The Bluesmobile

[monaco75]

Its been a long week of late nights, and a day of work today. Taking the next couple days off from it lol.

Got the trans removed. Last time the small block tranny will be in place!

I spoke too soon about the stub... After some more needle scaling, I found a little rot. Luckily this was the only area with some small holes! Got em patched up. After that, got the front of the belly coated with rust bullet.







Got the floor cleaned up, as well as the trunk, and got it coated in rust bullet as well. I applied it VERY heavy here, in hopes of it seaping, and dripping into the new seams, and what not. Used up the rest of the gallon here.






Then applied a little seam sealer where needed.



My undercoating, and schutz gun showed up. Sanded the rust bullet down a little, and sprayed the undercoating on today. Im pretty happy with it. Still have a can left for touch ups after final assembly.

 

[cantflip]

Its been a long week of late nights, and a day of work today. Taking the next couple days off from it lol.

Nice job!
So... take the day off... but how long until you plan to be driving her?

 

[monaco75]

Nice job!
So... take the day off... but how long until you plan to be driving her?

I honestly have no clue lol. Really don't think about it. When I started I told the ol lady "6 months, and oh I'll be done.".. HA!! Lmao

My hold up right now is the "new" 9.25. I have to get it rebuilt. Need to steal the backing plates off of the old 8.25 for it, and find a shop to re do it.

Mt current goal is to have it back on its wheels temporarily by april 14th. The family is coming down, and I'd like them to see it off of jackstands haha.

 

[cantflip]

I honestly have no clue lol. Really don't think about it. When I started I told the ol lady "6 months, and oh I'll be done.".. HA!! Lmao

My hold up right now is the "new" 9.25. I have to get it rebuilt. Need to steal the backing plates off of the old 8.25 for it, and find a shop to re do it.

Mt current goal is to have it back on its wheels temporarily by april 14th. The family is coming down, and I'd like them to see it off of jackstands haha.

Good luck on you mission....

 

[monaco75]

I posted right before the site maintenance. Seems to have disappeared lol.

Pulled, cleaned, and painted the heat shields. Also cleaned and painted the gas tank straps. I got the new gas tank out, and painted it in eastwoods tank tone. Also put a coat of clear on for extra insurance. Kinda dissapointed though. Spent big $$ on the eastwood paint, and it looks exactly the same as the cheap local bought aluminum paint on the shields. Oh well....

Once the tank was dry, installed the new sending unit, and hardware. Got everything installed on the car, including the new fuel lines. Think it came out pretty good. The lines are a bit different then the originals, but they will work just fine.

 

[Rwc]

Did you do any special prep to the tank before you painted it?

 

[monaco75]

Did you do any special prep to the tank before you painted it?

Nothing fancy. Sanded it down with some 220 grit to give the paint something to grab. I have a ton of that rustbullet metal prep left over. I sprayed, and wiped it down with that, to get rid of the "shipping oil". Then sprayed and wiped it down with water for a final cleaning.

 

[monaco75]

I've been busting my ***, but feel like I have nothing to show for it lol.

I called up a buddy, and he is helping me rebuild my 9.25. I took it over to his place. Luckily he has tons of parts to pick through. It turned out I had a cone type sure grip to put in it, but it was no good. He has a clutch type that I'm going to pull out of a truck too put in it. I already have new clutches to service it.

The backing plates on it were all bent up from being pushed around on the floor the last however many years. I planned on yanking the backing plates from my old 8.25 that was in it. And I did, but found they were way too coroded to use. Luckily my buddy had another old 9.25 with good backing plates! These are 11x2.5 too! They will replace the original 11x2s. Another upgrade! Also got a better cover from another rear end to use.

I also took the rear to work for some welding. Installed the "pucks" from the firm feel iso eliminator kit. They came out good! Got the rear, backing plates, and yoke cleaned and painted.







My buddy also talked me into running a set of 3.55s he has. Car should have a good bit more umphhff now, with these, and the big block going in!

I was trying to remove the wheel studs from the axles today with my vise. Bad decision.. Broke my vice in half lol. Studs didnt budge an inch. You guys have any recomendations??

 

[commando1]

If it broke the vice, they are not coming out without a 60 ton press. lol

 

[monaco75]

Yea, prolly gonna have to run them to a shop to be removed.

They really don't "neeeedddd" to come out. But they are crusty, and I want all new hardwhare. Plus I wanna paint em lol.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

I just ran a die over all the wheel studs, had to buy a LH die. Get the ones that are hex and put it in a socket.

Alan

 

[commando1]

I just ran a die over all the wheel studs, had to buy a LH die. Get the ones that are hex and put it in a socket.

Alan

Now that makes more sense.

 

[66monaco]

i got mine out just hammering with copper hammer....

 

[monaco75]

It's home! Finally finished building it. For any interested, all newer truck internals will work in an older 9.25. It takes a little persuading, but the tone ring on the newer center chunks just barely fit in the case. She's got the set of 3.55s in her.

She got a couple scratches in the new paint that I just finished fixing. I'll be working on getting her installed, along with the rear suspension over the next couple days. Just ordered all new brakes, and hardware from summit. Car should be back on her feet for the first time in 2.5 years here in the next week or 2.



I was able to beat the studs out with a sledge. Beat the shot out of em, but they finally came out. New ones went in the same way.

 

[65Fury440]

Wow Zac that sure is purdy. Those 3.55s will liven things up a bit. What motor are you putting in it?

 

[monaco75]

Wow Zac that sure is purdy. Those 3.55s will liven things up a bit. What motor are you putting in it?

The 440 I got from Ross a few years back. Pretty stock rebuild with a small cam, and a few goodies.



Wondering if I should run a stock convertor, or get one with a little more stall. Still need to get the big block 727 rebuilt...

 

[65Fury440]

The 440 I got from Ross a few years back. Pretty stock rebuild with a small cam, and a few goodies.




Wondering if I should run a stock convertor, or get one with a little more stall. Still need to get the big block 727 rebuilt...

That will be a damn fine and proper Blusmo engine.
Maybe dig around and find a 10 3/4" or 10 1/2". If you had a small block, you may already have a smaller convertor, slap that sucker on and see how it works.

 

[cantflip]

3.55 and 440 should make it easy to break traction... maybe not ideal for big road trips...but who cares? Zac yours will definitely be the baddest Blumo around... thanks for keeping us up to date.

 

[commando1]

Can not wait to see this thing on the road!!!


What I said FOUR years ago:

Now don't be using that word "Bluesmobile" around here....

 

[Fratzog]

Impressive resto work. Thanks for the update. You obviously are emotionally attached to that car. I know the feeling well.