My Wife's 68 Chevelle

[Green 1959]

We are going to start on this 68 Malibu. The wife wants to do most of the work, she has not ever restored a car. But it should be a good time. This is how we got it.

[richards72chevy]

Cool project.Ive always liked this body style.

[Green 1959]

Here we are taking the body off. The forth picture is going to win a safety award I just know it

[Truck Guy99]

That will be SWEET! What color configuration are you going with? Motor? Transmission? Are you gonna do some fat street slick tires in the back? I really need more projects. Im dreaming about everyone else's. Keep us posted!

[alsriv2]

As an Arizona native, but stuck in Maryland, I sure do miss getting hold of these kind of projects. My brother found a 71 GMC 3/4 ton recently and it is just about done. Dad also found a '58 Buick Roadmaster, a '60 LeSabre and a 65 Electra all for cheap.

I like your project. Keep up with the pictures and progress!

[CAL 58 GMC]

Nice to see another husband wife build!

[Green 1959]

Not sure on the colors. We're going to make it a restro rod. Engine is a 350 out of a 92 Police Interceptor, a turbo 350 trans and a 2.73 rear end
Posted via Mobile Device

[Green 1959]

Some pictures of progress. The last 2 pictures are a crack on the left rear of the frame.

[HeloCrewChief]

Some motivation for you. Started on this one when I was 16 and finished when I was around 22. Did the frame off in the back yard like your doing and it was an $800 shell with a rusty vinyl roof when I started. Let me know if you run into any 68 specific issues I can help with.

[chevyrestoguy]

Cool project, and you've got one huge thing going for you already: The wife is part of the project and is helping you wrench. That's awesome. My wife likes cars, but she's a girly-girl who would rather go to the mall than get dirty.

My older brother's first car was a '68 Chevelle. We had some great times in that thing. I really like those cars.

[chevyrestoguy]

Originally Posted by HeloCrewChief

Some motivation for you. Started on this one when I was 16 and finished when I was around 22. Did the frame off in the back yard like your doing and it was an $800 shell with a rusty vinyl roof when I started. Let me know if you run into any 68 specific issues I can help with.

Wow, I LOVE this car! I like everything about it. The color, the motor, and especially the wheels. I like the fact that you went with a traditional wheel, but a little bigger on the diameter, straight spokes (No D-spokes), and you left the centers unpolished. Back in the day, we used to fully polish our Torq-Thrusts, and I loved the look, but when all of the copycat companies came out with their fully polished 5-spoke clone wheels in the '90s, they made the wheels look cheap. I like the centers to be "natural" now.

[Green 1959]

Originally Posted by HeloCrewChief

Some motivation for you. Started on this one when I was 16 and finished when I was around 22. Did the frame off in the back yard like your doing and it was an $800 shell with a rusty vinyl roof when I started. Let me know if you run into any 68 specific issues I can help with.

Thanks for sharing, its great motivation. It's also funny that almost exactly our story. So far everything looks clear cut, need to find the best price on disc brakes.

[Green 1959]

This is what we are doing now. I got a new camara and don't know why the pictures are blurry. New isn't always better huh?

[884x4Sub]

Awesome! 68/9 Chevelles are my fav cars of all time. Im on my third one, been working on it for four yrs

[67ChevyRedneck]

Change settings to "auto"? The darkness in the background probably confused the lens.

[72bigred]

Originally Posted by Green 1959

Thanks for sharing, its great motivation. It's also funny that almost exactly our story. So far everything looks clear cut, need to find the best price on disc brakes.

Depending on your budget any Abody in that era will swop easily and quickly spindles and all..for my daughters el camino I picked up a junk skylark 4 door for 100$ just because it had spindles.. pulled them and junked it for 78$.. If you are going new I would suggest upgrading to the larger disc unless you are going to go orig wheels, as the cost is not that much more.. just shop around, in the current market you can get great deals.

I personally have a 68 SS396 that I consider completed.. yet are they ever.. turned every nut my velle has and added a few it did not over the last 10 years. just haller if you have any questions at all.

Oh had a question, does your body have a partial vin stamped under the heater fan area? Some do, some do not depending on the plant..

Reid

[Green 1959]

Originally Posted by 72bigred

Depending on your budget any Abody in that era will swop easily and quickly spindles and all..for my daughters el camino I picked up a junk skylark 4 door for 100$ just because it had spindles.. pulled them and junked it for 78$.. If you are going new I would suggest upgrading to the larger disc unless you are going to go orig wheels, as the cost is not that much more.. just shop around, in the current market you can get great deals.

I personally have a 68 SS396 that I consider completed.. yet are they ever.. turned every nut my velle has and added a few it did not over the last 10 years. just haller if you have any questions at all.

Oh had a question, does your body have a partial vin stamped under the heater fan area? Some do, some do not depending on the plant..

Reid

I'll have to check into that. Thanks for the info.

[Green 1959]

Where are the picts 72bigred? I thought you didn't have to change the spindles on these cars. We are going to tear the front suspension apart soon, and are for sure doing disc because as it is now there are no front drums.

[nuke1]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Cool project, and you've got one huge thing going for you already: The wife is part of the project and is helping you wrench. That's awesome. My wife likes cars, but she's a girly-girl who would rather go to the mall than get dirty.
.

My wife is the exact same way. Wants the rides but not the work that goes along with it. When we finally get to working on her chevellemi am gonna try to talk her into working on it some. We will see. Lol
Posted via Mobile Device

[Green 1959]

Cleaning up the frame.

[Ackattack]

Cool project.

My wife want's a 68/69 chevelle also. She is willing to get dirty occasionally, but she doesn't really want to do the resto. However, my plan is for my son and I to fix it up for her. He's only 4 right now, so we're going to wait a few more years to do anything.

[Green 1959]

I took one side of the front suspension apart and replaced the bushings and ball joints. I am getting ready to reassemble but I see the coil spring has a smaller circumfernce on one end that I didn't notice on removal. Does it go up towards the frame? My wife also decided that she wanted a new disc brake kit, so that will be getting installed too. Is there anyone running a air suspension system in their Chevelle? I am curious I thought it might be a nice upgrade down the road.

[Green 1959]

Some progress