76ChevyTrucker

I've seen a couple of Venturas around here, but one is in about piss poor condition (looks like if you touched it, she'd fall apart, so so rusty), the other is running, but its a street/strip car that the owner won't get rid of.

Well, I might have to forget the whole getting a 1965-1970 Impala and restoring it since I can't really find one "locally" (ie 50 miles) but I guess I can still do the budgetary planning stuff.

Y'all would probably had a cargasm if you would have been in my store today. First things first, there's a BEAUTIFUL '66 Chevelle SS396 that pulls into a spot. Right next to it about five minutes later pulls in an equally beautiful 1969 Dodge Charger R/T (by the way, I'm starting to twitch nervously). The final straw was a 1967 Corvette Sting Ray 427 convertible with the top down. I literally had to excuse myself and go borrow the "facilities" for a moment. When I get back I find that the Chevelle has departed, but in its place is a mid-60s Pontiac Bonneville, I'd say that it was restoreable, but the restoration hadn't be started. But yeah, that's all I've seen so far, at least all I've seen that's mentionable.

Nah, subtract 26,999 from it and I might consider it.

Yeah, roughly, then you've got the labor involved. Most of the notes I've seen about it is that they entire exhaust system on the car is welded togther, so there'll be some cutting and splicing done to get any of those to fit in.

AutoZone: $87 Advance Auto Parts: $81.50 CarQuest: $100. NAPA: $119

92-ish Cavalier wagon, 3.1L, right? Hold on, I'll get you a price or three.

Hey, its true, I've handled the Claymore before, on the outwardly-curved side, it has in BOLD YELLOW LETTERS "THIS SIDE TOWARDS ENEMY"

The Eldo is a great car, normally they had a pretty substantial stereo in them from the factory

I know what you need Chris...You, you, you need a 1985 Chevrolet K30 crew cab duallie with a 454......I think that'll work....or at least anyone in traffic would be scared of you....

knock down, drag out

Yeah, but the funniest thing is that the REASON for those warning labels is because some doofus went and did it. Why do you think that the Claymore anti-personnel mine has in BIG BOLD YELLOW letters "THIS SIDE TOWARDS ENEMY"?

I'd buy it. Most of the cars with the 4.9 are reliable, stable and easier to repair cars than those with the Northstar. The only real complaint about the Northstar powered cars is that they do a few electrical gremlins here and there. But from what a few people have said, most Cadillacs have some electrical gremlins here and there.

I still think that one of my funniest flight experiences is when my aunt and uncle were stationed in Germany (Ramstien AB). The flight from Atlanta-Hartsfield to Heathrow wasn't bad at all, nice flight in the 747. Once I got to Heathrow is where the fun began. From there I got to catch a C-130 into Ramstien. Some poor sap next to me on the Herky-bird decided he wanted to blow his lunch when the pilot took us on a little low-level excursion to show us some of the sights in Germany.

Joe, I saw the '67 Impala, and the thing that worries me is the face that there is no hood. The rest I could live with, but there's no hood, I wanna hood! both of the Chevelle/Malibus look all right, but the one that scares me the most is the keyless one. That'd worry the crap out of me since you can't get into the trunk and see what kind of damage is in there. Both of the F-bodies look nice, but I was thinking of one in slightly less fully-up condition than that. But good finds and there's a chance I may pursue them. Biggest thing I wanna do right now is really just find out what kind of budget I need to set aside for such a project. Then I have the job of convincing the wife that this is a REALLY good idea. Once those two things are done, the buying of the car won't be too hard. If I dig through the local bulletin board here I may find one, or all three of the needed vehicles in there for about as much as Ebay has 'em for.

Well, that all depends on your state's emission guidelines. Here in Alabama, you can slice the cats off anything, there's no state-mandated emissions testing. As far as driving with one straight-piped, no difference, in fact, you may notice a slight increase in oomph when it comes down to it since there will be free-er flow through the exhaust system. And yes, a bad cat can cause a rough idle, lack of acceleration, crappy fuel mileage, a change in exhaust smell, increase engine temperatures, and eventually keep the engine from running completely. More or less think of your engine as a big air pump, it sucks air in, compresses it, and pushes it out. If the catalytic converter is clogged up (the honeycombing inside has collapsed and blocked exhaust from getting out), then the engine can't exhale like it needs to, which means that it has to work even harder to suck air in and compress it since there's a backlog in getting it out. Hope that this helps.

Ahhhh, so you do know about a Vette. I'll be honest, my plans would be something like this: 1) Me: 1965-70 Chevrolet Impala 2dr (4dr wouldn't be bad either, I'm thinking sleeper there), rolling chassis, complete body, some rust and cosmetic damage would be all right, but I want all the body panels there, all the chrome and trim would be nice, but not necessarily required (I'd also be willing to replace floor and trunk pans, as long as they aren't TOO bad). From there, I'd frame-off the car, get the suspension rebuilt in the front, rebuild/replace the rear gears to something along the lines of 2.83-ish rear end (something I could probably smoke the tires if I wished, but still get reasonable mileage and rpms at cruise), drop in a 6-spd manual transmission, probably 325-400hp fuel-injected small block, then rebuild the interior and call it done. 2) Amy: 1966-1972 Chevrolet Chevelle/Malibu, same requirments as above, however, only about a 300-350hp fuel injected small block, 700R4/4L60E, air conditioning all the amenities that she'd want.... 3) Squirt: 1967-1981 Chevrolet Camaro (basically an 1st or 2nd gen F-body would work), with about a 300hp fuel-injected small block, 5-spd manual, or auto (probably a manual, my girl already likes adventure), with the same amenities as the Chevelle. Overall, that's what I would shoot for, but anthing from Pontiac would also be a worthy rebuild for me too, but I know that a Poncho isnt' going to be quite as easy to find, nor will Buick or Olds, although those would both be reasonable for me to rebuild, but I'd rather do a numbers-matching restore on a Buick or Olds rather than a Pontiac or Chevy (since they would be more common, at least in my mind).

Really and truly the cat doesn't have a "probable milegage failure" like some parts do, you know, you more or less expect to replace a set of brake pads every 50k-80k miles, and stuff like that, you could possibly buy a new car off the lot with a bad cat. It all depends on the quality control placed on the parts when they leave their manufacturers. Although given your description, it sounds like a cat problem, considering that it is an OBD-I car, and you don't possibly have emissions inspections, you could always straight pipe the cat and let that be that.

Well, there is my routine for fixing sinues. Have surgery! I've had 3 sinuse surgeries to correct my problems (two before all my adult teeth came in, one after). Since then I've not really had any trouble. I still get a little clogged up and my sinues drain when the weather makes the switch from cold to hot, and vice versa. But that is more of a nuisance than a real problem. A week or so and I'm better once the temps in Alabama stabilize from "winter" to not quite summer, aka spring....

I'd really like an F-body that hasn't been hacked up from hell for Heather, but I could definitely go with an A-body, since one of my ultimate play toys would be a '72 SS454 Chevelle, or a first-gen Camaro. I know both of those would be extremely hard to find, but they would be worth it. I know I could find a Nova without much trouble. There are enough of them running around that I could probably find one locally for dirt cheap. The A-body would take a lot more digging to find, especially one in the condition that I'm looking for, most are either going to almost completely unrestorable, or already restored and the person will want an arm, leg, and first born male child. Any B-body would be extremely hard for me to find around here that hasn't been "pimped" out or in worst shape than I'd be willing to go after. Although right now I'm just looking into starting a fund for something like this since I know that I still have to get a fund together to fully frame-off my truck.

Yeah, I've been thinking Nova too, but I'd really like an A-body. I really would like to find a B-body (think Impala, or similar) for me at least, and maybe find something else for Amy and Heather. Of course, if I could find one for reasonable and still allow it to have a good body, Amy is looking for a Vette Sting Ray, but its somewhat doubtful I'll find one in that price range.

Or hell, find three cars, build one for me with all the performance I could handle, then build one for the wife with slightly less performance and more creature comforts, then buy one that I could VERY slowly restore and give to squirt.

Definitely a keeper, I'm thinking Resto-Rod. Keep it rather original looking with modern goodies thrown in. Probably small block powered with a 4-6spd manual transmission. Really, y'all will laugh at this, but I'm thinking of something I could build for my wife to drive for a few years, then when she gets old enough, give the car to squirt. Of course, I'd love to find a two-for deal so I could build one for myself, but that'd be a pretty big if.

All right boys and girls. I've got a BIG question to ask. I'm looking for a long-term project car. My requirements are that be General Motors, 1955-1975. I'd prefer a muscle or pony car, but that is not a requirement. My biggest requirement is that it be a rolling chassis. It doesn't have to have an engine, it doesn't really have to have an interior. Keep in mind this will be a long-term (ie 5-ish years) project vehicle. I also know that I don't want to spend a lot of money on the initial purchase, I'm thinking about $2,000 for the initial rolling chassis. The rest I can come up with as time passes on. Any suggestions?

First thing, whatever nimrod you had reinstall the O2 sensors, was a clutz, you're not going to find the O2 sensor harness on the INTAKE, you will, however; find it on the EXHAUST. If they've been cut, you should be able to find the dangling wires somewhere...