Introducing Project "StinkBug"

A few months ago I decided to take the plunge on another classic car. I was looking for a project, and wanted something with a V8, an automatic transmission, and four doors. Basically a cruiser with some chrome and a dual exhaust...

I found a '57 Chevy Bel Air on Craigslist out-of-state and decided to take the plunge. This car was disassembled 20 years ago for paint and never reassembled afterwards. I didn't want to deal with having a car sitting in paint jail for any length of time, and never wanted to pay for a paint job again—so this deal was interesting.

Over the past few months since I've owned the car, the parts bill has climbed higher than I was led to believe as many parts have either turned up missing or are in poor condition and not useable. Not to mention finding the small pile of spare parts absolutely covered in stink bugs. With that said—enter Project StinkBug! :)

Here's StinkBug sitting on my driveway after I had a flatbed deliver it to my house—275 miles away! I really like the old school Cragars even though they are 15". I don't like the 21-year-old tires though.

Here she is as I started taking it apart to assess, fix, and replace various things. The radiator was first to go. It was the original Harrison unit, and I found a local shop to recore it. I want to keep this car pretty original if I can, but with a mild Restomod theme.

The interior was disassembled to paint the dash long ago. Fortunately most of the stainless and chrome was present, and I just needed 5 or 6 replacement pieces.

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NitroPlate: Another Great Experience

The Bullitt has been a great car, and I've really enjoyed driving it. Probably the only area that needed a little aesthetic attention was the headers and h-pipe. When one of the headers and the h-pipe each developed a crack that needed welding off the car, I had a chance to enlist NitroPlate to refinish the headers. I tried to clean up and refinish the h-pipe myself.

Before: Yikes! Too ugly for the Bullitt. But they are JBA mid-lengths—so they are very good quality overall with a thick flange.

After: I'm digging the bling factor—not to mention the increased heat retention. The service to bead blast, bake-to-clean, and ceramic coat was $200. Shipping is tough at $80 round trip (and only NC to TN!), but NitroPlate can't help that.

The JBA h-pipe and SLP converters couldn't be NitroPlated (the extreme heat in the process would ruin the converters), so I cleaned the pipes by hand, and painted them with black exhaust paint. Not sure it will hold up, but they looked pretty good at that moment. :)

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Trunk Weatherstripping: Save a Few Bucks?

Here's a quick post about another "re-do" that cost me some time and a little money.

There are some threads online about replacement weatherstripping not allowing the trunk lid to close fully. I also had bought the "cheaper" weatherstrip a few years ago when my car was coming back from the paint shop. After I installed the weatherstrip, the trunk lid never sat properly and no amount of fiddling with the trunk lid helped. Some folks suggested giving it some time to settle. Nope.

Years later I decided to buy the better weatherstrip and do the job right. I'm actually surprised the larger mail order places even sell the cheap weatherstrip. If it doesn't allow the trunk lid to lay down properly, the weatherstrip is not fit for its intended purpose. Don't sell it.

Here are the two weatherstrip offerings from NPD. The better one on the left. El cheapo on the right (aged on the car a few years). The price has continued to drop since I bought mine in 2008. My suggestion is to avoid the headache and buy the better weatherstripping.

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