My 64 Commander.

[Jerry Forrester]

Should put it directly forward of my passenger head/valve cover.

I don't think you can put the alternator in front of the valve cover if you are using a short water pump. It must go outside the VC or between the VC and the thermostat housing.
Also, you won't be able to use that crank pulley shown in the photo, it's for a long water pump.

[RyleeH]

Thanks Bullet! Doing my best to get everything done properly.

So I tried getting 65 Daytona alternator bracket to fit my current GM alternator and that's not working for me. I broke down and ordered brackets from local performance shop today. Should put it directly forward of my passenger head/valve cover. I'm hoping it wont block the side of water pump so heater may still work. Wanting to route that hose under the alt and back to heater core.

Wanting to find a different fuse panel under my dash so not too many accessories running from stock panel.

I'm short a few houses, water pump bolts and gas line. Gas line now that its moved a bit and I noticed a kink I'd like to relieve. Small amount of wiring to be done as well.

Hiding behind to grill, looks good.


Short water pump gives me 1-3/4" space between itself and fan. You can see fuel line kink in this photo.

[Bullet]

Great progress! I like the glow of the gauges. Keep us updated on the progress. I have a 64 Cruiser as a daily driver, so know some of what you are going through.


Mark

[RyleeH]

Hi everyone!
I bought my 1964 Commander in August 2017 and have been changing things to better suit me since then. I hope this is the appropriate place to post my progress photos.

The car at purchase date had a mismatched interior that included blue commander rear side panels and blue dash, that's all that was stock. Otherwise red r-active seats up front, purple zebra door panels, blue grand marquis seats bolted in place, camaro steering column with key and shifter on column(ignition really on dash, manual car).

Drivetrain had obviously been swapped somewhere in its lifetime. Sporting a sbc 350, t10 4spd and an s10 rear end sitting on two leaf springs.

I stumbled upon a very rotten bodied parts car in November which gave me the idea to change interior all black Daytona style. Parts car is my savior in so many ways looking back.

My fun started by changing the interior completely. I gutted the entire interior and kept only the blue carpet that also was not stock fit(close enough so it stays). Ordered some seats from Braum through Haute Ag in Calgary, AB. I couldn't stop there. During the gutting and swapping I saw things I couldn't put back to the way they were so I also got a new steering column from Summit Racing.
My door locks never worked very well and ignition stuck out from dash. I had parts car ignition re-keyed and order earlier door locks with the dust caps(future service in mind).
After my front seats from Braum showed up I dropped off the parts car rear factory seats at a local upholstery shop to be matched to my fronts.
I modified the factory manual steering shaft to accept a 3/4" DD coupler to accept the 1" DD steering column from 30" Summit column(could have went with 28"). After the "new" parts car black dash was mounted I ordered my steering wheel with 1.5" dish to not sit me too far back.
To mount my new front seats I learned to weld and made brackets to bolt into the factory mounts and space me just under 2" from the floor.
While putting gauges back in place and making things work again I put blue led lights behind them.

A few test drives after the streets dried up here in Saskatchewan I realized I needed new brake master cylinder and a new wheel cylinder. Wheel cylinder was no issue but took some time to find Napa master cylinder 8142 was a direct replacement.

Shifter linkage fell apart one night on a drive as well, that was scary. Hurst steel bushings and clips were installed then.

Overheating became an issue, found chunks in the radiator and a 160 degree thermostat. Threw me over an edge in my own mind and I ordered up a new rad/fan combo with electronic thermostat. Now that I'm currently mounting this I've found my long style water pump to be too close. Now I'm swapping in a short water pump and relocating alternator with studebaker mounts from 65 Daytona. Need to find proper crank pulley now.
I figured overheating the car hurt some oil seals so pulling the engine before mounting new rad had to happen. Where I found some weird stuff going on to mount passenger side of engine. Now that's back closer to factory with stude mount on frame and new 65 Chevelle engine mounts(direct fit).

Been cleaning up the 65 Daytona D44 rear end to put into the car yet and some better leaf springs. Would like to sit the car more level than it currently is. Will require new 15" rim/tire combo.

I'm sure there is lots I'm missing that I've done to the car so far but here's some pictures. FAR from done right now but the important part is I'm getting there and learning a ton from this experience. I'll do my best to keep this thread updated on my progress.

First night I brought it home. Keeps loading upside down....

Next day.


Interior progress.

Before pulling the engine.

New radiator after engine installed.