1970 Chevy Chevelle Malibu Project - Project XS Chevelle, Part One-Body Cancer Treatment

With the seats and carpet stripped out, we got a good look at the horrific shape of the floor. The top showed signs of a duct tape repair at some point, but this repair didn't stop water from leaking through into the interior, soaking into the carpet and the floorpans. Also, the car had been sitting outside since the late '80s under a tarp, which contributed to the moisture damage by not letting the interior breathe and dry out.

What little was left of the trunk exposed another problem with the car—frame rot. The rear trunk pan had completely rusted away from the body mounts, contributing to the Chevelle's poor structural integrity. Outside of the new trunk pan and inner wheel houses, some other surgery and donor parts will be needed to restore this area.

The Chevelle's build tag with VIN number was still on the door, so we carefully used a razor blade to peel it off and preserve it. Even though it will become a hard-core restomod, the original factory data plates, stickers, and tags will be preserved so we'll always know the car's history and origins. This tag also told us the ragtop was built in February 1970.

Even though it looks bad, thanks to Goodmark and a little luck, it can be fixed. While rust had attacked most of the floor pan, the convertible-specific floor braces were OK. These braces aren't reproduced by the aftermarket, so if your's are rusted beyond repair, new ones will have to be fabricated. Not an impossible task, but it requires some extra work and metal fabrication skills.

Before cutting any metal out, C.A.R.S. Inc. Owner/Founder Jim Barber goes over a vehicle and checks the door gaps, function, panel fitment, and other body areas that tell the story on its structural integrity. On a very rusty car like our Chevelle, cutting out even a seemingly small and insignificant piece of metal can cause the structure to shift dramatically, and create headaches down the road for future panel replacement.

Because of the extensive body and frame rot, the panel and door gaps were way off. The top was practically welded in place, and structurally keeping the car from sagging any further. Before any metal replacement work started, the panels had to be lined up, and the doors gaps set properly, so we could be sure the new sheetmetal would be installed right. Using a pair of floor jacks on each side, and with the car supported on jackstands underneath its suspension, we gently applied lift to the frame to get everything lined back up properly.

Water collecting because of accumulated debris at the bottoms of the front fenders caused rust at the bottom of the cowl, and looking here we knew there would be some trouble when we pulled the front clip off.

With all the panels aligned, and everything still supported by jacks, we went ahead and removed the front clip. Because the mounting bolts were so rusted, we didn't even bother trying to remove them. Tommy Barber whipped out the Sawzall and performed emergency surgery to separate the front fenders from the cowl area (being careful he didn't cut into the cowl itself). Note the cascade of rust and debris coming from the fender as he cuts!

With everything free and all the wires cut, the front clip was removed as one piece and tossed on the junk pile outside. Nothing here was reusable, and Goodmark supplied us with all the parts to build a new front clip.

With the clip gone, we got a good look at the Chevelle's original 2-bbl 350. From the looks of things, nothing had been touched since the car left the factory, with it still wearing the original valve covers with part of a Tonawanda sticker still on one. Future motivation will come from the 572 big-block with Inglese injection we did a story on in the March '10 issue ("Classic Look Fuel Injection With an EZ Flavor"). A factory A/C car, the compressor was long gone, but the bracket was still in place.

With the front clip removed, we got a good look at the bottom of the cowl area, and it was as bad as we feared. Between tree debris, dirt, and some nesting material from rodents, the drain for this area was plugged up and trapping water that eventually ate its way out of the cowl. Part of this area will be replaced with Goodmark sheetmetal, while the rest will have to be fabricated.

Because C.A.R.S. Inc. is a certified restoration shop, it is permitted by law to remove VIN plates and cowl tags so work can be performed. Here Jim Barber has pulled off the Chevelle's trim tag so it wouldn't get lost or damaged during the body's restoration.

Despite the other parts of the car that were junk, the factory dash pad was in great shape—go figure. These pieces are of value to restorers who need solid units to replace cracked and broken ones. Adding to the pad's value was the fact this was a factory stereo speaker car, so it had certain tabs and brackets that are hard to come by in good shape. This piece would be good swap meet or eBay fodder to recoup some project money for buying other needed parts.

With the dashboard and instrument cluster removed, we got a good look at the windshield area of the cowl, and made room for more work to be done in the interior.

For someone restoring a '70 Malibu with a messed up dash and gauge cluster, this piece would also be of high value, especially since it's a factory stereo speaker dash. We'll be installing a Chevelle cluster and dash into the car later when it's time to start rebuilding the interior.

We found some serious damage at the base of the windshield. Again, this is fixable, but will require some fabrication work since there aren't any replacement patch/replacement panels available for this area of the car.

To help support the body when metal was removed and maintain the proper panel alignments we set up earlier, Tommy started welding in a "reinforcement support cage" to solid parts of the car. When all parts of the cage are welded together and attached to the body, we'll be able to cut out any sheetmetal without fear of a panel or part of the substructure shifting and throwing the alignment off.

Here's the finished support cage, welded in and supporting the body's outer structure that the floor was incapable of when the body came off the frame. Once it was welded in place, we noted that the stress on the convertible top frame was relieved and we could actually release the latches at the windshield and take the top frame loose. We removed the support jacks from the frame and the doors and panels stayed in place.

Using a two-post lift, we literally pulled the body off the frame because some of the body bolts were so rusted in, the mounting tabs pulled free from the body from also being extremely corroded. With the body off, we saw how badly rust had eaten away at the frame underneath the passenger compartment from the top leaking and the winters in Wisconsin and Massachusetts. There were huge holes eaten through, and in one spot a body mount actually ripped out of the frame when the two parts were separated. We've got a brand-new Art Morrison chassis on the way for the Chevelle, and we'll be covering the build of that in a later issue of Super Chevy.

With the body off the frame, Jim took his knife blade and started probing areas of the body to see how deep the corrosion was, and which areas would need to be replaced. Some parts of the car were OK, while the knife punched right through others.

With everything set, Tommy broke out the torch and started cutting away the old floor, being careful to avoid damaging the convertible floor braces we mentioned earlier and ruining them.