Hasn't been a whole lot of progress lately.  The weather has gone to crap, raining and cold.  The next step was to get the underside of the car cleaned.  So I did that today. 

Dad had mentioned a few times over the years how he wrote on the bottom of the car when he had the gas tank out.  I wasn't sure how long ago it was until we pulled the tank.  I was just a little over two years old when he wrote it.

I'll have to leave my own little message there eventually.

 

ridleusmc

I love your project, and I'm a Ford guy.  

See ya at the drag strip!

 

Thanks!  Hubby is a Ford guy too, and I guess my cousin is as well since he drives an F-150, lol.  My first truck was an F-150, and I loved it.  But I'll always be a Chevy gal when you get right down to it.

Not a whole lot or progress lately as we've reached the part where it's time to start cleaning up 50 years of grime, and repairing rust issues.  Fortunately there isn't a ton of rust issues but there are a few.

Drivers side floor pan is getting replaced.

Upper dash sectioni already cut out since it is being replaced as well.  The windshield actually glues right to the upper dash, and it was pretty rusty.

Old rusty core support is also being replaced.

Hood and doors, you can clearly see what sun beating on paint for years does.  She'll be covered when not in storage for the winter after all this.

Door panels will run you $550.00 a pair.  Well the heck with that.  I literally spent nothing but time cause I already had spray adhesive, and black vinyl/fabric paint. Fixed the sagging carpet piece, and threw a coat of paint over it.

I left the crack in the door panel alone.  It's from years of my Dad's elbow sitting there.

I took over my cousins shelves, and his garage attic with car parts, lol.  I have a bunch at home as well.  You don't realize how many parts go into making a car until you take it all apart.

 

I love your project, and I'm a Ford guy.  

See ya at the drag strip!

lawdog114

This is great stuff. You are fortunate to have the absolute best looking Camaro body style ever made. Nothing compares to the 69 Camaro. A work of art. Thank you for taking us along on your journey.

 

I agree!  They are the most beautiful Camaro ever built.  I think Chevrolet nailed it in 69.  I'm glad to have some people to share it with!  Most members of my family are sick of me talking about the car, lol.

 

 

Rambo

In the end I put about $6000 into mine you save alot of money by doing the work yourself. The thing with the tumbler is a good idea for bolts and small stuff I have a duel drum wet tumbler with small stainless steel media that I use for cleaning ammo cases for reloading works great on anything you can throw in it.

 

I think so far with what I've already purchased, and the list of stuff I have yet to buy I'm in the vicinty of 3-4 grand.  Which really isn't much in the grand scheme of things.  It's all just parts and supplies.  Even if I had tons of money and was able to pay someone else to restore the car, I don't think I could trust a shop with my car! 

Hubby bought the tumbler for gun parts a few years ago, he's a gunsmith/FFL.  But he hasn't used it in years, so he told me to go a head and use it.  I was using the wire wheel on the bench grinder until it grabbed a bolt from my hand and flung it back hard into my thumb, lol.  I gave up after that.

plasticjunkie

 

 

Rambo

I have a duel drum wet tumbler with small stainless steel media that I use for cleaning ammo cases for reloading works great on anything you can throw in it.

 

 

 

 

I use crushed walnut shells in my tumbler to polish my cases. First time I hear of SS  cleaning media.

 

I had one like that to then a friend showed me his setup. You do have to wait for it to dry out usually a day or two or put it under a work light for a hour. But it gets it cleaner with less noise and none of the dust you get with walnut and corncob.

Rambo

I have a duel drum wet tumbler with small stainless steel media that I use for cleaning ammo cases for reloading works great on anything you can throw in it.

 

I use crushed walnut shells in my tumbler to polish my cases. First time I hear of SS  cleaning media.

This is great stuff. You are fortunate to have the absolute best looking Camaro body style ever made. Nothing compares to the 69 Camaro. A work of art. Thank you for taking us along on your journey.

In the end I put about $6000 into mine you save alot of money by doing the work yourself. The thing with the tumbler is a good idea for bolts and small stuff I have a duel drum wet tumbler with small stainless steel media that I use for cleaning ammo cases for reloading works great on anything you can throw in it.

GMorrison

Yes it gets expensive. I sank $ 10,000 into a 1967 BMW 1600 and never got the paint job it deserved.

Your rotor fixture there reminds me of a story. A guy was flying a borrowed airplane and he decided to loop it. When he got to the top, upside down, decades of cigarette butts, loose change and all manner of other types of crap came raining down on him from hidden spots around the floor.

 

Well I certainly don't have that much to spend, no where near that.  I'll do what I can with what I have.  I'm already saving a lot with the three of us doing all the work.  I'm also cutting costs by sand blasting, and re-painting parts instead of buying new.  I am going to have to buy some fasteners, since a lot are missing.  But I am going to clean up what I have and re-use it.  Hubby has a vibrating tumbler that will work perfect for smaller stuff.  Bigger stuff gets sand blasted.  We also have a pressure washer with a sand blasting attachment for stuff that won't fit in the cabinet. 

Lol, we vacuumed the car out before we turned it.  But there was certainly some stuff deep inside crevices that had been there a long time.  I quit smoking over two years ago, but the ashtray was still full of butts. 

Yes it gets expensive. I sank $ 10,000 into a 1967 BMW 1600 and never got the paint job it deserved.

Your rotor fixture there reminds me of a story. A guy was flying a borrowed airplane and he decided to loop it. When he got to the top, upside down, decades of cigarette butts, loose change and all manner of other types of crap came raining down on him from hidden spots around the floor.

Rambo

I've some how missed this till now, your doing a great job and you won't regret going this far on it in the end. I had a 79 z/28 that I took all the way down it was in bad shape when I first got her. Luckily my wife's dad owned and ran a body shop for over 30 years out of his garage so I had access to all the tools I would need. We took her all the way down like you did replaced the floor pans and patched some places in the trunk. All body panels was in good shape and surprising rust free. The motor was a Chevy 350 it wad bored over at a machine shop .25 mostly just to clean her up rebuilt with all crain parts a 3000 stall and a holly street avenger double pumper 4brl carb. The transmission was rebuilt shortly before I bought it, it's a turbo 4 with a mister gasket slap shift. I wanted to replace it with a Muncie rockcrusher mostly because I've lived in Muncie Indiana most of my life. We tied the unibody together (a peeve of her fathers he hated them) I was just getting the parts i needed for the interior and my wife had some medical issues and I needed money to finish restoring are home (a 1875 Victorian) so she was sold. But all the time I got to spend with my father in law was worth it also after that I started helping him restore a true 74 Ford Highboy truck he passed before we finished and is still sitting in the garage just the way he left it almost two years ago.

 

I'm trying to do this as cheaply as possible, not because I'm cheap, but because I'm broke!  I will have to buy parts as I can, which means doing side jobs when they come up.  I've been trying to find things to sell to make some more money.  I've been telling everyone just cash or car parts for Christmas and my birthday, lol. 

You should finish up the truck if you can.  My Dad had several strokes before he passed last year at the age of 62.  He didn't see things they way every one else did, or at least I don't think he did.  He could of seen something, but a few minutes later I think his brain went back to a certain point and it wouldn't rememeber new things that well.  I don't think he seen the car as she looked with the paint all cracked and faded.  Maybe he did when he was actually looking at it, but a few hours later if he pictured the car in his head she looked nice and shiney.  If that makes any sense, lol. 

scottrc

Keyda,

Your not going to be sorry for going all the way to the frame off restoration.  Its going to be worth it.  Nothing worse than going half way into a restoration, then buttoning everything up to find a major issue that wasn't caught if I had just gone a little further.  

Scott

 

Yea, I don't think we are going to miss anything now, lol.  That was my cousin while we were starting to take things apart, he just kept saying we need to see what's under here and there, and behind this and that, lol. 

 

I've some how missed this till now, your doing a great job and you won't regret going this far on it in the end. I had a 79 z/28 that I took all the way down it was in bad shape when I first got her. Luckily my wife's dad owned and ran a body shop for over 30 years out of his garage so I had access to all the tools I would need. We took her all the way down like you did replaced the floor pans and patched some places in the trunk. All body panels was in good shape and surprising rust free. The motor was a Chevy 350 it wad bored over at a machine shop .25 mostly just to clean her up rebuilt with all crain parts a 3000 stall and a holly street avenger double pumper 4brl carb. The transmission was rebuilt shortly before I bought it, it's a turbo 4 with a mister gasket slap shift. I wanted to replace it with a Muncie rockcrusher mostly because I've lived in Muncie Indiana most of my life. We tied the unibody together (a peeve of her fathers he hated them) I was just getting the parts i needed for the interior and my wife had some medical issues and I needed money to finish restoring are home (a 1875 Victorian) so she was sold. But all the time I got to spend with my father in law was worth it also after that I started helping him restore a true 74 Ford Highboy truck he passed before we finished and is still sitting in the garage just the way he left it almost two years ago.

Keyda,

Your not going to be sorry for going all the way to the frame off restoration.  Its going to be worth it.  Nothing worse than going half way into a restoration, then buttoning everything up to find a major issue that wasn't caught if I had just gone a little further.  

Scott

PFJN

Hi,

I'm really enjoying watching your full scale build 

Pat

PS.  I've been wanting to try and build a scale model of my old car too, but it doesn't seem that anyone ever kitted a 51 Buick Special.  I did buy an old AMT 51 Chevy Bel Air awhile back that I had started to try and kitbash into something close to a Buick, but put it on hold till I get a little more experience.  More recently I also bout a Revell 51 Olds kit and a smaller scale 50 Buick Roadmaster resin body, to see if either of them might be a better starting point 

 

Thanks!  Good luck finding something that will work!

She's completely on the rotisserie now, and stripped entirely.  Now it's time to start on the next phase, rust repair, and cleaning. 

I've brought home a ton of ziploc bags with all the hardware, those are going to go in the tumbler one bag at a time to get cleaned.  I've got a pile of bigger parts that are going to get sand blasted.  This is probably going to be the longest part of the process.

Hi,

I'm really enjoying watching your full scale build 

Pat

PS.  I've been wanting to try and build a scale model of my old car too, but it doesn't seem that anyone ever kitted a 51 Buick Special.  I did buy an old AMT 51 Chevy Bel Air awhile back that I had started to try and kitbash into something close to a Buick, but put it on hold till I get a little more experience.  More recently I also bout a Revell 51 Olds kit and a smaller scale 50 Buick Roadmaster resin body, to see if either of them might be a better starting point 

Tanker - Builder

Keyda ;

 This is exactly what happened when I restored my 57 Bel-Air . We started small then while I was at work , in her spare time the wife got carried away .

 I came home to the whole front cap Off ! Soooo . Fourteen months later my 57 was like she had been when I bought her on Graduation Week from High School . Prom Night New

 The only thing different was paint . Instead of Non-metallic Fire orange we went with Metallic Fire Orange with just a touch of Pearl . Bored , Stroked and Balanced the old Fuel - Injected 283 .( It was kind of tired ) Getting a stock Fuel-Injection for that car at that time was not easy . It was NOT like the Vette unit .

 I like what you got yourself into . I will continue to follow this . Oh ! Are you going to build a 1/16 model of her ? 

 

I did the 1/12 scale.

http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/modeling_subjects/f/4/t/176962.aspx

plasticjunkie

Frame off is the way to go. This way you get things done right and you will have a brand new car in return. Pass this one to your kids years down the road and they will be repeating the process sometime in the distant future.

How are the floor pans and body? Any rust that needs to be cut off and new metal welded on? When I did my 55 Chevy the paint and body guy I used was a master of a lost art of using molted lead as filler for true metal to metal filler. He also fabricated hard to get metal body parts. He did such an impressive job on my 210 that my friend hired him to work in his 67 Goat.

At the end you will have one super groovy ride!

 

Floor pans aren't bad, we do need to do a small patch on the driver's side.  The upper dash section was a bit rough, the windshield actually seals to that, so we are replacing that whole section.  It's mostly just surface rust, and nothing too major, thankfully. 

 

 

Keyda ;

 This is exactly what happened when I restored my 57 Bel-Air . We started small then while I was at work , in her spare time the wife got carried away .

 I came home to the whole front cap Off ! Soooo . Fourteen months later my 57 was like she had been when I bought her on Graduation Week from High School . Prom Night New

 The only thing different was paint . Instead of Non-metallic Fire orange we went with Metallic Fire Orange with just a touch of Pearl . Bored , Stroked and Balanced the old Fuel - Injected 283 .( It was kind of tired ) Getting a stock Fuel-Injection for that car at that time was not easy . It was NOT like the Vette unit .

 I like what you got yourself into . I will continue to follow this . Oh ! Are you going to build a 1/16 model of her ? 

And you'll know that when it's back together it was because of your hard work. I'll be watching this WIP

Frame off is the way to go. This way you get things done right and you will have a brand new car in return. Pass this one to your kids years down the road and they will be repeating the process sometime in the distant future.

How are the floor pans and body? Any rust that needs to be cut off and new metal welded on? When I did my 55 Chevy the paint and body guy I used was a master of a lost art of using molted lead as filler for true metal to metal filler. He also fabricated hard to get metal body parts. He did such an impressive job on my 210 that my friend hired him to work in his 67 Goat.

At the end you will have one super groovy ride!

We've officially stepped into frame off restoration territory thanks to a friend who let us borrow the rotisserie. 

The stripped front subframe. 

Took off the doors.

I don't think there is anything else to take off at this point.

Rear end.

This is a lot farther than I wanted to go.  It is stressing me out to see my car in so many pieces.  But I realize at this point its a good thing we did, there were so many lose and missing bolts all over the car.  The body bushings were way worse than I thought, and it was probably unsafe to drive the car.  In the end the car will be practically brand new, and I'll be able to drive her anywhere with the upmost confidence. 

WillysMB

Looking good!

Common restorers dilemma - I'll just take off one more part and see...

Experiencing the same problem on the Model A Phaeton I'm working on - I'll just spruce up the engine compartment a bit. Now I've got everything removed off the engine and firewall, the firewall sanded down, and fresh paint on the ancillaries. Of course now the carb looks grungy, the distributor needs paint to go with the new points...

 

 

Thanks!  My cousin is a bit of a perfectionist to say the least, and he just couldn't stand not getting down to it, and checking every nook and cranny!  Well worth it in the end, then I'll know everything inside and out, and I'll be able to have much more confidence when driving the car. 

Made quite a bit of progress today.  Almost all the interior is out aside from the steering column, and door panels.  Still planning on dropping the gas tank, and all the suspension needs to come off so we can clean/paint and replace the bushings. 

Took her outside for a power wash of the greasy front end.

Interior just about stripped. 

Another pile of parts to clean.  You really don't realize how many parts go into building a car until you have to take it apart!

More to come tomorrow!

Looking good!

Common restorers dilemma - I'll just take off one more part and see...

Experiencing the same problem on the Model A Phaeton I'm working on - I'll just spruce up the engine compartment a bit. Now I've got everything removed off the engine and firewall, the firewall sanded down, and fresh paint on the ancillaries. Of course now the carb looks grungy, the distributor needs paint to go with the new points...

 

Slowly but surely she is coming apart.  It's getting difficult finding where to draw the line on how much we are doing.  We're already a little farther into the front end than I originally intended.  But why not get down to the nitty gritty and make sure we take care of the rust issues hidden underneath.  My cousin is sort of a perfectionist, and just couldn't leave the fenders on, cause he wanted to see what was underneath.

Looking pretty bare. 

Took the headers off to bring them home to clean them.

After I left for the day my cousin went to town on taking the fenders off.  Not sure if he's got the driver one off or not, I'll find out later when I go back to do more work.

Another pile of parts to keep me busy next week.  The kiddo goes back to school, so I won't be able to go out during the week anymore.

You're making great progress there Keyda! She's lookin' great! 

 

GM: Beautiful photos there of a beautiful car! 

I was busy all day yesterday sand blasting and painting parts. 

License plate brackets and head light buckets finished.

Head light brackets and the hood latch support looking quite dirty.

Lower valance, and header panel.  I'm going to clean up the inside of these and put a coat of paint on them.

Turn signals, headlight brackets, and hood latch support all clean and painted.

I'm not sure how much stuff I can actually bring home with me to work on, lol.  I should be heading back out during the week to start on the interior.  I'll have to see what other smaller parts I can bring home to clean up/paint. 

 

Jay Bones

Nice to see that you've got a proper 4 speed manual there.  And I'd say nobody ever did something stupid like rip out the 302 V8 (that's right, the early ones were 5 liters built for the Trans Am series) and drop in a 350 V8 and autotragic transmission.

 

High school friend had a cousin that had an early Z28.  And he did that exact thing...

 

It is proper, but not original.  My Dad had pulled the original and sold it, cause he bought a 5spd to put in it.  I didn't want to go through the hassle of modifications to put the 5spd in, and when I grew up the car was a 4spd, so it needed to be a damn 4spd!  Lol.  So I bought a Munice off of eBay and put that in.  The original owner had pulled the DZ302 and put a 350 in there.  So at least my Dad wasn't the one who did both, lol. The motor that will be put back in the car is from a 1974 Nova.  Which was my Nana's car that was given to my Mom.  Dad pulled the motor out after my Mom stayed out at a party until 7am, so he yanked it out when she was sleeping.Joke was on him, cause he landed up buying her a brand new 86 Bronco, lol. 

Spent a few days sand blasting and re-painting some parts. 

The head light buckets, Right is before, and left is after.  I did land up putting a coat of flat clear over it.  The grill and head light bezels are flat black, so the gloss just wouldn't look right.  I don't have any flat black paint though, lol.

Finished license plate brackets.

Where we left off yesterday. 

We were going to take the entire front end off, but decided not too.  Don't really need to get down that far.  My Dad had braised the front seams between the header panel, and the fenders shut a long time ago.  He had told me it was because he didn't like the seams, but I think at some point the car had been in an accident in the front.  There are a few parts that are a bit tweaked.  We aren't going to straighten any of it.  It looks fine, and I'm not going through the hassle of trying to get everything to line up properly.  We are just going to put it back together the way it was before we took it apart.  So the seams will get closed back up. 

Brought some more parts home to sand blast and re-paint.  Next up is probably going to be stripping the interior.