'73 Chevelle SS Wagon (local find)

[RetroC10Sport]

BOOM! baby....

K

Rick Savage fan?

 

[Raider L]

@bucket,

I agree with you, I would make a cruiser out of it, but not computerized except maybe the TPI. Does your wife have a car of this ilk she might like? Get it and fix it up anyway she wants it. I don't car if she wants shag carpet in it for the '70's affect, I'd put it in happily. How many are around in this good shape. That left side is nothing compared to what it'll look like in another couple of years. But this guy is hanging onto it for something and any time something this rare is sitting in a yard, the guy wants a fortune for it. I'm sure fifty guys have made offers on it and they've all been low ball. He must know what he has and is waiting for some guy with a boat load of money to come along and give him more than what he's asking because of the rarity of it.

 

[78C10BigTen]

It was a perfect night for a cruise, so I took the car out and put some miles on it. All I can say is, oh my God it drives so doggone nice! Which makes sense since I recently found out that these cars actually share the suspension components and geometry (other than some differences in hardware and bushing sizes) with the '77-'96 B-body. But anyway, yeah it drives wonderfully. I should have got one of these cars years ago!

I'm still so excited about the car, I took more pictures at sunset while I was out. I'm still thrilled with how decent the car looks (from a distance of course, lol) and I really don't have that much invested in it yet.

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Notice I took pictures of the "good side"

Ya know for an ugly car she sure cleans up nice! Also why are all the lights on except the tail lights??

 

[bucket]

Ya know for an ugly car she sure cleans up nice! Also why are all the lights on except the tail lights??

It was just that right rear bulb that was out. The inboard lenses are just for the reverse lights. I actually remembered to replace that bulb before I drove it to the car show!

 

[bucket]

@bucket,

I agree with you, I would make a cruiser out of it, but not computerized except maybe the TPI. Does your wife have a car of this ilk she might like? Get it and fix it up anyway she wants it. I don't car if she wants shag carpet in it for the '70's affect, I'd put it in happily. How many are around in this good shape. That left side is nothing compared to what it'll look like in another couple of years. But this guy is hanging onto it for something and any time something this rare is sitting in a yard, the guy wants a fortune for it. I'm sure fifty guys have made offers on it and they've all been low ball. He must know what he has and is waiting for some guy with a boat load of money to come along and give him more than what he's asking because of the rarity of it.

I'm guessing that you didn't see there were more pages. But Cliff's notes: The guy definitely knew what he had, but I think I got it for a fair price. The wife wasn't thrilled about it at all, but she's ok with it now and I even got her to ride in it. It runs well and drives super nice after some maintenance items were taken care of. It's a fantastic cruiser and my plan is to leave it basically stock until I get some other projects knocked out. Unless it throws a rod or something, lol.

 

[GMFORLIFE]

So much more room than today's cross overs or SUV.
$3000 bought a lot of car..back in the day..

 

[Keith Seymore]

Rick Savage fan?

I got it from the movie "the Emperor's New Groove".

K

 

[bucket]

Well, I set out to fix the exhaust this evening. Things snowballed.

The intent was to pull the y-pipe, fix the broken spot in it that I knew about, replace the donut gaskets and replace the studs in the manifolds if it was needed. I drove it up on ramps and crawled under it. I have no idea how I didn't see this before:

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I'm not sure how it even ran. The left bank was deprived of 90% exhaust flow, lol.

So my new goal is to simply get it back cruising again as quickly as possible, hopefully sounding better than it did before. Getting a new y-pipe in short order just ain't gonna happen. I already have two different sets of headers that "should" fit the Chevelle chassis. I already have new header gaskets. I also had the bracket to mount the AC compressor. I would just have to cobble a short exhaust of some kind. Seemed like the easiest solution.

I've got these parts removed right now:

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Those frame strut rods needed removed for header clearance.

 

[bucket]

The left header is mostly installed. It seems to fit well. @Swims350 I don't know how you had these things installed on the Camaro. I dimpled the tubes for wrench clearance and they are still giving me fits, lol. You are a better man than I.

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Before getting that one completely installed, I figured it would be a good idea to make sure the passenger side header fits. I got the right manifold loose and it was getting pretty dark at that point. While trying to wiggle the thing out of there, I somehow gacked the brake line to the RF wheel. So I called it quits for the night.

Here's another shot of that smashed Y-pipe because it still amazes me:

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[DoubleDingo]

You'll gain 30 ponies easy. Usually a crazy crush is a doofus pining over a hot girl, but this is just a crazy crushed exhaust pipe hindering performance.

 

[bucket]

Just placed an order at Summit. Free shipping on orders over $99 you know. I got a pair of header collector S-bend extensions, some 24" long glass packs, a couple hangers and 4ft of 2.5" tubing. All those items showed as in-stock, so hopefully it will ship out tomorrow and show up Wednesday. Then I can weld it up and have it ready for the cruise-in on Thursday. Hopefully.

When time allows, I'll take it to a local exhaust shop and have a pair of tailpipes bent up and installed.

 

[bucket]

You'll gain 30 ponies easy. Usually a crazy crush is a doofus pining over a hot girl, but this is just a crazy crushed exhaust pipe hindering performance.

And here I thought the tiny little 1 7/8" outlet on the pea shooter muffler was the big restriction.

 

[DoubleDingo]

And here I thought the tiny little 1 7/8" outlet on the pea shooter muffler was the big restriction.

That restriction is probably the cause of the undesirable sound you mentioned. It will have a nice rumble when you get it all fixed up.

 

[Catbox]

Should be wonderful to drive after fixing that.

 

[Swims350]

I don't remember having any issues putting plugs in there with them on,maybe I just used a wrench? I know these ones for the TA with sbc and the ones on my k10 suck