Our 69 Yenko Chevelle restoration - Page 37

**WILMASBOYL78** · #**361** 02-20-2019, 12:23 PM

The level of detail in this restoration is amazing...no other way to describe it.

As others have said over and over...fantastic job

-wilma

**SS427** · #**362** 02-20-2019, 01:53 PM

As many of you may remember, our front bucket seats were toast. This was from a dog living in the car for a while as well as years of racoon infestation. Needless to say a complete and total rebuild was in order. We started by removing the seat covers, foam, burlap and cardboard stripping the seats down to bare frames. These were then aluminum oxide blasted and (against what I normally do) repainted in silver paint as they were fairly rusty and I did not want to look at that. The hinges were than painted a semi gloss black to match how they were originally done. Once painted they were completely rebuilt and assembled.

All of the hardware was restored, replated or replaced depending on condition. The rear seat was in very good condition but we went ahead and followed the same procedure as the fronts due to the fact that there was racoon piss everywhere and we did not want to deal with that.

**SS427** · #**363** 02-20-2019, 02:01 PM

The seat tracks were restored just as thoroughly as the seats. While the tracks were left natural steel the feet we painted semi gloss black. This was done by soaking in Evap-Rust. One thing I noted between 69 and 70, the 70 cars usually only had the rear feet painted black while this particular 69 they were painted both front and rear. These were duplicated exactly as found. The feet were resprayed semi gloss black, the release levers were repainted to simulate the type of plating that they have on them and the springs were repainted. Once complete they were Boe-Shielded, the tracks lubricated with new grease and the re-installed on the finished seats.

**SS427** · #**364** 02-20-2019, 02:07 PM

The radio and antenna lead was sent into S&M Electro-Tech in Minnesota for restoration. I have been using them for 40 years with very good success and never had an issue. They were both in fairly good shape so he completely tore them down, cleaned, re-lubed, updated with modern electronics and tested. Now ready to install. While at it I restored the antenna cable clamps and protective cover. Fortunately the cover was there and in good shape as these can be a tough item to find.

**SS427** · #**365** 02-20-2019, 02:13 PM

Just an update as well, thanks to a readers keen eye and one I had never noticed before, assembly line pedal pad design differs from replacements in that the boarder is missing around the pad. A lead was given and I managed to located some reproduction pads from an online company that had the boarder. Unfortunately they only make the clutch pedal pad and/or non disc brake pad. Until I figure out how to cut the recess into the new pad for the disc brake emblem I cleaned and reused my original that was not in perfect shape and had a little wear but at least it is an original style. The incorrect reproduction pedal pad in bottom middle in the photo.

**SS427** · #**366** 02-20-2019, 02:17 PM

While I was working on the dash area we also totally disassemble and cleaned the vents for the dash. While most were in very good condition the vent balls had to be replaced. They are nice but not exactly like the originals so I had to do some rework on them (pretty much the case on ALL reproduction parts).

**SS427** · #**367** 02-20-2019, 02:31 PM

The window regulators were done some time ago. Though extremely dirty they were not in bad shape and only required some major soaking, Boe-Shielding and re-lubricating. All the bolt hardware was replated. All track hardware, rollers, glides, pads, etc were all completely restored, repainted, sealed, etc and made ready for reinstall. Most "restoration" shops I know of simply clean these if you are lucky and reinstall, "because you cannot see them anyway"! BS!

The door latches were also completely cleaned, sealed and relubed.

**SS427** · #**368** 02-20-2019, 02:38 PM

I left the mirror restoration up to Annie. This thing was pretty rough and required a lot of cleaning and polishing. I was hoping to save the mirror glass but that is not happening so am now on the lookout for a donor mirror to get a good piece of glass from if anyone has any leads. I would certainly purchase an NOS mirror as well and just put my original in my parts bin.

**SS427** · #**369** 02-20-2019, 02:39 PM

The Chevelle returns to our shop on Sunday and then the fun begins of reassembling everything back on the car. Hopefully this goes fairly quickly and trouble free. I will update as we progress.

**YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY** · #**370** 02-20-2019, 03:29 PM

Did you guys recover the bucket seats yourselves?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

The Following User Says Thank You to SS427 For This Useful Post:
YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY (02-20-2019)

The Following User Says Thank You to SS427 For This Useful Post:
ScottG (02-21-2019)

The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to SS427 For This Useful Post:
Damien (02-20-2019), tunes (02-20-2019)