Chevelle Update

"MM54" (mm54mk2) 03/03/2019 at 19:50 • Filed to: '71Chevelle

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Despite not posting about it, I have still been working on the Chevelle lately. After all, I’ve got nothing better to do.

Just sort of sitting there, hence the weird alignment.

In the past week or so, I have cleaned up the a/c housing, seen above. This is fiberglass, and from the factory would have been bare as pictured . This car being this car though, it was completely covered in undercoating, which was a joy to remove without beating up the fiberglass underneath. I also cleaned up and repainted the metal bracket, not yet refinished above.

In non-pictured progress, I received a bunch of parts in the mail, cleaned up the wiper motor (ready to install) and HVAC blower motor. I need to put the new fan (which I have) on the motor and it will be ready to go in (old one was broken as it turns out, which explains the ticky noises from the heater vents when on).

Another big step was stripping the old undercoating off the side rails of the frame and refinishing them in satin black. I tried to take a picture of this, but being black painted frame rails below a black painted floor under a car in the corner of the garage, you can imagine how well it turned out.

Ready for an adventure! > MM54 03/03/2019 at 21:59

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Good work! Keep it.up.and get more pix! We love chevelles...and any car...

shop-teacher > MM54 03/03/2019 at 22:14

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Slowly but surely!

MM54 > shop-teacher 03/03/2019 at 22:21

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I wish I had more time but at this point it is certainly a ‘slow and steady’ rate.

MM54 > Ready for an adventure! 03/03/2019 at 22:21

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Thanks!

shop-teacher > MM54 03/03/2019 at 22:27

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Nothing wrong with that. You've done a ton of work on it this winter!

MM54 > shop-teacher 03/03/2019 at 22:32

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True, I’ve gotten a lot done but there is still a ton to do!

shop-teacher > MM54 03/03/2019 at 22:36

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That’s how projects go. Same deal with my kitchen. Only I’ve done very little work on it this winte r.

sony1492 > MM54 03/03/2019 at 22:36

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How do you strip undercoating at any appreciable speed?

MM54 > shop-teacher 03/03/2019 at 22:38

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I still haven’t finished redoing my fireplace I demo’ed last December (as in 2017). Some of that was waiting until everything else (like the floors) were done, some of that is the surprisingly hard time I’ve had finding the material for it since the original supplier has jerked me around one too many times. It’s somewhere on the to-do list, still.

shop-teacher > MM54 03/03/2019 at 22:41

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The ventless gas fireplace insert in my fireplace has been broken since ... 2014????

It never ends! :)

MM54 > sony1492 03/03/2019 at 22:41

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Some of it I’ve been able to do with a mini needle scaler (the dried out / brittle stuff). Most I’ve been using a 1" scraper by hand and a metric ton of elbow grease. In a few spots where it’s been impossible otherwise, a wire cup wheel on the angle grinder will sort of melt and fling it away. It’s an awful process and (unless it’s all dried out and already falling off) fairly slow . I probably had a solid 8-10 hours doing the firewall (by hand).

In any method, the final residue is removed with mineral spirits or acetone, depending how much it lef t behind.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > MM54 03/04/2019 at 01:16

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Have you tried freezing it , either via dry ice or (don’t tell the EPA) flash freezing it via R-134a? I’ve had pretty good luck on racecars freezing it and then having it chip off fairly easily. Works for rubberized sound deaden ing on interiors, too.

nerd_racing > MM54 03/04/2019 at 08:03

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Man that thing is huge.  My dad’s 71 Chevelle had a similar box in it, but his was beaten up and broken quite a bit when he bought the car.  He had it pulled during the resto and they just detailed out a smaller modern AC setup.  I hope his actually gets done someday, I know my mom is getting impatient with all the bills they keep sending.  

MM54 > ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com 03/04/2019 at 12:09

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I have considered freezing it (have heard good things about that method ) but overall it hasn’t been that terrible. I’m very glad at this point though to be almost completely rid of it!

MM54 > nerd_racing 03/04/2019 at 12:10

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I intend to keep the factory a/c setup so I cleaned up this box. While it won’t be operable when I get it back on the road (because money), it will be a pile of parts and a weekend away from functioning for when I am ready to do it.

nerd_racing > MM54 03/04/2019 at 12:43

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Good thinking, it will be a summer cruiser primarily so AC will help.