74 spectra20 v-drive
74 spectra20 v-drive
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2008
- Messages
- 2,088
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I have owned this car since 1985, my Uncle Don who bought this brand new in 65' gave it to me when he moved to WA. It was a cool high school cruiser, at the time it had a 400 Pontiac out of a 69 GTO (Salvage yards were awesome back in the day) and was obnoxiously loud.
I started to restore this in 89 while going to school so money was hard to come by as well as time, I ended up having to move it North to my folks place in 93'. The car was 95%+ done, Pontiac and Trans were rebuilt and in the car, body work was done (had a BIL with a body shop) and I blocked my ass off on this thing, had my IROC 16" wheels and Goodyear Gator Backs all polished and ready to go, every piece of stainless trim was polished or new, all the chrome was done. I was at my Dad's place and he was helping me put a new gas tank in and I say "I would like to put a little wider tire under the back of this thing" he smiles at me and the next thing you know the body is coming off the frame...
Well after that happened I got married, my job started pulling a ton of hours, I bought my first Sanger and got a taste of Big Block Chevy power. Next thing I know I have 3 kids, I am tearing down my house, I traded my Brother the Pontiac and trans for Back Ho work on the house... now I am on my Second Sanger, then a full restoration of a Spectra and its almost 2021.
Finally my little 65' is getting some love... I spent the last 3 days with my oldest Son and my 86 year or Dad getting her dug out and on the way to restoration. The body has been in his shop under a mezzanine all tucked away and the frame was covered up outside. My Dad has racks or steel from all of his years of fabrication building trailers in SoCal as well as being a farmer in Visalia. We get the frame all power washed and in the shop and he says "I have the 6x6 steel rack (think a huge H made out of square tubing) over here and there should be some big casters over here, I think we can build a rolling jig for the frame.
True to fashion everything is exactly where he says it's supposed to be, the H frame has some 2" x 4" long round tube welded to the corners, I find some 10' lengths of pipe in his bone yard that work perfect to sleeve the existing pipe and then slide over the caster that have 18" long adjustable legs on them. A little welding and we have a rolling table that fits the frame almost perfectly. Was fun working with my Son as he has started doing quite a bit of welding at home, he did a great job getting the table squared up.
We hoist the frame up, sit it down and get it welded to the jig and then start getting it stripped. We had the old 12 bolt complete with suspension on a dolly, I had my Son throw it up on Offer UP and 12 hours later we trade a guy out of Hanford a 90 degree Rodack 3/8 impact for this rear end... awesome! I gave the tool to me Son (Riley) to add to his tool box and I am free form having to move that thing around!
Once we had the frame stripped we pulled the body out as I wasn't completely comfortable with my measurements and I wanted to roll the new rear end and wheels under it to see exactly where I need everything to end up. Width is spot on, I am going to need to take the wheel tubs almost all the way to the top of the bed and move the axel back a couple inches from stock wheel base. I want this low, pics are just below where I think it will end up... now just have to figure out how to change a rear tire once its all together...Probably set up a system with an off road style bumper jack to get the thing high enough and let the rear suspension hang low enough to pull a tire off and on.
I have a rear suspension kit coming with ladder bars and coil overs, we have gone back and forth on what type of suspension to run and I went this route based on a friends Chevelle and he has excellent drivability, I highly doubt this car will ever see a race track, this is just a cruiser...
Plan in to get the frame built and the body set back on then bring it home so my boys and I can work on it, its hard for everyone to align with time to make a trip to Grandpa's... but if its in my garage we can spend some good hours together out there.
I started to restore this in 89 while going to school so money was hard to come by as well as time, I ended up having to move it North to my folks place in 93'. The car was 95%+ done, Pontiac and Trans were rebuilt and in the car, body work was done (had a BIL with a body shop) and I blocked my ass off on this thing, had my IROC 16" wheels and Goodyear Gator Backs all polished and ready to go, every piece of stainless trim was polished or new, all the chrome was done. I was at my Dad's place and he was helping me put a new gas tank in and I say "I would like to put a little wider tire under the back of this thing" he smiles at me and the next thing you know the body is coming off the frame...
Well after that happened I got married, my job started pulling a ton of hours, I bought my first Sanger and got a taste of Big Block Chevy power. Next thing I know I have 3 kids, I am tearing down my house, I traded my Brother the Pontiac and trans for Back Ho work on the house... now I am on my Second Sanger, then a full restoration of a Spectra and its almost 2021.
Finally my little 65' is getting some love... I spent the last 3 days with my oldest Son and my 86 year or Dad getting her dug out and on the way to restoration. The body has been in his shop under a mezzanine all tucked away and the frame was covered up outside. My Dad has racks or steel from all of his years of fabrication building trailers in SoCal as well as being a farmer in Visalia. We get the frame all power washed and in the shop and he says "I have the 6x6 steel rack (think a huge H made out of square tubing) over here and there should be some big casters over here, I think we can build a rolling jig for the frame.
True to fashion everything is exactly where he says it's supposed to be, the H frame has some 2" x 4" long round tube welded to the corners, I find some 10' lengths of pipe in his bone yard that work perfect to sleeve the existing pipe and then slide over the caster that have 18" long adjustable legs on them. A little welding and we have a rolling table that fits the frame almost perfectly. Was fun working with my Son as he has started doing quite a bit of welding at home, he did a great job getting the table squared up.
We hoist the frame up, sit it down and get it welded to the jig and then start getting it stripped. We had the old 12 bolt complete with suspension on a dolly, I had my Son throw it up on Offer UP and 12 hours later we trade a guy out of Hanford a 90 degree Rodack 3/8 impact for this rear end... awesome! I gave the tool to me Son (Riley) to add to his tool box and I am free form having to move that thing around!
Once we had the frame stripped we pulled the body out as I wasn't completely comfortable with my measurements and I wanted to roll the new rear end and wheels under it to see exactly where I need everything to end up. Width is spot on, I am going to need to take the wheel tubs almost all the way to the top of the bed and move the axel back a couple inches from stock wheel base. I want this low, pics are just below where I think it will end up... now just have to figure out how to change a rear tire once its all together...Probably set up a system with an off road style bumper jack to get the thing high enough and let the rear suspension hang low enough to pull a tire off and on.
I have a rear suspension kit coming with ladder bars and coil overs, we have gone back and forth on what type of suspension to run and I went this route based on a friends Chevelle and he has excellent drivability, I highly doubt this car will ever see a race track, this is just a cruiser...
Plan in to get the frame built and the body set back on then bring it home so my boys and I can work on it, its hard for everyone to align with time to make a trip to Grandpa's... but if its in my garage we can spend some good hours together out there.
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