1962 Biscayne project

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
Making a little more progress on the newest acquisition. After a little elbow action on the paint, I moved to explore the underside more closely.

The front clip was mocked up with just four bolts so I removed those to get at the front suspension. Looks very original (read: "old and in need of a rebuild"). Pans have a thin layer of crust that should come off with some abrasive substances. Gonna try pressurized water first on everything, but it's going to need way more than that.

RF fender removal.jpg

So a complete removal and thorough cleansing of the front suspension is in order, then reassembly with new components.

Front clip removed.jpg

Need to get a positraction unit in the rear end, have a 3.36 ready to go. Got a BW T-10 four speed rebuilt by "Mr. FourSpeed" (Wayne Eupers). Not sure of powerplant at this point, but it will be based on an iron headed 409 with multiple carbs. Not sure about exhaust at this point.

I like the look of steelies with the dog dish caps, they look great on a Black over Red car. Kind of a "sleeper look".

Enjoy!

TomK
 

bobs409

 
Administrator
What appears to be the original rubber mats. Pretty sure they don't make these anymore.

If they did, they would last about 6-9 months before they started to crack! Rubber products these days are TERRIBLE!!! Bought a few for my trucks and learned the hard way. I have a brand new one in the box that deteriorated! Today's tires hold up about as well... :angry
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
Mike: I haven't tried 'em yet, but there is a crank but no hardware at the moment...

The rubber mats were original, I removed them as best I could. Underneath the factory in St. Louis placed some "sound deadener" material over the pans and under the rubber mats. I removed all that material. The pans are in pretty good shape given our Midwest climate. I'll probably wire brush everything down and see what that looks like. No big areas of corrosion so far, but I suspect there are some pin holes that will develop under inspection.

Bare floor pans.jpg

Here's the rear pans:
Bare rear pans.jpg

Cheers! TomK
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
I did seal the pans after much scraping and wire brush work. Pretty darn solid for the most part. Have a few spots that are thinner than factory :).

Mike, the rear window cranks down about half way, that's all she goes:

Rear window down.jpg

I used a product similar to POR-15, something I had a quart of laying around. First coat sealed most everything. Will get a second coat.

Floor pans sealed.jpg

Plans are to go back with the red carpet that came with the vehicle. The seats have been covered with Belair material, and the door panels are also Belair, so carpet it is!
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
James stopped by this afternoon and figured out why the carpet didn't fit right (my error).

Carpet.jpg
Got the rear panels and seats in, but still need to trim the front and fit up those cardboard pieces that house the ventilation openings.

Carpet rear seat.jpg
Looking for those rectangular Belair trim pieces that go on the panels and seats. Gonna leave the front seat out for a while so I can start on the dash and metal trim pieces. Looks to be rattle can Cherry Bomb Red, not the correct color :).
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
A package should arrive any day now with those 7/16 roller rockers :).

This is the so called "Tulsa block" which was purchased a couple years ago as a "fitted block". If I remember correctly it's a 656 truck block with a fresh bore, standard crank, BBC rods, and new KB-Ikon forged aluminum pistons. We picked it up in Tulsa, OK from a car guy who had used this engine builder for previous builds. We kind of archived it for a future project (currently the 1962 Biscayne project) and one day James checks the bottom end and finds a rod pointing the wrong way :(.

He's now corrected that (just think what would have happened if it were fired up without checking) and it's getting much of the top end that used to sit on the stroker engine now in the BA409 car. The heads are 583s with SS valves and springs matched to a solid lifter cam. I had 12,000 miles on these parts and they worked fine. James has freshened up the heads, and I'm trying to locate the remaining parts needed to complete the build. Now that the SS car is mobile I need it to trade places with the Biscayne so we can prep it for this new build :) :) :).

Many thanks for James for figuring out how to make good of all these used parts :).

Cheers! TomK
 
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