J.C. Smith's 1965 Chevelle Malibu Convertible

Well, here it is, my 1965 Chevelle Malibu Convertible Project. I bought the car in April of 2000 for $2000. The car was in need of complete restoration. I drove it throughout the summer of 2000 just for fun and began the disassembly on Labor day 2000.  I completed it Labor Day 2003!

(click on thumbnails to enlarge pictures)

4/29/01- Prior to lifting the body I had to fabricate braces to keep the body from twisting, folding or otherwise creating a nightmare that would haunt me in the future.  See Lifting the Body.

5/24/01 - For the past month I have been working on the bottom side of the car. First I removed all the undercoating. I used a heat gun and scraped it right off. . I then began welding the floor and trunk seams from underneath and patching a few other holes. I  finished welding the floor braces, rear frame and gas tank braces. I also welded in the right outer wheel housing.  See Floor & Trunk link.

6/23/01- Over the past week I sprayed the underbody with Zero Rust, applied 3M brushable seam sealer, and applied another coat of Zero Rust. I then sprayed Eastwoods Undercoating in the wheelwells and the tunnel to help with road noise.  See Floor & Trunk link.

7/06/01-  I  bolted the body back onto the frame. See Lifting the Body link.

August 2001  - taking the body down to bare metal. I used my Milwaukee variable speed grinder with an 8"rubber backing pad and Norton 80 grit disks to do the job. What I couldn't grind off I sandblasted. Then on Labor Day 2001, exactly one year to the day after beginning this project, I sprayed the body shell with 2 coats of DP 40 epoxy primer. Happy days! See Priming & Painting

11/17/01- I rebuilt the door hinges - story on Reassembly link.

12/17/01 - I  brought home the engine today, its a Chevy 350, nicely dressed with Edelbrock Performer intake and 600 cfm carb.  See Engine link

3/2/02 - See the Door Skin link for pictures and description of the new door skins being installed.

3/23/02 -  I  brought home the Muncie 4 Speed  - Engine & Tranny link.

5/5/02 - I painted the engine today, and installed the Mr. Gasket oilpan using a Fel-Pro one piece pan gasket

7/2/02 -  Inside of front fenders sprayed with ZeroRust and masked off for epoxy primer.

8/12/02 - Scuffed epoxy primer and sprayed 2 coats K38 Primer Surfacer. Sprayed guidecoat and began block sanding.

8/19/02 - Sprayed firewall and began fitting frame stands and motor mounts to the cross member.

10/04/02 - Painted with Omni Chrome Yellow, See Priming & Painting

12/07/02 - Made repairs to front seat frame, see Interior.

5/23/03 - Decided to repair my Rookie Mistakes, See Priming & Painting

5/24/03 Installed new seat covers, see Interior

6/23/03 - Color Sanded and Buffed out the new paint, The 2cnd time was a charm!!