I recently purchased a 66 Skylark GS Vert that (unbeknownst to me.. long story) was frame-off restored in '07 by... Jim Burek. The restoration was done at a cost of... wait for it ... $36,000 by the PO :shock: . I assume this was before Jim really went off the rails -- otherwise the work probably never woulda been done Now, I know that it's $36,000 isn't a lot to sink into a frame-off resto. And granted, there was more than a fair amount of work done to the car. In fact, the car was completely gone thru -- here are some initial photos
And more photos... Work included complete paint and body (including trunk pan), all body mounts, suspension, fuel and return line, gas tank, brake lines, disc brake kit, master cylinder and booster, exhaust system... and more
Per the PO, the engine was rebuilt as follows -- 455 Buick motor Flat tappet cam is advertised at 280 duration intake / 286 exhaust with .470 lift intake and .480 lift exhaust Carb is an 800 cfm quadrajet Pistons are cast .040 over reproduction 1970 style high compression, they are rated at 10.25 compression, but the actual compression is more like 9.5 to 9.6 to 1 The heads are big port 68 430 heads with the smaller combustion chambers.
Mark, Keep posting and documenting your rebuild. I'll need all the help I can get with my rebuild later on. You said someone paid 36K on a frame off. Are the rotten trunk pictures pre frame off or did you just replace the trunk pans? Todd
So the 455 is in the car because unfortunately the original motor and trans were long gone. \ The motor is running well and checked out nicely on a recent compression test (haven't dyno'ed it or opened it up yet.. so fingers crossed... ray. The 455 is mated to a TH350 trans (more on this later :rant: ) and a 2.79 rear (more on this later :rant: ) The car was resprayed in the correct white and the interior was freshened up... a bit (more on THIS later) What I can say is that the body is dead straight, the paint is very nice. Most of the chrome bits and trim are OK (more later) Here are some photos of the car in progress ....
Now, pictures can be deceiving. And maybe those of you with a keen eye have already noticed some things that need attention. While the car is dead straight and the paint is very nice, let's just say some other things weren't done right the first time. And maybe I should be clear. Not done right is an understatement -- Jerry-rigged/Mickey Moused is more like it. If I had dropped $36K ( I didn't, I paid a fraction of this) and found some of these things I would have gone ballistic. But given what I've seen / read here about Jim Burek, maybe the PO was just happy to get his car back, even if some 'corners were cut' I'll post a list and some pics of what I've uncovered and am dealing with. I'll start by saying that the trans has already been rebuilt and the rear is in process. I'll be upgrading to a 3,08 posi More to come...
So about that list. Here's is what I've uncovered. So so sooooo many minor things uzzled:. And where would I list things like the wrong torque converter with mis-matched spacers to mate it to the flywheel? Or the half-dozen nuts and bolts I found inside each door and left under the rear seat? Or the carpet -- It was a remnant cut into several pieces... held down in spots by inside-out duct tape. ou: I'm sure I'm forgetting things but here goes Mechanical -- Trans rebuild / neutral safety switch Rear end rebuild (going to a 3.08 posi from the 2.79) Electrical - No courtesy or console lights, no radio, no reverse lights New hoses for the convertible top Cosmetic -- Pet peeve of mine to have a nice shiny repaint and pockets of dull chrome and trim and other worn bits that look even more tired against that clean exterior. So that means -- Interior Cleaning up the dash and knobs, fixing the god-awful rattle in the dash that was fastened with some hinky hardware And that black console with the late-model tach... it's now the right color with a period-correct GM tach in it Replacing the door armrests, armrest pads, and the rear ashtrays and courtesy light bezels. Repainted all the dull chrome strips above the door panels (on 66s I've seen both chrome and painted... both my unrestored cars were painted). Oh and that carpet ou: New one going in And those seatbelts. I have a correct date-coded deluxe set in the right color ready to go in too. And the dash pad, it'll be rewrapped until I can find a nice uncracked example... The glove box and ashtray were of course in need of adjustment so dealt with that. the rattled-can painted original steering wheel is coming out and will be replaced by a nice 3 spoke sport wheel in the correct color (thanks GSFred) Exterior The bumpers were rechromed... but have some overspray. That'll come off easy enough I think I have nice trim and convertible header and corner pieces ready to go on so that outside brightwork will all sparkle (thanks Dukec) Oh and the windows -- the front windshield is coming out and all the overspray is coming off the door and 1/4 windows. All the retractors will be fixed/regreased/addressed as it took some serious elbow grease to roll up a couple of 'em. The dull 14x6 rallys will be replaced by new 15x7/8s The rear cove panel was sprayed gloss black, so I'll have to re-shoot it in the correct satiny/semi-gloss black The rear lights and trim were also shot gloss black (why???) so I'll take those back down to the correct silver finish The inside of part of the trunk lip area leading into the rear cove panel was also shot in gloss black (similar to the black treatment on some 67s I guess??) so I'll shoot that in white so it's correct Emblems are good, but there weren't any fasteners on about half of them... go figure Gaps and panels are all really nice, except for the cowl panel which is just ... cockeyed. I'll get that straightened out Cheapo black plastic windshield wipers replaced with correct Trico ones Dull, mismatched headlights need to be replaced with a nice new set of T3s More to come... Just for fun I'll see if I can scan the receipts for $36K For starters, here's the interior and the restored console that's going into it.
Quick update. Got some work done on the interior. Doors/Door Panels -- I've noticed that 66 Skylarks have chrome upper door panel trim strips.. and also have the upper door panel trim strips painted the same color as the interior -- in my case DuPont 9294-LM Dark red. (Maybe both are correct? My two other skylarks had original black interiors and had black upper door panel trim strips, not chrome...) So, rather than pay a couple hundred bucks for the repop chrome, I figured I'd try painting them. I went to the local finishmasters paint supply store and while they didn't have the DuPont 9294-LM interior paint code in their computer, they computer photo-matched it and mixed me up a couple of rattle cans. It came out really really close. So, a few coats of this and some clear and I had some nice 'new' trim pieces. I got lucky and found a set of re-chromed arm rest bases and pads on eBay, bought some new paddle handles from Legendary, polished up the window cranks, popped in the Skylark bird emblems (red ones, from a 67... I tried the correct blue for 66 but the red just looks better with this interior) and .... almost as good as new!
Steering Wheel The original / correct 66 steering wheel in the car was cracked and cheaply repaired and painted. I prefer the later style GS 3 spoke wheel, so thanks to GSFred, I got one in the right red. Used a hub for the optional 2-sport wood sport wheel from a 66 Chevelle -- it mounted up perfectly. Had to spray the black hub to match the rest of the steering column. but thanks to my trusty rattle can from finish masters (plus some clear coat and some wet-sanding of corse...P ), that was no problem.
Floors -- So, the cheap and poorly patched together carpet had to go. Ripped that out. Also removed the black seatbelts, which will be replaced by a minty set of dark red 'deluxe' 66 seat belts (another lucky eBay score... that site ain't SO bad...) So underneath the carpet there is some 'tar' paper and some jute padding. I want to be able to hear myself think in the car, so I'm going to pull the tar paper and add a little insulation / sound deadening material. Not sure if I'll do Dynamat or LizardSkin or just get some FrostKing or Peel n Seal from HomeDepot. (Any thoughts appreciated...) I have everything else out of the interior -- so after insulation is installed then it will be time to lay the carpet and start putting it back together.
Got the interior insulation installed. Kept the tar paper and jute around the front seats, used FrostKing insulation everywhere else. Couple of small spots still left, but getting there
While I was on the insulation kick, I also got some underhood insulation. Also got rid of the "Edelbrock" air cleaner and put something more appropriate on. Engine bay still needs some attention but looking better I think
Also got rid of the mismatched headlights and got all the overspray off the front bumper. It cleaned up very nicely BTW if anyone needs a low and hi-beam T3 headlight just let meknow
All interior lights are now working Heater is now working New carpet is in Dash Pad is in Console is in Kick panels are in Rear panels are in Rear seats and rear armrests (with speakers) are going in tomorrow. I'll try and get the radio in if I have time Pics to follow
