When I found my 31’, the body was a complete basket case but the chassis was sitting on nicely painted wheels with brand new tires. A power wash revealed a perfectly painted chassis and axles. When I found the PO’s notes, they said basically that every thing had been checked and redone where needed on the chassis including adjusting the brakes so I left it as is. Found the same sort of notes on the motor and even spoke with two gentlemen who had helped the PO on the car. They confirmed that the chassis and motor were all set and in their words, “you’re lucky to have bought such a nice car with such excellent work already done”.
Well, I’ve had all kinds of issues with the motor like rebuilt rocker arms with no felts being installed on used shafts with the worn areas facing down, front main leaking because of the wrong shaped shim, front and rear mains shimmed way too open, and a missing oil return tube in the pushrod area. Now the motor has a knock and I will be pulling it soon and replacing it with a great running motor I bought a while back. That job is last on the list.
What was next up on my list was my “perfectly” done chassis had bad king pins. Of course when I first got the car on the road I had a clunk in the rear. Turns out the PO installed “perfectly used” key ways that were all rounded yet the slots on the axles and hubs were in almost new condition. Why? Is all on can ask. So yesterday I installed a set of FS king pins and took it for a ride when I was done. I didn’t realize that these old chevys aren’t supposed to weave and shimmy all over the place! It’s like a brand new car now going down the road straight with no wandering and even hands free. I guess this means driving it will no longer be a white knuckle adventure. So while it’s going nicely down the road, I can see I’ve got gas in my tank because I can take my eyes of the road and look at my finally working gauge.
So my advice to anyone is to not believe people you don’t know, even if they sound knowledgeable, and everyone has a different opinion of what “perfectly” restored is. Two down, two more on the list.
