chris58 build

[Guest]

hi all, ive been floating around for a while and pestering people and thought its about time to get my build on here for all to see.
heres where it started.

[Guest]

and then i decided to give it a tidy up and get it going again haha

[Guest]

and then one thing led to another and i had a crazy idea to put a 400hp 351 windson/c4 in, disc brakes and all of a sudden we have a full rebuild in the process

[Guest]

almost all repairs complete and slowly getting ready for primer. only have 3 rust repairs to do. pretty impressive for the age of car.

[Guest]

polished and hand painted painted tail lights and fully hand polished grill, crappy pic

[Guest]

and my little helper, the best part of all

[Dan Leavens]

Chris it looks like the resto is moving along nicely. It is always great to have a little " helper "

[Joe Johnston]

Lookin good!!!!

Keep training that helper - little hands and good eyes are invaluable for under dash work!!

[Guest]

Yeah the helper, more often than not gives me more wiring repairs than anything else haha.
I've got heaps more pics to upload which I'll get onto later.
Only had the car 12 months After purchasing off my terminally ill father in law, it was his pride and joy which he had big plans for. Unfortunately his health ended that and now I've got the car. We did a 3500km trip over 3 days from Melbourne to Queensland and back again.
Car probably looks a lot better in original pictures than it actually was.
All the chrome was stuffed, interior pretty average, engine no good and trans had no reverse, hence the conversion. Plus all the things like seals, bushes etc that I'm finding now.
Actually a pretty tricky car to rebuild in Australia, and expensive as I'm finding out.
Thoroughly enjoying it though and hopefully my father in law hangs in long enough to see the finished product.

[bird 60]

Coming along really good Chris. I know about the expense, as mine was totally restored when the AU$ was only 56c to the U.S.$. My restoration was done between '94-'97 & she still looks beautiful.

Chris....From OZ.

[Tbird1044]

I have all the admiration for you guys restoring our old TBirds all over the world. I know what my expenses of restoration are, and can only imagine what your are going through with shipping costs.
It is really nice to know that the old Squarebirds are being appreciated all over the world.
Cudos to you all.
Nyles

[Guest]

The dollar sucks now, I couldn't imagine back then. Very pricey exercise.
I was lucky I got in and brought a lot of stuff last year when the dollar was high, but still need a bit more.
They are definitely a challenge to restore though and really would be nowhere if it wasn't for help of people like Dave (simplyconnected) and others. Very helpful site, especially when you've bled gm your whole life.

[Guest]

hi all, ive got a few more pics. these are of the interior. the interior was pretty ordinary when i got the car, a bit of elbow grease and some black and white vinyl dye and it came up pretty good.
ive also installed a b&m quicksilver shifter for the new gearbox and the original column shift will be removed. also added some neat gauges which i think work quite well with the existing chrome inside the car.

[Guest]

these are some of the weld repairs, one finished and the other one will hopefully be done on the weekend.
whilst everything is apart at the rear of the car ive had the opportunity to scrape, re-bodydeaden and paint. bit hard to see in pic but actually coming up really well.
will redo under the rest of car once exhaust is finished and engine removed.

[scumdog]

The dollar sucks now, I couldn't imagine back then. Very pricey exercise.
I was lucky I got in and brought a lot of stuff last year when the dollar was high, but still need a bit more.
They are definitely a challenge to restore though and really would be nowhere if it wasn't for help of people like Dave (simplyconnected) and others. Very helpful site, especially when you've bled gm your whole life.

Yup, the NZ dollar was only worth 65 cents US when I bought my Flairbird in '05 so while it cost US $6,500 that equalled NZ $10,000! Plus about $4,800 in freight and taxes etc to get it here.
Now the Kiwi $ is worth 74 U.S. cents, (from memory) not so bad but freight is still a killer for us 'Downunder' guys.