My 1965 Bel Air, Part 2 – Taking Inventory and Getting On The Road

 

 

 

 

 

We last left off the morning after I brought the Bel Air home. I was wondering if I had taken on a bigger project than I wanted. Here we’ll discuss the initial steps to get the car on the road and create my “to do” list that would eventually convert it from an unwieldy beast to a wolf in sheep’s, no, elephant’s clothing.

I had the car registered the very next day. The car ran when purchased so why not run it now? I drove it gently the first few days and stayed local, while getting to know it. Anytime I wanted to shift out of park, the column shifter resisted like my dog when heading for a walk in the rain. I’d have to pull hard. The old title indicated that the previous owner put only 17,000 miles on it in the previous 14 years. Lack of use in recent years resulted in gunked up shifter linkage.

I checked all the fluids, topped them off and greased the hell out of the shift linkage from tranny to steering column. Then I degreased the top of the engine and whatever I could reach. The column shift was marginally better but still a struggle. However, continuous use combined with fresh lubricant eventually coaxed the column shifter along and within a month the shifter was moving easily again.

The Bel Air drove smoothly but it was weak. Additionally, I still didn’t know much about what was happening inside the engine. The first week, I ordered a set of cheap gauges from Summit Racing. The following weekend they were installed and there was only one surprise. The car’s voltage seemed to increase with engine rpm. At one point I saw it climb to 17 volts. So in went a new voltage regulator and that problem was solved.

Engine temp stayed stayed below 190, despite August temperatures. I expected the water pump or radiator to give way at some point but they were both behaving so I resisted addressing them until further signs of wear showed up. I remember one time I proactively flushed the cooling system of my ’76 Olds 98. In keeping with the “no good deed goes unpunished” theme of classic auto maintenance, the water pump promptly failed the next day. In this case, I applied the, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rule and left the cooling system alone.

Oil pressure was a little low but it was typical behavior for that vintage of car. I wasn’t beating on the car so nothing to worry about at this time.

Upon inspection, I could see both transmission cooling lines had been cut and reconnected with rubber fuel line and hose clamps. I suspect the trans had been changed and whoever did the work couldn’t remove the lines from the radiator so they just cut and reattached with hose. No big deal. It seemed to work and the transmission seemed to behave well enough for my needs at the time.

 

 

 

 

 

My wife suggested an easy way to recover the seat so we tackled the back seat in an effort to temporarily upgrade the interior while I sorted out my long term plans for the car. I purchased some vinyl from a fabric store and we recovered the back seat using wire ties and brass eyelets to stretch it around the seat and hold it together from behind.

 

 

 

 

 

We got the back seat done without a single stitch sown but the front seat was more involved so I threw some old bed sheets over that so we could tackle it later. As of this writing, I still haven’t gotten the front seat sorted out.

Like a kid who just got a new bicycle on a snowy Christmas day and was dying for Spring to come, I was itching to drive the Bel Air regularly. This was partially due to my excitement of having a new toy but also because I wanted to get some work done on my other toy, a ’67 Pontiac LeMans. The goal was to always have a fun car on the road. I didn’t want to take the Pontiac off the road until the Bel Air was fully on the road. Since I was in a hurry and had limited time, I sent the Bel Air to a local shop and had them do an oil change, and change all belts and hoses. This would allow me to drive the car right away.

The manual brakes worked reasonably well but at rest the pedal could continue to travel a little. I suspected a minor leak in the master cylinder. I decided to upgrade to power front disc brakes. Initially we had some problems with it. The very first brake push always required extra effort. We were wondering if the pads required some heat to make them sticky. Later we found out that the vacuum was low in the engine and if I would let the engine idle just a few more minutes before driving, the heat would tighten up the compression just enough to create just a little more vacuum and thus add some more power to the power brakes. This was further proven down the road when a new 2 barrel carb was added, which further improved vacuum. The concept was again reinforced when the engine was swapped out for a newer engine that created even more vacuum. Suddenly the brakes were amazing!

Other issues with the brake conversion were that the brake pads didn’t properly line up with the discs. Also the track width in the front was supposed to increase by only ¾” of an inch according to the literature. Instead track width increased by 3”.

Ahhhh, the joys of the after-market! I decided to live with it because it worked fine and I don’t have clearance issues. Some day I may either upgrade to a brake set up from a more renowned company (maybe Wilwood?) or buy wheels with a deeper offset for the rear.

Within about a month, the Bel Air earned my confidence. It was no barn-stormer but it was pleasant, roomy, and fun to drive. I don’t know exactly why it was fun to drive because it couldn’t handle, and it could barely accelerate. Nevertheless, it consistently put a smile on my face. I suspect that was because it brought me back in time to my first few cars of my late teens and early twenties. It was like my ’69 Chevelle with a powerglide tranny, my cavernous ’69 Olds Niney-eight, and my ’66 Buick Skylark with the steel dashboard and super high ratio steering, all rolled into one. Feeling like a teenager again will always put a smile on your face!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I had a “Dependable Driver”, I started driving it to work, which included some 180 mile round trips. The car did its job but there were a few surprises along the way:

• Around the 6 month mark my fuel pump failed. It was running and leaking – both outside and inside of the crank-case. I babied it to a local shop and had the pump changed along an oil and filter change since gas had gotten into the oil.
• A few months later I thought I blew the tranny. It was slipping and eventually the car wouldn’t move. It turned out one of the rubber hose connections on the transmission cooling lines had slipped off and emptied the transmission. I reconnected the line and refilled the trans and all was good.
• Another time, I was on a highway about 60 miles from home and I noticed my oil pressure gauge was near zero. The engine burned about a quart every 2 tankfuls of gas. This was enough to foul the plugs every thousand miles. In this case I had forgotten to add oil at the last gas stop and sure enough my dipstick read zero - nada - nothing! I only had 2 quarts in the trunk so I added them and babied the car to the next gas station where I added another 2 quarts. It was at this time that I decided I’d had enough with the tired 283 and I began to plan the drivetrain swap. But that’s a story for another day.

Despite all this, the basic mission was accomplished. I now had a second old car to drive, which was a reliable alternative for when my 67 Pontiac LeMans was being worked on. The Bel Air was roomy, useful, and made me smile when I drove it. A home run! But since I can never leave well enough alone, it was time to change it up.

Stay tuned for future chapters where I’ll discuss, tires, stance, drivetrain, and more interior.

PS – We are on the lookout for other builds and cars to feature. If you have a story and some pictures, feel free to reach out. (dvisaggi@RubberHitsTheRoad.INFO)

Spec’s

Engine: 283 ci small block Chevy, 2 barrel carb, tiny diameter single exhaust.

Trans: Chevy Powerglide

Suspension: stock – soft, worn, and low.

Brakes: Added vacuum driven power assist. Converted to front discs. Retained rear drums

Exterior: basically straight with an amateur repaint job that was cracking an peeling. Also had some bad rust repair in the front fenders.

Pin hole rust in the trunk floor from a leaky window. Some rust holes in the floor too.

Mileage: Originally 96,824 -> probably about 98,000 at this point.

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You might also be interested in:

My 1965 Bel Air, Part 1 – Buyers Remorse?

My ’65 Bel Air – Part 3 – Rims, Tires, & Alternator