"The Wagon" 1967 Belair Project

[bollybib]

I love station wagons. I learned to drive in one, my first and second cars were wagons.

Nice car, have fun with it.

[Heavy Evy]

I got my Nova sold last week so that will help fund alot of the parts and work I need to do on this boat. I'm hoping to get it over to my buddy's place within the next week or two to start the body work. I'll keep you posted with some pic's hopefully soon. Anybody else ready for another great weekend of football?

[gearys 5600]

Cool build..

I had a 67 impala 2-door for a few years, I loved that car !!

One of the best driving cars I have ever owned.

[CAL 58 GMC]

nice project!

[Heavy Evy]

Well I scored a good deal this week. I picked up a set of four polished 17x8 american racing hopster's for cheap. The only problem is the backspacing. They were on a newer firebird and have a way different offset. The fronts hit the tierods before they can be mounted on the hub and the rear's rub on the frame. I have been comtiplating spacers but not sure if I trust em. Any thoughts? I'm thinking of just reselling them and getting the right wheels for my rig.

[Heavy Evy]

Small update. Its too cold there are no updates. Its been between 6 and 20 degrees here the last few weeks which means I drink coffee and watch football.
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[Zoomin]

Originally Posted by Heavy Evy

Well I scored a good deal this week. I picked up a set of four polished 17x8 american racing hopster's for cheap. The only problem is the backspacing. They were on a newer firebird and have a way different offset. The fronts hit the tierods before they can be mounted on the hub and the rear's rub on the frame. I have been comtiplating spacers but not sure if I trust em. Any thoughts? I'm thinking of just reselling them and getting the right wheels for my rig.

I don't recommend spacers unless you get longer lugs. Adapters are a much better way to go because they bolt directly to your hub, and then the wheels bolts to them. I use a set to mount some Corvette rims I had setting around. No problems.

Originally Posted by Heavy Evy

Small update. Its too cold there are no updates. Its been between 6 and 20 degrees here the last few weeks which means I drink coffee and watch football.

Do you work on it at your storage unit? I have shop space that I rent and I picked up a kerosene heater, and let me tell you it works like a champ. My shop is 20x40 with 20 foot ceilings and it will heat the shop from 30 to 60 in less than 30 minutes. It has a thermostat, so it shuts off where you want it. It's 175K btu and cost a tad over $300. I could've gotten by with a smaller one which was 125K for about $60 less. Needs a 110 outlet to run the fan.

Best investment I've made for the money. Now I can spend most of the weekend out there instead of being parked on the sofa.
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[Heavy Evy]

I looked at adapters but I'm not sure which brand is quality and won't give me troubles. I have heard horror stories about spacers/adapters. When I worked at a tire shop we weren't allowed to touch anything with adapters/spacers for safety reasons. My storage unit isn't big enough for me to wrench with the door closed or I would have had a lot done already. I'm working on getting a bigger unit or maybe a shop soon.

[Heavy Evy]

A wee bit of an update. I brought the car out of storage on monday and decided to get some work done. The sun was shinning but it was only about 28 degrees outside. I didn't care I had to get greasy! I repacked the front wheel bearings and adjusted the front brake shoes. I found that the right front wheel cyl is weaping a little bit and I'm not sure if I'm going to replace it since I want to upgrade to disc brakes. I also installed new shocks on the front since the right one had a blown bushing and was clanking. The left front shock was a white kyb and the right was black and looked stock. I don't know about you guys but mismatched shocks are no bueno in my book. The car rode alot better with the new shocks. I left the hubcaps off and I like the look of stock blacks for the time being. On superbowl sunday I sold my 17" hopsters wheels for a profit so that extra few bucks will help with whatever I do next with the car. I really need to find some door sill plates weatherstripping for the car since it has none in any of the doors. I didn't snag any wrenching pics but there are a few from when I took back to storage. My 71 C20 was jealous so I got a pic of him too.

[Heavy Evy]

I don't know about you guys but I'm pretty sure power disc brakes are better and safer than manual drums. Best upgrade I've done so far and an added bonus was my stock wheels cleared!!

[Zoomin]

I agree with you 100%. In the process of doing that, replacing all those worn out ball joints makes the old girl move around the dance floor with confidence again. Anything you do to increase safety is bound to pay off in performance gains as well.

It's good to be back in motion after that winter, I'll bet!

[68Gold/white]

What brand of disc brake stuff, did you use???
My first car was a 67 Bel Air 4 door (not a wagon) I drove it until 1997 (bought it 1975, when I was a sophmore in high school)

I installed a factory disc setup from a 69 Impala. The 65-70 Full size cars all use the same platform, and many parts will interchange. Although...the steering linkage parts chnage in some aspects 2-3 times in that year range (you'd of thought it was a ford..., (I hate fords))

I found a larger front sway bar off a 70 Caprice, and bought a factory stock rear sway bar for it (around 1990)

The air cleaner on your, engine isan earlier unit. Be careful of swapping valve covers, All amsll block valve covers do not interchange. Around 1961 they changed the bolt pattern (only slightly, though, it's not real noticeable), beware

A now retired, good friend of mine performed a front end alignment on it, that made my car an excellent driver. I was having problems w/ tire wear (evn though ALL the front end parts were new Moog parts). The first 2 guys that aligned it, were seasoned pro's that I trusted, but my friend told me you can't go by the book when aligning these cars...That lower control arm setup w/ that strut rod is a tricky deal. I don't know what his spec's were, to align it.

Let me know if you have a question about your car. I did ALL the work on my car.
Jeff

[Heavy Evy]

I like em real thick and juicy!!

[Low Elco]

Love it! What's next?

[68GMCburban]

You definitely do not see too many of these around.

[Heavy Evy]

Haven't updated this page for awhile so I figured I would knock the dust off it. I registered and insured last month and drove the car for a week solid. Ran great stopped great and drove great. The only problem is the seat hurts my back so its back in storage for the time being. I have gotten a few different quotes for some body work and every place has been way different in price so I'm going to play the waiting game again. I thought I would post a few pics for y'all to keep the juices flowing.

[Heavy Evy]

and these two which I really like

[Heavy Evy]

Wee bit of an update. I got a smoking deal on some torque thrust wheels with tires and just couldn't wait to see them on my car. I think they look rad and I'm glad I put the raised white letters on the inside. Rims are 15x7 all around with 215-70-15 tires.

[Heavy Evy]

I'm also debating on putting some airbags on the rear but I really don't know a thing about em. The PO heated the rear springs so its lower in the rear and I would like the option to lower or raise to stock height. The rear has air shocks now but they don't really give much adjustment.

[Zoomin]

The new TT's really give it a bit of attitude - looks great!

Air bags on the back should be a pretty easy thing to do. They are realy nice for accommodating weight changes.

[OARNGESI]

looks great

[KevsClassics]

Cool wagon.
Any updates?

[bnoon]

I love the wagon! I'm always on the lookout for a BBC wagon like it and always wanted to put "GNFISHN" on the license plates. One statement you made bugs me though...

Originally Posted by Heavy Evy

plus its gets decent mileage with the 2bbl carb.

You do know that a 4 bbl will give you even better MPG, right? Especially a spread bore with the tiny primaries. It's one of the win-win upgrades of the carb world.

And actually something else bugs me too... If your air shocks aren't giving you any height adjustment, then something is wrong with them. I had air shocks on about everything I owned from high school through my 20's and each car/truck had like 5-6" of height adjustment on it. How much pressure are you giving them? Does the pressure even hold?

[alsriv2]

Any plans on putting glass in the rear areas? I cannot tell if the sm is original or not. You have a unique and nice ride there.

[abebummy26]

I really like this Shaggin' wagon it's cool. I'm fairly certain they didn't make a panel station wagon in 67. 60ish was the last year until the vega in 70. I really like just about every thing GM in 67 but there is just something about those cars. I agree with bnoon about putting a 4bbl on that. You will see better mpgs with a Quadrajet as long as you can keep your foot out of it.