How did the human race ever survive? Seriously, though, I have a two year old and I'd feel the same way. Her rides in such a vehicle would be limited to slow drives on untrafficked back roads.
My sister is a car seat tech for a hospital. So she's like super car seat crazy. It's really fun when my mother gets talking about how they used to just hold the babies in their arms or strap em in the seatbelt with you, or even when they had "car seats" which were just to raise the kid up to look out the window. It freaks my sister out so very much.
Lol, seems so bizarre now that nobody really seemed to think there was anything wrong with that. Had to spend a good portion of my day doing yard work but managed to sneak into the garage for a little while. Engine is mostly torn down now, just need to borrow a puller to get the balancer off and I can finish getting it ready to paint and reassemble. Funny to think that this is basically all I'm going to be reusing from the engine. Well, plus the starter, brackets, and push rods. Heads, valve covers, intake manifold, carb, air cleaner, distributor, alternator, fuel pump, timing chain/gears/cover, headers, cam, and lifters are all being replaced and/or upgraded.
It's hella easy to strap a car seat in the back of an old car. Just fish ratcheting tie downs thru the seat belt slots on the car seat and into the trunk then tighten. I'll put my 2 boys in my 66 Malibu no sweat. At least if no one buys it that is. Sweet project you have there.
Waiting on a few parts before I can reassemble and paint the engine, so I switched it up today and started on the interior. Got the seats, belts, package tray, and carpet pulled out and cleaned the floor up a bit so I could assess the rust situation. Driver's side looks about how I expected it to, just one small hole to patch. Passenger side is worse, with a couple very small holes (maybe a couple square inches) and one that's big enough for me to stick my arm in and put my hand on the ground. Rear seat looked pretty nasty too. Top edge is totally gone from being baked in the sun and where the two halves meet it's covered in mildew. My sister gave me a hand with that, cutting off anything real bad and soaking the rest with cleaner. Tomorrow I should be able to get a few patches in and cut holes for the speakers, plus I need to extract a few seat bolts that snapped off.
I had to cut some 6x9 holes out of my 64's rear window when i had it. It had one 4x10 in the dash when i got it. And the hook ups for the turntable, lmao. Unfortunately, the record player was not in it when i bought it. That rust could be worse! POR 15 and some metal riveted/welded in and you're golden! Digging the progress brotha!
Kind of the same setup here, just a single 6x9 spot above the glove box and one in the center of the package tray. Putting a plate in the dash with two 3.5" speakers in it so I at least don't have any bridged or open channels. That record player would've been sweet, lol. Going modern with mine though with an auxiliary input and bluetooth. The rust patches should go quickly, just spraying on some rust reformer and riveting on patches with some seam sealer in between.
That's exactly what i was thinking. Easy peasy. I utilized L brackets and mounted my "modern" stereo system under the dash by my right knee. Easy to access and allowed me to leave the stock stereo in place. The interior of the car was immaculate tho and I didn't want to alter anything from original. I also made a tranny tunnel speaker enclosure with cupholders. Had two 4 and a 1/2" speakers in the sides of it. Wrapped it with carpeting that matched the stock carpet. I'm a little biased, but it looked badass and retained all of the original gear to keep it looking as stock as possible. The only thing that i was missing was two 15's(aka-fideeeens) in the trunk! LOLOL Does your Biscayne have the "rear height adjustment valve" in the trunk also?
Lol no. It's a total base model so no cool gadgets like that and the only factory-added option was the front lap belts. Didn't originally come with a radio, just a blank plate so I'll have to wire everything from scratch. I'm putting in a radio like this one (with knobs that approximately match the car) so it should still at least look relatively period-correct. Has a digital display behind the "tuner" window as well as the standard modern inputs/outputs on the back. I may
Got my floor patches done today (still a few to do in the trunk but getting the interior back together is a higher priority). Cut pieces out of a trashed '55 Chevy hood that was sitting around and riveted them in place with a bead of adhesive. Also drilled out and tapped the 5 seat bracket bolts that broke. After the photo I also put some sealant around all the seams. Once that's cured and the weather cooperates I'll spray the patched areas so it looks a little cleaner. Got my 6x9 mounting holes cut today too, still need to drill for screws and punch holes in the package tray for screens. Should have that done sometime this week. My sister also stopped by and got half of the rear seat covered today. By the time I have the package tray and speakers/wiring done she should have the rest wrapped so I can get the "new" interior in.
Floor patches are now sealed and painted and they actually turned out pretty good considering I did it the easy (or easier) way. The "satin" black stands out more than I'd like, but it'll all be covered with carpet so it doesn't matter. I also spent a couple hours working on the package tray this evening. Started by tracing the speaker hole locations on it and then drew on a 1/2" grid with a washable fabric pencil. I punched 1/4" holes at every grid point and I've gotta admit I like the way it's turning out. I still have the other side to do and once the holes are all punched I'll be backing it with some color-matched screen. Should end up being discrete and looking reasonably stock.
Between some unexpected difficulty in getting a matching set of 4 blankets to use on my seats and the recent rainy weather I've put my interior and stereo work on hold. I did finish cleaning up the engine and finally got it painted, just started reassembly today. Here's the progress so far, intake manifold and timing cover haven't been bolted on yet until everything is adjusted properly.
Got my stereo wired up and installed this weekend. Doesn't sound the greatest but I can always upgrade the speakers and add amps in the future. For now just happy to have any radio in it.
I also got the engine mostly done this past week. Few things are just sitting in place for now to check fitment and whatnot and I still have a couple brackets and fittings to install, but at least now I can see what the final product will look like. It's definitely come a long way from the grimy chunk of crap that I pulled out of the truck. Here's a nice before and after...
I still think it's kinda cool how simplistic it is to dress up an old motor. Would be hilarious if there was a chrome valve cover and air cleaner market for Subaru's. Nice work!
Hahaha, troof! Looks really good and gets me all nostalgic and whatnot. The first History Cruise in North St. Paul was this week! Better get a move on!!
Thanks, I've been thinking the same, lol. Even though I did a lot more with it than just a dress-up kit, the whole thing was refreshingly simple compared to the Subaru. Only thing original on the engine now is going to be the block, bottom end, and starter and it was easier than doing TGVs on the bugeye. Just a lot of dirty work to make it look good.
Soooo much easier to work on! And even so, if that motor didn't work, i was going to recommend an H6 swap.
Finished the seats today, turned out pretty nice. Backed the blankets with thin canvas, disassembled the seats, and attached the fabric with hog rings at the factory points. Used a strip of aluminum on the back of the front seat to support the fabric across the middle. Wanted to leave the lower part vinyl so it wouldn't get messed up from people sitting in back. Got the trim pieces installed on the front seat too, helped clean things up quite a bit.
Few updates: Got the holes in the trunk patched the other day, tried out some spatter paint that was sup posed to match but didn't come close. Still better than fist-sized holes though. Finally pulled the engine out and sent it on its way to begin its new life in a '61 Chevy Apache pickup. Spent a few hours cleaning, scraping, and then painting the engine bay. Also polished up a few bolts and master cylinder cap. On a more negative note, I discovered that my back glass is leaking so I had to buy a new gasket and trim clips and will need to pull it out to check for rust on the pinch weld. That also means paying someone to come out and reinstall it (could do it myself but don't want any chance of leaks again).
Possibly. I'd still prefer to drive the bugeye since it is a Subaru cruise, but I would want to fix the oil leak in it before doing that. If I haven't fixed that yet and the Biscayne is up to the task by that time, then I just might be rollin in my '64 down to LAX.
Due to the recent weather and my busy work schedule (coincidentally caused by the recent weather) I haven't been able to get much done lately. Tried to make up for that today. Got my back glass removed, gasket was extremely deteriorated but thankfully only a couple spots of surface rust in the opening that shouldn't be hard to clean up. Also finished installing the new heater core and pulled out the trans crossmember. Most notably, I put in the new steering column, carpet, sill trim, front seat, and seat belts. Leaving the rear seat out until the glass is back in. The other day I also made trim panels for the rotted bottoms of the doors (haven't installed them yet) and recovered the arm rests with charcoal vinyl. Looking pretty good so far
Took some delicate maneuvering but the engine is finally in (looks so small in there lol). Now I can make my trans crossmember, get the radiator and fan mounted, start getting hoses/lines/wiring hooked up, have the driveshaft modified, etc. Point is there's still a lot to do before it's done but seeing the engine in place is a great motivator.
Man, it's been a while since I updated this. Still super busy lately but I have managed to get a few more things done here and there. Radiator and fan are in and the majority of the wiring and hoses are done. My driveshaft is currently at Proven Force in Maple Grove, the front half being shortened with a different yoke and a slip shaft being installed in the rear. As soon as my driveshaft is done and installed I can make my trans crossmember, fashion a linkage, and hook up the fluid lines. As always still plenty to do, but the end is in sight. Hoping to meet my goal of having it roadworthy before the big car show here first weekend of September.
As a side note, there are at least a few wasp nests tucked in the fenders, cowl, etc. that I haven't gotten around to clearing out yet. Hadn't really been a problem so far but while hooking up some wires today by the battery I finally got stung a couple times on the hand and arm. Might need to spray some poison in there now...
Try vinegar...everything else seems to dislike it! I was at the History Cruise Friday night in North St Paul and thought of you and this project. Still hoping to see it down there this summer! Also, i need you to hook me up with a cell number for Dennis. I think that i'll have his stuff together shortly for him!
After a very long hiatus I finally got back to work on this old beast. Nothing real exciting, but stuff that needed to be done. I pulled all 4 door trim panels off and replaced the belt moldings and water shield/ vapor barriers to hopefully keep my new carpet and seats from getting wet. Normally that would've been an easy task but in this case I had to take the windows out to get access, made it an all-day job. Also finally installed the rear deck/ package tray trim panel and secured the loose headliner. With a few minutes of daylight left, I also mounted the tach on my steering column. Looked at OEM ones but they run a few hundred bucks, so I went with this 1960's RAC model that I found on eBay.
Period correct, aftermarket stuff is so cool (in my opinion). I have an old school Sun Tach in my Dodge.
It’s funny how you can’t get fancy dashes like this anymore. They used to be standard in nearly every car! Now, if you want something that looks as good, you need to buy a super car!
Is that in the Spyker or whatever the heck they were called? I remember some car with a somewhat airplane style interior.
Yeah, a Spyker C8 I think. Pretty cool look. I like the Pagani Huayra interior too, a little over the top but lots of points for creativity and originality.
Even though the '64 is sitting under a cover not being touched all winter I'm still trying to plan out the last bits of work that need to be done this spring. During this time I've also realized I don't much care for how the red steelies look on it and decided to go a different route. So...I just ordered a set of 14x7 reverse offset Supremes from Summit Racing along with some 175/75 white walls to complete that vintage lowrider look. On a related note, if anyone is interested in the OEM wheels that I just sandblasted, painted, and put brand new tires and trim on they are now going up for sale. A couple pics of the wheel/tire setup they'll be replaced with...
