Components - MuscleCar Restoration and Design, Inc.

Component Restoration

We can also handle smaller mechanical components.

On these pages you will find several items that we have restored. In some cases I will try and show you the before, during, and after shots of the components so you can see what goes into each restoration. Our frame off restorations will include every single component part and will be completely restored both cosmetically as well as mechanically and not simply just a sand and paint like so many other shops do.


SS396 PILOT Car Wiring David Harter, owner of the only known to exist 1970 PILOT Chevelle (differs from the LS6 Pilot cars) hired me to restore many of the components off his car, many of which were one off units which differed from the production units and were in some cases experimental and hand made. His car bares serial number #42 and per some GM people he talked to is one the 42nd of 49 pilot cars produced for testing and never meant to be released to the public. It was the 138th 1970 Fischer body produced. Keep in mind many of the other bodies were partial bodies and build specifically for test fitting sheet metal and also for crash testing as well as many other testing. For some odd reason this car was sold to the public and found many years later by David who did not even know it was a pilot car until he started the restoration. Much of the wiring in the car is unique and differs from the factory production units as does the dash and gauges. More on that later. The wiring was all marked with "PILOT" and "SPLICE" decals which had to be painstakingly reproduced exactly like the factory ones and put back exactly as found. The fuses were also color coded by value which production cars also used.

Drain Plugs Here is a simple item such as the floor drain plugs. These were galvanized from the factory and installed after primer and prior to paint. Special caulking was also used and varies between plants. As you can see, the restored drain plugs resemble originals exactly.

Air Conditioning Here is a typical GM A-body A/C inner and outer box. Depending on condition and parts availability I will also restore these items. These can be tricky so only a select few are good enough to restore.

Heater Box Here is a finished heater box showing the correct flat textured finish, the grey phosphate component pieces and the inspection mark that was found on the top. It is very common to find either a grease pencil inspection mark or an inspection decal on heater boxes.

Kick Panel Vents Here are the kick panel as well as the Astro Air vents common on GM A-bodies. The foam seals are always deteriorated and need to be replaced as well as individual parts needing replating and new paint. Here is what normally takes place to restore these vents. New rivets are installed and peened over exactly like the factory did as well as the correct black oxide, black zinc and dull silver zinc plating. Some plants sprayed these while others dipped them in black lacquer. I restore them using the exact process that GM did.

Steering Gear Here is a power steering gear undergoing complete overhaul and restoration. The housings are cleaned, glass beaded, hot tanked and replated back to their original natural finish. All machined surfaces are remachined to give them a fresh appearance.

Steering Column Here is a common steering column that was completely disassembled, any bearings needed replacing, all components rebuilt and restored, repainted and reassembled.

Wiper Motor Here is a common GM wiper motor that is completed disassembled, rebuild, relubricated, plated parts are replated and reassembled.

Shifter, Shocks, Brake Pedal, Emergency Brake Miscellaneous components we restore & recondition.

Brake Assemblies Here are common rear brake assemblies completely restored using correct colored springs, inspection marks and date codes. My research has found that when and if the rear end housing was painted that the drums were installed but no brake hardware was installed, including brake lines. For this reason the inside of the drum as well as the inside backing plates were natural. If the rear housing was painted usually only a slight amount of paint was on the drum face.

Muncie Shifter Here is a complete Muncie shifter getting an overhaul. All components are plated and painted according to how they were done originally from the factory, handles are rechromed, lubrication and inspection marks added and completely assembled.

Hurst Shifter We also restore some aftermarket parts as well as GM installed aftermarket parts such as the factory used Hurst shifters. This is time consuming and expensive due to the plating but you receive back a brand new as GM delivered shifter. I use the same plating that GM used on these parts and replicate every detail including any inspection paint marks when found. This happens to be a shifter for a 69 Camaro.

Suspension Here are some typical front suspension restoration pieces that I restore not only on cars we are restoring but also for customers who ship us their parts. Everything is photo documented, disassembled and inspection VERY thoroughly before they are stripped and even then they are stripped very carefully to determine what inspection marks were there. These are like snow flakes and no two are alike nor have I seen any rhyme or reason to their colors. After everything is stripped and cleaned then we plate them with a proprietary chemical and process that took me over 20 years to perfect. There is NO paint applied to these pieces other than to the center link and the inspection marks. When completed they look exactly like new heat treated parts.

1970 Front Suspension Restoration Here is yet another complete front suspension that was sent to us by a customer to have us restore his front suspension off a 1970 LS6. His suspension components still retained their original inspection marks so everything was restored as found. Also note the backing plates which were restored with a correct "galvanizing" look and NOT zinc plating as is so commonly incorrectly done.

1968 Camaro Sub-Frame Here is a complete front subframe for a 1968 big block Camaro that was disassembled, stripped, documented and restored. This took many hours of research and painstaking disassembly to not destroy any original inspection marks, all of which were replicated exactly as they were found. The subframe was also in very poor condition and required many hours of work to restore. Many times complete frames, subframes or just suspension components are sent to us for restoration instead of the whole car. Many people do a lot of their own work such as bodywork and paint but prefer to have these items done by a professional. Consider it on your next project.