Projects from THE COMPOUND

I've posted up some pics of my place that I refer to as "The Compound" in a couple of garage threads. It consists of my house, a 24X48 pole barn that I call the paint shop, and a 2 story 30X36 with man cave upstairs that sits on an acre. I grew up here and bought the house from my parents about 8 years ago.







This is just to show some of the projects that have come and gone. I will probably add some as we locate and scan pre-digital pics.
This one was all done by our dad in the 2 car garage in the mid 70's. Now belongs to my brother and looks much the same. 327, TH350, 9", disc brakes. My mom painted the mural on the spare -- it was the '70s, after all.

Our dad's 1964 El Camino. My brother did body and paint (pearl white) and my dad and I did F-body suspension and brakes and a Paxton supercharged LT1. Before paint:

After:


My buddy Jerod's Softtail painted by my brother. It was purchased as a basket-case and I spent many hours with Jerod building it. We helped each other out on our days off. I was building the gray '36 pickup at the same time. Jerod is freakin' awesome! He's talking about redoing it rat-style but has an addition on his house to finish up first.

My old sandrail. Almost completely scratch built from hand-me-down parts. Look close and you'll see that only the hoops were reused on the frame. The cage portion was actually exhaust tubing and I replaced almost everything with proper cage pipe. A '71 bus and '72 bug were sacrificed to complete it. I used the money from the sale to buy my Cutlass from my Grandpa.


Mid build:

Nothing fancy but dead reliable. 1600DP with bus transaxle on IRS clip with swingaxle torsion bars.

Gauge cluster made from 2 VW valve covers.

This pretty much made it worth the effort.

My buddy Greg's 1968 Firebird. I did a 4-speed swap and disc brake conversion. My brother painted it.


My brother's 1965 Rambler Classic 770. Low miler that needed new crossmember, tune up and paint. This car was sweet. It had like, 12 ashtrays.


My 1964 Rambler American 330. I did a Chevy 283 then 327 swap and it has 2 different 4 speeds then a 5 speed. With a Chrysler rear end and 2.79 gears it wanted to go about 300mph. That's original paint.

My 1936 Chevy pickup. Got the body from my buddy Jerod. At one time it was mounted on a school bus frame with a tow hook and used as a yard goat in a Boise wrecking yard. I put it on a Toyota frame and rebuilt the 283 and powerglide from my dad's '64 El Camino. Last picture is in my driveway next to Jerod's '38. I kinda miss this one.





After shot of engine compartment on a '65 bug. My brother painted it and I pulled, sealed and detailed the engine.

My brother's 1968 Datsun 520 pickup. He got it for a case of beer and gave it the works. This was taken at a Datsun show in 2008.

Almost forgot the crown jewel. My brother's 1949 Frigidaire.

...and my Kelvinator for the other shop. Haven't decided on a paint scheme yet. Flat black with Kawasaki green pinsripes? Guessing early 40's.

Got this one from my grandfather's garage after he passed away.

I picked up this wagon. Got it running and stopping. Picked up some missing pieces. Once I bought the mustard wagon, I sold the blue one to a guy in Vancouver. Anyone seen it lately?

This one has been ongoing. It was an auction purchase that came with a blown head gasket. I fixed it and drove it last summer. It now has a GM quad4 and a Nissan 5-speed.



My Goldwing has been another long term project. It's featured in another thread but here's another before and after. The before isn't really mine but it looked identical (I can't locate my pics).



My brother's Datsun 521 pickup. Got this one for free. Again, I did the mechanicals and he did the body and paint:





After he sold that he picked up a pair of Volvo 145s. One was traded for a '64 Bug and this is his current daily driver:

That's original paint at 335,000 miles.

He also just picked up a '72 Westfalia that had been parked for 8 years. We got it running, fixed the brakes, de-hippyed the wiring and rebuilt the shift linkage. He's working on the interior now and will be camping in it this summer. This is when he picked it up. No current pics. Mostly the same but cleaner.

More El Camino sickness:
My '66 got a 400/MY6 transplant about a year ago. It pulls like a diesel now and the overdrive keeps the mpg close to 20. My wife's grandpa bought it new and the original 327/Muncie are safely stored away.




Last fall my dad picked up an '82. Did an engine replacement and some general repairs. Cant seem to find any pictures now. It was sold a few weeks ago. None of us miss that one <_< .


My grandpa died in fall 2010 and my dad inherited his '68. He purchased it in '69 or '70 and it remains relatively unchanged since then. It's another 327/4-speed car. Over the last year the interior has been rehabbed and I pulled and resealed the engine (I actually rebuilt it back in '96 or '97). Like the Cutlass I bought from him, there is no rust and it was really well cared for, just kind of neglected for the last couple years. It looks pretty good in the photo but there are some clearcoat issues. My brother finished the paint a couple weeks ago and it's almost done with assembly. I'll post pics when it's complete.



EDIT: Here's a couple after paint. Not done trimming it out yet.


Then here is a shot of a '65 El Camino. I did some minor tune-up (read "un****") stuff and my brother painted it. My dad did the interior. Can't find any before pics. It wasn't the nicest one to come through here but I think it was my favorite. Very understated and a nice cruiser. Those front bumper over riders are pretty rare too.


Next is a few photos of a '67 El Camino (notice a pattern?). It first had a 305 in it that I pulled, resealed and detailed, then it was painted by my brother, then I lowered it, then my dad and I did an LT1 swap on this one too. Dig the wiring shot. No aftermarket harness here.

Some Z projects...
My 1970 series 1. Got full mechanical restoration and was painted in my grandma's shop over Thanksgiving break with no heat. This was one of my brother's first completes. Sorry about the boat trailer wheels. It was all I could afford at the time. It sold to a guy in Mukelteo in '03. Saw it on CL a few months ago asking twice what he paid.

Our dad got this 260 as a rolling shell. I built and installed a 350, my dad did all the interior and misc. stuff. My brother drove it to Walla Walla and painted it in the garage of the rental he was living in. I drove it back to Portland. Our dad was driving it while for sale when a lady ran a red and totaled it. He bought it back and it was sold as is. Last I heard it was in the Tigard area around 2001.



The last one was purchased in Texas basically as you see it. Our dad did some small fine tuning. It was built as a show level race car in the mid '80s (as if the paint and headlights didn't narrow it down for you). VERY detailed and customized. The builder made his own molds for the fiberglass body panels. The engine was dynoed in the 400hp range. Full cage and full interior. Was sold to a guy in Arkansas around 1998.



Yeah, that's gold plating on the alt and fan shroud.