Project StinkBug: Grime Time

In my spare time the past few weeks, I've been completing a pretty nasty task: cleaning and refinishing the undercarriage. By the looks of things, the undercarriage was completely original, and with a (pre-PCV system) draft tube venting engine oil vapor below the car, it was a grimy mess.

I had started cleaning things by the time this photo was taken, but the frame and floors were caked with dirt and grime.

After hours of work with a simple paint scraper and a Harbor Freight angle grinder using two wire wheel attachments, I could see bare steel with remnants of the original red oxide primer (by now a chocolate color). In the upper left, you can see the floor before I removed the grime.

Fast forward at least 20 hours of filthy work under the car, and three cans of Seymour red oxide primer, and I ended up with this...

and this...

and this...

and this. I used some simple Rustoleum Satin black spray paint on the frame, after cleaning thoroughly with 3M adhesive spray cleaner. (The front floors are a bit "drafty" — so some metal replacement is in the near future.) I also replaced the rotted body mount cushions with some black Energy Suspension pieces. And coated certain areas with 3M undercoating as original.

I used the opportunity to clean up the rear axle and rear suspension pieces. I used cast coat grey and satin and semi-gloss black where called for in the manuals for an original-style restoration.

I'm mostly done with the rear axle here, except for the rear brake cable, which is in the tumbler.

Here's the brake cable in the Harbor Freight tumbler before I poured in the glass beads and liquid degreaser. (Took a couple years before I found out that you add water or degreaser to the tumbler basin or it won't clean anything...) It comes out clean, and then I hose off and spray can clear it when dry.

And ready to go under the car. I was exhausted at this point and didn't realize it wouldn't roll under the car, which was on jackstands sitting too low... lol

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Project StinkBug: Motorvation!

Over the past couple months I've been focusing on Project StinkBug, trying to move forward on three fronts: powertrain, underside, and prep/paint of recently acquired body pieces (hood, trunklid, etc.)

This update will explain the engine portion of the powertrain upgrade.

The original 283 looked like the heads were rebuilt before putting the car away 20 years ago. But I could see the short block was old and tired with mirrored cylinder walls and .060 over pistons already, limiting my rebuild options.

I found a buddy to help me out at this point in the StinkBug project. Josh has the knowledge and facilities that complement my own. He removed the engine in his home shop and found the block in need of cylinder sleeves. But the cost would be prohibitive...

Hmmm... A brand new GM motor for $1500 shipped. And with a three-year warranty. I figured it would perform better than a rebuilt 283, for almost half the price. (I won't achieve the 260hp/350tq rating with this combo running vintage parts.)

A week later, the new 350 shows up at Josh's home shop. In keeping with the "classic" theme of the car, I wanted this motor to look like a 283 from '57, even if I had to give up some performance.

A red 3M pad to scuff the black engine, and a can of orange engine paint, gets things rolling in the right direction quickly.

The '57 Power Pack intake with oil fill tube installed. New short water pump (painted orange) installed as well.

These '57 valve covers are way too neat to leave behind. I painted them orange and added a silver Chevrolet script over the raised letters with a stencil kit.

At this point, the rest of the new or refurbished items were added: the original rams horns exhaust manifolds, original generator with new brushes, new Blaster 2 coil painted black (with tilted coil stand for larger 4-barrel air cleaner), original distributor (with Pertronix conversion), original fan, water pump pulley, and fresh NOS Delco ignition components. That's the '57 Carter carb from Craigslist on top. We also added a slim 6" $60 PowerForce balancer and $30 steel crankshaft pulley, to replace the riveted stock pieces. These fit like stock while keeping the new fan belt in alignment.

I'm really happy with the progress so far. There are some bosses and casting stamps and a late-model timing tab on the new motor that look out of place for the 1950s of course, not to mention the side motor mount attachment points (which I won't be using). But overall I think this new engine will stay true to the look I was going for and with a sensible price tag. I really like reusing vintage parts where it makes sense too.



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