Finally after about 8 months
of having parts rebuilt or replaced, the chevelle frame is starting to
take shape. All of the control arms front and rear have been rebuilt,
replaced and powder coated by Glenn. Many thanks goes out to Glenn who
located a matching lower set of A arms for my chevelle to replace my old
and rusted out set and for the great job on the powder coating of all
the parts. .
I had help with putting the
front suspension back on the car. My son Chris and even my wife Barb
came out to help on the project. I made my own spring compressor using
a 3/8” threaded rod, 2 blocks of 1” pieces of wood, and several large
washers. I put the rod through the top shock mount hole and put the
blocks under the lower front control arm. The front of the A arm was
connected to the spindle and all I had to do was tighten the nut up on
the lower A arm to raise the back of the arm into place. Since the car
frame had no engine the spring was not that tightly compressed and
slipped right into place in less then twenty minutes on each side. All
of the suspension parts have been replaced with poly urethane bushing
front and rear.
I was able to find a Chevy 12
bolt after finding out the car had an Oldsmobile rear end that someone
had switch out. One set back I did not count on. The 12 bolt I did find
was from a 70 chevelle built in March of 70, and my car was built in
April of 70. Lucky find. The 12 bolt has been totally rebuilt with
Dutchmen axles, Eaton posi, and gears are 3.08 ratio that matches my
build sheet. If I don’t like the gears then I can easily always change
out to 3.42 ratio for cruising.
Lesson learned: Don’t be in
a hurry to complete the project. I rush my frame and it did not come out
as smooth as I had hoped. Don’t always believe what you are told. It
still shows some of the pitting that I should have taken more time to
work on. The frame is powder coated and have since learned how to deal
with that problem. Granted 90 percent of the frame will not show, but I
will know.
Lesson 2: Knowledge is
everything. There so many good sites out there to find out answers.
Glenn’s site, Team Chevelle just to mention a few.
Lesson 3: Have fun and enjoy
the time you can have with your children and family. Don’t let the
project take away you family time. As you can see in the photo’s the
family might just take an interest in what you are doing if you spent
time with them first.
Lesson 4: Expect to put the
parts on the car at least 3 times. I have taken parts on and off at
least 3 times to get everything to line up correctly. Seems like you
take 3 steps forward and 2 backwards before every thing move forward
again.
