Corvair Forum

Thanks John. I was all geared for trying out the new paint, but am going to pause on that until next week when I get the 65 donor door.

I’m feeling good about getting back into the project. Today I worked on a few other items that all eventually need done in time, but I’m making use of my time until I get my body parts next week.

So I decided to try and clean up the chrome plated shift position indicator on the dash. RNDL. Mine was dingy with a grey film on it. I tried rubbing and buffing, but it just wasn’t getting there. I remember as a kid, my dad had chrome polish and thought that would be nice, but I got an idea. Feeling it was simply oxidation, I thought I’d try using my wife’s silver jewelry cleaner. It removes oxide from jewelry really well. Sure enough it worked great and quick and easy. So there’s a tip for anyone reading this. Clean up the chrome with jewelry cleaner and make it shine!

Then I decided to work on the heater box and fan. Woah! What a mess! Remember I found the skeletal remains of a dead squirrel in the heater duct. I proceeded to remove the blower from the heater box. 30 years of rust and filth and a few more nuts rolled out as well. Disassembled and cleaned up all of the parts with a drill and wire wheel for over an hour.

I tested the blower motor with a battery and jumper cables. It ran, but the bearings were dry and howled. A little PB Blaster and motor oil in the ends and it’s running smoothly and quiet. I was amazed.

I began painting the components and they’re actually looking really nice! I’ve attached some before and after pics. But hey…it’s the blower and heater. No one will ever see it, but it’s in need of some love after 57 years.

I found a hairline crack in the blower outlet piece. A gentle MIG weld repair and grind it down smooth.

Similarly a weld repair was also needed on the blower mounting bracket. Fill in a few holes and build up a thin area from the years of rust and corrosion.

Additionally the rectangular frame that goes around the top of the blower was badly rusted and getting thin with also a small hole. I decided to fabricate a new frame. It’s roughed into the shape, but still needs finished. The new one will be much stronger.

Further rust and scale removal on the blower components. Then some priming and painting. The components are really looking nice. Can’t wait to fully assemble.

Tonight focused on reassembly of the heater blower assembly and finishing the support frame for the top rectangular part.

I’ve heard that the top rectangular section of the heater assembly with the metal cap was only in 65’s, but I’m seeming to recall that on the ‘66 coupe donor that I had, it had the same thing. Also, that no one was really sure what the rectangle with the cap was for? I’m sure it was a previous topic here on the forum in the past, but I didn’t search.

Here’s a few pics. I’m liking it a lot. Nice how the old parts cleaned up after years of neglect. The bonus is they also work!

That heater box looks fantastic John, what a difference.

And no dead squirrels!

Thanks! Yeah…no more squirrels!

So tonight was just the final assembly with the new fabricated rectangular frame and the top cover on the heater box.

It’s done and ready to go. I’m really happy with how well it cleaned up and looks now.

On the box I used a primer formulated for aluminum surfaces. This should really help the top-coat adhere for many years.

Outstanding work! I admire your talent.

Thanks!

Tomorrow I’m getting my body parts that I’m figuring I need to mostly finish the body. I’m thinking it might be possible to repair the remaining body issues this year and get it to a body shop and painted before the winter. If I gan get paint on it, then over the winter I’ll work on finishing it out. I’ve been set-back by not getting the body parts sooner, so I’ll make the best of it.

Today I took to grinding down the weld bead on the driver’s fender. There’s some minor warping from the welding, but I tried my best to prevent it. A thin layer of body filler on top will smooth it out.

I’m looking to be heavy into cutting and welding on the body over the next several months, so I’m getting into the mode. I’m not a body man, just trying my best.

There’s some low spots on the weld seam that aren’t worth grinding down. But any work that I can do should save me $$$ in the end at the body shop.

Just amazing skills, you are resurrecting that car from the dead. Mechanically I feel pretty confident I can fix, rebuild most things but fabrication like you’re doing is a whole different level.

Looking forward to following your progress and eventually seeing the finished project.

Thank you and others as well for the kind compliments and words of support. I hope others can find my story entertaining and even inspirational to save a +50 year old car…for what ever reason. I’m finding the entire project challenging me in new directions. I even had dreams last night about driving the car again with that new rebuilt engine. It was great. I can’t wait!

When you said “resurrecting from the dead”, I thought “well, I already named the car Scrat, but maybe I should have named it Lazarus?” I’ll ask the readers for their thoughts on the name.

So today I got my “body parts” that I’ve trying to find for the last 4 months. I ended up buying another entire donor car, but this one is a ‘66 sedan that has already been mostly stripped. (That I’ll eventually scrap like the ‘66 coupe previously). I looked at this car 8 months ago and said “I can’t buy this car and cut it up, It looks nicer than my car!” No joke! Well, as I learned, it does have some body filler in it (which I knew at the time), but I checked it with a magnet and it didn’t seem like too much that I couldn’t work with. If and where needed, I’ll fabricate with steel if I can. Once I cut into it, I’ll find out how much and how bad; however, I had to tell myself, “it looks pretty good, and trying to find the parts hasn’t worked out”. Also, the car has a “salvage” title in PA, which means it’s a junk car title. If I wanted to put it back on the road it wouldn’t be a clean title, but a “reconstructed” one and would cost a lot. So it’s a donor for the project.

The car does appear to have solid fenders, tail piece with minor dents as well as minor filler in the corners by the bumper, good fender wells mostly, doors and chrome vent windows, and rockers. The floor was patched poorly which led to the salvage title and the front crossmember is rusted out. No engine, but has a good power glide and a good 3.55 differential which will serve as great spares. It was a “500” car. I have the hood, and it’s solid and straight on top, but might have some issues underneath.

I also picked up my ‘65 glove box door and dash panel today.

It was a long day, but a great one spending it with my son and other Corvair folks.

As I previously said, I thought the ‘65 and ‘66 heater boxes were different. The one on the new ‘66 donor is different as it doesn’t have the raised rectangular part with the top cover.

I’ve decided that I’ll focus on the driver’s side first, as it’s on the right hand side of my garage and most accessible.

My area of focus now is the rear wheel opening “dog leg” section. I bought the donor as mine is shot. The donor appears to be more intact, but there is some filler in there. I did the light magnet test.

Clark’s doesn’t make a reproduction body panel for this area for a 4-door. I’ve been unsuccessful at getting donor “parts”, so I had to get an entire donor sedan for these specific areas (plus others) on both sides.

Just starting with preparations and thinking about how I’ll do this so it comes out right. I removed the rocker trim from my Monza. What a pain! Dave motorhead makes it look so easy. My trim retainer was really rusted. The trim came off, but the retainer underneath is shot.

I vote you rename Lazarus

Yeah, I think Lazarus or Phoenix (from Flight of the Phoenix, the resurrected airplane after a desert crash).

I like that better since it's red.

I remember watching that movie with my dad. It was a good one. I’m liking The Phoenix. I think dad would also.

Been planning the attack this week, and would like to shout out a big THANKS to Terrible Ted for the help offline.

I’m going to attempt to replace the Left rear quarter panel. Today I began with stripping down the many layers of paint on the donor to assess the panel. Overall decent in my opinion for a 56 year old Ohio/PA car. The dog-leg was repaired previously with metal, and had some body filler on top. The lower quarter panel is junk, but I have a Clark’s repair section for that.

I was disappointed to find my outer frame on my 65 is rusted out by the shock tower, but I’ll repair it with welded steel. Just need to carefully remove the metal panel from the donor by the shock tower and use it on the 65. Drilling spotwelds.

Today I decided that I needed to devote most of the day to work on the car, so I took the afternoon off. What a hot and steamy day. Around 90 and humid. Full sun. And I’m out on the asphalt cutting up the donor.

But it was worth it! I had about 6 hours in today, and a few on Saturday, to get the quarter panel off with the inner fender of the donor. I’m thinking that now that I know how to attack this, the other side should go a bit quicker. (I hope. )

A lot of spot welds drilled out. A few removed by simply brute force with a hammer and chisel. I also relied on the air chisel. Loving that new 60 gal air compressor. And some required the wafer wheel…like down on the rocker panel. I counted somewhere around 52 spot welds. At least the battery tray was one to just sawzall through being fiberglass patched. I have a repo from Clark’s to use on the ‘65.