New Used Engine - Chevy 350!

I posted an ad on Craigslist looking for a Chevy 350. This is what I found for $250 bucks :) 65k miles on it when it was pulled from the mid 80's Chevy Suburban. We found a reman sticker on the engine, so it may have even less than 65k!

I'll use some engine cleaner to clean it, and then repaint the engine. Possibly install a Comp THUMPR cam, new lifters, and new valve springs. It came complete with Starter, Alternator, and Power Steering Pump!

Sandblasting The Frame Has Begun!

I setup my carport in the back corner of my lot. This is going to serve as my sandblasting tent for any of the larger pieces I have. Since the sandblasting process will be rather dusty, this will hopefully keep the dust as far away from my house and my neighbors house.
Frame fits perfectly in the car port with plenty of room to walk around all 4 sides. Sawhorses keep it raised up high enough to work on without having to bend over and strain your back.

It's going to be a very slow going process, but it is coming out nicely. I'm borrowing my neighbors sandblasting equipment, my compressor JUST keeps up. Takes a while to keep picking up the sand and reusing it.

Cleaning Up The Front of the Frame!

When they subframed the car, they litterally shortened the frame by hacking it off with a blow torch. I decided to clean it up a bit using a cutoff wheel on my grinder.

New Rims! Chrome Cragars!

Poking thru the auto parts section of Craigslist as I do on a daily basis, I found these Chrome Cragar rims. The guy was asking $80 without the centercaps. After talking to him on the phone, he decided to throw the center caps in. When I went to look at them, I surprised at how good of condition the rims were in. Some slight pitting but with a little wax they will look pretty damn good. ESPECIALLY for the $50 he took for them :) Can't beat that deal! Fronts came with decent tread BFGoodrich tires, 7" wide. Rears are 8" wide and I'll need to find some tires for those. May have to widen the rear fenders to get them to fit properly.

Taking Apart the Chevy 12 Bolt Rearend!

I received this rearend free from a guy in my car club. Very good shape, but I noticed it was leaking from the pinion seal. We pulled the pinion seal and realized the inner and outter pinion bearings were going to need replacing. With this being said, we dismantled the rearend.
When I was welding on the spring perches, I must have heated up the axle too much on one side and the bearing started to grind. New bearings for the pinion and axles were purchased.

Differential & pinion shaft waiting for re-assembly.

Backing plates removed. These will visit the sandblasting cabinets soon and get repainted with some POR15, as will the entire rearend.

Empty rearend waiting for sandblasting and repainting.

Cleaning Up The Frame, Mocking Up The New Master Cylinder!

I needed to mock up a bracket for the new dual master cylinder. This will get welded to the frame and be located under the floor of the car.

New master cylinder bracket welded into place.

Steering rack & gear box removed from frame. This will be sandblasted and the gear box will be replaced with a power steering gear box.

Front end all cleaned up. Chevy straight 6 motor mounts ground off. Finally decided on replacing the 6 cylinder with a Chevy 350 & auto transmission.

Rear Leaf Springs Removed!

Removed the rear leaf springs. These will be taken apart, sandblasted, and taken to Thruway Spring here in Rochester, NY. At Thruway Spring, they will punch holes in the ends of each leaf to allow for little sliders to be installed giving it a smoother suspension feel.

Sandblasting Cabinet!

Being that I will be having a lot of small parts to sandblast, I purchased a 40lb Sandblasting cabinet. Bought it off a guy down the road, brand new, never used.