Projects Old Rusty . . . a Father/Son '51 Chevy

Nice progress,keep it up!

 

Nice work, Jim!

 

Lookin Great!

 

Keep making progress Jimmy. You will be there before you know it.

 

Wow brerhair, i just found this thread. its really comming along good. you should show your son working on it more as they grow up so fast, probably looks different than when you first started. cool car/ story!

 

Back at you Finn!

And you Jim, love your new project.

Thank you Jason!

One hour at a time, Rod.

Thanks man. Problem is, he's seldom working on the car, and I mean seldom. He still loves the IDEA, the CONCEPT, waiting for the CAR. He's got no interest in grinding, scraping, sanding, welding, drilling, etc. We recently went to the Charlotte Auto Fair and he fell completely in love with a '57 Chevy street rod done up almost exactly where we're headed, L98, 700r4, A/C, etc., so the enthusiasm for the CAR is still there. What we have in the garage is not yet a car, it is a PROJECT. And a tedious, slow-drip, one-painstaking-hour-at-a-time project, and that just ain't him. Not sure I can blame him, I don't hold it against him, if you know what I mean . . . it's a classic "it is what it is" . . . (although I just know that had my dad gotten into some such when I was a teenager, I would have been all in).
The way I look at it, one day it will be a car, and it will live up to his expectations, and he will see his fingerprints all over it, and he will know and understand it like no other car before, and it will be something pretty damn special between him and me . . . and that's good enough for me.

 

Installed the throttle cable. Drip . . . drip . . . drip . . .

Edit: OT pics

 

Installed tranny dipstick. I know, I know, too much bling. I'm not the designer.

Edit: OT pic

 

Installed vacuum line on the re-installed master cylinder/booster.
Not too concerned about hose routing, as you can see. Trying to speed this thing up in my own troglodyte way.

Edit: OT engine bay pic

 

Great build post. Keep up the good work. When I am older and have kids of my own I hope to do something very similar to this.

 

Will add a clip to hose above. And to wire bundles below.
Edit: OT pics

 

Looking great farther son time the best still do it with pops

 

still lookin mighty fine..... but, i do see you could've used a little touch up paint on that engine.....

 

Great progress jimmy.

I jsut noticed you had the Corvette TPI instead of the Camaro. The fuel rail is easier to plumb with the Corvette rail, at least it was in my case.

Are you going to use the Corvette AC compressor?

 

Thanks.

Great . . . you don't grow out of this passion, it's a lifelong thing! Thanks.

Yea, at the least we'll polish the black paint off the water pump. Why would anyone paint an aluminum engine part? Timing chain cover is rough, just don't know if I have it in me to spend much time down there.

 

You must have been posting same time I was this morning Rod. (Edit) Sure want to use the vette compressor to save money. A little nervous about moisture in it? Have not researched yet what I need to do (if anything) to make it work.

 

Well shit. Trying to post a few pics of removing power steering pump, but Picasa has changed the upload process. Great, now I have to be retrained. Not intuitive.

 

I used the 'Vette compressor. I had a guy weld some ends on the 'Vette hoses to adapt it to the car. Worked well.

 

Well, good to hear Rod. Don't see why it won't work.

Here are the pics I was trying to upload last night. Removing power steering pump. And yetiskustoms suggested I post a pic of Billy today, so here goes.
Edit: OT engine pic

 

The new belt routing will take this path.

Edit: OT pic

 

(Edit: OT stuff) Stuck engine back in w/o changing it. (Edit:OT stuff)

 

keep up the good work. I need some of your motivation!!!

 

I read your entire thread today, and as others have said, it is inspiring. Great to see you are still plugging away. And my 9 year old is exactly the same as far as the labor-side of things go. I am also hoping my perserverence will pay off in the future.

Keep up the good work.

 

thanks for the great read today. My son isn't even born yet (due in July) and I already am looking forward to building a project with him

 

Thanks. Looks like I might need to tap your knowledge when we get to upholstery!

Thanks. I can understand it in a nine year old. Harder to figure in a 19 yr old.

Congrats. I highly recommend a son, he'll understand you like no one else in the family! A fun ride all the way. And thanks.

 

OK, moving on to brake plumbing. First, laid it out.

 

Started with rear brakes. Got about 5 pcs 5 ft long stainless 3/16" pipe from Inline Tube with inverted flare both ends. Moving forward from above rear end on driver side frame, went as far as pc would go and installed brake light switch there:

 

Played around with different geometry for running flex hose from frame to rear end housing and decided to go from frame straight down to housing near left rear wheel. Got a hose with pipe thread connection on one end (frame) and retainer ring lock/inverted flare connection on other end (housing). Welded stud to housing for retainer clip lock.




Spent a couple hours playing around with how the hose would move during up & down rear end movement, put the hose in every configuration I could think of, and what you see above is what I found to be the least (negligible) hose rotation. Both ends of the hose should not rotate during up & down rear end movement.

At least that's what I think. Sure hope it works. Please chime in if I've got a problem here.

As far as I've gotten so far, been practicing my double (inverted) flares.

 

Well damn it man! I need to check in more often! You are making great progress, Looks great!

 

if I can be of any help please ask!!!