“Castro” my new 72 build

[GSFMECH]

I used the new upper a-arm and coil over mounting bracket for a template to cut the hole for the coil over to pass through and drilled the bolt holes

[GSFMECH]

This is the new bracket set in place that takes the place of the factory one

[GSFMECH]

Welded in some very short pieces of tubing for the exhaust to pass through

[GSFMECH]

After completing all the cutting and rivet removal I finally got this junk painted and ready to start bolting stuff on. This was a lot of work that you'll never see. I scuffed and repainted the frame right over the powder coat with epoxy. I had to paint it because of all the cutting I did and also because it had sat outside and had weathered.

[GSFMECH]

I started pulling stuff from the old frame, I needed the rear end to mount into the new frame. The frame was bent so bad I had to jack the back of the trans up to get the header out. It didn't look that bad just looking at it. The rear trans mount was broken from the wreck so it was easy. I have 2” Hookers for a Chevelle, lucky they were not damaged.

[GSFMECH]

I swapped in the motor I had in the blue truck for now. This is an almost stock 454 I built to long haul HRPT in 2019. The fan clutch failed me in traffic in Sparta Kentucky and I severely overheated it, so it was wounded, using oil and smoking a bit. We call this motor “Helicoil” because of the many head bolts that stripped when I was building it thus the installation of many helicoils. However, it got me by for a while until I got my 496 freshened up that I previously had in the blue truck. More to come soon.