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

[conv67bdere]

Going back together . . . getting the trans back under the truck by myself . .

I know that "trying" to balance the trans on my little jack, maneuver it under the truck, get it aligned, and bolted in place was not going to be easy by myself, so I busted out the welder and made a little modification to the jack to allow me to ( hopefully ) get the job done solo . . .

Weld a couple arms onto the jack . . .

To help support the plywood, and better balance the jack . . .

And . . . with a little wrestling . . . got it maneuvered up into place . . .

You would have laughed if you were there watching. My left leg would raise the jack handle, and my right leg would push it down to raise the trans ( while I was hanging on to it ) . . .

Got it in place, got the trans to motor bolts installed, got the bolts in the flex-plate/torque converter in place . . . and a nice little storm decided to blow through ! !

Fun, fun, fun . . . ( smile )

 

[conv67bdere]

Got most of the trans buttoned up - so it was time to cut out the old exhaust system . . .

First, the ugly "old system" parts . . .actually not bad shape for 20 years old . . .

Out with the old and in with the new . . . side by side comparison . . .

BIG difference in the muffler . . . can't wait to get the new MagnaFlow in there ( it's stainless from cat back )

Look at the difference between the output pipes . . . SWEEEEEET !

Even a big difference on the input pipes . . . Whooohooo . . .

All this work on pulling the trans, re-installing the trans, working on the exhaust syetem . . . and only (1) busted knuckle . . . bled like an SOB ! ! !

Exhaust will have to wait till tomorrow . . . got called to help a friend get a new refrigerator into his house, so I've been invited to dinner ( works for me ) . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

It goes vrooom . . .

After a rough 3 days on my back on the concrete ( I'm sore ) the "mess" is "mostly" put all back together . . .

The tail pipe ( with the protective covering on the the stainless tip ) . . .

The muffler . . . it said it was stainless, but a magnet sticks to it . . . hummmmm . . .

Over the top of the axle . . . this tube it awesome ( I think it's 3 1/4 ) will double check . . .

Twin pipes heading back from the cats . . .

The cross over from the driver to passenger side ( the drive side was painted with VHT paint - need to do the rest of the system too )

One of the cats and O2 sensor . . . plus the flange from the cat-back magnaflow exhaust - Cats are from FlowMaster . . .

You ever have one of those days . . .

- get ready to put in the exhaust, and the trans cross member is in the way ( have to take it back out to put in the exhaust ) lost - 1 hour . . .
- putting fluid in the transfer case, fills up, starts leaking out, DROP the plug - it roll all the way out the front of the truck, have to crawl out from under the truck, fetch it, while fluid is still leaking out of the transfer case . . . argh . . . funny, but frustrating . . .

 

[Car Nut]

The muffler . . . it said it was stainless, but a magnet sticks to it . . . hummmmm . . .

A magnet will stick to 409 stainless steel, but not 304. 409 will rust too.

Looks good!

 

[Car Nut]

Both stainless steel, one is 304 and rusty one is 409.

 

[conv67bdere]

On to bigger and better things . . . finally . . .

1 - got the truck done and drove it to work yesterday ( got a new love for my 20 year old truck - runs great and sounds incredible )

2 - got my jack all cleaned up and back to original . . .

3 - got to spend a couple of hours in the shop and put my hands all over my girl ( the Belvedere - and as USARR told me, she's got her top donw too - LMAO )

Looking forward to getting back to work on the Belvedere and getting it moving again - I do want to be able to drive it "someday" . . .

 

[JimKueneman]

Good photo of what I was saying about using tape to help get really sharp body lines.

 

[conv67bdere]

Today in North Carolina . . . March 12, 2017 . . . This is NOT funny at all . . . Grrrrrrrrrr

Directly behind the corner of the deck, in the distance, you can see my peach tree in bloom. This means that the buds will freeze, and fall off, and I will not be getting any peaches this year from my trees, and the same thing is true for the plumb tree in my front yard - No plumbs either . . . ARGH ! ! !

Don't think that this will affect the blueberries, as they've not bloomed - yet - but time will tell . . . Frustrating . . . Damn Global Warming ! ! !

 

[JimKueneman]

Then I won't post this Larry

 

[Glenwood]

Just plain mean Jim!
We're expecting 5-10 inches of bloody snow the next few days.

 

[conv67bdere]

View attachment 403758 Then I won't post this Larry

Thanks Jim for being so "considerate" . . . LMAO

The "interesting" catch is . . . it's supposed to get up to 50 here today . . . and below freezing again later in the week . . . Make up your mind ! ! !

 

[JimKueneman]

Thanks Jim for being so "considerate" . . . LMAO

The "interesting" catch is . . . it's supposed to get up to 50 here today . . . and below freezing again later in the week . . . Make up your mind ! ! !

If it makes you feel better this is 15 degrees above normal

 

[usaroadrunner]

I hear ya Larry we are gonna get hit with 6 inches sun night an mon. This sucks. Oh yeah NOT FUNNY JIM that's just mean man. Lmao

 

[conv67bdere]

Back in the shop today, and trying to get the front bucket seats mounting figured out . . .

The floor requires that I build up some framing to get the seat level in the car . . . this is the passenger right front corner . . .

Somebody else came into the shop and welded this . . . that doesn't look like my welds . . . ( I did weld it ) . . .

Here's the final brackets on the floor . . . waiting for the seat to be set in place . . .

Think that this os going to work out just fine . . . now to try and get the driver side seat figured out now . . .

Wish me luck ( I'd like the driver side to be as low on the floor as possible since I'm so tall ( need to fit when the top is up ) . . .

Still got a little more to finish up the passenger side, but I've got it 80-90% of the way completed . . . at least I have a plan . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

A great weekend ( weather wise ) and a great weekend in the shop for me . . . been putting off "looking" at the the front bucket seats, and how I'm going to get them mounted into the car . . . but this weekend was aimed at making a go at it to see how good/bad it could possibly be . . . and here's the results . . .

Got 4 mounts to figure out ( ok, 3, the front right on the driver side sits on the floor ) - here's the rear right
The hold drilled is for a pin to hold the seat in place - the x behind it needs another hole for bolting the seat down . . .

Then I remembered that I cut these out of the Challenger parts car that I got the tunnel hump and back seats . . . and thought - maybe ? ? ?

Nice little set up - contained nut and welding surface to weld them in place . . . so . . . give it a try . . .

Front left seat support ( with the threaded insert welded in place ) and the bracket welded in place . . .

Then for the front right one - I attempted to tap the metal that I welded under the car for the seat supports . . . it worked very well
( Took my time - did not want to break off the tap in the hole after getting this far . . . )

Got the rear left one in place, with the threaded insert welded in place too ( so much easier to do it before welding the bracket down )
What a pain - drop the seat in, line it all up . . . tack it . . . pull it back out . . . weld it in . . . put it back in to test fitment . . . onto the next bracket, these seats must have gone in and out of the car 20-30 times this weekend to get things all aligned and ready . . . sheeeesh ! ! !

Now . . . onto the rear right bracket, that I didn't get the threaded insert installed . . . and figure out a plan . . .
1 - cut out an insert . . . and a hole to about match the insert . . .

2 - make all the adjustments in the insert to make it fit ( and try to get it aligned correctly . . .

3 - tack the insert in place and put the seat back in ( again ) and check the alignment . . . not too bad ( how did I do this before I had a phone to shoot the pic ? ? )

4 - weld the insert into place and get ready for grinding . . . ( I put a bolt in the hole to prevent spatter from getting in the threads )

All in all . . . not too bad . . . now I get to go back to the passenger side and get the threaded insert welded into place over there . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Final process on the driver side . . .

Grind down the welds and get the bracket ready for the seat to drop back in . . . not too shabby ! ! ! !

Then I wanted to test out the seat, so I hooked up my battery charger, through a 10 amp fuse, and connected it to the seat . . . and the seat moves great.
( might need to do a little floor mods to allow the seat to move forward - there's a spot that's close and might hit )

Now to find some bolts that I can bolt the seats down, sockets are tight on the recesses . . . so I'm thinking torox or allen head to get them bolted in place . . .

 

[usaroadrunner]

Very nice Larry, can't wait to see the seats bolted in. Keep on rolling you be at the end before ya know it.

 

[747mopar]

Now you can sit in it and make noises with a make pretend steering wheel LMAO. Looks great Larry and for a computer nerd those welds look great.

 

[conv67bdere]

Now you can sit in it and make noises with a make pretend steering wheel LMAO. Looks great Larry and for a computer nerd those welds look great.

Thanks Devin . . . you don't think that I've already been doing just that ( first time I've been able to do that ! )

Thanks on the welds . . . I don't know what happened, and I'm not complaining, but those sure don't look like the welds that I used to do - maybe ( after 2 years ) I've finally figured out what in the hell I'm supposed to be doing with that welder ! ! !

I've never done this before, and being this "deep" into the car had me worried . . . but I've sure come a LONG way from the start, and I keep making progress ( and learning along the way ) . . . getting very anxious to start putting this ting back together and not taking things apart . . . Sure hope that I did all this stuff right . . .

 

[HYRDGOON]

Glad to see you got some "seat time" in this weekend!

All progress is good progress and make sure you leave some kraken and cookies out for the welding fairy that broke into your shop!