Project Cars

[Yukon Stihl]

My project car
Always wanted a 67 Chevelle or Malibu but never came across one.
This is a 30's Plymouth Businessman's coupe.It was gassered at some point.It has been floating around town in this condition since i was in school.The guy that was supposed to haul it to the dump kept it in his yard for the last 15 years.
It is to far gone for restoration,which is a huge investment.It is going to get a new frame with all the modern suspension and braking.I will cage it as well.Then whats left of the body will get attached.
It will be a RatRod with a ton of power that will leg out and handle for our lonely highways up here.Not sure on the power i am leaning towards a bad ass cummins.I figure since i have to pay a carbon tax up here that i should be able to spew some carbon.
So i have been selling off some of my hoard to finance it.I had a Toyota Land Cruiser 61 with the serial number of 980 that i sold to a Toyota enthusiast.He paid up for it and was so freeking happy to find one without rust.He cleaned out my Cruiser section,got a 67 righthand drive and a 74 Cruiser pickup as well.Got about 1/2 a frame out of him.

 

[JoeDirt]

Oh boy... I think this thread is a sign that I should be getting back to my project car. Here's what I'm working on. 1987 Buick Regal. Originally a naturally aspirated V6, metric 200, 2.41 peg leg rear and a lot of rust. Got it 8 years ago in 2012 at age 14. I had no idea wtf I was doing or what I had gotten myself into.

 

[JoeDirt]

Spent the next couple years learning body and mechanical work through trial and error, got some stuff done and made it look better but kinda half azzed a lot of stuff like a teenage kid would.

 

[JoeDirt]

Then some buddies leant me a hand and really taught me how to do bodywork the right way, and we went through the whole exterior of the car, fixed most of the rust and got it painted.

 

[JoeDirt]

 

[JoeDirt]

Now the body looked decent but I was immediately bored with the V6 and I knew I had to do something. So I pulled the V6... in January.... between snowstorms.


Then it sat, a long time. A couple other projects came and went, but eventually I got back to it. I decided I wanted to keep it all Buick so I bought a Buick 350 (actually bought 2 of them) and decided to build it. One is a 76 4 BBL from a Lesabre and one is a 72 2 BBL from a Skylark.

I got them disassembled, cleaned and found a machine shop with a fair amount of Buick experience and began collaborating with them.

 

[JoeDirt]

So we decided to use the 72 bottom end and the 76 top end. Lots and lots of custom machine work here. Crankshaft was cut .010" on the rods and mains, cylinders bored .020", deck surface milled .010". Forged Autotec 9.75:1 dished pistons, 1.850 compression height. TA Performance 284 camshaft, .475 lift, 223 intake duration, 230 exhaust duration at .050, 110 LSA.
TA Performance oil pump kit, oil pump booster plate, larger oil pump pickup, custom machined timing cover/oil pump assembly. Howard's Lifters, Iwis double roller timing chain.

Top end is the 76 heads. They are cut .010", the valve spring seats have been leveled, new hardened valve seats and new spiral reamed valve guides. Custom made oversized swirl polished stainless steel valves with back cut. Bowls blended and mild port cleanup. T&D aluminum roller rockers, 1.6 ratio. Comp spring seat locators and beehive valve springs, Comp pushrods, TA Performance aluminum intake. Flowkooler water pump. Probably some other stuff I'm forgetting.

 

[JoeDirt]

With the motor being that nice, I decided the engine compartment needed to be equally as nice, so I began working on it, then I found some rust on the firewall, so I decided to pull the front clip off and make it look really good. A bit nerve racking when its already been painted.


And I didn't want to weld on the firewall with the dashboard behind it, and the dashboard was cracked anyways so I decided to remove it so I'd have access from both sides.


And I didn't want to get any burns in the carpet (I replaced it) so I figured i should just pull it out as well. Now the whole interior is out of the car. And you know how I said I half a azzed some stuff when I first got the car? One of the things i half azzed was some rust in the floor. I pop riveted sheet metal over some holes. It worked fine, but st this point I want a proper repair, so i removed those old patch panels and I'll be welding in some new ones.


And that's how the car is currently sitting. Front clip and interior removed, awaiting some patch panel work. I haven't messed with it since March but I think it's time to get back to it soon. I've worked on this project on and off for 8 years. My dad isn't really a car guy so this is my project. I've lost and refound interest in it several times and other projects have come and gone throughout. I took a break to build my truck, restored several garden tractors, played around with a BMW for a while, fixed up a few others, etc. My goal is to make it mostly a cruise night car and maybe make a few passes with it if I get the chance.

 

[Boomhower]

Gotta keep on keepin on Joe Dirte.

Looking damn good bud!

 

[JoeDirt]

Gotta keep on keepin on Joe Dirte.

Looking damn good bud!

That's these dang ole hot rods man, taking up all my dang ole time, talkin' bout like writing all them checks to Summit, I tell you what...

Thanks! I keep chipping away at it, if I can get focused and put aside some of the other projects I can probably make some real progress relatively fast.

 

[JoeDirt]

Well you guilted me into it... I pulled the cover off today and tried to figured out where I left off. I took one of the patch panels I cut out of another car a few months back, drilled the spot welds out of it and separated the individual pieces. I still have to xut more out of the firewall and trim the patch panel down to fit, but once I do that it's just a matter of tacking it into place. I need to get some more spot weld bits, I'm due for a trip to the body supply shop anyways. Need mig gas, seam sealer, primer, activator, weld thru primer, other crap...

 

[Boomhower]

Take your time fitting that piece. The less gap the less fill. Go with the smallest size wire your machine will handle and play with voltage. Spot a few times on one side then move to the other. Sheet metal hates heat as you probably already know.

Were you able to get floor sections from the donor?

 

[JoeDirt]

Take your time fitting that piece. The less gap the less fill. Go with the smallest size wire your machine will handle and play with voltage. Spot a few times on one side then move to the other. Sheet metal hates heat as you probably already know.

Were you able to get floor sections from the donor?

Yeah, I was more or less just playing around today. I did tons of patch work on my truck restoration a few years ago. Spent most of the summer fabbing and welding patch panels into it.

Floors were shot on the donor car, I like to use original sheet metal but the aftermarket floor pans are supposed to be a lot better than they were just a few years ago, and the price has come down considerably.

 

[Boomhower]

Right on. You gonna replace whole pan or just rob the new one for sections?

 

[JoeDirt]

Right on. You gonna replace whole pan or just rob the new one for sections?

I could probably get away with just some smaller sections where the drivers and passengers feet are, but it would save me a lot of grinding and cleanup if I replaced the pans all the way back to the rear seat. I think I'm gonna try to save the trans tunnel, but I'm gonna play it by ear. The plan for now is to replace replace these areas-

 

[JoeDirt]

Went to the auto body supply place today to buy mig gas, .024 wire, contact tips, and weld thru primer and it turns out they don't have Saturday hours now due to covid. So I'm gonna have to wait until Monday before I can get to any welding.

 

[Boomhower]

Try Tractor Supply they normally have all that including exchange bottles.


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[JoeDirt]

I got over to the auto body supply shop today. Bought everything I needed to get started. Bought an 80 cu ft bottle. Then I spent some time fitting up the patch panel for the firewall. I think I got it where I want it. I need to grind the metal clean then I'll weld it in.

 

[cgraham1]

My vote is Duramax/6l80.

https://engineswapdepot.com/?p=982

 

[mdavlee]

My vote is Duramax/6l80.

https://engineswapdepot.com/?p=982

View attachment 247150 View attachment 247151

Or Duramax/48RE