Colossus - the 1970 Concours frame replacement project

Hello Hans,
The car didn't pull or have any real steering or braking issues that I can remember, was a little vague as far a lane manners and lane changes, but that was expected on a car with worn suspension. What clued me to frame issues was when going over rough road or railroad tracks, the back edge of the hood would rol lup and forward due to the extreme up and down flex of the weakened frame at the firewall. You have heard of tilt front end where the fenders and hood tilt forward? The entire front of this car was tilting forward.

Dasvagon,
Glad you are enjoying it. Posting it to help others and build onto the general knowledge base.

 

Well Sir, that's the key to concealing a bent chassis part. I fix bicycles to sell and it's a known used bike trick that if you have a bent frame, the was to make it less noticible would be to loosen the fork bearings up a bit. The resulting play compensates for the false tracking somewhat.
Yes, at my age, I have heard and even have seen tilt front ends. In fact, the replacemnt front end for my '56 Chevy was obtained from someone who replaced his front sheetmetal with a fiberglass tilt front end

 

Yes, CG. This thread has been a great tutor and inspiration to all of us members. I appreciate the fact that you have shared your build on a continuous and comprehensive basis. Your pictorial and text presentation has been packed with instructional detail that we all can appreciate and, someday, use.
Keep up the great work. We thank you for it.

 

OK, starting to work on cleaning up the motor to reinstall. Small oval port headed 454, based on casting numbers looks to be a 85-87 truck motor. Has no ID stampings on the block that I can find, and I cannot find casting dates either. Anyway, what I have so what I use. Was going to upgrade cam and put in new rings and bearings, but now just going to clean it up, install iron intake and exhaust manifolds, and call it good.

Lump I started with



Cleaned the exhaust port mounting faces


And pressure washed it...


You can see my sons approval of the progress, he wants to drive it...


Even Christine is happy, she wants to ride in it...


Pull the highly efficient medium rise GMPP square bore aluminum intake that is too, too much for the engine.


Doesn't look to bad inside.

More...

 

"New" intake. Been hanging onto this for years, be glad to fianlly hang it onto something...


Cleaned...



And base-coated...


Also did the valve covers...


After about 2 days and 6 nights of work I have a motor that is ready for paint. Installed new freeze plugs and cleaned everything I could without taking it too far apart.




Last pic is all the cr@p I was able to knock loose and flush out of the block water jackets. About a coffee cups worth...


Next pics should be of final assembled and painted motor. Will I get it into the car this weekend?

Stay tuned...

 

Looking good! Thanks for all the detail pics!

 

OK, so got up early on Saturday to get things done on the wagon.

No, not the Chevelle, but our Magnum which needed to be smogged. No biggie, it passed, but it is just another thing to be done.

So when I got back home I got into the motor. I had prelubed the cam, lifters, and rockers, so was on the home stretch of assembly.

Wrapped up from the grease job the night before


Time to dig in



In sunny SoCal you don’t really need an intake crossover, so it gets blocked



Intake on and some casting flash ground off



Hate getting snagged by the stuff


Mounts, fuel and water pumps, pulleys and final paint




I always paint the timing marks like this, makes it easier to see


More...

 

Looking more like it


Getting really close now...

 

My work crew, ready to lend a hand. Best crew in the world.


Some ugly guy trying to figure out what goes where. Note the engine balancer. If you don't have one, go get one. Now. Really makes these jobs less painful.


Hangin' and schwangin'. Lot's of gravity working here...


Lower and tilt motor, roll car in, lower and tilt motor, roll car in, repeat until done...



Almost


Joeys buddy Robert came by just in time to cheer. Note crews excitement...


Snaking in trans crossmember to support the tailshaft housing


Home...


And lift unhooked.

 

One last gratuitous pic of the ugly guy walking around. He looks happy to not be tripping over a Big Block and trans that has been laying around for over 2 years.

Damm, it's been 2 years?!?


The crew. Someone's not into it.


3 outta 4 smiles. Not bad.



Now for the next part of the project, front clip.

Stay tuned, thanks for looking in.
Tom

 

Awesome. I love seeing families helping out. It's great to have the kids in there, even if it sometimes creates more work for us adults.

Great work on that engine. They can be a pain to clean up, but it turned out terrific.

 

Wow! Great job! You are lucky to have such an excellent pit crew, and they are lucky to have the Chevygod as a pop! :2_thumbs_up_-_anima

That beautiful orange engine finally mounted in next to that clean black firewall is a lovely sight! Fantastic progress!

David

 

That car's going to be full of great memories!

 

I love seeing big blocks helping out. They're great for taking the edge off of bummer days

 

Big Blocks are also really handy at holding the front of the car down and compressing the springs. First time in 2 years I could "bounce" the front suspension.

Making a list of stuff I need to get onto the next steps. Will post with updates, thank you all for the positive words.

Tom