Chevelle Restoration - Part 5
So it's been a bit of a slow start to this year for this project on account of some surprising turn of events regarding my long term employment resulting in some frantic scrambling decisions and deep pondering of my life.
Nonetheless, while I certainly have some newfound insight regarding professional work and the fickle nature of employment I have decided to remain as on-course as possible for my 2025 projects which of course includes the restoration of this 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle.
A bit of a boring post today after the exciting exciting activities of the last in transporting the big V8 across the Highveld. After Herman attached the engine mounts and the engine was put into the bay, we noticed that strictly speaking the worn out engine mounts should be replaced, along with the concerning 'made in India' labels.
That, and after the full-body workout of lugging the engine up and over the suspension bridge did we notice that the oil pan was leaking. So in keeping with the sensibility that clearly governs this project, out comes the engine for its new engine mounts, resealed oil pan and of course to connect the 2 speed Powerglide gearbox:
I don't know much about this gearbox or the significance of a 2 speed transmission other than that it sounds like a pretty low number of gears, but I guess in the 70s it was all about high bore and low gears?
Slowly the drivetrain is coming together, but in installing and removing the engine it's also clear that one of the exhaust manifolds is pretty severely damaged and needs replacing, and I think there is another one on hand lying around so hopefully none of having to try to source one from Facebook Marketplace.
Also, even though the gearbox bell housing is mounted to the engine, the torque converter still needs to be connected to the flex plate which requires some more bolts that I'll be sourcing from our local V8 part supplier here in Joburg.
In the meantime, the Chevelle looks pretty alarmed all bounced up on its springs after having its engine removed once again:
So, once I get my life back on track hopefully we'll see this car come together again bit by bit. After the engine and gearbox and all tidied up and working together inside the car with the rest of the drive train, we'll be looking at the refurbishing the brakes - probably by real professionals.
See you soon!