Projects 1951 Chevy Bel Air gasser style Hot Rod build

I understand what you're doing. You can't race with 5 speeds anyway , without a 5 speed shifter...like in the old M/P days.

 

awesome car and you're doin it all right,...here's my 52 sedan from back in the mid 60's,...tryin for that gasser look...

 

I like where this is going. Too often cars like this get looked over as hot rods, too popular to build as customs or around here, lowriders. I guess I'm a hot rodder at heart, I much rather see a radiused rear wheel opening with big meats then skirts and narrow tires.
The fact your doing it to a rare hardtop make it even cooler. Carry on, I'll be watching.

 

In the late 70s with an off topic car I used be pretty good at powershifting (or so I thought). With my right foot buried in the throttle I'd have my left foot hoisted above the clutch pedal waiting to stab it at the right RPM as I slammed the shifter into the next gear with my right hand. For a while I ran a Hurst Ram Rod shifter which looked cool and shifted 1-2-3-4 well, but it didn't like to down shift. It was a street car and when I was in 3rd and needed to downshift to 2nd, I'd have to shift 3-4-1-2. After a while I took it out and put a Hurst Competition Plus shifter and the consule back in. Don't know if I can powershift as well now that I'm old and fat, but I'm looking forward to finding out.

Nice clean looking 52.

Thanks. Although I enjoy looking at a nicely done custom, I'm more into the hot rods also. I've caught some heat from a friend for taking this car in the direction I'm going (mostly good kidding), but it's what I really want.

 

Console !

 

See what I mean.

 

Trimmed the opening in the trans tunnel for the shifter. Still need to do some metal work on the tunnel and the cover.



Made temporary leveling brackets to help level/position the engine before I weld in the engine crossmember (I realize the "leveling brackets" look like cr*p, but they were made quickly using some scrap and they're not staying on the car). Still need to finish modifications to the trans crossmember.

 

Grind off the corners and a little black paint and instant motor brackets. you need something to hold that big block in place while you are making everything else.
I don't think anybody thought that was your final engine mount design. I have seen worse and it was their final design.

 

He's an injun-ear! Toot toot!

 

I love the direction you're going with this! I'm actually thinking of doing something similar to my 53. What headers are those?

 

It's kinda hard to see in the last couple pics, but I've got stock style bbc engine mounts and a Trans-Dapt crossmember bolted to the engine. The crossmember has been trimmed to fit snug between the frame rails and can slide up/down and forward/back about an inch or so and still fit well. I just made the front temporary mounts with "adjuster" bolts to allow me to play around with the engine position (up or down and level) and weight load the suspension to see how it sits, before I tack weld in the crossmember. I'll probably also try to figure out the steering linkage and some other bits before I weld the mounts in.

Thanks! The headers are Speedway BBC headers for 55-57 Chevys. The header flanges appear to be 3/8" and they seem to be pretty well made.
http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Big-B...5-57-Chevy-Black-Painted,57751.html?sku=930C4

 

Dan thanks for you interest in making your car fit our rules and thinking about coming to one of our Southeast gasser events.
As you mentioned above Shelby being our finals it's usually our best of all. We are expecting about 70 to 75 era correct cars for A/G, C/G and D/G so there should be plenty of racing for the day. We also have an open test and tune Friday afternoon for cars that don't fit our rules to play. Saturday November 4th is race day and SEGA legal cars only on the track then.

I have a lot of racers tell me they are building to our rules because the SEGA rules are the strictest in the world so if a car is built to them it can race in any gasser origination in the country.

About SEGA Texas Style. It's up and running but really slow getting a lot of cars. I think there is 2 active now but about 10 more being built for next year. Nothing new because in 2011 when I started the SEGA I only had 2 cars for the first year. With all of the other nostalgia deals not requiring the cars to meet any kind of standards it takes a lot of time and money to get one with strict rules off the ground. Once it gets going it will be just like the original SEGA and will snowball into the same uncontrollable mess I have LOL.

SEGA where the stands and parking lots are full of spectators not participants.

 

Quain, thanks for the insight on the finals at Shelby. My wife and I decided to come to the event Saturday and check things out. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the cars in the pits and learning more about what I need to do to be able to run my car at SEGA Texas Style events. Would like to stop by and say hi if you're not too busy. Thanks again for your help. Dan

 

Quain is always busy but he will take the time to talk for a minute.
He is a good guy.

 

Not a problem, I understand. It will be cool just to see that many era correct cars in one place.

 

Looking forward to seeing you there. Stay in touch and we will make sure that I slow down long enough to say hello and do a little gasser talking.
My personal email is [email protected] and my shop phone number is 828 863 1201.

 

You can bet Da Grump "finnessed" those old Hurst and P&G shifters a bit Mark.

 

Pretty sure he used a 3-speed shifter with a separate reverse lever.

 

Possible, if so it had to have been a Syncro-Loc.

 

Thanks Quain, will be sure to stop by and say hi.

 

That was the setup I used.. the 2-3 shift never missed.
I still have that shifter, with the white ball handle.

 

Got a little bit more work done. In post #29 it shows the bracket we made for the new master cylinder. Because the old master cylinder pushrod was too short, I spent a little time on modifying it to increase the length. We cleaned the old pushrod, cut the end off, put it in a vise and cut a 3/8-24 fine thread on it with a cheap die, cutting oil and a little elbow grease.



I took a grade 5 bolt, cut the head off and rounded it to make the new end. Used some 5/8" chromemoly tube and threaded ends to lengthen it to about 9 1/2" long. I also modified a bolt with a mushroom end to use at the clutch fork when I do the clutch linkage.


One of the next jobs will be a modified "Z" bar and mechanical clutch linkage.

 

what leaf springs and hangers did you use? What Disc brake Conversion did you use? Car looks great. Just started a similar build.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I've been busy with another project, so I haven't been able to do as much to the 51.

For the 51 front suspension I used Speedway straight axle leaf springs and hangers for a Chevy II. The disc brake conversion is also from Speedway. Since my last update I've mounted a reverse rotation 525 steering box, shortened & mounted a 55 Chevy steering column and started working on the clutch pedal linkage.

However until I finish putting together & installing a new engine in my sedan (and the weather gets better) I won't be able to do much to the 51. But I will do an update when I've got some new progress & pictures.

 

Very cool ride..!

 

Sorry, I must have nodded off. Actually I had to put this project on hold for a while.
But I do have a video to make up for it. Here's the engine I assembled for the 51 Bel Air.

 

Sounds great, are you going to run a 70 lb flywheel like Gene runs, man that thing zings for a long time after the burn out lol
I'd like to see the rear wheels stick out a couple inches, a local friend built this one with a 440 mopar and a 4 spd oddly enough.



I believe the "Mister Twister" out of Ohio had a build thread here on the forum, it had a BBC too.

 

Thanks. I got a good deal on a new 30# Hays flywheel from a guy on craigslist. That allowed me to budget more for the clutch kit and get a McLeod dual disc. I've never had one before, curious to see how it works.

 

And once again, I should have kept MY 1951 Chevrolet Business Coupe Street Gasser!!! But, too many projects, not enough time or money, and something had to go. I've regretted it since. Good luck with your hard top Gasser.
I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Thanks Butch, maybe another 51 Business Coupe will come your way when the timing is better.