| | Author | Message |
|---|
Chad
    
| | #1 posted January 25, 2008 at 9:23pm (EDT) |
You know of any good a-body forums? i'm thinking of lemans/gto or chevelle for a new toy but i'm having a hard time finding a forum with lots of activity. | John
 
 
| | #2 posted January 25, 2008 at 10:10pm (EDT) |
Chevelles.com is the place to be for all things Chevelle. Excellent forum and people.
If you go there and ask, I'm sure that someone could recommend other good forums for other specific vehicles too. I think that there are a few GTO forums that I've seen mentioned, so hopefully there is one decent one, at least.
And, yes, we still have it -- although we don't work on it that much these days due to doing remodeling in our apartments like crazy. Plus, it's winter now -- so it is in the garage for the season. 
- John...
"I'll go into people's houses at night and wreck up the place!"
- Nixon's Head, Futurama | Chad
| | #3 posted January 26, 2008 at 12:30am (EDT) |
i was actually leaning more towards a lemans than a goat. i checked out a 70 last weekend that was pretty straight body, rust free but it was only the I6. Wanted $2500 for it. I was intrigued but wanted to look into how much it would cost do do either a 400 (or 455) and like an lt1. after looking into it, decided i wanted it, called the guy back today and it was sold. so i figured i should make sure and do some more prudent research and make sure i knew exactly what i was getting myself into. only engine swap i had ever done was a 350 into an old gmc vandura but that was easy since it was an available option on it and everything.
really only like the 70 and 72 lemans/goat. chevelles are different stories, i like all of the 2 door coupes on them after 67. problem with them is they seem to be 2-3 times lemans and on par with gto pricing for the most part, and they don't give me quite the warm and fuzzies except for the 396/454s.
how did you decide on what you wanted? part of me says take the best deal on an acceptable body style and the other says hold off for exactly what you want until you can find it for the right price (which would actually be a 69 mach 1 with a 351 and 4 speed for under 15). | Chad
| | #4 posted January 26, 2008 at 12:43am (EDT) |
and will check out the website. | John
| | #5 posted January 28, 2008 at 8:39am (EDT) |
Chad wrote:
> only engine swap i had ever done was a 350
> into an old gmc vandura but that was easy since it was an available
> option on it and everything.
Just to note it, I was a complete car newbie when we got the Chevelle. I had no idea about what the numbers of engines even meant -- or even that they HAD numbers for that matter.
Since then, I've swapped a small block 327 for a real BB 396. And then got to pull that out to replace the cam! Never thought that I'd be doing that if you had asked me 5 years ago! 
> pricing for the most part, and they don't give me quite the warm and
> fuzzies except for the 396/454s.
Agreed -- if you go Chevelle, you have to get the 396 or 454.
> how did you decide on what you wanted?
It's my wife's car. She saw a '69 or '70 Chevelle when she was like 13 and always wanted one. So, it made selection pretty easy.
> part of me says take the best
> deal on an acceptable body style and the other says hold off for exactly
> what you want until you can find it for the right price
My thought is this: doing interior work is fairly easy without a lot of special tools. It might take time, but you don't have to be an expert. Swapping engines is even not that bad once you get a cherry picker really -- you can basically read how to do it and do it. But doing body work is a learned skill -- which also requires some tools. And, no matter what, you're likely going to be paying someone to paint it properly in the end anyhow.
So, in my opinion, find one with a nice exterior body and paint job that might be cheaper because it requires a lot of interior work and/or an engine swap to get it to be what you want. I know that if I had bought my wife's car in a condition that it needed painting, it would STILL need painting today. Because you don't want to give it the nice paint job until everything else is done -- which takes years and years unless you really dedicate the time to do it quickly.
So, my opinion is a bit off of the "real car guy" opinion, I think. They would say to get the best stuff that you want in there and then paint it later. That sounds good if you are dedicated, but for the more casual enthusiast, I'd rather have it look good on the outside (because I don't have the skills to fix that myself if it doesn't) -- and then I can do the rest that is "more hidden" as I please over time.
> (which would actually be a 69 mach 1 with a 351 and 4 speed for under 15).
A good friend of mine from college has a '69 Mach1.
- John...
"I'll go into people's houses at night and wreck up the place!"
- Nixon's Head, Futurama | Chad
| | #6 posted January 28, 2008 at 12:11pm (EDT) |
so long as you have everything stripped out, interior work doesnt seem that bad. i have helped with body work before and that is the biggest pain in the ass in the world. getting it fro 50% good to 85% isn't too bad, but you get those diminishing returns above that (at least for me). | John
| | #7 posted January 28, 2008 at 2:11pm (EDT) |
Chad wrote:
> so long as you have everything stripped out, interior work doesnt
> seem that bad.
I did bits at a time. (And still have more to go.) Replace the seats with newly redone ones that I was lucky enough to find. Rewired the dash because things were messed up there. Going to do the headliner soon. It's all work -- but it is all work that you can read about or ask about online and then go do it. I can't do that with body work -- you really need someone to show you how to do that, as opposed to tell you how. Especially because, eventually, you're going to pay someone to paint it. If they paint it -- and then you discover that you screwed up some body work that only because obvious AFTER the paint job, you're really out of luck.
So, for me, I'd rather have a nice body car that is fairly recently painted to start with -- and do the rest. Once all the rest is done (which will still be a long while), THEN I can decide if I want to have it repainted later.
> i have helped with body work before and that is the
> biggest pain in the ass in the world. getting it fro 50% good to
> 85% isn't too bad, but you get those diminishing returns above that
> (at least for me).
Exactly.
- John...
"I'll go into people's houses at night and wreck up the place!"
- Nixon's Head, Futurama |
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