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Customs RainierHooker's '62 Chevy II Wagon

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by RainierHooker, Feb 15, 2012.

  1. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Well, long story short, between hauling the dog around, and going on parts runs for the Buick project, the little lady and I decided we needed something other than a little '80s BMW for the daily grind. So we picked this up from a local HAMB'er...

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Its reasonably solid, but has a few minor (hopefully) issues. The 250 Strait-6 overheats in stop-n-go and as far as I can figure the vacum choke is tits-up. I'm gonna rebuild the carb as a matter of course and see what, if any, thermostat is in there. The Power-chunk trany acts like they all do, good but it lets you know when it shifts. On its maiden-voyage, it did make it 95 miles with only one break-down (overheat).

    [​IMG]

    The font end has a lot of on-center slop, but I got a front end rebuild kit with the car.

    Plans for now are...

    Get it running like it should...
    Get it driving where I point the wheel...
    and fixing all those little nit-picky things around the car.

    Eventually, the plan is for a mild early-60s custom parts hauler. I'm not fond of the metal-flake paint that's on the car, so that's going in favor of a respray in the stock blue, with scallops, after a shave and deck. I'm thinking of a few ideas for a custom grill, and the a decision on the interior is still out in committee.

    Regardless, with a little effort, it should be a good 'round town daily.
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2012
  2. 40Standard
    Joined: Jul 30, 2005
    Posts: 5,963

    40Standard
    Member
    from Indy

    should make a great daily
     
  3. Best car I've ever owned was a $600 Nova wagon. Bought it off of a shady car lot in Portland Oregon and drove it to Palm Springs CA the following day. Bone stock 250 6cyl & 3 on the tree.

    The Mrs. drove it regularly for a few years until I got a car she liked better. I hated to get rid of it because it was so dependable. After that, I drove it every once in a while to keep the battery charged and lubed up.

    Then a good friend pestered me so long, I finally gave in and sold it to him on the EZ payment plan because he needed a good car. He had it about a year before selling it and quaddrupling his purchase price.
     
  4. KustomCars
    Joined: Jul 31, 2011
    Posts: 3,465

    KustomCars
    Member
    from Minnesota

    Nice wagon ! Wish I could find one !
     

  5. Model A John
    Joined: Apr 24, 2008
    Posts: 1,771

    Model A John
    Member
    from wichita ks

    Yup, that's cool.
     
  6. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Well, I've been tinkering with the ol' chevy on and off over the last few days...

    Cleaned up the engine bay, replaced all the vacum lines and pulled the Mono-Jet carb off and dropped it off at Carburetion Technologies yesterday. They called be back right after they closed to tell me that it was ready to go (unexpected same day service!), but unfortunatly with work I won't be able to pick it up 'till tomorrow. The carb reqired pertty much new everything, including re-bushing the throttle shaft. Hopefully I'll get to drive the car tomorrow. Or I should say, the misses can start driving it (she has claimed it as her own).

    I'm gonna try and see if I can find the time and space to start the front end rebuild over the coming week end. She's coming along...
     
  7. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Well, I managed to get out of work earlier than expected since the weather up here cancelled this evening's flight. I rushed over to Carb Tech to pick up the Monojet before they closed and quickly got home and got to work assembling. All went without a hitch until...

    ...I tried to turn over the engine with a dead battery. Bollocks.

    Now to play the charger waiting-game.
     
  8. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Well, I spent the weekend getting everything mechanical sorted out. Got the carb set up, set timing and just a general sprucing-up all around has made the car a great driver now.

    Now that that is wrapped up, the little lady and I can concentrate on the more aethstetic portions of the car. This is what we came up with, along with some Photochop help...
    [​IMG]

    Pretty much all stock sheet-metal with most exterior trim shaved.
    Acadian Grill (if I can find a good one) will replace the stocker for something a little different.
    Paint will be in the car's original color, Silver-Blue with Ermine-White Top and Scallops.
    Rolling-Stock will be 15x6 Steelies covered in 1960 Buick Caps on Wide-Whites with the car's current 2" drop.
    Interior will be Medium Fawn Metallic hard parts with Light Fawn Vinyl.
    Other noteworthy bits will be full carpet in the loading-bay and a radio-delete panel filled with Stewart-Warner Double-Blue Gauges.

    I'm hoping to make it to the auto-body-supply store this week and we can start the tear-down and prep in ernest.
     
  9. Right on RainierHooker! Thanks for sharing, really cool man!
     
  10. Are the hood louvers staying?
     
  11. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Thanks, the Louvers are probably not hanging around. The other half plain doesn't like them, and I'm still on the fence. They'll at least stay until I can find a good stock hood for cheap (or a trade). I'm in no real rush, I'm not really expecting to have paint shot until fall at the earliest, and in any case my buick project gets financial first dibs for cosmetics.
     
  12. creepyjackalope
    Joined: Apr 4, 2007
    Posts: 560

    creepyjackalope
    Member

    I love the rendering!!!!
     
  13. Bar Ditch
    Joined: Aug 1, 2011
    Posts: 272

    Bar Ditch
    Member
    from Tacoma

    Thats a sweet wagon ya got there. Just perfect for this rainy country up here. I've got a 250 in my truck and I'm so glad I did, nice power and decent milage.

    Have fun and good luck.
     
  14. Bigcheese327
    Joined: Sep 16, 2001
    Posts: 6,694

    Bigcheese327
    Member

  15. 63ChevyII
    Joined: Dec 9, 2005
    Posts: 559

    63ChevyII
    Member

    looks great.

    If youre not happy with the front end after the rebuild, they sell 'mini-subframe' kits that greatly improve handling.

    Here's a 65 Nova with an Acadian grill
    [​IMG]
     
  16. coupeguy2001
    Joined: Jan 22, 2012
    Posts: 36

    coupeguy2001
    Member
    from Phoenix

    are you sure it's a 250? they came stock with a 194.

    i put a 327 and a 4 speed in my 62 wagon, and the only nagging problem I ever had was the turn signal wire that goes down to the turn signal switch near the brake pedal, and the pivot ball for the clutch that bolted on the engine.
    (Nova blocks have an abbreviated oil filter boss for the clutch belcrank, I didn't have that block)

    I swapped in an alternator, and dumped the generator.

    I cut out the license plate area on the front bumper and made a scoop with an electric fan for cooler air to the engine compartment that went around the front crossmember to aid in cooling.

    On some of those older sixes, the water pumps were less than efficient, so I put in a Weiand pump and a new radiator. There is a V8 radiator that fits perfectly and has an extra row.

    best thing I did to it was a bigger sway bar out front and scored a sway bar for the rear out of a wrecking yard. The 400 wagons sometimes had them. Mine was a cheapie 100.

    I would just paint the blue to silver and run with it till you have plans to fix it up.

    Polish the grille with a couple SOS pads, and put all the chrome back on it.
    They look good with chrome.

    choke is a bi metallic spring. you can make a new rod out of a coat hanger and make it a custom length. add a couple bends to it so you can bend it on the fly. The vacuum thing is the choke pull-off that eliminates a total full choke on cranking.
    just saying.
     
    Last edited: Feb 29, 2012
  17. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Yep, I'm sure its a 250, the casting numbers on it indicate that its out of a '72 model year car. It was originally a three-pedal car too, the powerglide was swapped in probably at the same time as the 250. It has a one-wire alternator already, so that's nice.

    Since I put a thermostat in it, it hasn't even given a hint of overheating. The real test will be in a few weeks when the lil' lady and I are going to atempt a run to SoCal and back in the wagon. We'll see how that goes, I've got a few small projects to complete before we set off on that adventure.

    The plan is to get the body sanded down to something resembling smooth (its pretty wavy and un-even, overall) and run good ol' red oxide until I can get in a booth and shoot her the right color.
     
  18. 63ChevyII
    Joined: Dec 9, 2005
    Posts: 559

    63ChevyII
    Member

    Are you coming down for the CPP Nova cruise?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmTFzvAeuY0

    Here are a bunch of pics of nova wagons. Most of them aren't HAMB friendly:
    62-67 Nova wagon gallery
     
  19. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Thanks for the link.

    Wasn't planning on doing any sort of meets, but maybe if they fall into our schedule, we'll drop in. Mostly its just a vacation for the misses, her family lives outside of Pasadena, and since she's going back to school starting in April, we figured we'd give it a whirl, and bring back some stuff that's been in storage down there as well...
     
  20. patman
    Joined: Apr 30, 2007
    Posts: 575

    patman
    Member

  21. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Well, over the weekend we gave the wagon her baptism-by-fire. We drove it from Tacoma, WA strait-through to SoCal, to the little-lady's parents place up in the hills north of Pasadena to be more-exact.

    Things went pretty ok, until about an hour before hitting the grape-vine when the ol' mill started using more and more oil. Apparently it thinks its a two-stroke. I put the car up on jack-stands and am in the middle of a drain-n-flush and a bump-up in the viscosity of the oil. After that, and a thorough going-through of the motor, I'm hoping that it'll run good enough to get us around the area and back up to the north this coming week-end.

    If all goes well, some of you may see a metal-flaked Chev' wagon hitting-up the sights 'round LA. Any HAMB-friendly gatherings in the area this week?
     
  22. Leevon
    Joined: Oct 5, 2009
    Posts: 400

    Leevon
    Member
    from Nixa, MO

    Cool wagon. My parents came over in their '63 this weekend, 58K original miles fresh from California. They broke down on the way home and I grabbed a couple of hand tools and drove out to them. Dad and I stood there laughing at the engine bay (194/powerglide) amused that we could have fixed ANYTHING right there in the parking lot and also that the engine bay looked like the hood had never even been opened. We threw in a new $2 fuel filter and they were back on the road.
     

    Attached Files:

  23. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Thanks Leevon. Sounds like a good car.


    That said, I'm dead in the water, pretty sure I threw a rod, or at least something came apart inside the motor. I had just finished the drain-n-flush, new plugs and was dialing-in some things with the idle and along comes the clanking and banging from the depths of the motor.

    I guess I could be in a worse place to have a catastophic failure than in the hills above Pasadena.
     
  24. Leevon
    Joined: Oct 5, 2009
    Posts: 400

    Leevon
    Member
    from Nixa, MO

    Oh no, that really really sucks. I hope you get it sorted out quickly.
     
  25. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Me too. I've got to be back at work next tuesday. The car is in the in-laws' driveway, where it might be hanging out for a while. Unless someone has a good deal on a Chevy 194/230/250/292 in the LA area...
     
  26. ...friend of mine in Illinois has one for sale, good lil driver, pm me for info
     
  27. RainierHooker
    Joined: Dec 20, 2011
    Posts: 2,031

    RainierHooker
    Member
    from Tacoma, WA

    Looks like we've got it figured out. The in-laws have been looking for an excuse to visit the northwest, so we are going to borrow a trailer and they, the little-lady, and I will be towing the car back home in a couple of days.

    I've got two SBC's sitting up at my dad's place. Now I've got to decide, 283 or 327...
     
  28. Bigcheese327
    Joined: Sep 16, 2001
    Posts: 6,694

    Bigcheese327
    Member

    It's a wagon, pick the 327 for the extra torque. Glad it worked out for you.

    -Dave
     
  29. bonez
    Joined: Jul 16, 2007
    Posts: 3,487

    bonez
    Member
    from Slow lane

    [​IMG]

    Looks great man. Lookin fwd to the end result.
     
  30. frankenstein1948
    Joined: May 23, 2008
    Posts: 713

    frankenstein1948
    Member

    Nice score. I've been wanting one of these ever since we built a 64 for my daughter.
     

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