|
Z16 Red, Black top Restoration Progress, July 25, 2005 www.Z16Chevelle.com |
|
I had really hoped to have this Z16 finished by now,
but I do this for fun in my spare time, so the pace has to be enjoyable. I
started disassembling the car on February 5. With any luck at all, it will be
finished in about a month - just 7 months after it all began. Since the chassis is done and the body is painted,
the real fun of final assembly is near! It’s all about the details. The correct details! |
|
Above: Bare sheetmetal
after media blasting. Very nice. Left: Media blasting
revealed these ink stamped characters on the front of each door. It reads
ZA1” (probably the date code), “4537392” (part number), “13837” (Chevelle
model number). These, of course, are not visible after paint. |
|
The beautiful body in the booth. Nason urethane was
used with no clear. I can’t see any reason to use clear on a non-metallic
color. The urethane shines too much more than the old lacquer the way it is!
It seems a shame to mess it up with color sanding and buffing - one of my
least favorite tasks. After buffing, the floor pan will be painted semi-gloss
black, the cowl will be blacked out, and the proper primer and red overspray
will be applied to the floor pan just as it looked 40 years ago. |
|
Above: Properly restored
and plated brake booster and master cylinder. 1965 Chevelle brake boosters
were very silver appearing - not gold as later Chevelles were. This one was
plated by the author and duplicates the perfect finish found inside the
booster (see the photo in the
May
Progress). Above Right: Rear
Axle near completion. Barely visible in this photo is the gray paint the top
of the springs were dipped in. This paint then dripped down onto the lower
portion of the spring and the spring tag as the worker set the spring down in
the upright position. Look closely at the yellow original tag at the lower
left in the photo to the right. See the gray drips? Right: Spring tags made by
the author duplicating original Z16 tags perfectly. The front, red tags had
the printing slightly offset to the left. Both the front and rear tags had
the letter code not centered vertically between part numbers. Barely visible
is the serrated edge of the tags as they were torn off a roll just like a
cellophane tape dispenser. Repro tags of other makers aren’t even close. |
|
Above: Finished chassis.
Note “two color” brake drum resulting from the two metals - cast iron on the
outer ring and the steel disk - that shows up when the drum is not blasted or
simply painted with cast iron color paint. Above Right: The
transmission case and tailshaft have not been bead blasted. This destroys the
original finish which can be seen in contrast here: The tailshaft housing is
diecast and has a darker, smooth finish. The maincase is sandcast and has a
bright, rougher finish. This is how it looked new! Below:
Exhaust is NOS GM. Note the welded exhaust pipe to
muffler connection. Driveshaft is natural finish DOM tubing. It was restored
by de-rusting in an alkaline solution. Driveshafts were not polished. |