1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

[Richard M.]

RE: Rallye Wheel Center Cap Ornaments

Today I had to go to Frank Tetro's shop to drop off some hardware for them to work on, and while there I got a call from my chrome shop 15 minutes further north. They finished chrome plating the 4 original Rallye wheel center cap ornaments I recently acquired, so off I went to get them.....Great timing. Ecklers was on the way there so I picked up a few small items enroute as well.

Ornaments.... Chrome plating cost was $35 each.
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They did a nice job to preserve the detail.
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Cast #'s GW 552272 CHEVY 3901715 I also see some single digits which are likely mold numbers..... 2 3 4 on these.
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I will have to paint the lettering black and the ring outside the concentric circles. Frank shared the method with me to get the gold hue in the concentric rings. One of you in here shared that with him.....(You know who you are, and you don't live too-too far away from me)

After I do them I'll add photos of the finished pieces.

I have five 7.75x15 reproduction Bias Ply Redline tires on the reproduction(1 Western and 4 "offshore" bolt-on wheels. I have 5 restored Rallye Wheels, 4 restored original Trim Rings, 4 NOS Center Caps, and now 4 original restored ornaments. The tires will get swapped over to the Rallye Wheels soon.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: ornaments

New thread regarding Rallye wheel center cap ornament restoration ....Here.

[Gene M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

I learned it certainly has a design flaw. It's spring doesn't hold well and much play in the overall mechanism. I had to modify the springs with a hook to keep from falling out of the frame hole.

I actually made a few modifications to help make it smoother, but was limited with what I had. I bent the levers on the pawls a bit to keep the spring in place better on each. I also noticed that the angle of the lever is off from the line of the side so it's not very parallel with it. I did get them both working better, so I hope they'll be good. I tested each one about 20 times and neither malfunctioned. I hope I didn't use of of their lives.

The pin flat fit to the chrome lever is poor also, plus the pin is a bit short to get proper engaged with the lever to secure the set screw. Each of these issues I rectified by making a new pin lever and link. Another issue when the lever is installed it should be vertical and not leaning to either side. Doing a PV the operation of the seat release and locking is an issue if parts are worn. Judge will pull on seat back when latched to verify it locks as intended. One need not slam seat back to latch. All the parts need to be present, including the washer behind the chrome lever.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

The pin flat fit to the chrome lever is poor also, plus the pin is a bit short to get proper engaged with the lever to secure the set screw. Each of these issues I rectified by making a new pin lever and link. Another issue when the lever is installed it should be vertical and not leaning to either side. Doing a PV the operation of the seat release and locking is an issue if parts are worn. Judge will pull on seat back when latched to verify it locks as intended. One need not slam seat back to latch. All the parts need to be present, including the washer behind the chrome lever.

Gene, When you mean pointing "vertical", do you mean pointing to the "sky"(I hope) or parallel with the hockey sticks? These point to the sky/vertical.

This is what I ended up with after hours of work on them back then. Just took a few photos. They're on the shelf all covered up ready for installation after body drop soon.
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They were missing the plastic washers so I got those too. The AIM was clear for that. I just tested the backs again and they latch perfectly with a gentle push rearward.

Thanks,
Rich

[Gene M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

"Gene, When you mean pointing "vertical", do you mean pointing to the "sky"(I hope) or parallel with the hockey sticks? These point to the sky/vertical."

Rich,
My 67 release lever is slightly tilted towards the rear of the car (opposite of yours) but not nearly as much. Yours looks vertical to mother earth. Mine is vertical but closer to being in line with the chrome hockey sticks.

IMO the few degrees the lever is off is no big deal to me. I would assume the design intent was for the lever to align with the chrome hockey stick. Would a judge deduct for non centered lever? Possibly a point at most. To be honest I have not paid attention to where it sits on other peoples cars. Maybe others will sound in.

[Richard M.]

Re: Headlight Motors & Misc

Today the weather was not cooperating with my outside body related work, so I ended up inside with the A/C running to keep cool. About 80* outside today with some humidity. I managed to media blast and paint some small parts before the rains came.

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The front top surround/headlight reinforcement brackets are stamped L & R. i never noticed that before. Also some head markings on the original hardware.
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Rear Bumper bracket shims and radiator support shims. I decided to clean and reuse all of them. I like the idea that the original manufacturers marks will be staying with this car. Of course they'll be hidden once installed.
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Then I tackled the headlight motors. I tested both. One was sluggish and them stopped intermittently. I tore them both apart.
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I got a surprise with this one. The end plate welds had been cut from the motor housing and the rear bushing was loose in it's flat spring retainer.
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These 3 photos show the amount of play back and forth. The shaft was floating around with the bushing for some time.
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I cleaned the case and will be repairing the bushing retainer like I did recently on a C1 heater blower motor bushing repair. Here,

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthread.php?112367-1956-to-1962-Heater-Blower-Motor-Seized-How-to-Repair

That experiment was successful so I'm going to try to apply it here too. I have to Dremel cut the 6 spot welds to gain access to the pieces then epoxy to retain it after repairing the flat spring.

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[Richard M.]

Re: Headlight Motors, Bushing Repair and Rallye Wheels now with Tires

Both Headlight motors ready for reassembly. Cleaning years of waxy old grease was done in my parts washer. They were quite overlubricated.
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Photos of the end plate bushing repair included. It worked fine. overnight epoxy cure and hopefully all is well. There is now zero play in the bushing. It was apx 1/8" before. i had to fab a new felt washer seal for the end shaft before rigid assembly.
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The main gear was worn on both, so I will reverse them and get another half lifr out of them. I marked the ends for later reference to synchronize them in the car to use the new teeth of the gears. I forgot a close-up photos. Good teeth shown below. The backsides are worn.
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Both armatures cleaned, commutators dressed on my lathe along with the shafts, tested and all good.
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Reference part #'s of the gearbox parts. If the housings with the 2 large Phillips head screw mounts gets reversed, the HEADLIGHTS Telltale light will operate reversed as well.
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Also got the 10 wheels and 5 tires swapped from the Bolt-Ons and mounted/balanced to the Rallye Wheels earlier today.
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[Richard M.]

Re: Seats Bumpers and Plating

After other body related tasks today, I got the Headlight Motors finished and tested.

I did notice one bucket is binding so I'll be in both to refresh each one next.

The motor cases were cleaned to raw steel but I admit I sprayed some matte clear on them for protection. One is a tad darker than the other. I used white lithium grease on the internal gearboxes, but a moderate amount. That is all they need in my experience. Overlubricating these is not needed.

I marked the cases with notes on masking tape to verify my synchronized main gear movement in the motor's normal positions. Some pictures included for reference. Left(DS) shown. I installed each on in the car(so easy with it on a dolly) and marked the main gear positions and rotated the buckets for a sanity check. The "good" teeth on each main gear is ready for action when final installation is made.

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This is indicative of why to never use a long screw for the harness ground. It could pierce the field winding and cause a dead short. I learned from this mistake of mine many years ago.
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Done
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Rich

[Richard M.]

Yesterday morning before a related road trip to get some rebuilt items and some bucket related parts, I pulled both HL buckets and assessed what was needed. Now is the time to get this area up to proper standards. The harnesses have heavy corrosion so i now have new pieces, along with new felt seals and rubber flange seals. These will be refreshed and properly lubed for free movement. They were quite stiff rotating with the HL Motors removed.

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Front valence area for future reference. This morning I had to clean heavy grease from the inside surface, likely from those over lubricated HL Motors.

It appears to me this area is quite original.

Opinions please?

edit.....(Thanks to my friend Rich that just emailed me) I forgot to mention the broken tab for the grille. I need to repair that. Anyone have a nice photo from the backside. All of mine of other cars have broken tabs. Maybe they all were broken from St Louis.....................

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[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Between transmission pulls and fixes, trailing arm swapping, and a few other things, I managed to get all of the HL bucket parts cleaned and ready for reassembly. CLoseups of pieces with part numbers for future reference.

The dirty greasy aluminum/pot metal pieces were soaking in a parts washer for over a day and still needed heavy brushing to remove it all. The outer pivot housings were quite nasty and I had to use a light media glass bead to clean them properly. The motor/pivot housings and Y stops cleaned up nicely without abrasion. Cleaning the 12 housing screws was a bit of a pain but I wanted to save the originals.

I treated the bare steel items with a compound to preserve them.
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[Don H.]

Re: 1967 Body Lift for Chassis & Frame Restoration

Rich- no, not all the upper center grille tabs have been broken, though many have. Here is mine on my 65. The shape is asymmetrical and semi-rounded on the bottom, not visible behind the U-nut.
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[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Grill Tab on Front Nose Valence

Rich- no, not all the upper center grille tabs have been broken, though many have. Here is mine on my 65. The shape is asymmetrical and semi-rounded on the bottom, not visible behind the U-nut.
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Thanks Don. I just found a old file photo from another '67 I had which is front view. Yes a strange profile.

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I'll have to get a little creative to repair the tab on this one, but I have done this type of detail repair before with pretty good results. I'll bevel the edge on the backside and use some masking tape to create a mold, then layup some resin and mat layers. Sanding and shaping the area without breaking it may be tricky.
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[Richard M.]

Re: 1967 Grill Tab on Front Nose Valence

I just found a bag of cutoff tabs from a GM replacement nose that was on a '67 from several years ago. The extra tabs were from either side of the center to accommodate the 1963/1964 Grilles which had 3 upper mount tabs.

Just what the doctor ordered. I now have not only my correct profile example, I now have a actual repair piece.

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[Don H.]

Re: 1967 Grill Tab on Front Nose Valence

You are amazing! You found a bag of tabs, what, by the side of the road?? ?

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1967 Grill Tab on Front Nose Valence

You are amazing! You found a bag of tabs, what, by the side of the road?? ?

You never know what's along the road in Florida.