My 1967 Belvedere Convertible Plans and Restoration (aka - Mad Scientist Build)

[conv67bdere]

And now for something completely different . . .

Along with the 4-wide professional - was this additional 4-wide eliminations . . .

How's this for interesting . . .



How about riding a motorcycle and almost 200 MPH in a 1.4 mile . . .

 

[usaroadrunner]

Along with the 4-wide professional - was this additional 4-wide eliminations . . .

How's this for interesting . . .

View attachment 181013

How about riding a motorcycle and almost 200 MPH in a 1.4 mile . . .

i wouldve like to try it khan, i had a modified zx9r back in the day ran a low 10 sec in 1/4 and hit 195mph in a 1/2 mile. oooooooh the good ol days. lol thanks for posting the pics.

 

[conv67bdere]

i wouldve like to try it khan, i had a modified zx9r back in the day ran a low 10 sec in 1/4 and hit 195mph in a 1/2 mile. oooooooh the good ol days. lol thanks for posting the pics.

You would not have had to ask me twice USARR . . . I'd love to give it a try . . . no doubt about it . . . ( smile ) . . . I agree with you.

 

[kb67mopar]

I had a Honda CBR600RR that was darn quick too. I think was 12's in the quarter but I don't think you could pay me to ride a bike any faster...I went 140 and thats all the faster I need to go on 2 wheels!

 

[conv67bdere]

I had a Honda CBR600RR that was darn quick too. I think was 12's in the quarter but I don't think you could pay me to ride a bike any faster...I went 140 and thats all the faster I need to go on 2 wheels!

But on the racetrack, you don't have to worry about people pulling out of side streets and cutting you off . . . I'd like a chance to work my way up to 200 ( is I could )

 

[kb67mopar]

But on the racetrack, you don't have to worry about people pulling out of side streets and cutting you off . . . I'd like a chance to work my way up to 200 ( is I could )

True, but I guess I just don't have the cohones to hit those speeds in the open air. It's too easy to blow a tire or something like that and end up a splat on the pavement. (not that 140 would be any better).

Either way, more power to ya! I'm loving the belvedere progress you've been making too man, keep up the good work.

 

[747mopar]

I have no desire to go much above 100mph, for me it's all about excelleraration. I've had a couple bikes up to 125 mph and some cars well over 100 as well, to many things can go wrong real quick.

 

[conv67bdere]

Picked up a new tool at the Charlotte Auto Fair . .

While attending the Auto Fair, I picked up this new tool to help me with my rebuilding . . .

So far, it seems to be a great help . . . 10" throat-less shear . . .



And a closeup of the blade . . .



Hope it helps . . .

 

[conv67bdere]

Time to get back to the mini-tubs . . .

Spent most of the night, last night, working on the outside-inner fender . . . and some time tonight, working on setting up the inside-inner fender.

Wondering how much room, all this extra effort, is going to gain me for tire size.

The front of the mini-tub wheel well . . .



And the back of the wheel well . . .



And a measurement - looks like a 15" wide tire might fit with no concerns ? ? ?



Also - ran out of wire tonight, and finally switched the spool to the .024 spool that I got a while back to give it a try. Been welding with the .035 wire, and think that I'm finally starting to get the hang of it ( most of the time ) . . . every now and then I feel like a rookie ! ARGH ! ! My engineer friend suggested that I try the .024 wire, and told me that the thinner wire, will carry less heat with it, and might make the welding a little easier and could help prevent warping. I did get a chance to tinker with it, after I figured that I had to turn the feed spool around to use the thinner wire, but not enough to know what I think of it yet . . .

Time will tell as I work on the rest of the mini tub . . .

 

[Propwash]

Awesome! Looking good! As far as the wire goes, it depends on the user and welding style. Myself I stick with .030-.032. As far as the heat goes...there's a trade off. The smaller wire will require less Amps (heat) to puddle out. But the flip side, the smaller wire requires a longer hold to fill the same area as the larger wire, thus adding the same or more heat. So at those diameter's it's almost a wash. Myself I like the bigger wire because I don't need to hold the arc as long and risking burn through, and i'm use to its traits. I keep a spool of .024 around for the real small/precision work. Good luck. Keep on welding, best way to learn. You'll figure out what works best for you.

 

[hunt2elk]

The wheel wells are looking great - what size rubber are you putting in there?
As far as the wire size, I started out using .030. When the kid started coming over he switched it over to .024 and used that for everything. I guess it is just a personal preference thing.

 

[conv67bdere]

The wheel wells are looking great - what size rubber are you putting in there?
As far as the wire size, I started out using .030. When the kid started coming over he switched it over to .024 and used that for everything. I guess it is just a personal preference thing.

Hey H2E . . . not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'm wanting to get the "deep dish" look, so I'm planning ahead . . .

The car is currently stripped down and I'm fixing all the rusty metal . . .
There's nothing left in the car that will burn . . .
I don't know how big of a tire I'm going to go with, but the deep dish is the look I'm trying to achieve.
So to prepare for it, I might as well take advantage of the car "shell" and get everything done now.
Going to move the springs over 3" too - that much more to help achieve my desired "goal" . . . I hope ( smile )

I don't want to have to come back, after the car is in paint, and try and do this when the car has carpeting in it . . . so, hopefully, I've thought it through and will prevent me having to go back and re-do it at a later date . . .

But we all know how "plans" can turn out . . .
( especially you H2E - hate to say, but I'm probably going to follow along with your kind of luck through this build ( sigh ) )

 

[Mr.SpeedFreak]

The wheel wells are looking good and spacious khan! 15" is room for some serious tires haha gonna be one mean machine!

 

[conv67bdere]

Working on my obsession . . .

Got a chance to spend some more time in the shop tonight and get a chance to work with the .024 wire - had some good success with the welding tonight and made some progress on the reattachment on the inner wheel well.

got the top of the wheel well re-welded in place - and I'm pretty happy with the results . . .



Credit for the "obsession" goes to Propwash - who used that phrase in a PM communication that we had and I felt that is was OH SO FITTING . . .

Propwash and H2E - Thanks for your contribution and input on the different welding wire sizes - and with the welding that i did tonight gave me a little better understanding of what you meant - I can see how the smaller wire reacted differently then the thicker wire. But I'll need some more time with the .024 to see how it goes ( BTW - I've got a 10# spool loaded up so I'll get plenty of practice ).

- - - Updated - - -

The wheel wells are looking good and spacious khan! 15" is room for some serious tires haha gonna be one mean machine!

Thanks Speedy - don't know that I'll be going that big . . . but it's good to know that I "can" go that big if I so decide to ! ! ( smile ) . . .

 

[747mopar]

Nice progress Kahn, glad to see you back in the tub.................that didn't come out right "sorry". I would love to see 15"s in there, the 10's I just got which are actually 11" on the outside look pretty big under there let alone 15". Question, are you planning on narrowing the axle to get that look? I like the .032-.035 myself but think the absolute most important thing is a good hood with the right lens where you can see clearly. If I could have afforded it I would have used a triangulated four link for the rear hmmmmmmmmmmm. Looking good

 

[Propwash]

Right on man....Make some sparks!

 

[kb67mopar]

Nice progress Kahn, glad to see you back in the tub.................that didn't come out right "sorry". I would love to see 15"s in there, the 10's I just got which are actually 11" on the outside look pretty big under there let alone 15". Question, are you planning on narrowing the axle to get that look?

I think he is correct. To get that look you want with a deep wheel you will have to pull the wheel mounting flange inward a few inches.

Those welds look really good. I can see how much you've improved!

I'll have to try and give you a call to catch up..

 

[conv67bdere]

I think he is correct. To get that look you want with a deep wheel you will have to pull the wheel mounting flange inward a few inches.

Those welds look really good. I can see how much you've improved!

I'll have to try and give you a call to catch up..

Yes KB67 . . . I do have plans on narrowing the rear end on the car to help me achieve my "deep dish" look . . .

 

[Herr_Poopschitz]

Not sure what wheel diameter you plan on going w/...I'm planning on 18s...and the only 28"ish tire I can find is a 295/45 that's somewhat affordable. Also, not sure how much you plan on lowering yours, or the exact config of your inner wheelwell, but mine measured closer to 13 3/4" or so at the concaved portion of the quarter.

If I had it to do over again, I would've done a true minitub and not tried to conserve the stock sheetmetal/look since I've decided to hack up my trunk anyway.

I need to start a build thread of my junk...

 

[conv67bdere]

More bad luck - but worked in the shop . . .

While I was working in the shop last night ( yes, I was wearing eye protection ) everything appeared to go well. Then in the middle of the night I woke up and felt like someone had dumped a bucket of sand into my left eye - I've had this feeling before - I had something in my eye. So, a visit to the doctors was in order -told the Doctor that I had a piece of metal in my eye - she replied, maybe it's just scratched . . . I responded, no, something is in my eye. So she looks in my eye and says Yup, I can see it.

So she get the piece out of my eye and prescribes medication for the eye ( I could not WAIT to get out of the office to get the meds ! ). The end result, the doctor told me that I've got a corneal abrasion - but it'll heal quickly ( apparently the eye is very quick healing - that's good )
So, my bad luck does not only hit me with the stuff on my car, it has to happen to me too . . . Ugh !

So I was not sure if I was going to be able to work in the shop tonight . . .

But I did . . . wanted to keep my progress moving forward . . . Here's what I got done:

The beginning of filling in the gap for my mini tubs - from inside the wheel well . . .



And the view from inside the car . . .



Seems to be going pretty well so far . . . now to go put some medicine in my eye . . . Grrrrrrrrrrrr . . .

- - - Updated - - -

Not sure what wheel diameter you plan on going w/...I'm planning on 18s...and the only 28"ish tire I can find is a 295/45 that's somewhat affordable. Also, not sure how much you plan on lowering yours, or the exact config of your inner wheelwell, but mine measured closer to 13 3/4" or so at the concaved portion of the quarter.

If I had it to do over again, I would've done a true minitub and not tried to conserve the stock sheetmetal/look since I've decided to hack up my trunk anyway.

I need to start a build thread of my junk...

Not sure yet what tires I'm going to use Herr_Poopschitz - I'm leaning toward 18 too - maybe 19s . . . I know what you mean about true mini tubs, but with the Convertible, I was not sure if I had the room to fit them up inside the chassis - I've got convertible top stuff that might get in the way. So I'm trying the use what I've got there method ( I may regret it and wish I also used the true mini tubs ! ) Time will tell . . . Oh, I cut out the "hump" that extends in where the quarter panels are . . . I think it gave me an extra inch or so . . .

Please DO start your own build thread - I'd love to see what you've got in the works . . .