69 Convertible Project by HRTZ65

[HRTZ65]

Body repairs coming along.









Started the work on the engine rebuild. Step 1 stripping it down ready to send to machine shop.







Machine shop feedback not great. After cleaning in the tank and inspecting the block, this engine is too far gone.

I do have a 2nd block sitting here so have sent this off to see if it can be used instead. Fingers crossed otherwise will need to think about Plan B.

Will let you know how i go next week.

[Reborn67]

 Curious?  When you say the engine is too far gone, you mean the block or engine as a whole?  If it was the block, was it cracked, rusted out or just too worn in the cylinders,  Doing a rebuild myself and all i kept was the block, replaced everything else, even the pan..,

[HRTZ65]

Thanks for the contribution reborn67

The engine block already had 40 thou over pistons and the cylinder walls would need another bore. The other 289 block i have is in better nick. i'm no engine expert so asking lots of questions and learning as i go.



 

[HRTZ65]

Been a busy week on the 69 convertible project.

AOD - after lengthy discussions with people more experienced in 60 & 70 muscle cars than I and arguing over the pros and cons of the AOD I've decided to continue on this path. I was then introduced to a transmission yoda who my contacts have used for many years and highly recommended. He has an AOD in his shop that he will completely rebuild with upgraded value bodies and other goodies to make a strong solid shifting AOD for my application.

Diff - Now that the transmission is sorted onto the diff. I'm going with 3.55 gears with true track centre. Its an 8 inch diff that came as additional parts when i bought the car. It will take some work getting it back to "as new" condition. Issues found bent axles, and collapsed spring mount. Both can be fixed. A drainage plug will be machined into the casing for improved serviceability and other upgraded parts to improve its reliability.

Engine - The machine shop has been too busy to assess the other block. They should get to it next week.

Brakes? Still can't make up my mind. I want 4 wheel disc brakes with nice red calipers. Looks is just as important as performance. I think it is down to Baer S4 or Wilwood. There are so many wilwood options its hard to work out which ones to choose. It also looks like all the suppliers in Australia don't have red caliper stock in Australia. I do like the Baer brakes but they are quite a bit more expensive.

Body update.The original car had terrible gaps between boot lid and rear quarters. If the gaps was set right for the boot lid across the panel on the back seat end then the left side would touch the quarter panel and the right side you could stick your finger through. With a little caressing the body shop got these results without unpicking the rear quarters.







You can also see that body work to flatten rear quarters is underway.

i'm really pleased with the boot fitment

[Jason67]

 
The boot looks much better now

[HRTZ65]

Well it's been awhile since the last update. While there hasn't been many exciting photos to update you with i have been busy ordering and organising the build phase when the body returns from the panel shop.

Transmission
The AOD has now been rebuilt to handle up to 650 BHP as well as upgraded valve bodies to improve shifting.



Torque Converter recommended by the engine builder is a 2800 Stall

Engine

The other 289 block i had was no good according to the engine builder. The engine builder found  a 302 from an AU falcon. Once this was stripped down and checked, we got the all clear.  The engine build will include 347 stroker kit, roller rockers and a mild cam. Once I know more details i will let you know as I'm relying on builder and mechanic to make decisions here.

Diff has been stripped but the build has been delayed by the brake kit not being here yet. Once the brake kit fitment is checked then the casing will be sent off for powder coating. There also seems to be a shortage of good quality bearing around. It still may be a few weeks until these turn up.

Body

Progress has been a little slow over the last few weeks. Rear and rear quarters have been filled and blocked ready for next primer coat. Work has now started underneath as well as engine bay.

In September i ordered from the US all the suspension and steering parts that I wanted for the car. Included in the order was subframe connectors which are required now by the body shop. After the order was placed I received a few shipping confirmation and forwarded these onto the shipping company that i was using.

My expectations was that it would take 3 months to get here and it turned out that way. With the number and size of the parts ordered i was expecting to hirer a ute/van to pick it all up. When i call to arrange a date for collection the guy said it would all fit in my car. I thought this sounded weird but went with it.

After collecting only 3 boxes and taking stock of what was in them i was missing 3/4 of the order. So after several emails/phone calls i found out that 1/2 the order was never sent by the seller and 1/4 of the order got lost at the shipping company. 

The missing boxes have been found and will be shipped next week so should get here early January. The remainder of the order is going to a new shipping company and should also get here in January.

The other issue with this order is that the correctly ordered subframe connectors for a convertible turned up as the ones for a coupe/fastback. We have decided to modify the car to fit rather than delay the body work waiting for the replacements.



The good news is that they don't hang down as far as the convertible part improving ground clearance.

Fingers crossed i get the body back in 2 weeks. This will have undercarriage and engine bay fully painted.


So the moral of this story is ensure that you clearly understand what is in each tracking confirmation and get confirmation from the shipping company of the number of boxes that have been backed in the container. Never assume it will always go smoothly.......

[Jason67]

  Looking good

[HRTZ65]

Well lots has happened since my last update. The main chassis is now done for this phase and the car will be back home this week and assembly can start.

Hope you all like the colour.











I'm still waiting on parts from the US. Some arrive this week, the rest should be here in Feb. 

[Marshall]

Thanks Marshall

What diff ratio and wheel size are you running?

What is it like cruising on freeways?

Reason i ask as i have a 65 fastback with a c4 and 347 windsor and it does not like cruising on freeways at 110km for very long. I've 3.00 in the diff. Did the fit of the AOD require body modification?

Drive-ability is important to me as I like doing week long road trips once a year.

Diff is 3.5   Cruises beautifully, slips into overdrive at 95kph.  Kicks down a gear when flooring the pedal at any speed.  Ive just driven back from Summernats on the M1, 4 days at the speed limit and it was an enjoyable experience.  I love the AOD.     

[Marshall]

Another thing to be mindful of installing an AOD is the position of the shifter.  I used a Lokar 7A256-AOD-AFM which works good and has multipule adjustment options.

[HRTZ65]

Thanks for the response Marshall.

I have gone with 3.5 gear in the diff.

I was hoping to keep the original shifter and use the kit from CJ Pony to adapt to the AOD. I'll find out if that works in the next few months i guess.

cheers

[Reborn67]

 Hey Guys, Have been following this thread with much interest, and now even more so,
 I am in the midst of a 347 build myself with the intent of putting a ' rebuilt ' C4 behind it, with much guidance and advice from many of the forum regulars, I would be going for a new diff between 3 - 3.5. My concern is being in Newcastle and doing highway driving from time to time the engine is going to be working hard for periods,  so now l am wondering the pros and cons of an AOD myself, different sandwich plate, flexplate, tailshaft, maybe more that l am unaware of,
So I would appreciate any more info from anyone that has done this install and their hindsight thoughts...,      Sorry to hijack your thread, might start a new one just for the sake of protocol...,Thanks  Andrew,

[Camaro91]

Yes Andrew, do that 

[HRTZ65]

My thinking and research on 347 and transmission. While i'm no mechanic and have only a little experience my decision came from reading, talking to experienced mechanics and another car that i have that has a 347, C4 and 3.0 ratio diff.

While i'm sure that a combination of 347, C4 will work nicely, my setup is not so comfortable on fwy/hwy driving over 100km/h. Factors reducing comfort are loud long tube header exhaust, standard torque converter, lumpy cam and standard water pump with custom alloy radiator. if i changed to hi flow water pump and changed to a quieter exhaust then i believe it would be more comfortable on long drives.

When discussing options for this build i was told by all the mechanics that i should stick with a C4. The reasons why they said this was
-C4 is a strong transmission and will handle the 347 better
-AOD are sluggish
-the fit is very tight
-not many AOD's in australia and transmission shops don't know much about them

When you  read all the sites in the US the AOD is a very common upgrade and works well so i kept digging.

The shop i'm using to rebuild the engine then arranged to have their transmission shop come in and talk to me about it. This conversation sealed the deal for me. The transmission guy has built many AODs and he has one in his pickup truck. The standard AOD is not a strong but by upgrading the internals and valve bodies you then get a great cruising AOD. The value body that he uses also has a little trick that makes it work better with the standard shifter for a 3 speed C4. If you want to hold gears manually you can drop into low, then you shift into the next slot and once the AOD shifts you move back to low on the shifter. This will then hold 2nd until you click forward again which then moves to 3rd and when you shift to Drive it will engage overdrive when cruising. (Hope all that makes sense.)

I'm also going with a 2800 stall converter and a Holley sniper system (exhaust system still to be figured out). All of these factors should address the concerns i had about fwy/hwy driving.

Just my thoughts and research but please do your own research first before doing your builds.

cheers

Don

PS here's the other car i'm refering to

[Dwayne]

The value body that he uses also has a little trick that makes it work better with the standard shifter for a 3 speed C4. If you want to hold gears manually you can drop into low, then you shift into the next slot and once the AOD shifts you move back to low on the shifter. This will then hold 2nd until you click forward again which then moves to 3rd and when you shift to Drive it will engage overdrive when cruising. (Hope all that makes sense.)

This is called the "AOD shuffle"

[HRTZ65]

i've never heard of that before. Thanks for your input Dwayne 

[Reborn67]

 Interesting reading, like you say.  l will do more "research" and try to track down a good trans expert and pick his brains aswell,  Thanks..,

[HRTZ65]

Looks like i lost some of my earlier updates but here are some photos of recent work done.











Serpentine kit is made by Asutralian company Wheels within Wheels. Great service and quality.

[HRTZ65]

While I haven't posted for over 12 months progress, all bit it slowly, has continued. Main reason for no update is photoshop introducing high fees and i have only just set up imgur. Hope this works.

The last of the engine fit up was to get the header on the drivers side (left) to fit with Borgeson Steering and AOD. I went with Pacemaker Headers. Once they were modified and test fitted they went off for ceramic coating.





The lower dash, steering column and glovebox all got a freshen up



Then fuel pump, fuel lines, ice ignition, aircon system installed and connected up.

[HRTZ65]

Then it was back to the paint shop for final body work and paint.

First bumper bars were trimmed down for a tighter fit.













I then had the side scope removed by shrinking the panel.





Once done the body was given one last epoxy coat. That was left to cure and then final paint commenced.



Base layer




2nd layer





Then final candy layer and clear coats

[HRTZ65]

Scope then fitted and prepared for paint. Look at the ripples in the next photo.





Final round of painting included fenders, hood, side mirrors, head light buckets, stone guard etc.

Then is was onto final sanding process before buffing.

[jiffy]

Great work - what a cracking car to start with!!
Nice colour too - and man - I know why you cut n tightened up the bumpers!!
Great idea - considering what to do in that space one day myself, the repro rear bumpers fit so badly....

[HRTZ65]

Its been home just over a month now and I'm slowly getting it back together.

I started at the back of the car with refreshed tail lights (new lens, seals and vintage LED kit).

 



Then the front.



I'll send the grill off for paint soon just wanted it fit up to see what its like. Also installed new shiny bits and blacked out the trim in between chrome trim and grill. Also installed vintage led lights in the front park light housings.

Next, i cleaned off 50 years of crude off the door latches, installed new rubber bumper, greased and installed them. 



I'm going with nu relic power windows for both door and quarter glass. You have to trim away some panel for the quarter window motor to fit. The instruction to cut the panel to make them fit does not take into account convertibles. I trimmed a small amount away and used a shim to give it clearance.





The door motors fit perfectly.

Cleaned up the quarter window tracks and reinstalled them with the glass.





Next job is the door glass which is not an easy task to install. Will provide update next time.

[HRTZ65]

Thanks Jiffy. I have original bumpers and they stuck out a mile.

It has created a couple of challenges. The front park lights needed a tweak and the rear license plate light will not longer fit. I'll make up a bracket and look for a LED alternative that fits.

[Megzee67]

Beautiful project sir.
Great eye for detail and you should be as proud as punch..
I will also cut and tuck my bumpers as the fit is atrocious.. ...any tips?
Cheers
Mike