I have been lurking for a LONG time - been busy with summer activities and the Chevelle. So I guess a quick progress report is in order.
Recap - car is my first one - a 1972 2-door coupe, 307 2bbl California car. What fun is that? I got the frame stripped, hot-dip galvanized, and then painted with POR-15 and topcoat. Installed Global West front upper A-arms and rear as well (upper and lower) Boxed the front lower control arms, new ball joints, etc. Installed Global West springs, and Bilstein shocks Received the Moser 12-bolt with 3.90 gears and TrueTrac differential. POR-15'd it and got it installed. Stainless brake lines - installed. Body has been roughed out - basically had a rear quarter replaced due to ancient crash damage, and all rust and dents fixed properly. Had the body undercoated and firewall smoothed and painted SG black. Plan was for an LS1 powerplant - but that has graduated to a new LS3 376/480. I have not received the engine yet, but working on it. It will be sporting the T56 transmission that was mounted to the LS1 I used to fab up the frame and tranny tunnel. That leads me to my current problem. I am about to start prepping for the engine install, so I started thinking about mounting the radiator support (or at least figure out how it is going to work). I looked in the 1972 repair manual, and the bushings in my OPGI kit are not even close to matching what the factory put in. I got what looks like a 1 7/16" diameter bushing extension that needs to fit into a 1" hole in the frame. No matter how much grease I put on it, it ain't going to fit. I tried looking at my picture files of the rebuild, and I never got a clean shot of the radiator support mount. Does anyone have a clear picture or perhaps a good drawing of how the mount it supposed to work? I looked in the assy manual, and it specifically says that the radiator support information is deliberately not included in the manual. The repair manual shows a myriad of bushings and washers, half of which I am missing from my kit. Also - American Autowire or Painless Wiring - ducking and runnin'. Anyone heard of EZWiring.com? Tom Ringlein Clovis CA 1972 Chevelle - not so much in shambles anymore
