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Under hood detail work on my 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Estate wagon.

April 25 to May 18, 1994.

My dad and mom bought this car in May 1974 and only used it to haul their large family of nine to mostly vacations and family outings. For this reason the wagon only had 36,000 miles when my dad sadly died July 16,1993. In 1994 I put the wagon back on the road after the car was off the road for about seven or eight years. My dad stopped driving it and used his 1980 Camaro with 267 V-8 instead because of the better gas mileage that the Camaro gave. I went through the wagon front to back in every way to make sure the car was ready for safe cruising. As well as some brake work because the car sat so long, I decided to clean up, touch up and detail the engine bay. Also at this time I redid the cylinder heads, resealed the entire engine, painted and detailed the engine. As bad as the quality is of the photos I took, here are some pictures of the work I did at that time. The work has held up well after thirty years of use. The wagon now has just over 57,000 miles on it and is still a joy to drive. Cheers.

1974 Chev 400 V-8 four barrel.

Heads were completely redone in every way.

Restored parts ready to go back on engine.

Just before sandblasting, priming and painting.

The motor had a great bottom end. Only top end work, resealing and detail required.

There was no surface rust what so ever. Only required scuffing, priming and painting of semi gloss black.


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Comments

Mario on Dec 30, 2023 said:

Great pictures showing all the work you did on the engine George. This car will last several more decades with all the care you've given it.

Next May your Caprice will celebrate 50 years and it looks like it's right out of the showroom.

Your Dad is sure pleased how you took over and maintained the family wagon. Cheers my friend. Mario

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Anonymous on Dec 30, 2023 said:

Very nice work George........hats off to you.

Rob

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57timemachine on Dec 30, 2023 said:

Thanks Mario. From the age of seventeen onward my dad let me work on the wagon and he knew how much the car meant to me. The car obviously means a lot to me and will be with me until I die. My younger brother Mike will carry on the torch after I am gone. Sadly after Mike, who knows what the fate of the wagon will be. His son has no interest in cars what so ever. Unfortunately you can not control things beyond the grave. If I could I would. Cheers.

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