Customs 57 Chevy Budget 4 door build

Another thing, i’ve got this battery and it’s starting to crank over slower, is there a way i can just charge it with jumper cables and my pickup? Other than the obvious (pulling the car out and jump starting it with my pickup) can i just charge the battery out of the car?


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Harbor freight has little trickle chargers for less than $10. There's one in Fairview Heights. Or rotate the batteries in your truck.

 

Can’t put this battery in my pickup, it uses side posts. Would a trickle charger actually charge my battery? Thought it was meant for just keeping it at a useable level while in storage. I could always pull the car out to the end of the driveway and drive my pickup onto the lawn and jump start it, i’d just rather not move it until it drives on its own


What’cha got in there, kid?
More than you can handle!

 

They make round posts that screw into the side posts. I have used the trickle chargers for years on my tractor & lawn mower and a couple of rigs that don't get driven much. The tractor battery is weak and if I forget to plug it in it will go dead in a couple of weeks. I plug in the trickle charger and the next day it is ready to go.

 

I’ll probably just pull the car out of the garage and jump it then, or i might just pull the trigger on a charger when i’m out tomorrow. I’m so close to having it running i don’t wanna wait another 2 days


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You can jump or charge the battery with jumper cables and another car. It's much faster than using a trickle charger.

 

Can it be done outside of the car though? I have the car in the garage facing forward instead of facing out so to jump start it i’d have to pull it all the way down the driveway


What’cha got in there, kid?
More than you can handle!

 

I gotta say...way back when, when you were looking for a car and they kept falling through...I figured for sure you would never get a car. I almost started wondering if you were just writing this stuff for fun or because you were bored?

Now, you got the car, and you swapped in a V8, and sooner or later it will run. You WILL hit more bumps in the road and learn as you go. This is really cool, this is what haotordding is all about.

Guys just like you were doing this very same thing to 57 Chevys when they were nearly new. Let that sink in.

Good job, you're getting there. I admire your spirit and determination. Soon, your labor will pay off and you'll be seeing how that chev goes down the road.

 

Does your pick up have a steel bumper?? Back in the day we would pull the car with the good battery up to it and lay a tire iron on the bumpers making the ground and then clamp the two cables together to make them longer and hook the positive to positive and try to start it.

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement, with a little hot rod engineering i got my alternator mounted, it’s not pretty but it’ll work! Pretty soon i’ll go grab some battery cables and a charger and hopefully i’ll have this thing out of the garage!


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What’cha got in there, kid?
More than you can handle!

 

I’m amazed at all the generosity of advice and parts you guys share...definitely what this hobby needs! I am fortunate my dad & brothers are into it, so didn’t need as much help from others when I started out. I will add 1 thing tho. I suggest never putting a ground wire on the trans, since this promotes starter ground current running through the starter teeth, to the ring gear teeth, into the flywheel, then pilot bushing or torque converter if auto, input shaft splines, bearings, case, mount, frame, etc, etc till it finds its way back to the battery. I know this sounds absolutely crazy, but working in a transmission shop for 20 years I’ve seen some very strange things caused by poor grounds. I’ve even seen rear axle bearings all arced up, not just pitted as they usually do when they fail. Since electricity always seeks the path of least resistance, I feel the starter to block and block to battery grounds (clean metal surfaces-no paint or rust!) are the most important connections on the car. It will start, run, and drive with marginal grounds, but it will also be arcing on bearing surfaces (imagine a tiny welder in there, that’s what the result looks like), which leads to their early demise. Just a few words of advice from a guy who’s been there & done that, leading to losing my butt on repairs that should have been slam-dunk easy money in my pocket.
-driverquality

 

Alright, so a ground strap from maybe the exhaust manifold to the frame would be a better idea then? There was no strap anywhere on the car when i had the 235 in it so there’s not an easy place to just run a strap to the same place


What’cha got in there, kid?
More than you can handle!

 

I always run 2 ott cable from the battery direct to engine, then from that point to the frame and then from there to the body with a 4ga cable. Grind under the lugs clean and never have grounding issues ever.

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Im not sure why you would need a ground to the frame, not sayin you dont, someone probably knows more than me??? but If you have one coming from the engine to the battery, I might only attache a small ground wire from the negative battery cable end to a battery tray bolt for a body ground.

 

Whatever you ground the engine to also run a ground from that to the Negative battery post. Yes you can ground through the exhaust manifold bolt or the bell housing to engine block bolt directly to the vehicle frame but must complete the circuit from the frame to the battery. Makes sense but can often be overlooked and then you scratch your head and ask, why won't this thing even turn over? You're no dummy or you wouldn't have even gotten this far so with the reward this close don't get ahead of your brain.

 

I think you missed something, he has the battery grounded on the intake. The bell-housing to frame is to ensure the frame is grounded.
You might be mistaking grounding a welder lead?

 

Although I quite often see the ground to a bracket or manifold, I always prefer a cable directly to a clean, bare metal hole in the block. Just gives me piece of mind. The other way isn’t “wrong”, but I feel it could be more “right” And don’t forget to make sure the starter & block surfaces are clean. A 12 g or so ground wire from the battery to the frame & body are great ideas too. Go pineapple go!

 

First off let me say that I admire your persistence to be out there working in this cold weather to get this thing going. As far as grounds are concerned which nobody seems to give much thought to can create all types of problems that are not easily detected. The proper method which has been stated above is, Battery to Block, Block to Frame, Block to Body, it's that simple and will prevent hours of frustration later. Wish I'd known that when I was your age!

 

We rubber mount everything And refuse to mount an engine as the OP has so there is a rubber trans mount. so we make sure when you tap from somewhere on a vehicle you will have a good ground.

 

Wow! I did not realize that grounding could cause destructive arcing. On my OT 99Caravan the ground is just bolted to the radiator support.

 

No welder involved, but what I’ve seen looks like the little pit marks created if you’ve ever accidentally shorted a battery with a screwdriver.
I see what you are saying, but I personally won’t ground to a transmission at all, and prefer the negative directly to the bare metal of the engine block instead of a manifold etc. I learned my lesson on a few delivery trucks that had gotten reman engines, then a few weeks or months later I built & installed transmissions. They worked perfect when I was done, but each came back on a hook in a couple weeks time. On each one the converter internals were destroyed & the pump bushing was all pitted. I fixed it and looked over the the grounds on the truck only to find paint on the block where the starter mounts & ground cables were attached. I cleaned everything up & the trucks never had a problem again. Just my experience, yours may vary.

 

Op used factory rubber engine and trans mounts as far as Im aware, I cant see what it would hurt to have a ground to the frame, however never knew it was a necessity???

 

I mean we 3 point mount every engine, side mount front and put a trans cross member in. We also don't build stuff without overdrive.

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I was thinking like you and wondered what it would lead to. I'm still a little disappointed he didn't get the 6 running, but the last few weeks working on the V8 with all the HAMB help I noticed an improvement in the thought process and problem solving... I mean expotentially (sp?) better.

By the time I was 20, I had bought my first house, was married with a daughter and a son soon on the way. I had 3 '57 Chevy's and a motorcycle, all on $1.85 an hour at the service station. Worked 50+ hours a week. Bought my first '57 at sixteen when it was only 8 years old and proceeded to blow up the powerglide, several 3 and 4 speeds and a bunch of axles and rear ends. Ended up with my buddy's '60 Vette engine when he upgraded to a big block. Dual 4's, 375 cam and 5.13 butt gears, it was a blast between stop lights.

 

I’ve got almost everything together, but i’m just too physically drained to work on it any more today. That and the battery is dead

My water pump leaks a bit but i won’t be actually driving the car until it gets warmer, just will be nice to drive it in and out of the garage once i start on the brakes and install the new gas line and tank. Still have to wire the alternator, fix a battery terminal clamp that cracked, get a temp fuel bottle somewhere and figure out what’s jamming up the shifter linkage. I worked on getting the swivel off the clutch rod for 3 days and finally said screw it i’ll buy a new one. Looked all over, ended up going to a hardware store where they do little odd jobs, i ended up getting just the right guy to help me, he took it to the back and torched it for me, got the nut off in 5 minutes and only charged me $3 for labor. I did get my battery cables switched out this morning and i got a belt that’ll fit my ghetto setup for the alternator. Tomorrow i’ll get the battery charged and see if i can actually get it running. I’ve got spark, compression and fuel but i just have to figure out the right mix of each. Oh yeah, quick question about carb linkage, where do i put the springs? Theres a narrow long one and a fat short one.


What’cha got in there, kid?
More than you can handle!

 

Yes...I did mention a new water pump as well

Okay...replace it, I assume it's leaking out of the weep hole...cold weather or not, replace it. You can lose all your coolant pretty fast.

 

The first upgrade this car is gonna get is a floor shifter. I’ve about had it with this column shift and i havent even driven it yet. Might find a 4 speed at the same time and do it all at once


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