1971 Project

1971BB427 · 10-16-2009, 08:21:28 PM

I've had this old girl since 1973. Done a fair number of stupid things to her over the years, including about 10 years of 1/4 mile drags in the late 1970's to late 1980's.
The car was an original SS 396, that was swapped to a 427 by a San Diego dealership called Crest Chevrolet back in 1971, at the original owner's request. When I bought the car in '73 I loved it, but hated the color, so it was repainted black from the original puke green/gold color. Later I did dumb thing #2 and installed a sunroof, and in the mid 1980's I tore the vinyl top off, and repainted it again, but white.
With retirement a year away, I decided to give the old girl a total makeover, and mend some mistakes I'd made over the last 170,000 miles and 36 yrs. I removed the sunroof and found a donor Firebird to cut the roof section out of, and welded in the hole. While working on the sunroof I was headed to the parts store, and unfortunately had my first accident in the car. This changed my plans, and also delayed the project several weeks! I ended up replacing most of the frontend sheetmetal, and went with a steel cowl hood, ditching the old steel hood I had mated a fiberglass L88 cowl to.
I had already rebuilt the engine, trans and rearend, so nothing needed there, but the interior was pretty well worn, and needed a complete overhaul, plus that hole in the headliner! Left the roll cage, and a few other remnants of it's racing days, as it's just me and my wife in it now, so no need for a backseat now. Recovered the panels in the back with black felt carpeting, and put an original carpet on the floors. Had seats recovered, and bought factory repro door panels.
As of last Sat. it is as done as my talents allowed. Ready for paint, so I drove it to the paint shop, where the owner will go over my body work, and then apply the new paint, and SS stripes again. This time the colors will be PPG GM Stealth Gray, with Black Pearl SS stripes.
Hopefully it will last another 170,000 miles, and 39 years! (even if I don't!)

3SLO5 · 10-16-2009, 08:59:38 PM

cool car. how long have those rear quarter flares been on the car? and are you keeping them when the car gets repainted?

Ls1smlblck · 10-16-2009, 10:06:19 PM

nice!

1971BB427 · 10-16-2009, 10:12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3SLO5

cool car. how long have those rear quarter flares been on the car? and are you keeping them when the car gets repainted?

The Hedman flares have been on the car since the late 1970's. I thought about removing them, but we decided we like the look, so they'll stay. My painter is going to spray the leading edge with a tough coating prior to painting, so they will not have the black leading edge, but will match the body color when painted.

1971BB427 · 10-24-2009, 04:20:19 PM

Stopped by the shop today to check on the Camaro. Lots of work getting done, and scheduled for primer late next week! Lots of pieces sitting around, and everything getting long boarded and trued up, so it sure looks like it's being done the way I hoped it would.
Got some pictures of various angles.

Boostedss · 10-26-2009, 12:23:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3SLO5

cool car. how long have those rear quarter flares been on the car? and are you keeping them when the car gets repainted?

take them flares off!! ++2

marc_b · 10-26-2009, 12:30:44 AM

cool car, keep the updates coming

tom3 · 10-26-2009, 02:28:17 AM

They sure have to get ugly before they get pretty don't they. Keep us posted, interesting car and story behind it.

1971BB427 · 10-28-2009, 09:48:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boostedss

take them flares off!! ++2

NO!

1971BB427 · 10-30-2009, 07:33:37 PM

Shop called today and said if I wanted more pictures before paint, I better get over there! It's going in for the epoxy primer/sealer tommorrow, then Sunday it will get jammed and inside of trunk and hood painted.
Monday the rest the car will get painted, then it will come home for a month. After a month it will go back to the shop for final polishing and wax. The shop owner says I can assemble everything but the door glass in that time. He will put the glass in when he polishes it and install the door felt guides.
I did the final approval of paint color spray panels. He decided it needed a .5 gram of blue-green pearl to make the dark charcoal gray "pop". We added it, and went outside to look in the sun, and it does make a real difference.

Big-Dave · 10-30-2009, 07:57:39 PM

Car looks great,like the old school flares.Where did you get the rear wheels? How wide?

1971BB427 · 10-30-2009, 08:58:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big-Dave

Car looks great,like the old school flares.Where did you get the rear wheels? How wide?

The rear wheels are 10" wide. I took standard rally wheels and had the centers removed and 10" outter rims from an old set of Cragar SS rims welded on. The Cragars were all crusty, so he turned out the centers on the lathe to use the outter rims. $70 for the front pair of 7", and $100 to build the rear set with him supplying the centers.
The polished stainless caps and rings came from our local outfit called Hubcap World. Grand total of $50 for a set of caps and rings. The guy who made the wheels wanted $200 for the same thing!

5spd540 · 10-31-2009, 03:03:28 AM

Cool I like the way the wheels turned out.

1971BB427 · 10-31-2009, 01:15:44 PM

Thanks! I had to rework the rear axle to keep bearings under the Camaro with the huge offset. I installed a set of Dutchman axles with an outboard bearing kit to relocate the bearings into the drum area. This also allows a larger bearing that has a race instead of the factory setup that rides directly on the axle. No more bearing problems again after that mod.

1971BB427 · 10-31-2009, 08:08:10 PM

Well it's only doors, trunk, and hood so far, but they've got the car painted inside, so the rest happens today and Monday! This is what "Dark Stealth Gray Pearl" looks like.