1967 buick special wagon

[3757chevy]

Very nice. From any angle.

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[Ol Blue K20]

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

[3757chevy]

Two thumbs up.

[3drburb]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good!

[notsolo]

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

[gottattooz]

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

Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

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

[grumpyolddog]

great progress.

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

[gottattooz]

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

Josh

[gottattooz]

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