A customer brought in this 51 Olds right before I left for Europe so, he basically got about 4 months of free storage while I was off baby sitting some computer programmers. Everything that wasn't where it belonged was piled inside the car. A prior owner and/or shop had started a chop using a lot of mud I think they used the rear glass and about six inches all around from another car. They welded it right over the Olds roof with about a five inch overlap. No chance of doing any hammer & dolly work there so it was filled with mud too. The customer wants the car bagged. I told him the only way I'd do it is if we clipped the car. So, out came the old Olds stuff and in went a GM Gbody clip. A freind of mine recently did a Camaro clip in a 50 Olds and he had to narrow it a bit. the G-body clip was exactly the same frame width and track width as the 51. Out with the old: In with the new: Here's what the rear look like before I tore it apart.
To bag the rear I needed to get rid of the leaf springs and build a triangulated 4-link. Here I started laying out where the top bars would go. I made a bunch of patterns for brackets Then I basically worked on other stuff for a couple of weeks because the computer controlling my bro's CNC plasma table crapped out. Here's the Chevy 350/TH350 engine mounts and transmission crossmember. The computer is still out of commission and I got tired of waiting so, I cut all of these brackets out of 3/16" plate on the band saw. Here are shots of tacking all the rear suspension pieces in place. Lots of welding was done after these pictures were taken. Next up will be installing the front air bags and trial fitting the body to make sure everything works with out hitting. Then I'll blow it apart for chassis powdercoating.
Curious about something with the 4 link. I noticed that the trailing arm bushings are mounted in front of the axle tubes. Is there a possibility of the trailing arms (at bushings) positioning either toward the top or bottom of the vehicle when assembly moves up or down, thereby causing pinion angle to swing the wrong direction? I have always seen the bushings mount on bottom of typical 4 links.
Good question. That would be a concern in a high horsepower application since the lower bar is essentially pushing toward the front of the car. It shouldn't be a problem here. The bars are pretty long so, the pinion angle change from ride height to fully extended or fully dropped is only 2 degrees either way. The bars are also made from .120 wall 1.5" tubing which is quite a bit larger than what's usually used for 4-links so, there should be littel if any flex.
Was more concerned about possible clunks from snapping up and down past center. Also 4 degrees could be noticeable. Other than that question the setup looks really good. Nice job.
Today I worked on mocking up the front air bags. Since it has a GM G-body clip, I bought a G-body "kit" for the front from Air Ride Technologies. In addition to shocks and brackets here's what you get in the kit. Here's what it looks like assembled. Buying the kit saved me from having to fabricate the brackets that go above and below the bags. The instructions say to cut and arc 2" high and 5" long on the side of the spring pocket area of the frame. That still looked a little close on the front and rear edges so I marked it for some more cutting. With more cut out it was a much better fit. With the lower control arm on and the air bag compressed it still had plenty of clearance. With the front suspension all mocked up the top shock mount was a bit close to the upper A-arm so I moved that back about 3/4". Then everything cleared all the way through suspension travel. It has about 8" of travel.
Today we set the engine and trans back in, put the wheels on it, and set the body back on the frame. We had to clearance the floor for the upper 4-bar brackets under the rear seat and it looks like the fat tires that are on the back now will rub the fenderwells on front/outside edge when the bags are dumped. Lots of room in the engine compartment with that little Chevy in there. I think I'll build the new core support and inner fenders before taking the body back off for chassis powdercoating. I might even talk the customer into a smooth firewall while we're at it. It's actually starting to look promising.
Very nice, Don! You certainly are doing this car good by fixing some of the past mistakes. Good fab work, indeed. Malcolm
This week I worked on the engine compartment. Fabbed a new core support to house a 55 Chevy radiator at an angle to clear the front steer P/S box, made a smooth firewall, and made inner fender panels. First I made this wood frame to determine how big the radiator could be and where it could or couldn't fit. I selected a 55 Chevy radiator because an off the shelf radiator is cheaper than a custom unit and it's easier to get replacements in the future. Here's the core support that holds the radiator and locates the front end of the fenders. The customer decided he'd rather have custom made inner fenders than the stockers hacked up to clear the new front suspension and since we were doing that, he also opted for a smooth firewall. The stock one was kinda ugly. So we cut it out. Then made a pattern from poster board. We'll get to the finished firewall in a few minutes. Here's where we started on the fenderwells. First I laid on a bunch of tape to see if my eyes liked the idea in my head. Since that was a pretty big expanse to cover with flimsy posterboard which isn't easy to shape, I whipped up some strips of aluminum angle to make a rigid frame to form the posterboard patterns over. Then I made the posterboard patterns. Then transferred the patterns to 18 gauge steel. Here's the finished firewall shot too. While I was fitting the steel panels I held them in place with clecos. Once all the fitting was completed, I bolted them in with stainless 1/4 20 button head bolts.
Fred Sandord (AKA Jim) stopped by today and mentioned that he had a 56 Olds bumper that he was taking to the swap meet next weekend. I asked him to drop it by so I could see if it could work on this car. The stock bumper is pretty ugly and the "moustache" piece above it is pot metal and seriously damaged. The customer and I have discussed a bumper swap but, haven't picked one yet. I think this could work. Here's the stock stuff. Here's the 56 bumper blocked up under the front of the 52(?). As you can see in these shots there's a pretty good sized gap that would have to be addressed. The bumper really can't go back any farther because the wrap around part is already at the leading edge of the front fender opening. So, what do you think? Does the 56 bumper look good on here? Do you think we should use it? Any ideas on filling the gap between the fenders and the bumper?
Don, it sure looks good from the front. I'd say do it............but it ain't a gunna be easy! When I first saw that car in your shop I thought yikes(!) what a slug. This thing is growing on me the farther you go along, which shouldn't surprise me, your vision & skill have always impressed me.
FANTASTIC WORK! please keep us updated on this olds project, looks great so far! i think the 56 grille/bumper looks cool, different on a 51....but id keep going with it...maybe use the stock splash pan and just cut it to fill the gap? just an idea. and the headlight rings that are on the car...they arent stock are they?
nice to see all the chasis and bag stuff made in house (cept for the front). should be a nice ride if you keep going at the rate you are. looks pretty similar to the project hoitink is workin on with a 50 chev. i think he used a similar front end treatment on that one. he has a thread going right now with a lot of pictures.
The headlight rings were already on there when it showed up here. They look like 54 Ford or Mercury to me.
Hey, Anyway in hell to "french-in" the '56 bumper, or better still section the width of the bumper inboard by a 1/3? As it hangs now, once rechromed, the bumper will throw the balance of the front end off and give a very heavy almost "fishmouth look" to the front. Some people like the "shelf-look ''on kustoms, I think every piece needs to work together as a balance for the design to not come off too heavy. Swankey Devils C.C. " It's time for another Tea Party "
What a sweet project. This is an awesome build and I can't wait to follow this thread. Nice work on the engine bay and great stance with the air setup.
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