'64 chevy 2wd to 4wd

[Ol Blue K20]

We have a couple of feet of snow, it's not drought breaking but a lot better than the last few years. All the projects sound interesting, I'll be watching!

[dieseldawg142]

still have'nt found anywhere to stuff the ship, so i just been jumping back and forth. took a break from ship wrighting and started chopping up the 'vair.
made much easier & faster again 'cause of super-wife. she got me the micro dremel kit. nice & small and re-chargeable battery-no cord knockin' parts off, and has much better speed control than my 24 yr old corded one.
lots to do, but off i go...and nope, those are'nt the tires & wheels going on it


this will be a pia, flat int tub floor and chassis pan, will have to hump it for the tranny/t-case. and i have to cut the hood (trunk) open, which takes out the chassis pan locating tabs & the int mounting tabs....
and this has got to be the worst kit ever for flash, sanded off a pound of it already, & check out the resin vein on the inside drivers door- screws up the int tub placement....


oh yeah, lots of slicin' n dicin' to go!

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by Ol Blue K20

We have a couple of feet of snow, it's not drought breaking but a lot better than the last few years. All the projects sound interesting, I'll be watching!

should have kept my mouth shut, bragging how we only got a dusting....
snowed last nite....

[Ol Blue K20]

I think the Corvair gonna be cool. The snow thing you may have jinxed yourself lol

[dieseldawg142]

....yeah....snow....
aint opening no roofs today...but i did get some serious bench time in.
here's that new dremel wife got me. i love this thing. lightweight, no cord, excellent spd control, & for my geezer eyes, a built in light


spent a few hrs tying knots on the bowsprit....


...'till i started dropping things.....like my knife.....like real close to my foot....


so, so much for my hiatus, i need to smell some styrene...

[dieseldawg142]

i only have 1 D60 & 1 205 case. i'll do some more work on the corvair, as i already have a 12b & d44 & order some 1 ton stuff for the elky, panel, & the stepper.
cut the int tub in half, lopped off the rear chassis pan, and i'm glad i dont chuck nothing out, got some wheel tubs left over from a stretch job. all the black will be cut out


cutting a piece for the cab. notice the top of the 3/4's flare out (for the stock window) did'nt like that, so scabbed in some pieces to straiten it


saving some time & work, going to cut the tunnel out of this old firebird after it comes out of the DOT 3


glued a bed floor on the chassis, i'll put another piece on top the other way. will have to finish the edge at the transition

[dieseldawg142]

and here's how it looks so far. wheel tubs need to section shorter & not so tall. have a spare fullsize t.gate, going to see if i can skin off the inside for the 'vair

[dieseldawg142]

well, now we have something in common with california, we had a earthquake last nite,'bout 70 miles from us. USGS says it was around a 4.8. just shook a few things at our house, at first i thought it was a truck or something hitting the house.
a couple books in my junk/model room fell off the shelfs.....and tagged my ship
just last nite i finished tying off all the bowsprit lines in step 3, was looking good, for a couple hrs anyways.....mother nature....


snapped off the bowsprit, both of them. i drilled a hole in the first one and pinned it- dont know how it will hold up once the rest of the rigging and b.sprit sails go on....i'm going back on the corvair....

[Ol Blue K20]

That's a heck of a thing to have in common.. Sorry about the damage to the ship but I have faith it's fixed. Hopefully you won't have after shocks.

[dieseldawg142]

thanks Dale
sure was depressing-all that work. i think the only way i can make it work decently is to add a brace from the upside down vee to the bowsprit. wont be accurate, but the colors are'nt 100% either so....and with all the rigging and sails and junk, who would notice except a affeciando.
bad enough i did damage to it (not this serious though!) but of all the things-whats that thing 'bout murphy's law..
we had our quake a few hrs after San bernadino had there's. from what i hear those are everyday things down there we dont get them often, in fact our biggest quake was not even ours, it was aftershocks from the alasakan '64 quake
anyhow....sometimes i wonder if i'm ripping myself off other than a muffler, steering wheel and headlight bezels, got quite a few left overs....


cut the tunnel out of the firebird and cut a hole in the 'vair pan


tunnel in, stock seats dont fit now, shaved some vette seats and bob's your uncle...


this micro dremel is the cat's a**!

[dieseldawg142]

still have enough room for a in cab cage


chopped out the rest of the chassis pan and finished the rear tubs. will build a custom frame for it, still need to cut the hood open and make mounts for the int tub. lots of room hopefully for everything


went to cut the back out for a tailgate- not happening, no support, body will twist. so i'm just etching in a 'gate, license plate will migrate to the bumper and a spare t.gate handle will fill the hole. also ground off the rear cooling vent and filled the stock bumper holes (won't be needing them....)


wheel tubs are better sized, still need to put trim around the rear window


oh yeah, can't forget, one of these...

[dieseldawg142]

never built a corvair, am at a complete mind block on color. on google most of them are red or dark blue.
wife's got these colors, maybe. go black accs & a black Spyder stripe on the hood...

[dieseldawg142]

first post of 2016!
dam, another yr gone by
up in the mountains today, not a lot done on the corvair. trimmed out the wheel wells and window


and started a frame. sunk it into the chassis pan a bit, was hangin' too low. putting a motor/tranny together so i know where to put the trans & engine mounts


i think it'll work. only a couple mils higher, not a bunch of frame hanging down


stopped at the $ store, thinking i might go that ocean whatever blue of the wife's, found a jar thats almost a perfect match, but flat, work good for the int.

[Ol Blue K20]

Wow!! That looks great!! Too bad Chevy didn't think of it.

[dieseldawg142]

thanks Dale!
build what ya got!
was dis-assembling christmas at my house today, but still managed to get a couple things done on the 'vair. most of the int is there, just some minor things left. door panels were pretty plain, so made handles, cranks, and pulls


made a cab cage for it.
actually i made two......old saying, measure once, cut 3 times....easier just to do another one



transplanted a t.gate handle in the plate hole, and made an aluminum checkerplate tailgate guard

[dieseldawg142]

and i had some success with the bowsprit.
i re-did the pins with the axle from the corvair, much stronger. i have'nt glued it in, it's just hanging on the pin, and the lines are reasonably tight. the hunk of white is just a piece of styrene, spacer. once the short one goes in, it's actually the main one, all the lines tigfhten up nicely. i'll prob just have to extend the black a little further.....cant match that brown...

[Ol Blue K20]

The Corvair is looking good. The bed actually looks like it belongs there. Glad you're feeling confident on the ship repairs.

[dieseldawg142]

yeah Dale, i think i can make the bowsprit work.
haft to hurry up & get the 'vair & camino done before feb, just heard AMT is FINALLY re-issuing my all time fav kit, the '84 gmc, end of feb


one of the better squarebody kits & lots of parts i can use. i will be grabbing a case of 'em!....crewcab dually, long stepper, shop truck....no more cutting off body parts for one on fleabay... of course all my carefully laid out builds for the yr just went down the toilet.

here's my engine/tranny....all parts box & a used block. thought i had a d44, but i did'nt, so the 'vair is getting corp axles (10 & 12b) 12b is out of a chevelle, so can only use the diff, fr axle i'm not really sure what it was, but i had a spare 10b cover, so there it is...


rad is from one of the '55's, much too tall
before & after

[dieseldawg142]

tooling along....
got one of the hardest parts done, getting the hood open. only have this one, so could'nt wreck it & could'nt dremel it out (takes too much) for about 3 hrs i just kept running my exacto knife back & forth 'till she popped out.....boring!!!!


started making some crossmembers. here i was worried 'bout room, could slide a big block in there now....saving that one for the cameo/panel. and looking at the pics, i dont like the trans mount- haft to change that

[dieseldawg142]

just finishing some basics 'fore the prettying starts
dint like how you could see thru the inner fenders- looked cheezy, so i extended them. also added some ribbing under the hood



started my axles and a first hint of color...

[dieseldawg142]

here's the final rims & tires going on it. haft to make hubs & lock-outs for the rims...

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking awesome.

[dieseldawg142]

thanks dale!
finally caught a stretch of decent weather, been racking huge hrs, but getting closer on the 'vair. pretty much down to just the susp now and a bunch of small stuff.
my $1 jar of paint....hmmm


a fuel tank and rad support


some old skool tube bumpers, and that thing on the roof is the base mount for old skool (yeah!) fold down baja lights

[Ol Blue K20]

Who would of thought that a Corvair would make a cool looking truck. .Looking great

[dieseldawg142]

thanks dale!
been clocking some serious hrs at work ($2600 payday-woo-hoo!) really needed it......still managed to get the 'vair closer though
engine mostly done, just a dipstik & some wiring


int mostly done, still need to fab a t-case shifter


body was almost done, stock fuel filler door lines ghosted threw on me