1962 Bel Air Bubble Top 409 Project

[CASHguzzler409]

Thanks Mike, I remember the months of sanding and body work. My partner had the car at his shop, so he would work on it every day, and sometimes at
night he would take parts upstairs and work on them on his dinner table. For the most part, people not in the car restoration hobby have no idea of the
1000's of hrs you have to work on these to complete a very nice restored car. Keep up the work, maybe we will see each other at Bowling Green next year.

 

[CASHguzzler409]

Had my long time friend come down and install the front windshield yesterday. It was not a easy task, as many aren't on this car, we had to modify the side
stainless and the clips too. After 4 hrs, it was in as good as he could get it. Today installed the bottom stainless and worked on some of the remaining interior
dash moldings. The side interior moldings are giving me a fit, it looks like they slide into a slit next to the weather strip on the pillar. Guess there's tomorrow
for that project.

 

[CASHguzzler409]

Thanks Mike, can't wait to see more of your car, its a long, hard, fun thing to restore these cars. Keep plug-in away, maybe see you at Bowling Green next year.
stan...

 

[Jim Sullivan]

Lookin great Stan!

 

[62bubble]

Stan, Jim and I have been working on my project the last few weekends, and have made good progress. I Just had some surgery done(Gall Bladder removed} so I won't be doing much on the car for about four more weeks. I will be posting some of the progress Jim and I have made on the car, now that I will be taking it easy so that I have a good recovery. I would love to get to Bowling Green next year. Where can I find the info on that?"

 

[Jim Sullivan]

Hey Mike glad your feeling well enough to be on the site! Here is a link to the post about Bowling Green http://www.348-409.com/forum/threads/nhra-hot-rod-reunion.31209/

 

[tripower]

Looken good...

 

[CASHguzzler409]

Hope your feeling better, and have a fast recovery. We'll be watching for your recovery and waiting for more updates when you can.

 

[CASHguzzler409]

Hey Tripower I have a question for you or anyone that might know. On the interior side of the quarter window, on the window upper channel there is a
section of metal that is below the red moldings, its about 1/4 wide, and ends up at the bottom of the felt channel, what color is it suppose to be. I have it painted white and black in the picture, I thought it would be covered by the upper molding... Wrong....but it just does not look right. I was thinking it might be black?. Thanks for any help.. the books just don't tell you everything. lol

 

[tripower]

Hey Tripower I have a question for you or anyone that might know. On the interior side of the quarter window, on the window upper channel there is a
section of metal that is below the red moldings, its about 1/4 wide, and ends up at the bottom of the felt channel, what color is it suppose to be. I have it painted white and black in the picture, I thought it would be covered by the upper molding... Wrong....but it just does not look right. I was thinking it might be black?. Thanks for any help.. the books just don't tell you everything. lol


View attachment 39383 View attachment 39384

Mine was painted gray so it blends in with the chrome window frame.

 

[CASHguzzler409]

I'm leaning towards black, it would match the black rubber that you see on the door.

 

[CASHguzzler409]

I am at the stage where I am trying to adjust the clutch? As usual things aren't going in the right direction. After trying to adjust the upper clutch
rod, I decide to make sure the lower one was on right, well I messed around a little, and the lower clutch rod broke off at the end where it goes into
the small clutch fork pin. This part seems a little weak to me, except for the price of one. Ok... After reading all I can on the forum, I see its kind of a problem
area. I watched a video of installing the clutch fork, and decided to ck if that was put in right. NOT.... I take off the inspection plate and find out
that our clutch fork spring retainer has snapped the weld. I now try to take the fork out... no way. I talked to my friend and he thought if I loosened
up the bell housing just a little it might slip out. As I had it up on stands anyway, I undid all the bolts, not as easy as you think, with fat hands.
Well I did move the bell housing just enough to get the fork out. I thought about the fork spring and decided to try something, I removed the spot weld
and drilled a hole and installed the spring with a nut and bolt? Do you guys think this will work?. or should I get it welded?. Now my concern is do I have the right bell housing clutch fork for a 62 409. ? The one I have has quite a bend in it.

 

[Last 60]

Cash, I may be all wet here, but I don't think the fork on Scotts '62 has near that much of a bend. That's just from my memory. I'm sure some one in the know will chime in soon.

Lonnie

 

[62impala409]

Cash, I may be all wet here, but I don't think the fork on Scotts '62 has near that much of a bend. That's just from my memory. I'm sure some one in the know will chime in soon.

Lonnie

That fork looks different from the forks at Show Cars and Ecklers. Both show this one. http://www.lategreatchevy.com/full-size-chevy-clutch-fork-1958-1962.html

 

[DonSSDD]

Pic from Leo's post, that one you posted looks normal to me Leo.

Don

 

[pvs409]

That is an original 62/63 409 clutch fork. The one show cars sells is a replacement and is not correct, in fact it has a bend in it that puts the clutch fork at least 1" shorter(farther away from the cross shaft) than the 409 one. The Show cars & Ecklers one will work, the lower & upper clutch rod have to be long enough for adjustment. I have personally purchased/and or removed the same fork that Stan pictured taken off a number of original 1962 Chevys with 3 or 4speeds.
Paul

 

[pvs409]

Here is a comparison of the clutch forks(1st picture below) . You can see somewhat the difference in angle. As I said above the lower clutch rod must be at least 1" longer to fit at the same pivot point.
I actually have the non original fork in my 62 SS 409 (the Show cars /Ecklers one). The reason is it has a scattershield with a large flange that would not clear the original clutch fork and I used a threaded rod that is at least 12" long for proper adjustment and to fit around my 2" tube Jardine headers. See the 3 pictures below.

Show cars sells the clutch fork spring with a rivit. I have had at least 2 of the original clutch forks that had broken retainer springs on the forks. I purchased new springs and installed them on the clutch forks.

http://www.show-cars.com//cgi-bin/commerce.cgi

 

[CASHguzzler409]

Thanks everyone for the help, and thanks Paul for all the good pictures, they really help. So do you think my idea of bolting the spring on is OK ?
I do have another question, when installing the clutch fork ball, do you screw it in as far as it will go, or is it a adjusting type part. I don't think I can
adjust it with the tranny in, can't seem to fit the allen wrench in. I'll make sure this time to double check the fork to make sure its in right.

 

[CASHguzzler409]

Thanks Lonnie, there's so much to learn about these cars, what is original and what it aftermarket. Still waiting for my bust out road trip.

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Thanks Paul for the pictures. Always a help when building from scratch.