

[Satans Fury]

Hey Larry,
Hope all is well my friend. Like you, I've been delayed working on the Fury but I'll be back at it this weekend.

Curious, what did your new TIG cost you?

Bob

 

[conv67bdere]

Hey Larry,
Hope all is well my friend. Like you, I've been delayed working on the Fury but I'll be back at it this weekend.

Curious, what did your new TIG cost you?

Bob

The TIG, with the foot pedal, and tank ( don't recall the size ) ran right near $1000 . . . and it sure seems to work nice ! !

Should not have put off the purchase and bought it years ago - sure would have been nice for doing the mini tubs on the convertible ! ! !

 

[conv67bdere]

Day trip - US Car Tools Open House . . .

US Car Tools had an open house / Car show at there brand new facility today in Graham NC . . . so I had to check out the new place and visit Chris and John . . .

Coming up an the new building . . . all brick . . . nice sign out front . . . so far . . . Impressive ! ! !

Then I catch a glimpse of this sitting in the parking lot . . . all original, un-restored 75.000 mile car . . . NICE ! !

And inside were a whole BUNCH of Mopars . . . I sure took a liking to this one . . .

And one quick shot of part ( yes, this is only a small part of their new place . . .

I'll put a up another FULL posting of the shop, the facilities and layout, and the talk that I had with Chris and John at the Open House . . . but all that I can say is this is, by far, leaps and bounds better than the old "hole in the wall" that they were leasing and I'm expecting a whole lot of new and exciting things out of them . . . now that they have some room to get some things done . . .

They only moved in on April 1st and many of the things were still on pallets and wrapped with cellophane to keep them on the pallets . . .

They are planning on having the Open Houses at the shop . . . possibly Quarterly . . . I'll be attending again - They are great people and provide a US made product, and customer service that beats them all. Ask me how I know . . . and I'll be happy to tell you.

Check out the other thread that I'll be posting . . . it'll have more pics and more details . . .

 

[kiwigtx]

Sorry for the delay in reporting . . . been a very busy Spring . . . had some Spring cleaning to attend to . . .

You should never be sorry about not reporting on your car when there is "housework" to be done. Looks good what you have done, and I'm sure you will get more use out of the bathroom than the car over time.

 

[747mopar]

I can see how you'd take a liking to that one, sweet car. Not usually a steelie guy but those dog dish caps on painted steelies sure looks sharp on it.
Looking forward to seeing the 67 back in the updates, sometimes breaks help fuel the fire.

 

[conv67bdere]

Saw this nice ride coming into the shopping area where I was heading for lunch the other day . . . thought I'd share it with the group . . .

I'd drive that bad boy ! ! ! Sweet ! ! !

 

[conv67bdere]

Have a couple of side jobs that need to get done at the house - I've not given up on the Convertible, it will get back to the top of the list, but there are a couple things that I "need" to get done around the house . . .

Need a way to haul stuff with my tractor - so I'm building this attachment to help out . . . here's the bottom . . .

And it will need a back . . . and sides too . . . to make it useful . . .

Kinda like this . . . it's sent off to the powder coater to get some color and get protected from the weather . . . for $100, could not pass it up . . .

Got this half wall at my entry door - that I can't stand . . . the "decorative 2x8" that is stained on the top it just so - "nice" . . . NOT . . . so it needs some major help . . .

After finally painting the whole inside of the house ( the half wall was the original color ) I've decide to do something like this with it . . .

Cut up the boards and make some inserts for cubby holes to make it a little "not so 1973" . . . so far so good . . .

Added the extra board on the bottom - notice the next one ( with clamps ) catches the top of the bottom cubbys and the bottom of the higher one . . . I like it when a plan comes together . . . at least so far . . .

But the "simple, plain" bottom board was only due to it being so low to the floor, the next shelve need more pizazz . . . yeah, someting like this . . .

And now to add in the vertical supports for the cubby holes . . . but plain supports - no way . . . how about a little different style . . .

Now that is a little more like what I have in mind . . .

Work is still continuing on this project . . .

And I promise I'll get back to the Belvedere once I get some home things wrapped up . . .

 

[747mopar]

Looks great Kahn, always thinking outside the bun!

 

[HYRDGOON]

Yep you did it!! You put Speedholes in your half wall! Lol. Fer Racin' Renovations!

 

[usaroadrunner]

kahn, you need to get me that truck, that thing is badass. and yes please get back to the vert, I'm getting withdraws....lol

 

[conv67bdere]

I'm with you USARR . . . I'm having withdraws myself . . .

The shoebox lost a battery, got a new one, and 10 minutes later - the generator light comes on ( it has an alternator now ). Turns out the voltage regulator was fried - and then it took (2) days to track down why the generator light was still getting lit . . . ARGH . . . it's all fixed and running now.

The daily driver truck is getting new upper ball joints ( already installed ), lower ball joints ( soon ), new tie rods ( Driver on - Passenger side arrives tomorrow ), pitman arm, and idler arm . . . 305,000 miles and it's all the original stuff . . . it needs it . . .

Got to get some things done around the house . . . then BACK on the Khan-vertible ! ! !