Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I got the body set where I want it on the floor pan, I set the dash pad on and marked where I wanted to trim the front. I think it looks great where it is.

Since I won't be able to access the front dash speaker once its all welded together , I figured I might want to replace the torn speaker while I've got the opportunity

The relay for the lift sticks every so often, and I have to smack the control box to get it to quit lifting. Well the smacking wasn't working and the car slipped off the support bar. Thankfully I had a jack under the rear of the car, so the drop was minimal. I ordered a new relay, so progress is on pause

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I got a new relay for the lift, so I'm back at it. My friend ,Josh, loaned me a pair of 19x10 c6 corvette wheels to play around with. They don't stick out any further than the factory g8 wheels, which surprised me. So i guess I'll be looking at corvette wheels. I made a list of wheels and their specs, so i know what to look for. The g8 wheels are about an inch away from the coil overs, so the 10 inch wheel wouldn't go on. I'd feel comfortable with an 8.5/9.5 combo.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I had to drill out the spot welds for the package tray and cut away the inner fenders in order to locate where the fuel filler neck lines up so i can transfer the fuel door from the driver's side to the passenger side.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Great work and gonna be a sweet machine when you are done.

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

x2!!

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I scored a set of c5 corvette rims. 17x8.5s up front and 18x9.5s on the rear. Here's a look at the front fitment. I ordered 245/45zr17 continental tires.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Here's the rear fitment. I ordered 275/40zr18 continental

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I like 'em...

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I cut away the inner fenders on the wagon and removed the lip and the stainless trim to maximize clearance to the wheel and tire.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

My rear tires came in, so I mounted and balanced them and checked the fitment. I'm very happy so far.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Very nice. From any angle.

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Thanks to Brian Geinko on the v8buick.com forum, he sent me all the parts I needed to get my tail gate working again. It would have taken forever to get my rusted and seized pieces to function properly.

I started fiddling with the front end, trying to imagine where the front bumper was going to go, mount options, things like that. Well all the measuring in the world isn't as good as the real thing, and I've got plenty of extra parts to cut up and play around with. So I pulled out a crusty core support and fileted it until it cleared the a/c condenser. My other cars never had the cross braces that connect the core support to the front bumper, but this one does, so I'll hang the bumper from those cross braces and see where it lands

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I transferred all the things I learned from the scrap fenders and core support to the white front clip. It's only got a few bolts holding it on, but everything's looking really good.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I started making filler panels for the firewall. The center plate is 12 gauge. All other panels will be 16 gauge.

At the back of the car, I used air bag brackets bolted to the rear bumper impact beam mounts and 1 inch square tubing to attach the body at the body mount holes. I rolled it outside to get an unobstructed view of my progress

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

A few parts came in. First, an over the radiator style air filter housing to breathe cooler fresh air without the engine compartment heat.

Secondly an air dam from a 67-68 camaro to hide some of the ugliness that will be exposed under the front bumper, and help pull in more air at the same time

I also swapped out the single bar plastic grille for the multi bar grille that I plan to use in the final assembly

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

My reducer coupler came in today, so I was playing around with the filter inlet, deciding to have the mouth facing up or down. I think having up would trap and retain debris, so face down it is. Once I make a radiator support bracket and a block off panel above the radiator, I'll cut a hole for the intake mouth.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

It's getting there, it's looking great.

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Two thumbs up.

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

This is not as easy as you are making it look. Great Work!

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Defrost time! I had to figure out the placement of the defrost vents. The side a/c vent ducts were in the way so I deleted them. I still have the center dash vents

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Here, I cut the ends off the ducts and made block off plates out of plastic oil jugs and coated everything with seam sealer and taped them in place so they can dry

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I bought a 2 foot piece of pvc and 2 1.25 pipe tee fittings. I cut the center out to cover the defrost section of the blower box. I had to get creative and make a notch to clear the blend door motor on the driver's side of the box

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Here's everything buttoned down and the duct hoses connected. I put a little seam dealer on the duct connections before zip tying the hoses to the fittings and vents.

And here's the vents on the dash pad with the body set back down on the floor pan.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Looking good!

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Another great project, saved the wagon, some rough area's to fix. What are you going to call this 1 Guts to Glory.

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Very tedious work, but I got the passenger side rocker panel spot welded to the floor pan

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

You're doing fine, keep up the good work!

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

great progress.

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I welded up the driver's side rocker, inside and out. There was a lot of stitching and filling holes because some of the metal on the rockers was thin in some places

I also welded up the antenna hole, because the antenna from the g8gt is in the back

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I bought a pair of side skirts from a 1994-2000 Tahoe limited to cover up the inner rocker panels from the pontiac. They stuck out too far with the bracket the way its supposed to go on the Tahoe. Thankfully when I flipped the bracket over, the mounting holes lined up perfectly for the retaining push pins and it pulled into the outer rocker like it's supposed to. I got very lucky how that worked out

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I bought some used 245/45zr17s for the front corvette rims. Here's how close they are to the strut versus the stock g8 wheels, and then a nice side shot.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I started making filler panels for the passenger side inner kick panel gaps. Then I connected the ground strap for the electronics on that side.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Then I started filling the outside gaps. I made a hole for the wiring for the door speaker and power window harness. Then I made a filler piece to strengthen that goes behind the front fender, with a hole for the mid fender turn signal wiring. I painted the back to prevent corrosion.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I filled in all the driver's side gaps, and welded the firewall piece in place

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I filled in the antenna hole on the left front fender. I picked up an engine cover, and I set the front clip back on to see what my clearance issues might be. Looks like I'll have to raise the rear of the wagon a bit. Looks like it's loaded down the way it sits now.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Nice work sir

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I finished patching up the pieces under the front fenders. Then I used seam sealer and then coated everything with flex seal

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I mounted the cross bar for the transmission cooler so I could start making a cold air intake. I figured it out in cardboard and transferred it to sheet metal

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

I folded it up and welded it into shape and then sprayed it with epoxy paint.

Josh

Re: 1967 buick special wagon
 

Moving forward! Nice job