1959 Chevy Kingswood project

unless you plan on hoping with the lowriders or blazing a new record at your local autocross then boxing the frame is a lot of effort for nothing. the center section is already boxed and it is just the end of the frame rails which arent already boxed from the factory. reinforcing of the frame is something the lowrider guys do when hopping the car and it isnt so much boxing as reinforcing. the control arms and stuff do get boxed though. Power steering is a good choice, your options are the 605 box which has been done thousands of times,it's just an easy bolt in .( added this to my car once it was on the road) when you get your new engine plan on the correct pulleys now to add it later. the new 500 box i believe or rack and pinion ( i did this swap a few yrs ago and not sure if i would do it all over . it is more precise but increases the turning radius of the car.

 

Wagon Man, that's just what Stephen, the shop owner, told me today - that the center section is already boxed. He really thinks further reinforcement would be unnecessary.

I went by this morning and ordered the engine and transmission, and saw that they were cutting out the floor to get the new pan in. Lots of sparks flying and a great photo op - but I had left my phone at home (d'oh!). I borrowed the owners' phone and took a couple of pics. Hoping they'll send them to me soon. The guy working on it said he hopes to have the new pan in place by the end of the day today, and he'll finish welding it in tomorrow. I may go back later today and get some pics.

Might be hard to see details from the pic, but I ordered the 350 crate pictured as "Ready to run Engine Package #1." You can see it on the far left column.

 

Do you need my PO box number or street address so Jegs can ship that engine?

 

So you approve? Did we do okay?

Free shipping, too!

 

Even my wife doesn't wait for my approval on anything. Sure you did okay. New is always good. I wished I'd done that instead of buying a used engine.
But you didn't answer my question. Do you need my PO box number or street address so Jegs can ship that engine?

 

Woohoo - a little live action shot. Video should be viewable if you click on the image. PS - I had to adjust some settings. Video should work now.

 

To answer your question...

 

For some reason I can't view it.

I'll say this, you sure are having fun with this project and you don't even have wheels on it yet!

 

A few more pics... smoothing over the cut edges. They expect to get the pan in before closing today. It's possible they may have to split it to get it in place, though. Apparently that's not a big deal.... they just weld it back together after it's in place, with a reinforcing strip of metal underneath. Sort of like taping it, I guess.

Huh... does that look like the original radio to you guys? I've haven't looked at it closely.





Here's the outside view of the shop. The owners tell me they're been getting lots more inquiries about restoring classic cars, because people driving by can see the Kingswood and the Chevelle parked in the bays. You can sort of see the Kingswood behind Door No. 2...

 

I'm not sure how to post a video... I can see it when I click on the image, but I don't know why no one else can.

Anyhow, the still pics are the same thing, just without the noise....

 

in the pics you posted you can see
1- how the center section and the framerails are already boxed
2 - the weakness of the x-frame cars is the lack of outboard framerails
3- yes that can be the stock radio
4- wouldnt waste my time with a custom autosound but if you want one i can sell you one cheap
5- check out the retrosound radio works well.fits the dash.tuff to see . easy to hook up ipod,iphone,or usb device

 

We had a little discussion at the shop yesterday about wheels... I plan to order 15" wheels that look as much like the original 14" ones as possible, so I don't want any fancy mags or anything. Just plain steel, painted to match the car like the originals were. I would like to put those dog dish caps on it.

What do I need to know about ordering the 15" wheels to ensure that the dog dish caps will fit?

Does anyone have a recommendation about what kind to get?

 

Thanks for the info.

Hubs said he can get the original AM radio working (if it is indeed original), but what he thinks is more important is to have an outlet for an iPod so we can play music from that. Then, he will put in good speakers behind the existing speaker covers. We'll be discussing this in more detail later... I'm not sure how I'd feel about giving up FM radio. I don't listen to it all that much, but it is nice to have access. There's also satellite radio... I've never had it but hubs has it in his car and apparently couldn't live without it!

 

Lisa,
We put 15 inch wheels on our Chevelle wagon to replace the 14 inch that came on it. I got them at the salvage yard, sandblasted them, and painted them. We found the dog dish caps at a swap meet. I'll bet you can get dog dish caps as reproductions, let me know if you want to explore that avenue, I think I can find them for you.
I'd get 15 inch wheels that are 7 inches wide, I did. I don't know the bolt pattern on yor wagon. It will be either 5 on 4 and 3/4, or 5 on 5. Either way, if you are looking in a salvage yard...........look at station wagons. Lots of them had 7 inch wide wheels.

 

Check Coker tire