[Timberline65]

Well, here is a picture of my car. The basics:
1965 Chevelle
350 ci engine from a 1969 Camaro
4 speed Muncie
4.88 rear gears
"custom" rear suspension with coil-over shocks/springs

Upcoming soon:
new slotted aluminum wheels
new tires
alternator mount (keeps throwing the belt)

Eventually:
Straight bar front axle

More pics and updates to come soon!!!

 

[1937Austin]

Blew the picture up as large as I could, but still pretty samll. Looks great from what I can see!

 

[Timberline65]

Sorry, bad picture choice. Was hoping to make that the avatar. Anyway, more pics and updates to come!

 

[56 VIC]

Where did you go??? When you read this we need an update, hope all is well

 

[Marks63PontiacGasser]

Yeah, update and more pics. Good looking Chevelle. Mark L

 

[ProMetalShop]

Nice Chevelle, Welcome Aboard to Gassers ! !

 

[1937Austin]

Where did you go??? When you read this we need an update, hope all is well

Yes! Wonder what ever became of this car?

 

[Timberline65]

Well, I cannot believe that I started this build thread and then kind of let it go. I guess life gets in the way sometimes.

Let's start from the beginning. The car was originally my grandfather's, and he started the gasser build on it. Here is a picture of the car back in the early '70's IIRC.


The car was his daily driver and he took it to several shows. In the early '70's he had it in the tri-state auto show in Denver, CO and driving the car home he blew the engine. The car sat for about 30 years before I started in on it. He came home one day and I was tearing into the car with parts everywhere. I'm pretty sure he was in shock, and didn't know what to say. I was 16 at the time.

I rebuilt the motor, and got it going by the time I was 18. He told me that if I got the car running again, I could have it. Well, I got it running shortly after turning 18, and it was given to me as a high school graduation present.

Here is a picture of the engine:


The car has 56,000 original miles on it.

 

[Timberline65]

Over the years that I had it, I put a new 2.5" exhaust system in it. Flowmaster Super 44 mufflers, and I absolutely love the sound of it.

My grandfather originally got the rear end in the air with 3/4 ton truck springs. I took those out and put in coilover shocks and new control arms.

The front end was originally lifted by taking two spindles, cutting them in half, and then welding them together. 5 1/2" inches further down. I have yet to do anything with the front suspension. But a straight bar front axle is in the works.

I put a serpentine belt setup on the car, since it was throwing v-belts like crazy. Should be able to see it here.
Original setup

New setup


With the electronic fan setup the engine was over heating pretty bad. It took me a while to get around to fixing the problem but, I went back to the old mechanical fan and just removed the spacer between the radiator and the core support.

 

[Timberline65]

I am working on getting new wheels for the car. Here is what I originally got:


But I decided I wanted some smaller and skinnier front tires. So I am selling the fronts of those wheels. To get some of these:

Well, similar at least.

The other problem I am having right now is the brake lights are not working. I keep blowing the fuse immediately. So I started following wires and measuring resistance in segments of the wires looking to the problem. I was trying to get some power to the back of the car, so I just jumped the terminal in the fuse block across the brakes fuse and in the short time I had connected the battery back up and looked under the dash I had completely melted the jumper wire.

Oops. Looks like I have a pretty good problem on my hands. Just when I want to drive this thing more!

I have owned the car for over 10 years, and really only driven it about 2000 miles.

 

[old n dusty]

i think you should try to wire up a circuit breaker. using that jumper your gonna let smoke out of a whole bunch of stuff in there

 

[1937Austin]

I'd start by pulling the driver's rocker panel trim off. You'll probably see a similar melted wire mess there. If you burnt up the jumper it means the existing wiring is similarly burnt up. Might even have burnt up the other wires in the same loom, as a melt down usually melts them all. I'd guess the rear harness in the rocker will all need replacement. That should be 5 wires for L-R turn signal, tail lights, dome light, and fuel sender.

 

[Timberline65]

Thanks for the advice. I knew I probably shouldn't have jumped the fuse connection, but sometimes I need to prove myself right (or wrong, maybe?). The next step will be to start at the fuse block and start tracing wires. I looked at the rear harness and the wires all look just fine and measured resistance seemed okay. I just haven't been looking forward to taking the interior apart for this. I have been kicking around the idea of just replacing the complete wiring harness, but don't have the available space right now, and definitely lack the funds.

 

[dsb]

Nice car! now you know exactly how and why a fuse works! Troubleshooting issues like that are fun for me. I like the challenge. Good luck!

 

[Tommy Boy]

Is it just the brake lights that failed, or are the rear lights and directions out as well.

If it's only the brake lights, check the switch, if that's OK, just make up a separate sub-harness for them. Run the sub-harness through the inside of the cabin and out into the trunk. It'll only be a few wires at best.

Easy Peasy.

 

[Timberline65]

Is it just the brake lights that failed, or are the rear lights and directions out as well.

If it's only the brake lights, check the switch, if that's OK, just make up a separate sub-harness for them. Run the sub-harness through the inside of the cabin and out into the trunk. It'll only be a few wires at best.

Easy Peasy.

I did think about that. The brake lights don't work and the tail lights don't work when I turn on the head light switch. The turn lamps do work. I have replaced the stoplight switch, to no avail. But the interior dash lights, dome light, and courtesy light also do not work. The two harnesses are tied together from the factory (at least according to the wiring diagram).

Maybe I should have paid better attention in my circuits class...

 

[old n dusty]

you should be checking for a short to ground not resistance. if you have a fluke meter or one that has the beep function set it to that. connect one lead to the brake lite wire at the switch. touch the other lead to ground if it beeps the wire is shorted to ground. start un taping the harness. i would ck under the scuffplates ,rear seat it's a simple harness it only runs down driver side.

 

[old n dusty]

oh now ya tell me

 

[dsb]

Is the cigarette lighter on that circuit? if so, those things like to short out.

 

[Timberline65]

This is good info. Thank you. I was wondering about measuring resistance, but I only have a cheap meter. I am going to look into the Fluke meter. In the interim, I will probably start pulling some of the interior out to look at the harness.

I will check the cigarette lighter as well. I don't know if it is on the same circuit or not.

Not going to be much progress this weekend since I'll be out of town for work (and doing a little fishing), but I'll post up what I find.