I know I know, it's a FO DO. DON'T FEAR THE 4 DOOR!! I got it cheap and believe it or not, the floors are rock solid. And also the trunk floor is rock solid, which is unbelieveable. I'm in between on what to do with it. My plans are to teach the older young-ens how to drive in a real car, not some 99 Ford Taurus. Outside of the spinners that I put on with the wheels, I've not decided what direction to go with it. It's an inline 6 powerglide combo. Just perfect for the heavy feet practicing in it. Any ideas from the HAMB members would be welcome!
Great find gauto, Looks like its gonna be a fun crusier. As to what to do with it, I hate to say it but I'd loose the spinners and lower it, paint the roof with some flake and the body in semigloss black. Understand what I'm saying is my taste, you gotta build that car for you (unless your giving to me when finished!). Its just that the spinners kinda say hotrod/sporty car and that manydoor chevy is not that. Still can be a great crusier, even with the six power glide! Good luck, Normal Norman
Hmmm, I figured I would get lowering suggestions. But I'm a little leery since youngsters that "don't stop so good" near parking blocks and such, may do some damage. I figured the carb thing out too, no need for the diagram. First things are get it to go, then whoa!
Power wash the engine compartment and front suspension clean. Tune up, oil change, ect. Brake and fuel system's. Then: Open all door's and blow out interior. Clean all surfaces inside clean. Scrub the top to remove rust stain. Buff out remaining paint of entire car. Now scour the chrome with #0000 steel wool and Mothers. Decide what ride height, and style of car this will be. A slightly lower family cruiser is likely.
First,make it safe! Check the brakes and steering linkage, an top off all the fluids, then grease everything. I would put smaller tires up front. Those look like light truck tires! Touch up the blue and redo the roof, and polish the chrome. Then tour that sucker!
Had one as a daily driver for 2 years. Great car, specially for a teen... They can plow a tree, back it up and keep going with little to no damage... Other than maybe destroyed the tree... Creamed 2 deer going 65 and it bent my grille...
more doors are OK. do the basics as stated above. safety first, including seat belts. low buck shiny paint job,thin whitewalls with chrome wheels, etc
Search CLR thread on here that roof may come back using that until you can paint it. Agree on the safety items. If kids are driving it consider front discs I'm a fan of drums but your drivers are inexperienced and don't know what rain does to drums. Scare bird on eBay has some brackets or google how to do the conversion with off the shelf GM parts. I've got a 63 imp 2 door myself, it's next in line on the project list
Cool car, they are my favourite year big chebby. I had a 4 door for 5 years rom the age of 18. I would do as mentioned, make it safe, then maybe ask the kids what colour to paint it. I wouldn't put to much time effort and $$$ into the body yet as it might get the odd scrape. They other thing the youngsters will learn is the fun of cruising a old car.
great driver! i daily drive my 61 four door bel air, straight six 3 speed. i plan to teach my 13 year old how to drive it soon. as for the car. scrub the chrome, get some decent tires, make it mechanically sound and drive!!
Swapped out the fuel tank and sender for new pieces. Very reasonable on the prices considering the amount of work it would have required to clean out the tank. VERY CRUSTY check out the sender to give you an idea how crispy the inside of the tank was.
Nice !!! You did ask ... so my suggestion is to drop it a bit, scrub it up good, make sure it is safe in all ways, throw a coat of clear on it, and drive it like it is...Way Cool... (Course I am a bit slanted toward '63 Chevys !! ) Cheers and good luck,
Doing the brakes, and want to upgrade from the single reservoir master. Now I've read here a few threads on using a 67 Bel Air 4 wheel drum POWER booster and dual master reservoir is the hot setup. Cardone part number #50-1117. I haven't found anything on this exact vehicle, but the Caddy guys have done it so I'm using the if A=B and B=C and C=D then A=D theory. (sorry algebra haters) Since I'm replacing all the brake components I'd really like to upgrade to a booster and dual. Has anyone tried this setup on the Chevy? I have plenty of room for a booster since it's an inline 6. But do I modify the firewall for the booster mounting? How about the plunger rod? Pedal feel? Chime in please! Picture of upgrade booster
Since the car is for beginning drivers just make it safe. There's only one way to get experience and that's the hard way. So we know that car is going to hit something at least once. It would be a shame to fix custom work/paint a few months after the car was "finished". Any kids/youngsters that like old cars like them because they're old cars. It can look like rusty crap (hard to take pride in that though) but if it's pluggin down the road it will be admired. Make it safe, make it reliable and you can always have a long term goal of "before you graduate high school the car will look like __".
Status: Ran new rear brake lines, the originals weren't leaking but they looked a little rough. Put new hardware and cylinders in the rear brakes, the E-brake still works if you can believe it. Replaced the u-joints and center support bearing which was TOAST. I had some extra bumper parts for the front thanks to my FIL. So here's before: And AFTER: Note the center lower filler, that's the original bent up piece of scrap aluminum in the before pictures. I straightened and massaged it up for about 30 minutes or so. It turned out not bad.
Nice find, clean it, make it safe all around, find a set of Fenton headders, put a pair of 30" cherry bombs on for that low,deep, mellow Chevy sound.
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