67 Beaumont: The OG ck5 A-body

[Bowtie85]

Well Ive posted a couple pic's here and there. Figured might as well make up a build thread. This will be a thread Ill slowly update to the current place Im at with the car

As far as my plans are for the car, its being built a driver. Not quite a pro touring style. I want something that can corner well and can run the highway comfortably.

1967 Pontiac Beaumont Custom, bought this thing for a song/dance in the spring of 2010. It had been sitting about 8-10 years before I got it, ran once in that time. We towed it down the street, put a battery in/fuel/water checked the fluids and drove it home a couple hours later.

It had a stock 70's 350/turbo 350 in place of the 6 cyl/Glide and 8.2 rear with 3.08 gears. Spent the first summer fixing PO hack and getting it driveable. Ran it how it was for the year, but the motor smoked like a typical sbc and was underpowered. So out it came that fall, and we built up a L31 Vortec 383. Cant remember the exact spec's, but its approx 400 horse/ 450 ft lbs according to a computer dyno. Got the trans rebuilt, shift kit, 3K stall. Rear was on its way out, so I got another rebuilt with 3.73 gears/lockright. Blew the lockright up this past spring, so I put an eaton in it and havent looked back.

Anywho, enough typing and onto the pic's:

day I brought it home, complete with centerlines and exhaust pipe coil spacers out back :haha. Almost forgot, it had the Dunlop GT qualifiers which havent been around for years :

the motor in all its glory:

Stripped the interior out, it was all sun burnt. The floor was overall pretty solid other than where seam is on the front of the floor pan. I was able to patch the one side, but the drivers needed a patch panel.

the worst of it:

the rear body mounts in the trunk that were properly fixed :

I ended up having to cut all the body mount bolts, I lifted the body up off the frame for ease of work on it.

the one rear body mount had this welded on the frame, appears the frames been straightened and fish plated.

So I made one up to match the other:

From than on I put new bushings in, bolted the body down. Guess I never mentioned that I did all this in my gravel driveway?

Back on all fours, rear coil spacers removed. Put a set of Cooper Cobra 265/50/15's on the back and 215/70/15s up front.

I should have an update later tonight or perhaps wed.

 

[Bowtie85]

About the same time, I re bushing'd the rear control arms with some poly's and added a stock replacement sway bar which involved boxing the lower control arms. Also I put a new fuel tank/straps/sending unit in as the other was dented/leaking/not working.

I needed a couple of seats for it as the ones it had were toast and not worth fixing, so I ended up with a set of sparco's. Im undecided yet if I will keep them when I finish the interior. Did the door pin's as well, what a fun job to remove/install those doors by your self

I removed the motor/trans in hopes of being able to bolt the motor in that fall, but it sat over the winter(outside) and Ill never let that happen again

Trans was rebuilt/ Re installed.

Finally after a long awaited spring I got the motor in

The stock linkage type throttle didnt work right with the Holley 770 I put on, it wanted to stick and just not work right. So I put the gas pedal/cable out of my 90 Suburban that I was stripping. One of the better things I did I must say.

Ran it for a hundred miles or so, and the timing cover was leaking down where the oil pan seals around it. So I pulled it apart, siliconed it up and it hasn't leaked hardly since. Also while it was apart, I had the rad recored. Installed a fan shroud as well:

It was finally time for exhaust, as the 2" tailpipes/thrush glasspacks just sounded obnoxious. It was already 2.25" to the mufflers, so I added some thrush welded muff's, 2.5" flowmaster tailpipes with some stainless slash cut tips

 

[Bowtie85]

It was time for some new rims as the back ones had a 3.5" backspace and rubbed during most cornering. Picked up a set of Aero 50 series if I remember right, 15x8 w/4" backspace.

It was still sitting to high in the rear, so I cut 1.5 coils off. Not ideal, but it works.

It was than time to address the open rear, it was about 1 burnout away from exploding. The 2 small gears were galled on the cross pin which was not coming out at all. So out came the torch.

In went a lockright, it never worked right. And would randomly unlock under load.
Turns out the carrier was worn where the outer parts slide into the carrier. So at that point I opted to get another rear end/ rebuild it/ swap it.

Snagged another 8.2" for a fair price, carrier was like new. Got a set of 3.73 motive gears set up. Swap in progress, note the fancy garage pad

The locker had some slight funky wear, so I installed it driving the other way from what it was before. It measured within spec as well.

Figured Id keep with the purple theme, so I used duplicolor metalcast on the diff cover

And that brings it to fall/winter of 2011-12

 

[y5mgisi]

Subscribed so i can see the pics when i get home. I think work has them blocked.

 

[Bowtie85]

Started of spring 2012 with a good bang I must say. I swapped the stock front sway bar for a 1 1/4 Gen 2 trans am bar that I got for a steal. Also did Poly bushing's/sway bar endlinks. Guess I dont have any installed pic's, but its a direct swap over. When I removed the sway bar, metal screws that just screwed through the frame rail had of course stripped out. So I drilled the holes out/welded 7/16 nuts in the frame.

The car had some healthy wheel hop when you would launch it at times, which didnt help the lock right any. Got a set of Qa1 no hops which were supposed to be a straight bolt in

I had to shorten the upper control arms about 1", not sure why. Didnt have the money for adjustable uppers at the time. So I plated the top/boxed the bottom's of them. I did one at a time so the pinion angle wouldnt have been affected

before:

after:

installed

Got some fancy MSD wire seperator's, so put them on as well

I was than finally able to launch the car w/o wheelhop and it seemed to hook up better. Within a couple drives the lockright finally gave out, stripping the teeth/broke the pockets out where the spring's sat. So I sent it away for warranty, turns out it was faulty. I got the Locker from Just Differential's, they allowed me pick a different traction device. So I got an eaton, I put that in/set the backlash and havent looked back. Over 1500 miles of moderate use so far

Put a electric stewart warner fuel pressure gauge in, mounted it next to the 1.5" sun pro mechanical's I put in when I bought the car.

Being a 6 cylinder car, it had 5/16" fuel lines which I had changed out for some 3/8" which I bent up myself. I had a Bosch inline fuel pump mounted back by the door, but it was starving for fuel during long pulls. So I mounted a HP125. What a pain to do so, its such a big pump. Mounted it where the frame starts to flare out for the lower control arm mount. Was the only place it would fit good other than the inside of the trunk. Built a little stone guard for it as well.

It hangs about 1" or so below the frame rail, not Ideal. If I ever manage to snag it on something, Im going to have worse problems that a damaged pump

Later in the summer, it rolled over to 80000 miles. Almost off warranty by today's standards

Currently how it sits now:

Ive since gotten new back tires as the tread fell off the coopers. I had a pair of 255/60/15 Radial ta's that were brand new on a parts truck we bought. The car is much better on the highway now. It rev's 3100 Rpm doing 60 mph instead of 3500 it was with the other tires.

And that leads us to fall/winter 2012-13

 

[Bowtie85]

Some little things I missed from the start of the build

I painted the dash black and put a 3 spoke grant steering wheel on instead of the 80's styled one it had when I bought the car.

I didnt want to cut the dash for a cd player, so I removed the glove box and made a mount for a cd player. Pretty slick Idea I thought.

Got the back seat recovered with a replacement skin as well.

put a 14" K&N filter/top on as well

I couldnt keep the fan belts on under higher rpm, I shimmed and shimmed and shimmed with slightly better results. So I went junkyard hunting one day, got that 5 rib serpentine style belt setup off of the mid 80s chevy's. Just had to change the crank/waterpump/alternator. Havent had a problem since than with a belt coming off, so it was a well worth modification as well. I was able to finally find a clutch fan that would fit in the fan shroud with a little bit of trimming.

 

[Bowtie85]

And as it sits, I was really only looking to put disc brakes up front and some new control arm bushings. Than I was hoping to do the body on it, which I havent decided how far Im going to with it.

That was the plan up until a month or so ago when my fiance decided she didnt want to get married(March 2013), so she gave the ring back(turns out there was somebody else).

So now that I dont have a wedding to pay for, Im gonna put a tremec tko 600 in it. Not just cause I want a three pedal car, but just to have an overdrive on the highway. For the extra money it will be to put a tremec in say vs a 700r4 just seems like the better longterm solution to me.



Also, just picked up my disc brake kit/a set of KYB shocks the other day.

The brake kit was supposed to be put together by performance world, slightly cheaper than MBM. Guess what showed up, a MBM

here's a link,

http://www.mbmbrakeboosters.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=mbmflypage.tpl&product_id=47&category_id=7&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=6

Ive also purchased a 3858403 original GM bellhousing, its meant for the smaller 153 tooth flywheel/10.4-10.5" clutch. It was cheaper than a 621 bellhousing (168 tooth flywheel) that everyone is after.

Thats bout all I got for the moment.

 

[76zimmer]

the car will be cheaper in the long run....liking what you got happnin' here.
Had 3 66 Chevelles, wish I still had 2 of them today....oh well.

keep posting up progress.

 

[Deuling]

This car is way cool.

Keep it up man

 

[79rustyk10]

That body style is awesome. I love how it has the GTO/Tempest dash.

 

[max 02]

I like it man!

 

[y5mgisi]

Sweet car! I bet it's a blast to drive now! I want a car soo bad! 66-67 chevelle is my dream.

 

[Bowtie85]

Thanks guys! Hoping to make a nice car out of it one day

 

[drew4x4]

that looks like a nice project car man! i kinda liked the old-school wide tire, lifted ass end stance it had before

 

[Bowtie85]

that looks like a nice project car man! i kinda liked the old-school wide tire, lifted ass end stance it had before

well when it has these for coil spacers :

 

[76zimmer]

was just looking at the antihop bars again....have you heard of the cal-tracs?
They work dam good from what I've read.

 

[Bowtie85]

Yeah I've heard of cal-trac's. Ive heard they are good too.

Em Qa1's I put on did the trick, I thought about lakewood's but I didnt want anything hanging down low where you could see them. So thats why I went with the no hop's.

 

[76zimmer]

I used to love the look of true ladder bars on a street car....seems as though those guys were more serious about making a car hook up than the average street car.

 

[max 02]

Ladder bars are ok... yellow traction bars look like Sh!t.

 

[79rustyk10]

Do they make cal tracs for the A body's? I though they were only for leaf spring cars.