Projects Maybe it's time to post my own project thread ('56 Chev 210 HT)

So, I've been a long time follower of the HAMB. I've enjoyed and appreciated all of you who have taken the time to share your progress, challenges, failures, successes, tips, techniques, do's, don'ts, and everything else that can occur until it leaves your garage, driveway, barn or carport under it's own power, cool'er, faster, safer and improved. So, a few photos as I recently dug into my own 'box of hangers'. I had planned on starting this three years ago, but for reasons I can't explain to even myself, I only got started three weeks ago. Anyway...

Background: I bought this car in 2006, and well let's just say, I didn't buy or pay wisely for what I got. A bitter pill to swallow. This car has had some class-A hackery, poor choices, mismatched parts, numerous incorrect or mixed fasteners, and other sins against safe & sane motoring. I finally made most of my peace with those things and said "F-It, lets tear into it, cuz I ain't driving it" Here are the before photos I took three years ago for my reference and to start documenting the road to a better car.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhjxhCM7H-0wgWVi4IW5VaiSHy0O

My current plan is to...

• paint the firewall, front splashpan, and front chassis
• new front-end bushings and rubber
• new cam, heads and intake for the rebuilt 355 sbc that came out of it
• new seals, shift kit, and install an electric kickdown switch for the TH400 that came out of it
• new floor pans
• new American Autowire harness (currently a rats nest of inline fuses - no fuse panel)
• and a few other minor items

The car will have mostly a 60's vibe about it, but I will likely color outside the HAMB lines here and there, a bit. The car wears a cheap, poorly applied paint job from 30+years ago, that was never cut & buffed. (A friend did a small spot on a fender just to see if it would yield some shiny paint - it did) As I want this to be a humble driver that will likely be one of my last efforts.

Here is another album of photos taken over the past 2+ weeks showing my start. I'll post some individual photos in future updates as I know everyone (including myself) likes pics, if there is interest in this shoddy car and it's road back to better health.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhjxhCM7H-0whWVB_oWBDCGM2sY-

PS: my apologies - a couple of the photos are blurry because I took them with my cellphone instead of my camera

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

I really like the way the '56 looks in the 7/16/2016 photos, right down to the standard
rally wheels (no Corvette 8 inchers), with the exception of the battering ram bumper
guards. I like the idea of a completely rebuilt suspension and braking system (disc
brakes all around if you can afford it). Please no gasser conversion. Too many people
have gotten away from a basic comfortable and reliable cruiser. I also dig the color. I'd
just like to see it lifted an inch or two.

 

Going to be a nice ride. But try to post the photos directly onto this thread instead of a link to an off site or the photos will disappear over time. If you post them here, they will stay forever.

 

Thanks!

That's my plan going forward...

 

I love the color. That's what I would want mine to be.

 

Beautiful car, the color is perfect. HRP

 

Thank you for the compliments on the color. The PO told me it was a "mid 80's Buick" color. The little bit that my friend cut & buffed appears a bit darker and less silver'y. I'm going to try to get some sort of a color match so I can paint the firewall and the front splash pan the body color. The car is really a 25-30 foot'er as the paint has a variety of issues...

 

Daaaaang, that's nice!
Wait a minute! You have TWO? What's the story with the twin in the 2019 pics?

I would trade my roadster for a nice 56 two door!

 

Holy Crap, he Cloned his car! Two '56 Hardtops! Man, that ain't Right (but it is Cool). Good Luck with your Builds (?), I believe it's called making it your own. Like the color, early Stingrays had a similar hue that I always liked. Sounds like you have a solid plan, so now it's time to make it happen.

 

lol...

The primer gray one is a Belair HT that I bought as you see before the 210. I bought the 210 for a few different reasons, as I wanted a car to drive while I worked on the Belair, but that didn't work out so well for me... Also, when I was born, my dad had a 210 HT (see avatar photo), so when the 210 popped up, I kinda sorta had to have it...

Anywhozit, I have all the parts for the Belair, but since it didn't currently have a front end on it, it's wearing the 210's front end as the most convenient place to keep it out of the way.

 

Thanks quick85, here's a few notes...

• wheels - good eye, the ralleys & tires came with the car (6" fronts, 7" Monte Carlo rears) and will get swapped out for 60's era type wheels that I'm keeping mum about for now. The front tires are small...
• car came with a then fresh disc brake kit on the front that uses the stock spindle.
• The back end was dragging on the ground practically when I got it, with worn out, saggy dropped 4-leaf springs. A friend had a fresh pair of 5-leafs he took off his '57 Belair HT project car, that he gave me and that brought the back end up to what you see.
• yep, peppy cruiser is what I'm going for. I've got front & rear sway bars for it, that will likely go on after all the other work, but I want to see the ride height first after that with the new wheels & tires before I do anything more about stance.

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

Nice car! I had a 210 hardtop back in the 80's and sold it back to the guy I bought it from after about 4 years. (stupid move). I always liked the 56 210 hardtop cars the best. I am not sure of the production numbers but the 210 hardtops are hard to find, you just don't see them very often. Thanks for posting your car.

 

Thanks LR50,

I can't remember without looking it up but I think only 14,xxx? 18,xxx? 210 2-dr HT's were made in '56 vs. the 128,xxx 2-dr HT Belairs. They can be challenging to find if one is looking for one, so when this one popped up in a color similar to my first car ('64 Impala convertible), I talked myself into getting it...

Quick piece of trivia, the 210 HT stopped production half way through the '53 model year then reappeared mid-model year for '55.

trivia#2: when I first got it, I had it at a car show, and some blow-hard guy was telling all his buddies that Chevy never made the car and that I had faked it. I didn't say a word cuz sometimes you just need to let a horse's a$$ be one...

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

Is it a Del Ray?

The 1956 Del Ray trim hardtop was produced in fewer numbers than the '56 Nomad. per my tri five book I bought when I was a kid...

 

The DelRay model is a 2dr sedan only interior option. Wasn't available on the 2dr HT's as I understand it.

 

Yes sir there was a Delray hard top, I almost bought one.(may not have been legit but it was a hard top with Delray all over it)
My book had the models broken down and featured a photo of the 56 Delray Hard top with this comment....

That was in '95. Of course I did not find that out until a week later. It was one of those deals....I almost had the money.

GM did funny stuff like that. My brother has a 1970 Chevelle Malibu SS. He actually got the car cheaper as he told the sellers it was a faked car as there was no such thing as a '70 Malibu SS.
He found out later that a SS could be ordered with the Malibu package or maybe it was vise vesa....a Malibu with the SS package. It's a small block car with Malibu trim, dash and badges but with the SS bumper pad, grille emblem, auto floor shifter and column.....
A special order car.

 

I didn't know that, I currently own a 54 chevy DelRay 210 sedan. Thanks for that information

 

@F-ONE,

I know the plain 2-dr 210 sedans have a style# on the cowl tag that reads 56-1011. A 210 2dr sedan with the Delray option has a style# of 1011A. It's the 'A' that signifies a true Delray. I know my style# is 56-1037 (without an 'A'). The Delray patterned interior has a following and has found it's way years later into a number of non-Delray eligible cars including 4-doors, wagons, etc... Occasionally some oddball cars that defy some of the common rules of what Chevrolet has published are documented originals, so anything is possible, and this is the first I can say I've ever heard the possibility of a factory Delray interior'ed 210 HT.

 

You bet. About 10 years ago or so, I used to be in a car club in which one of the members came into a cherry, unrestored '53 210 HT - baby blue & white. That thing was sweet! It had been owned by a commercial airline pilot who commuted back & forth to Seatac airport, and took faithful care of it. I envied the guy that car...

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

Needs some taller tires to fill up the wheel wells a bit, other than that it looks pretty damn good to me!

 

Past couple days I've been gutting the dash. About all I have left is removing the stubborn harness to firewall connector. I'll save removing the steering wheel & column (needs some minor repair) for another day. I hate that Grant wheel and it's going away (none to soon). Funny thing, I've amassed a number of steering wheels that were candidates until I finally found what I really wanted - a wheel from a '64-'65 chevelle 300. Why that one? I like the diameter, and it doesn't have the four little chrome dividers for two-toning the wheel. I also have a clock delete plate to replace the clock in the passenger side bezel.

 

After going back & forth on it, I'm going to remove the master cylinder and brake lines from the engine bay area to make prep & paint easier, and get fresh fluid into all the lines, later. I've given it thought and figure there must be a better way to drain the lines than just opening all the bleeders and letting my foot & gravity take over. Is it that simple or am I missing a more effective, potentially less messy way?

 

If you will be removing or replacing lines.....
Connect a hose from the bleeder at each wheel to a can. Close the bleeder and go to the next wheel. Do one wheel at a time.
When removing lines there’s sure to be some residual fluid in them.

 

That color may be 1985 GM WA8574, Light Blue Metallic. It was used on a ton of GM cars back then, and is the upper color on my '85 Grand Prix.

 

One obvious question.............. did the funnel on the carb get you any horsepower.

 

Isn't that where you pour the money in?

 

S55... thanks for that! I did take a look in the online auto paint color library recently, but there was so many choices I figured it wasn't worth my time to get too focused on a computer image, and just have it matched at the paint store with a hood or fender sample.

LOL... Loudbang, you are so very close... that's where the unicorn had to sit as the only thing that was going to make that motor run properly was unicorn farts.

 

"Gotta56forme... Scott... why am I looking at two piles of dirt. I've got better things to do with my Sundays..."

Bonus True Car-Guy Points if somebody can tell me how I came to have those two piles of dirt & leaves. Hint: there is a small skull in one of them. (Yes, project related)

 

Hmmm... no guesses? So... when I took the raingear wiper system out, I had the initial misfortune of losing a small part down the cowl vent at the passenger side windshield wiper escutcheon. As I explored trying to get the part back, I came to figure out the cowl vent drains were plugged up - the passenger side much more so than the driver's side. I used a long screwdriver then a scrap piece of 12 gauge electrical wire to fish around in the cowl drains dumping all that dirt, sand, grit, leaves and otherwise that you see. Really surprising how much was in there. It was a full dust pan worth and actually sort of heavy. I pushed the body into the driveway and used the cowl vent access holes to spray water down the blind cowl areas. The passenger side plugged up twice more because of the amount of what I assume was mouse nesting material hidden away in there, that was eventually washed away. Left it sit in the hot sun for a few hours to dry, then sprayed alot of WD40 into those areas. Hoping all is good past that. In retrospect, temporarily losing the part had a good overall outcome...

Gotta56forme/Scott

 

Finally getting back to this... so I get doing the one wheel at a time, but... when bleeding brakes I know you work from longest line to shortest line. For draining... do I work from shortest line to longest or doesn't matter?