Re: New A body nut here

by JB2wheeler Mon Jul 19, 2010 3:33 pm

WOW! I just got thru looking at your pics. Great pics! Thanks for showing them. What brakes are on there? I have a 78 Elky project car and the floor pans need replacing, especially in the back. Do you think it will be more trouble than its worth? I might just ditch the car, it has a good body topside, but the frame and floor pans need repairing from rust. JB

by HDHugger Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:13 pm

JB2wheeler wrote: I wish I had your Currie rear end under mine

WHAT???

Welcome, Pila. From one of the few females on this site.

by JB2wheeler Mon Jul 19, 2010 6:37 pm

I guess I should have said "I wish I had a Currie rear end under my car like you have under your car". JB

by pila Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:17 am

JB2wheeler, your rusted floors are typical, and a leaking back window seal seems normal too when Elcos get older. I replaced the passenger side rear floor panel on mine, due to a leaky rear window seal, and laid in a layer of fiberglass cloth with a few coats of West System epoxy, on both rear floors. The idea was to keep a wet carpet from holding moisture on the steel floor. And carpets do get wet sometimes, with windows left open, rain etc.
Repairing a rusted frame would depend on how bad it is.. There is an outfit that makes replacement rear frame sections for the G body Elcos,and maybe other G body cars too (?) The rear section seems to be where they rust most I've heard.

The parts availability for the Caddy big blocks, 472/500, has come quite a way in recent years, with three companies that I'm aware of supplying performance parts, including aluminum heads, shaft type roller rocker arms etc.

The brakes on the rear of my Elco are 11 inch, which came with the rear end. El Caminos had 9 1/2 inch, '73 through '75, and 11 inch in '76 and '77. Don't know if Malibu cars went to 11 inch in those years, but it would be an easy up-grade if they didn't.

by TWBouska AKA Wooderson Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:31 am

pila wrote: Don't know if Malibu cars went to 11 inch in those years, but it would be an easy up-grade if they didn't.

we took the rear drums off a 77 chevelle wagon and put them on the 70 chevelle and it worked great...the difference in braking power is outstanding. will also be putting the 11 inch drums on my 74 when i get time to go to the bone yard.

by JB2wheeler Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:10 am

The place where my floor pans are in bad shape on my 78 is in the rear wheel well housings. I know about the guy on Ebay, just waiting for the money to order them and to make up my mind if I can work up enough gumpson to do it. My 74 Elky has always been kept in a garage all its life and there is not a speck of rust on it anywhere. The 78 was used in the snow instead of the 74. There was some rust in the front floorboard of the 78 and I just replaced that with sheet metal. It does oilcan when you get in that side. JB

by JB2wheeler Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:13 am

About those brakes, Would the master cylinder have to be replaced to put those 11 inch rear drums on? I dont know if the present one has a proportioning valve or not. JB

by pila Tue Jul 20, 2010 11:32 am

JB; the parts books show the same master cylinder for '73 through '77 ( and later I believe) The rear brake cylinders may be the same bore as the 9 1/2inch, (?) never checked it out.
Your rear wheel well housings being rusted indicates a lot of rust back there. How is the bed, and the support beams under it? One of the folks on the El Camino forum replaced all the beams, bed floor, etc, on a G body Elco, and did a great job on it. He had the new beams made at a local sheet metal shop.
It's a LOT of work, and requires dedication to do it, for sure. I scrapped my '77 body last year because it was too far gone. Some times we just have to let it go. I bought that one new........ Sad

by JB2wheeler Tue Jul 20, 2010 12:52 pm

I have never seen inside the bed floor and the rear pan/wheelhouses, so don't know for sure how its made. I say a picture of a 78 sitting in a junk yard that was pretty well stripped and it looked like the floor pan ran all the weay from the dash to the rear bumper. So by seeing that picture and reading what you say about beams I would have a tendency to think that the rear part of the floor pan is structural. I had thought about cutting out that rear part of the floor pan and just leaving it off if it was not srtructural. I need more room for tires under there and this might be a good time to just start ripping out stuff. Recently I lost my entire life';s savings on the stock market and am reluctant to do anything until I see $$$ signs. JB

by pila Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:43 pm

Any part of the body can be replaced. It's a matter of either searching out and buying new panels or just using sheet metal to fabricate new pieces.
If you get under the body, and look at the bottom side of the whole thing, you can evaluate what it will need to restore the bad parts.
Sometimes it's easier to remove the body rather than work on it when it's all together, but that requires a place to do it, and other issues. Just have to get a good look at the whole thing and see what it needs.

When I refer to floor pans, I mean inside the cab, ahead of, and behind the seat, not the rear section with the bed floor.

by pila Fri Jul 23, 2010 4:37 pm

A person on another forum was looking for 4th gen hood hinge springs. I found them at Bob's Chevelle Parts.

http://www.bobschevelleparts.com/1973-1975-hood-hinge-spring-each.html

If anyone is interested.......

by knightfan26917 Wed Jul 28, 2010 8:51 pm

JB2wheeler wrote:WOW! I just got thru looking at your pics. Great pics! Thanks for showing them.

Ditto!

WELCOME, pila. Smile

Cort | 36.m.IL | 5 Monte Carlos.1 Caprice Classic | pig valve.pacemaker * NoreastrTrekRT=Aug2010 *
MCs.CC | models.HO.legos.CHD.RadioShows | RoadTrips.us66 = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"Seems like it's been forever that you've been gone" ... Fort Minor ... 'Where'd You Go?'

by pila Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:48 pm

Thanks for the kind words. I started on this body last year, in May, after I had to scrap my '77, which was just too far gone, with a rusty frame, to go with a very rusty body. I bought that one new, and hated to scrap it, but couldn't handle all the body and frame work. This '75 body came from Arizona, where salt on roads isn't necessary Very Happy

Today I sorted out the body mounts, so I'm ready now to get the body back on the frame. Maybe in the next few days..... Smile

Lots of things to bolt back in once the body is back on.

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