Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Well for the most part covid sucks. Was meant to go on a 6 week honeymoon - that never happened as I was booked to leave late Feb last year. Lockdown mk1 came around and I got on somewhat of a daily tangent of checking out eBay for my shortlist of muscle cars - came very near to hitting the button on a '70 superbee but it wasn't to be. Fast forward a year and I still hadn't bought anything and had nearly given up all the while saving more. Turns out there's actually bugger all on ebay (even with changing your region to USA) and most cars are on Facebook via various groups. Really wanted a '70 Chevelle - but had to be Big Block and ideally manual. Turns out so does everyone else, which pushed it out of my budget. However the same body is carried through 1971 and 1972 and you can actually buy all the parts brand new for whatever you desire. I came across a tubbed '72 but this had really been molested a but much for my liking. Then another '72 but the seller seemed shifty so gave that a miss also. At the same time as I'd commented on one of the aforementioned '72 in the comments a seller offered what you see here for a very reasonable price. I pm'd him and asked for more details. He was inundated with messages so I put a deposit down. Then rang and spoke to him for about 30min over my lunch break and organized to purchase the car. Some 3 weeks later the car was picked up and transported from Minnesota to LA. Kiwi shipping were great to deal with and provided plenty of photos showing some things that I couldn't see from the seller. 29 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Before the car left I sussed a deal with the seller and found a set of SS wheels 15x7 - he paid for them and kept the current wheels/tyres for his superbee. Also came very near to buying the full 70 sheet metal conversion but decided to cool my jets and wait till the car arrived (as this was my first experience buying overseas) But I did hit the button on quite a few parts I had made a wishlist for as soon as I'd paid the deposit.. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Fast forward 2 and a half months and she's arrived. Collected it the day the weather decided to snow & sleet. Tried to fire it up but unbeknown to be (which in hindsight makes sense) they drain all the fuel from before it leaves. Winched it on the trailer and dragged it home. Found some photos of the previous owners handwork too 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Got it home safely, unloaded all the parts - I had the boot, interior and tray of the Ute loaded with boxes.- Glad I didn't buy the 70 conversion otherwise I'd have had to make 2 trips lol 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Gave it a wash and general inspection. Paint is about a 7/10, wiring from previous owner is interesting. Wipers don't work - cause well they don't exist lol. All of this I knew, and given the price one can't really cant complain. Haul of parts was sizeable, and I was like a kid at Christmas opening the packages up and consolidating them for space.. 4 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 First things first, the next day after getting the car home, I installed the new rear KYB gas shocks & springs (binned the random springs & air shocks) - these were akin to replacing springs and shocks on a Hilux Surf - no room and non captive nuts made for a 3 hour ordeal - No room for a ring spanner let alone socket and with a stripped thread on one of the 4 bolts. Ended up carefully cutting the nuts off one bolt and then the rest went swimmingly. Removed the TH400 & lines - promptly listed them on Trademe. Among-st the purchases was a Muncie M21, with 10.5" flywheel, hurst competition pro shifter & Bellhousing - had been stored for about 20 years. I decided not to tempt fate & ordered a rebuild kit from Rock auto. Turns out it had most likely been rebuilt in the past as it was in remarkably good condition. However it had been slapped together and one syncro ring had ridden up on the syncro keys. Resulting in one mashed syncro and shards of Brass throughout the box. Installed new seals, bearings and gaskets. Managed to snap the stud on the reverse lever, - no biggy as this is quite common so drilled and tapped it instead. Had the housings blasted to clean it up 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 This was followed by a late night weekend mission rifling through my bolts box trying to find gearbox to bellhousing bolts (as everywhere was shut and time of the essence on my day off). Ended up piecing together 4 bolts from my own pile and a friends pile, tapping the bellhousing to tidy the threads & running the die nut down 2 of the bolts that were too long. (Imperial bolts aren't what I have a great deal of) Interesting point I learnt, the SBC and BBC both share the same bolt pattern for bellhousings and clutches.. Installed this in the car lying on the garage floor with my trusty trolley jack and some strops for safety to avoid crushing myself, but came across my first stumbling block - the factory body mounts have sagged too much - my shifter sits too high even with the shortest trans mount. So fitted it up sans trans mount and shifter. Ordered some which turned up the day before the current lockdown, and I promptly left them under my desk #doh Cut the hole in the floor for the floor shifter stamping Tek screwed it on after trimming the floor. - I then used these holes for plug welding Stitched welded the edges. Filled in the holes in the firewall, and in the floor where the seat mounting holes had been punched through.. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Tidied up the welds topside & underside, painted with black Zinc it.. Then began my pedal conversion - all the parts bought as parts of a bolt in conversion. Z Bar Bracket (shown here below the brake booster) needed about 5 degree slice and dice with the welder to line up properly. This was followed by a 3 hour marathon - Pedals in and out without intructions, powdercoating in one of the clevis holes was stopping the clevis pin from going through, clips hard to get on/off the end. Hole-sawed the column/firewall bracket, installed the rubber boot & steel surround. Trimmed the carpet hole. Tidied the wiring a little and re-joined some wires I had to cut to remove the carpet. 20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post CUL8R Posted August 19, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 19, 2021 Ever since I'd had it the steering wheel was on the turps, removed the steering wheel and boss kit to re-index, however this can only go on one way, so as I like doing everything the hard way. I re-indexed the steering column on the steering box.. (Photo's from the weekend after being washed and rear springs installed) 31 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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