[schovil69]

This car was purchased at a neighbor's estate auction after he passed away. He was a body man by trade with lots of projects waiting for his attention but lost his health before getting to them. Aside from that, I have no other history on this car at this time.

The car was named by my daughter and myself one night when she decided it should have a name. The intent of the purchase is to get it road worthy and hand the keys over to my folks for them to enjoy while they still have their health. So, my daughter combined their names and the moniker 'Daryl' was born.

Daryl was purchased with an interior and trunk full of parts. There was an engine and transmission under the hood, but just barely. The auction house, in order to sell the car with title, was obligated by law to sell it with an engine and transmission. Since the car didn't have either, they placed a 400SBC with a 3-speed manual transmission attached into the engine bay by way of setting the combo onto a 2x4 length of lumber straddling the upper control arm shafts.

Couldn't really tell what was all in the car or it's rust condition, too many parts to move around, but it did have seats amongst it all. Although the seats were covered, I was able to lift the corner and see what appeared to be a very nice looking seat cover. Peering under the car appeared a useable frame with no rust issues apparent.

Also purchased at the same auction was a 454ci BBC that came from a 1970's pickup but has a rod knocking. No worries, plan was to rebuild it anyways.

My neighbor fired up his Farmall H and used it to lift the engine/tranny out and put it into the bed of Dad's pickup for transport to my place as well as assist in dragging the car over to my place. No brakes, not sure if the steering would hold up, but off we went anyways because we had to get it out of there. The tires were underinflated, if I'm remembering correctly, and that helped with 'braking.' Some pushing and shoving after getting it to my place and Daryl was home and in position for where he would sit for the next year and a half while research and planning took place.

 

[Fun56Chevy]

What a great start, and the fun begins. Welcome aboard👍
Does your parents know about it or is it a surprise?

 

[angs1957]

Looks like an awesome start for Daryl, very desirable model

 

[rick940a]

Good luck with Daryl!

 

[carls 56]

good read, cool project. thanks for sharing.

 

[Txsailor]

I can't wait to follow this one! It shouldn't be hard to figure out why. The 400 is a good choice if its good and you don't have your heart set on a big block.

 

[schovil69]

What a great start, and the fun begins. Welcome aboard👍
Does your parents know about it or is it a surprise?

They are aware. Dad helped bring it home and will do some of the work.

 

[schovil69]

I can't wait to follow this one! It shouldn't be hard to figure out why. The 400 is a good choice if its good and you don't have your heart set on a big block.

The 400 was sold along with the transmission it was attached to.

 

[schovil69]

The next thing we did was to remove all the parts from the car and look things over. Amongst the boxes and piles of parts in the car, we discovered in the trunk what appears to be a complete interior for the car, headliner to carpet. Both front and rear seats are there and look nice with the pattern seen in the photo from my first post in this thread. Carpet matches the seats and panels.

The floor looked solid with a couple spots that may possibly be rust through. A closer examination revealed the floor was rusted through at the front body mount of the right floor pan. The dash is mostly there, missing the script above the clock and maybe some knobs. Wiring was a rats nest. Everything looked promising.

Under the hood was a lot of duct tape on the firewall, figure it's there to keep the critters out. There's a side engine motor mount welded to the driver's side of the frame and what looks like the remains form torching off the passenger side. The battery box was found inside the car. The top of the radiator support has been cut, along with the wiring, between the wings. I suppose this was done to assist with engine removal at some point.

Dad crawled under the car to get a close look at the frame. It looked like someone was practicing their welding all up and down the thing. What turned into a lot of work later was the remains of various components that previous owners torched off. In the rear, that torching created a couple holes that needed the attention of a welder but we'll get to that soon.

The chrome and stainless is decent, everything on the car would make a satisfying driver...about a 40 footer on looks. It will all need polished or replaced when it come to paint job time. The quarter panels appear to have some blue vinyl between the metal and the paint, should be a fun surprise waiting in there. With the poor fitting tail light housings I'm planning on having to replace the quarters. Right now, the focus is on making it drivable.

Here's Daryl waiting for attention in winter of 2019,

 

[davlin56]

Great starting point for a project!!

 

[57R’villeHT]

Looks to make a great project. Keep your eye on the prize and go for it.

 

[ssffnomad]

Onward & Upward

 

[schovil69]

While Daryl waited for productive attention, I hung shelving made of a 2"x10" and a 2"x12" pine lumber on brackets rated for 500lbs each. The actual shelving depth is about 21". Brackets are spaced at 4' which should give about a 0.06" deflection with a 1000lb load sitting between them, according to the Sagulator. That should be plenty of strength for just about anything I want to put up there. I hung two 12' shelves in the garage and one in the workshop along with an 18' one. The seats and interior pieces were put up on one of the shelves in the garage, the rest are in the workshop where the car will sit, eventually.

It was summer of 2020 when Dad and I pulled the rear end out from under Daryl. We had my daughter steer while we pushed so the car could be turned around with the rear on concrete and the front tires on rock. There's a slight incline we had to push the car up so coming back down we hollered for my daughter to hit the brakes, "HIT THE BRAKES!!!" We yelled and my poor sweet daughter was damn near in tears hitting those brakes because nothing was happening. She was frightened she may end up responsible for causing some kind of damage if the car ran into another vehicle parked nearby. What she wasn't aware of that I was is there's no master cylinder on the car. She was not the happiest of campers when she realized what was going on, to say the least. I'll pay for that one, one day.

With the car in position, Dad and I set about removing that rear. We made fairly quick work of it as I recall. Everything went very smooth with fasteners coming out as expected, no broken hardware to deal with. The rubber brake line near the center came off without a hitch, the shocks, the emergency brake cables from the drums, the shackle bolts. This car did not have the factory shackles but the long aftermarket ones. We had my large floor jack under the pumpkin and worked on removing the u-bolts when the final bolt came loose the rear end rolled forward falling off the jack. The jack was nearly lowered as far as it would go so the fall was not too concerning except for my Dad's hand was between the passenger side backing plate and the ground. It didn't look good from my perspective but Dad said he was fine. I still think he's just a tough old bird, but I digress. We lifted it back onto the jack and wheeled it into the workshop in all its greasy glory. Then removed the forward leaf spring bolts and took them in as well.

Note to self, do not remove leaf springs from rear diff when removing or installing rear diff. That extra leverage would have come in handy when the unit started its roll.

I didn't get any photos of the diff prior to cleanup. The springs had what appeared to be inner tube material from a tube as liners, possibly functional but not good looking in the least.

 

[schovil69]

I found some reference photos my daughter took for me when in the process of removing the rear axle. I wanted something to reference, if need be, when putting the brakes back together. If you look carefully at the photos you can see the grimy axle, the leftover welds on the frame, the missing pinion snubber and all the other griminess under the rear of the car. Cobwebs on the brakes...been sitting a long time.

My daughter kicked off the cleanup work on the rear axle. She scraped all the crud off, then using a stiff nylon brush and bucket of cleaning solvent she scrubbed grime off. It's looking better already.

I had previously removed the brake line from the axle. Planning to use new stainless lines, I kept the brass union to be reused. I'll clean it up and give it a good shine.

Here's where I took over on the rear end, removing the axles and center section then the backing plates. The axles were interesting in that one side came right out with a light whack of a slide hammer while the other side was a bear to get out with the slide hammer. I found out during reassembly just why the one axle was such bear to remove. In fact, several of our fellow members helped me out with the reassembly. They both looked good, nothing of note during inspection. Inspection of the center section revealed a set of gears with minimal wear. The center section was taken to a local shop for a checkup along with the axles. All things checked out and with new bearings I brought everything home.

I used course(brown) then fine(blue) Roloc pads in my die grinder to remove all the rust. The course pads worked well to remove minor imperfections such as weld slag. The fine pad treatment created a surface any primer would want to adhere to. Duplicolor's DE1612 primer followed by their DE1635 semi gloss black paint is my choice for all things black for this car. The rear housing, backing plates, and pinion yolk all received the semi gloss black. I saw an advertisement for a very pricey aftermarket Tri-Five rear axle that had a red center section, thought that was weird. But then, in my research I found that the center sections may have come from the factory with a red color and now my thoughts changed to thinking a red center section would look good. So, I sprayed the center section with Duplicolor's DE 1632 Red. Good choice...it turned out well.

 

[schovil69]

Some photos I meant to put in my previous post,

Daryl sat outside for its rear end treatment. The gear tag still on the rear indicates a 3:36 gear set.

 

[schovil69]

I attached the pumpkin to the housing with new nuts and brass gaskets(washers). Getting the axles in was an issue. I previously mentioned the one axle that was difficult to remove. Well, getting it back in was three times more difficult. Thank you to all who contributed to resolving the issue, can't say it enough. You can read all about it here. I will copy the resolution in this thread, though, for those not interested in reading that thread.

My first task was to shrink that bearing as much as possible, so I took it to my upright freezer only to find there was no way it would fit axle and all. I even cleared a shelf for removal only to be reminded that each shelf has lines incorporated into it for freezing. The next best option was a bucket full of ice and water. Water getting into the bearing wouldn't be good, though. I wrapped it up to prevent water ingress and placed it into the ice water bath.

While the axle was cooling off for the next hour I went about working on the housing. I took my calipers to the housing, getting horizontal and vertical measurements so they were fresh in my mind. There was 0.008 runout, wider in the vertical. If I squeeze a cardboard tube horizontally it will create an oblong tube that's longer in the vertical sense. Squeezing the tube in the vertical will bring it back into round, though, and that's what I did with the axle housing. I transferred the jack stand from the spring pad to just under the axle housing on the outside of the backing plate mounting flange. With this firm support under I used a dead blow on top. Working slowly, deliberately, and stopping to take measurements frequently I was able to get the runout within spec. The axle still required a few firm hits on the install but relatively slid in like butter.

Sometime in the middle of all this when there were times where there was no progress to be made, I removed the fuel tank and filler tube from the car and the sending unit from the tank. The tank was in pretty good shape, a few dings/dents and no rust anywhere so a simple rinse to ensure the inside was clean then sand and paint. As nice as the tank was I imagine it was not the original, although the sending unit was installed with clutch head bolts. Then again, replacements are available for those so who knows.

With everything I do on this car I spend time reading threads on here in regard to whatever I'm doing and the fuel tank was no exception. After reading some threads on sending units, I ordered a new sending unit from Rock Auto. The unit from Rock Auto was the same unit Speedway Motors and other retailers are selling except the Rock Auto unit is about three times less costly. Also made certain to use new brass washers and a cork gasket when installing it. I did elect to not use clutch head bolts, though.

The fuel tank received a good wipe down, followed by primer and semi-gloss black paint...same paint as the rear end housing.

The axel didn't have a vent valve when I pulled it from the car so it got a new one hammered into it. I took the time to polish the pre-bent stainless steel brake lines for a little added bling. Not a thorough job but enough to satisfy me for my purposes. I had a small startup metal polishing business for about a year, which I lost in a divorce and didn't have time to rekindle it afterwards but still like to shine things up. I took the old brass union and cleaned/shined it up to match the great looking brake lines.

The backing plates(prior to axles going back in, of course) and other small parts from the brakes that are being reused made a trip through the bead blaster then wiped, primed, and painted semi gloss black. Some of the brake hardware is not getting the paint treatment. I hit the adjusters and ebrake bars with the Roloc pads in my die grinder, no polishing but they look nice. The rest in the photo will be painted. I'll put the brakes back together after the rear is back under the car.

The bare metal and polished metal components in this project are being coated with Sharkhide to protect the finish. Sharkhide is a wipe on clear coat. The directions say to use two coats, however, when you apply the second coat the first coat sort of melts off in places leaving a less than polished look. I'm still doing the two coats for protection from the elements while driving.

So, with some new bump stops, wheel cylinders, gaskets of all types and reconditioned bump stop retaining plates, backing plates, housing, and pumpkin here is the rear diff all refreshed and ready to go back under Daryl. The careful eye will notice the red filler plug sealed with a leather gasket and the untouched axle flange.

 

[schovil69]

With the rear axle complete and ready to go I turned my attention to the frame and underbody where the rear axle would be reinstalled. I'm not removing the body from the frame, so this work was completed on my back.

First stop...frame. The frame on this car has seen some action. Items have been welded to it and removed. In some places it appeared a learning lad was becoming acquainted with his new welder. There were seemingly useless welds in random places along with bits of bracketry that has long ago been removed. You can get an idea of this from the following photos if look past the brakes at the frame.

I spent the better part of a weekend with a grinder, grinding welds smooth on the frame from the rear most cabin body mounts on to the rear of the frame on both sides.

The evidence of a torch being used to remove items welded to the frame was apparent with the existence of a couple holes being blown through.

The previous owner was prepared for this and a few transmission mounts that were torched off another frame were found in a box that was in the car. I was able to cut the transmission mount from the bit of frame then cut the necessary patches needed to repair the frame. Each of the two patches were around 1 inch square. Since I don't own a welder, an old family friend came over with his welder to tackle these frame patches. Jack would weld and I would grind his welds down. Then he would weld some more to get the spots he missed and I would grind some more. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the frame holes cut for patches, the patches, or the welding/grinding.

With the holes in the frame patched I went about cleaning and prepping the underbody and frame for final finishing. For the underbody, I scraped and wire brushed all loose stuff then scrubbed it with a stiff bristled brush and soapy water followed by a fresh water rinse from the hose. Being a warm and breezy day the pavement dried in less than half an hour which allowed me to get back under there and finish the job. First a spray of primer, the same primer I've been using followed by the same semi gloss black I've been using for other parts. I even had an inspector stop by to check on my work. He didn't talk much but seemed to approve of my work.

Again with the grinder but this time with a flap wheel I conditioned the frame in preparation for the POR15 prep. The POR15 manufacturer recommends their prep solvent on clean metal, so I followed the directions on the can and brushed it onto the bare metal frame. Kept the frame wet with the metal prep for fifteen minutes then rinsed it with the hose and let it dry. As soon as everything was dry, it was time for the POR15. I chose their grey color because it appeared to have the dark grey color I was envisioning for this frame. I popped the lid off the can and brushed a coat onto the prepped portion of the frame.

I had previously given the rear bumper brackets the bead blaster treatment and metal prep in preparation of this POR15 being used on them, too. A similar story for the fuel tank straps. So, the rear bumper brackets and the fuel tank straps all received the POR15 treatment along with the frame.

POR15 recommends two light coats, so I followed directions and gave everything a second coat. The loose items hanging in my workshop by hanger wire from where ever I could find to hang them from.

 

[schovil69]

The color on the can of POR15 does not do a good job representing the actual color you're going to get. This nice dark grey color I thought I was getting turned out to be exactly primer grey. I am not a fan of primer grey. These new cars are sometimes finished in what appears to be primer grey with a clear coat on top. Ugliest color on Earth to these eyes.

So, I set about searching for the color I was envisioning. What I needed was what turned out to be a graphite grey that I found, have mercy on me fellas, on a Honda. The color from Duplicolor is part number BHA0928 simply called graphite and I think it looks great. I wasn't sure how painting over the POR15 would work out so I tried it on the rear bumper brackets first. I prepped the brackets by hand sanding them with a brown Scotch-Brite pad then sprayed 'em with the graphite paint.

The paint stuck, dried, and has held pretty well since then so I proceeded with the frame and fuel tank straps. I don't seem to have any photos of the painted frame right now but here are the fuel tank straps.

Oh, and those patches Jack and I completed on the frame are not even noticeable with the POR15 coating on there.

I had a new snubber and put that on at this time. You can see the inspector making his rounds in the background.

 

[schovil69]

I still need to get painted frame photos for this thread but figure I might as well do some updating.

Prior to installing the rear end for Daryl last fall, a shock relocation bar kit(57-388271-1) was purchased from Ecklers. It comes with new KYB shocks(343149). Test fitting the bar showed that it did not fit between the frame rails. Measuring between frame rails and comparing that to the bar indicated the bar needed to be about 3/8" shorter than it was. I read on this forum where the frame rails can be spread apart that much since the probability they came together over time was quite likely. Attempts to accomplish this task were unsuccessful, although a Port-A-Power or similar tool was not utilized. The easy solution for me was to shorten the bar.

A trip to my brother-in-laws made quick work of the task. There, he took the reigns in cutting the center 3/8" from the shock relocation bar with a band saw and using a tig welder made it one again. This guy does a phenomenal job with the tig welder. The bar looks like it was welded at a factory.

Back at home again, I cleaned and prepped the bar for paint and sprayed it with the same graphite color the frame is receiving.

Looks like that work was completed around Halloween of 2019.

Installation of the bar was fairly straight forward, although the first fitting after painting I had put it in upside down. Fortunately, I caught this discrepancy before drilling any holes in the frame and got it in there properly then drilled the holes. This was done along with installing the rear end but I still need to tell you about the springs before getting to that.

 

[schovil69]

So, the leaf springs. The ride height of the car looked good to me so cleaning up the old leaf springs was the logical choice.

Looks like someone used pieces of innertube for leaf liners at some point.

To do this work I first disassembled them into individual leaves. As expected, the bolts holding the five leaves together broke during disassembly. Clean began with a thorough bath in Simple Green with lots of scrubbing. I screwdriver had to be used to remove the caked on dirt from the groove. Then it was back to my trusty die grinder and coarse Roloc pads to remove most of the rust. This was also a good time to get the old bushing removed and new ones intalled before any finish work began so off they went to a shop of Dad's choosing. I could continue working the other leaves while the long ones were out.

While doing the cleanup work I got it into my head to do some polishing. I decided to polish the edge of each leaf so that when they were assembled, installed and viewed from the side of the car admirers would get a view of what appeared to be chrome leaf springs.

I used coarse Roloc pads to smooth out each side of a leaf. Followed that up with fine Roloc pads to smooth out what the coarse pads left.

The next step was a lot of hours with a bucket of water and sandpaper, wetsanding the edges to an even smoother finish before hitting them with a coarse, then fine buff. Once satisfied, or maybe just tired of buffing...whichever came first, I taped the edges with green painters tape. A razor blade was carefully used to cut the tape along the leaf between the polished edge and the top/bottom. There is still a "corner" there that made staying on path when cutting pretty easy. With taping done it was time for paint. The same semi-gloss black I've been using was used for the top and bottom of the leaves. References I've read say to not paint these areas because it can have a negative effect on the leaf packs function by not allowing them to moving smoothly against one another. That is, unless you're using liners. In which case they say to paint all you wish. Of course, the paint may wear off as well but all in all it should function normally and look good doing so.

Time to assemble these things with a new bolt. I used nylon liners when assembling the leaf pack. Prior to final assembly I fitted each liner to its assigned position and traced the leaf onto the liner using a dental pick. These liners extend out beyond the leaf a bit. It's not enough to cause an issue but I wanted a tighter looking leaf pack. A razor was used to trim each liner according to its tracing. Now that the trimming was done final assembly could be completed, the bolt tightened and the steel wraps pounded back into position using a hammer.

To protect the shiny, I put two coats of Sharkhide on the edges. I have never used the stuff before so we will see how it holds up when Daryl gets back to going down the road.

There is a right and a wrong way to assemble these leaf packs. Pay attention to each leaf's orientation upon disassembly so they can be reassembled properly. My leaves had a bit of wear on them, not excessive, that was used as a guide when reassembling the spring packs.